E-M5 mk III released at US$1199

[ijm5012]

Dont know if it would sell a lot more...When it comes to features it basically have everything E-M1 MarkII have plus it have some features that E-M1 MarkII dont have.

Other than the addition of 120fps video, what other features are new vs. the E-M1 II?

Here in Sweden the price difference between the two cameras(body only) is around 200EUR and at the moment you get 100EUR back if you pre-order/buy E-M5 MarkIII before the end of November.

lol, the camera hasn't even been released yet and they're already offering incentives to get people to buy it. At least with the E-M1 II it took them a couple months before they attempted to make the retail price a bit more palatable.

 

[Pluttis]

Other than the addition of 120fps video, what other features are new vs. the E-M1 II?


lol, the camera hasn't even been released yet and they're already offering incentives to get people to buy it. At least with the E-M1 II it took them a couple months before they attempted to make the retail price a bit more palatable.

Bluetooth
USB charging

E-M5 MarkIII have some stuff that E-M1 MarkII dont have and vice versa.

Dont know but here in Sweden its not unusual with pre order campains from the maufacures on their newly released cameras so nothing unique for Olympus or the E-M5 MarkIII model

 

[MichailK]

they could have saved all the trouble if they just announced a $999 price and “leaked” to the press that the price will be rock steady fixed for the next 18 months - nobody would complain and most of the grumbling would have no ground to stand on at that price point

and I would know where my next round of saving up would go to

 

[ijm5012]

Bluetooth
USB charging

E-M5 MarkIII have some stuff that E-M1 MarkII dont have and vice versa.

Dont know but here in Sweden its not unusual with pre order campains from the maufacures on their newly released cameras so nothing unique for Olympus or the E-M5 MarkIII model

Ah ok. I didn't think there were many new features, but I just wanted to confirm I wasn't overlooking anything.

I'm not really sure what Bluetooth would be used for. Maybe GPS-tagging your images through Olympus' phone app? But you can already do that today via Wi-Fi.

And as for USB charging, can you charge while shooting (useful for long timelapses)? If not, then I really don't see the point. I'd rather just carry two batteries with me, and have the second one in a USB charger like this, that way I can continue to shoot with battery #2 while battery #1 is charging.

 

[Pluttis]

Ah ok. I didn't think there were many new features, but I just wanted to confirm I wasn't overlooking anything.

I'm not really sure what Bluetooth would be used for. Maybe GPS-tagging your images through Olympus' phone app? But you can already do that today via Wi-Fi.

And as for USB charging, can you charge while shooting (useful for long timelapses)? If not, then I really don't see the point. I'd rather just carry two batteries with me, and have the second one in a USB charger like this, that way I can continue to shoot with battery #2 while battery #1 is charging.

Not many new futures but some the cant be found on EM1 MarkII...B-mode on the dail is quite handy if you use the diffrent bulb modes often.

No you cant shoot while charging...
Personally i tend to charge my batteries over night and with USB charging i only need to bring one charger when traveling but i can charge two batteries at the same time, one in camera and one in the charger plus if the charger would get lost or stop working i can charge in camera.
Always nice to have the ability to charge via USB and a power bank if for example out on a hike/camping.

Yes you GPS tagging images plus with bluetooth you can acces the camera and view/down load pictures when its turned off.

 

[ijm5012]

Not many new futures but some the cant be found on EM1 MarkII...B-mode on the dail is quite handy if you use the diffrent bulb modes often.

No you cant shoot while charging...
Personally i tend to charge my batteries over night and with USB charging i only need to bring one charger when traveling but i can charge two batteries at the same time, one in camera and one in the charger plus if the charger would get lost or stop working i can charge in camera.
Always nice to have the ability to charge via USB and a power bank if for example out on a hike/camping.

Yes you GPS tagging images plus with bluetooth you can acces the camera and view/down load pictures when its turned off.

The dedicated B mode does make it a bit quicker to access the "Live ___" shooting modes, saving a few turns of the dial. Then again, with the E-M1 II's 3 custom modes, you could just as easily set the camera up so that it goes directly to your desired "Live ___" shooting mode, and still have two custom modes left over. This is how I had my E-M1 II set up. C3 was for Live Time, C2 was for head-on action shooting, and C1 was for panning action shooting.

With the E-M5 III, you lose the ease since there's only one custom location on the dial (but hey, at least there's the Scene and Art modes! ). If memory serves me right though, the C3 had different "slots" on the E-M1 II that were accessible by menu. So while it did give a bit more flexibility, it also was a bit more cumbersome than simply turning a physical dial because you had to dig through the menu to change the custom preset.

I only carried one charger with me when I had my E-M1 II as well, but I guess the better battery life meant that I didn't really have any concerns about depleting more than two batteries in a day of shooting. With the smaller batteries in the E-M5 III, I suppose that has the potential to be more troublesome. I guess the same applies if you tend to lose items frequently, and one of them happens to be your battery charger for your camera. I've been fortunate that over the past five years of traveling multiple times a year for personal vacation, racing, etc., I haven't forgotten or lost my camera battery charger, so I've never had a need for in-camera USB charging (I don't use it with my Nikon Z6, which supports it, because I've never had the need to).

The bluetooth is lost on me as well. I've functioned fine with WiFi transfer for selective image transfer/editing and sharing on social media while traveling. The rest of my images get backed up to a portable WD storage with an integrated SD card reader and USB slot for my XQD cards. But the Bluetooth does provide a transfer option for those who use their phone as their primary or sole backup option while traveling. Again, I've just never had the need because of other hardware I use while traveling.


I'm sure these features will be useful for some people, but it's pretty "meh" in terms of technological improvement over the E-M1 II, which I felt was a pretty good camera.

 

[Pluttis]

Yeah i have not lost any chager either...just an example when USB charging can be useful.

Bluetooth is quite usefull, for exanple you can access the camera if its turned off and still in the bag. Bluetooth dont drain the battery as fast as wifi.

Might not be any big technological improvements but its improvements, futures that might be useful for some and cant be found in E-M1 MarkII

 

[FrayAdjacent]

I would make the assumption that with BlueTooth, you can have the camera essentially OFF, and from the app on your smart phone, turn it on, turn on WiFi and connect to it so you can transfer images all without having to turn on the camera, go into the menu, find the WiFi bit, turn it on, then go to your smart phone, go to the settings, go to WiFi, find the network and connect to it.

When I get the MkIII, I'll probably get a two-battery pack with a USB charger, then I will have 3 total batteries. Given I'm not a pro, I don't go through batteries that much, though I do figure when I travel in a few months, I may use more. Being able to charge in-body means I can go out for a day with the camera, two spare batteries and a USB battery bank (which I could use for my phone and camera) and not bother bringing the external battery charger. If I need to, I can plug the camera into the USB battery while I eat lunch or whatever. It's a nice convenience that just makes sense. I do wish it could be used to power the camera while it's on, though. And I do wish it were USB C for that matter. It's 2019, new things should all have USB C!

 

[Zairski]

My local camera shop was hosting an Olympus EM5 Mark III Demo today with some Olympus reps. They had some shooting stations set up to demonstrate pro capture, focus stacking and live comp. I brought my dad as a counter weight to myself. He’s a long time advertising photographer and uses mainly hisHasselblad (ELD322 with a P40 back, Leica M10? and Nikon D800 but enjoys his GF1 from time to time. I brought my Em5 mark2 as a reference tool and we compared the two. I found the new button layout to be more functional and speedy. Nice to have a dedicated iso and exposure comp button. The 2x2 switch is shorter but thicker a bit easier to use. The new grip on the camera is a lot better. The new body material is really light but I felt that I could trust it’s durability when holding it. The accessory grip is nice also but no battery opening on the bottom it kind of puts me off. I tried out the pro capture mode and it works well. They had a balloon filled with confetti on a stand that they would pop with a thrown dart. My dad was impressed, they had the camera hooked up to a 32” monitor and he thought the images were a bit soft. They had the camera set up at iso 1600, F4 (12-100 mm lens) and 1/60. So we went a bit crazy and cranked it up to Iso 12800 F4 1/500 and got sharper confetti. He was impressed with the image being so clean and sharp at that iso. I think the external monitor was limiting its sharpness. Anyways, I was mainly wanting to look at the auto focus. I only got to hold one for a couple of minutes in my hand and was happy with how fast it was. The viewfinder did feel better to me, I wear glasses and didn’t feel that I had to squish my lens into my face to see like I do with my Sony a6000 at work. It was comfortable. All and all if I had an em10 model and wanted to go up this would look more attractive but since I already have an Em5II, I am looking more at the em1 II if I were to upgrade.
Got a nice pin from the reps and got to tryout some other lenses. Good experience and a nice time spent with my pops.
I did hear a nice joke while there. Something along the line of “ sure our sensor is small but do you really want to go full frame for your colonoscopy?”

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[MichailK]

@Zairski
thanx for the post!
the big question for me, if you want to answer since you have perspective over different brands: value vs competition at the current price point (not announced over here yet) - is it worth it?

 

[Pluttis]

EM5 MarkIII want win any price for most valueble camera and i dont think any Olympus camera will as they always tend to be priced higher that the competitors offerings...based on pure spec i would say Fuji and X-T3...hard to beat that camera/spec for the money it sells for right now.

Think you should look at the whole systems when you value and compare them...not just spec/price on the camera body...whats important/not so important to you, lenses, etcetera and make your decision base on that.

 

[MichailK]

@Pluttis I am at that position now, get an 9-18mm or an 9mm/F2.8 finishing up my modest m43 kit and starting testing something else (maybe an X100 series to see how Fuji feels and does things) before evaluating if I leave the system in the longer run or not

I really wanted Oly to give me either a better price or something extra to make it worth stretching my very limited budget to get the EM5iii and for sure not going lower on specs (plastic body) given the launching price point

and that applephone7 starts feeling a bit tired now and it may snatch the funds in the end as Oly is not tempting me enough as is

 

[Linh]

@Zairski how did the EVF compare to your E-M5mk2? While not a big upgrade, it's exactly what I wanted... just disappointing price relative to the competition. I missed the large magnification as I've been using a PEN-F, but a better eye relief would be quite nice.

 

[Zairski]

@Zairski
thanx for the post!
the big question for me, if you want to answer since you have perspective over different brands: value vs competition at the current price point (not announced over here yet) - is it worth it?

I always look at other systems and look at the specs and get all excited but that all gets pushed back when I actually handle the camera that I’m looking at. Like Pluttis is saying look at the overall system not just the camera. Sony apsc sounds good but I highly dislike the ergonomics and only use the A6000 because that’s what my job provides. Autofocus is great but that is the only thing that I like. Fuji is a strong pull since I like being able to tether natively with Capture One and not having to use a hot folder like I do with Olympus. I had an X100 before moving to Olympus. I loved the film sims but I didn’t want to stay in the system just for that plus the auto focus was hit or miss for me. Now if I were to test out Fuji I would go used xt2 or more budget x-e3 and their F2 primes. I mainly stay with Olympus because the creativity that you can pump out of the cameras is very large. Live time/ comp is amazing. The lenses are sharp and the premium ones are affordable. If you don’t mind some noise they can produce at higher iso. Test your current camera to its breaking point and try to go even past that. You might be surprised at what you can work out. If you struggle to capture what you want with what you have then I would say go hands on and find your next tool.

 

[Zairski]

@Zairski how did the EVF compare to your E-M5mk2? While not a big upgrade, it's exactly what I wanted... just disappointing price relative to the competition. I missed the large magnification as I've been using a PEN-F, but a better eye relief would be quite nice.

The colors are more vibrant and pop compared to my Em5II. Refresh rate was good. If I could pry the new one off and switch them I would.

 

[ibd]

I also went to a trade show today and tried the mark 3. I think after playing around today, I'm not going to get the camera after all. But I'm probably getting the 12-200mm!

Some thoughts:

• EVF is fine, honestly felt very similar to the E-M1 II to me. A bit more vibrant even.
• The grip is OK, but still not big enough for my liking.
• The add-on grip is also OK. With the add-on grip, the E-M5 and E-M1 are almost the same in size. But the E-M1 II's grip is still more comfortable.
• Bulb mode on the dial is nice. Actual "bulb" itself is pretty useless IMHO, but live comp and live time modes are great.
• The Olympus representative did not have any information about E-M1 III, but estimated it should be due next year (4-year cycle).
• The 12-200mm lens is seriously not bad at 200mm, better than the Panasonic 14-140mm at the tele end!
• The body felt great and not "plasticy" at all. Some of the buttons feel a bit cheap and quite small though. Extremely lightweight.
• Asked the rep about HHHR possibly coming to E-M1/5 via firmware update. He knew as much as we do -- it "is not possible due to processing limitation".

 

[Zairski]

I also went to a trade show today and tried the mark 3. I think after playing around today, I'm not going to get the camera after all. But I'm probably getting the 12-200mm!

Some thoughts:

• EVF is fine, honestly felt very similar to the E-M1 II to me. A bit more vibrant even.
• The grip is OK, but still not big enough for my liking.
• The add-on grip is also OK. With the add-on grip, the E-M5 and E-M1 are almost the same in size. But the E-M1 II's grip is still more comfortable.
• Bulb mode on the dial is nice. Actual "bulb" itself is pretty useless IMHO, but live comp and live time modes are great.
• The Olympus representative did not have any information about E-M1 III, but estimated it should be due next year (4-year cycle).
• The 12-200mm lens is seriously not bad at 200mm, better than the Panasonic 14-140mm at the tele end!
• The body felt great and not "plasticy" at all. Some of the buttons feel a bit cheap and quite small though. Extremely lightweight.

I agree with all of those points.
One of the reps did mention a “new” camera coming next year to me also.

 

[Pluttis]

@Pluttis I am at that position now, get an 9-18mm or an 9mm/F2.8 finishing up my modest m43 kit and starting testing something else (maybe an X100 series to see how Fuji feels and does things) before evaluating if I leave the system in the longer run or not

I really wanted Oly to give me either a better price or something extra to make it worth stretching my very limited budget to get the EM5iii and for sure not going lower on specs (plastic body) given the launching price point

and that applephone7 starts feeling a bit tired now and it may snatch the funds in the end as Oly is not tempting me enough as is

If i felt like that i would wait with investing more into the m43 system.

Depending on wich lenses you are looking to get it might not be cheaper to change system...Fuji as a whole system gets quite big fast as soon as you are looking for something outside the f2.0 primes.

Personaly i would rather buy a E-X3 + a F
F2.0 over a X100 camera.

I use to shoot with to system, for me it was just a hassel and a waste of money....in most situation i whent for the m43 system as it where lighter, smaller and for me more fun to shoot with...in the end i pretty much only used the big and heavy system for planned photo shoots.

 

[whumber]

• Asked the rep about HHHR possibly coming to E-M1/5 via firmware update. He knew as much as we do -- it "is not possible due to processing limitation".

This explanation from Olympus has made no sense to me as stated. There's only two interpretations I can come up with that actually make sense. It's either a system memory limitation and the E-M1X is the only body with increased system memory. The other possibility I've been thinking of lately is that the second processor in the E-M1X is not being used the way most people expect. Most discussion has assumed that the reason the E-M1X can do more is just because it has double the processing capability, but that doesn't really hold water for something like HHHR because it doesn't need to be done in real time, so if it can be done on two TruePicVIIIs then it can be done on one TruePicVIII in roughly twice the time. However, another possibility is that the 2nd TruePicVIII is setup differently. We don't have any detailed specs but IR did an interview with one of the lead engineers at Olympus and he indirectly suggested that one or more of the 4 image processing cores in the TruePicVIII are FPGAs. If that is true, then it's quite possible that an FPGA in the 2nd TruePicVIII is setup specifically to handle the HHHR processing, maybe another is setup to handle the AI subject tracking. This also fits in my findings that things like the tripod based HR processing are just as fast on the E-M1ii as on the E-M1X. If Olympus was distributing it over the dual processors I would expect the processing time to show some significant improvements.

 

[MichailK]

Personaly i would rather buy a E-X3 + a F
F2.0 over a X100 camera.

I am intrigued by what the leaf shutter can do with flashes and by the overall form factor - in the early 2000s I had a 1,5 megapixels FujiLeica Digilux that I really enjoyed despite the hardware limitations of the day and I feel the X100 series is the spiritual kid.