Review Thoughts on the EM1X..................

[Phocal]

This is true of GPS in general but most GPS devices have built in intelligence to "filter" out jumping around. For example, on a car GPS it will keep you on the road on the map and predicting where you should be due to speed and direction until you get far enough off the road that it finally accepts you are not there anymore. I have a GPS data logger I bought many years ago, before mobile phones were doing it or had terrible battery life when using GPS, runs off AAA batteries and lasts for hours. When looking at the tracks, same thing. So long as you are walking the track is pretty spot on, but once you stop, the longer you stay in the same spot you begin to accumulate a cloud of locations around you. Once on vacation I left it tracking while we stopped for lunch at a place (normally I would stop tracking then restart once we were on our way again) so I had about an hours worth of "GPS Cloud" on that track. Some of the locations were literally a block or two away from where we were.

You might try the same experiment. Turn on the GPS and keep moving then stop somewhere for 15 minutes then start moving again. I bet when you are moving it will be pretty much spot on while the 15 minute break you will get the "cloud".

The other might be early locations.
When I turn on the GPS, if the last position of my GPS is not where I am at, it takes a while to get readings from enough satellites to get a location fix.
If you have the camera OFF, when you turn it on, it could be that some of the readings are early calculations, with only a couple satellites.

A thought is the calculations itself.
If the camera GPS is using say 6 digits of precision, out of the 8 digits that the satellite generates, there is 2 digits of precision that is lost.

@PakkyT interesting thought.
I was just driving to the doc this morning, and the GPS wanted to take the parallel off ramp, but I decided to stay on the freeway.
The GPS did not recognize that I was still on the freeway, until the off ramp turned away from the freeway. It presumed that I was on the path that it calculated and instructed me to be on.

Right, this is why many GPS units meant for vehicles with have other modes such as pedestrian or "off-road" you can switch to when you know you won't be following the roads exactly, you can tell the GPS to actually follow the GPS signal rather than the mapping logic for a traveling car.

Is the X supporting a combined GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou location readout that I guess would mitigate such jump around issues?

Have too many threads going so just going to quickly sum up the GPS stuff.

To start with the camera uses the following GPS - Quazi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) and GLONASS.

All GPS devices have an accuracy built into them, like my Garmin GPSMAPS 64s which is +/- 50 feet. Garmin states that it is typically around +/- 30 feet which I have confirmed is about what I get with the unit. I tested this while in Grad School and getting my ArcGIS certification where we had access to very accurate GPS units. The EM1X seems to be in the neighborhood of around +/- 100 feet, maybe a little bit more (still need more data to really nail it down).

As for the difference between battery or location priority the best I can determine is all that does is change how often the camera updates the location. I really wish they would provide that information but I have noticed a difference in battery live using the battery priority and little difference in accuracy between the two settings. Biggest difference is fewer groups of shots taken at the same location but the spread is about the same +/- 100ish feet or so.

 

[Aristophanes]

I use the EM1X for work with GPS turned on. It accelerates battery drain.

 

[Sings141]

Phocal, I'm not trying to hijack this post, but haven't found another way to contact you. I have an Olympus 300 F4 that I'm getting inconsistent focus results with. My cameras are EM1-2 and EM1-X. I've I've been trying to track down information on microfocus adjust and have come across several of your posts along with those of others. What threw me off was the references in several places to go to Cog>A2>Af Focus Adj. which I could not find. Apparently, in a firmware update, the location was changed to Cog>A3>AF/MF>AF Focus Adj. So now I'm not so lost. Do you have any suggestions or more recent info updates on Focus Adjust? I have posts from April, 2017 from 3 or 4 different Photo Websites but nothing more recent. Thanks!

 

[Phocal]

I have had a few more outings with the camera, so lets get started with the first update.

I did a 3 day kayak camping trip to Cains Head, it was so relaxing and peaceful. Will start with a few photos of the campsite and dinner prep, all with the Bower Fishy Eyed Lens.

Cains Head 001 by Phocal Art, on Flickr

Cains Head 002 by Phocal Art, on Flickr

Cains Dinner by Phocal Art, on Flickr

Here is one of the many peaceful places I found to play my flute.

Calling the Animals by Phocal Art, on Flickr

I had been wanting to play with the ND filter and finally had a somewhat chance. I had to stop the 300/4 down to f22 to get a 30 second exposure for this shot. I can see this feature being really handy as I try my hand at more and more landscape stuff. I have not really been much of a landscape photographer but now that I am living in Alaska I almost feel like I need to start taking more and the ND filter is going to be pretty handy.

Misty Post by Phocal Art, on Flickr

I really can't ask for more with respects to sharpness and detail than what I am getting from the X and 300/4. There is a noticeable jump in IQ from the old 16mp sensor and I have zero complaints with what I get from my Olympus gear.

HUNGRY by Phocal Art, on Flickr

The area around Cains Head is Boreal Rainforest and really reminded me of hiking on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state. While up under the canopy of trees I decided to test out the IS as well as higher ISO ability of the camera. First up was an IS test that I was pretty happy with. I kept lowering the shutter speed so I could reduce the ISO to see how low I could go and still get a decent number of sharp images. Turned out that when shooting a twitchy little bird that is eating the lowest setting was around 1/60, which is honestly pretty damn good. I can and have handheld lower, it was the birds movement that was the limiting factor here. This image does have a bit of motion blur from the bird moving but it is acceptable for internet viewing and forum sharing, not 40 inch long print good. The image does have a small crop, 4802px on long side.

Crossbill 001 by Phocal Art, on Flickr

Overall I can see a bump in stabilization from my original EM1, which always a nice thing. So lets move on to high, or what I call high, ISO ability. With my original EM1 I pretty much only went to ISO 1600 with a few around 2000 that were acceptable. I guess I should first start this off by saying I have very high standards for my images, so all of this is what I am comfortable with. I know many are happy with higher ISO's than what I would ever use and that is fine. I am not here to debate the ability to go higher in ISO, I have my standards and those will not change My biggest complaint with higher ISO's is the detail that gets sucked out. The noise really doesn't bother me since Olympus noise has a grainy look to it and tends to match the mood of when the image was taken.

This first image I have no idea why the aperture was at f5.6, probably because I took the TC off and it stayed. The image is also front focused because I got focused on the shoulder and since I was so close the DoF didn't cover the eye as I was hoping (image is cropped to 4300px on the long side). I am including it because it does a good job of showing how much detail there is in the wings where I did focus. This is at ISO 3200 and I am pretty happy with the results. I wouldn't print an image like this at 40 inches, but it would be acceptable for smaller prints or doing my printing on things other than paper. So moving up from the original EM1 I have gained a significant bump in my high ISO ability, which I am not going to complain about.

Pine Grosbeak 001 by Phocal Art, on Flickr

Another one at ISO 3200 but this time with the MC-14, looks like I did catch focus on the branch in front of him but the eye is still acceptable (more or less).

Pine Grosbeak 002 by Phocal Art, on Flickr

So I am happy with images up to ISO 3200, but seldom find myself shooting that high. It is good to know that I can go that high and maybe a bit higher for one of those once in a life time images. Coming from the film world this is just insane to me.

That is all for this update. I have two more that I need to type up, hope to maybe get the next one done today as well.

Phocal

 

[ashburtononline]

I'm loving my X very much ... no regrets at all but I must confess, the swivel screen is a joke on a camera like this .... I LOVE the original EM1 screen. This POS screen feels real cheap and does not even line up 100%. In my real estate work, I need a waist level finder and I truly hate this one! Probs the same with the MK2 & 3 though. I wonder if a conversation is possible but I doubt it. Nobody needs to Vlog with a camera like this!

 

[Phocal]

I'm loving my X very much ... no regrets at all but I must confess, the swivel screen is a joke on a camera like this .... I LOVE the original EM1 screen. This POS screen feels real cheap and does not even line up 100%. In my real estate work, I need a waist level finder and I truly hate this one! Probs the same with the MK2 & 3 though. I wonder if a conversation is possible but I doubt it. Nobody needs to Vlog with a camera like this!

Totally agree and the screen is part of my next update.

 

[Jock Elliott]

I'm just happy to see that you brought the one crucial item of survival gear for a wilderness trip . . . the pink flamingo. Made me smile!

Cheers, Jock

 

[MichailK]

X evf vs the one in the original M1?

AFAIK it is the same, albeit faster, unit to the old VF-4 I once used

 

[ashburtononline]

X evf vs the one in the original M1?

AFAIK it is the same, albeit faster, unit to the old VF-4 I once used

No issue with the X viewfinder ... its the POS swivel screen that sucks! BTW, I have turned my GPS off to see if it helps with battery life.

 

[doxa750]

Phocal, really enjoy learning by viewing and reading the explanation of your story and images. Many thanks for spending the time to share this. I particularly like your landscape done in BW as well as that lovely hungry bird.

It looked like you had a good time being out there.

Cheers

 

[Phocal]

I'm just happy to see that you brought the one crucial item of survival gear for a wilderness trip . . . the pink flamingo. Made me smile!

Cheers, Jock

George goes on all my camping trips other than backpacking, but thinking he may go on my next backpacking trip as well.

 

[Phocal]

X evf vs the one in the original M1?

AFAIK it is the same, albeit faster, unit to the old VF-4 I once used

No issue with the X viewfinder ... its the POS swivel screen that sucks! BTW, I have turned my GPS off to see if it helps with battery life.

I have zero problems with the EVF in my EM1X. I don't need a 32k monitor in my camera to see what I am photographing.

@ashburtononline I hear ya on the swivel screen. Will be talking about it in my next update, that I am about to do.

 

[Phocal]

Phocal, really enjoy learning by viewing and reading the explanation of your story and images. Many thanks for spending the time to share this. I particularly like your landscape done in BW as well as that lovely hungry bird.

It looked like you had a good time being out there.

Cheers

Thanks and I am glad you enjoy my way of doing a review. I also like how the B&W turned out, I like doing B&W landscapes.

I always have a great time on my trips, regardless of the weather or whatever happens along the way. My last trip I shredded a tire and had to limp home on the donut tire.

 

[Phocal]

So awhile back (I am way behind in posting) I took the X and 300/4 to a local lake in search of some young Grebe's as well as a Loon. When I got there the first thing I noticed was that the banks was really steep and it didn't take me long to find some Grebes to photograph. So I moved down the bank and sat down to capture these images.

Grebe 002 by Phocal Art, on Flickr

Go Away by Phocal Art, on Flickr

Now don't get me wrong, these are good images and what most people are use to seeing when it comes to birds on the water. But I prefer shooting at my subjects eye level, which requires laying down to get down to their level. But the really steep bank prevented me from laying at the edge of the lake, there wasn't even any room to lay parallel with the lake without basically laying in the water. I should also mention that I am still a Texas boy and this water is way to cold for my liking.

These next two photos are the type I like to shoot when possible and the swivel screen on the X made this so much harder than it needs to be. With the old tilt screen on my EM1 the screen was in line with the lens and the view in the screen would move as you would expect as you move the camera. With the swivel screen the view is not in line with the lens and it just doesn't act as you expect when trying to follow a moving bird on the water. When I played around with a Fuji XE-1 (or is it XE-1?) I felt the same way with the rangefinder style of camera. I will never get use to it but I guess I will have to deal with it.

Grebe 001 by Phocal Art, on Flickr

Full Steam Ahead by Phocal Art, on Flickr

Now..............................

I have been working on my website and blog and since moving to Alaska have been working on doing a lot of travel/adventure writing. Have also picked up a gig with a new website going live in a few months as one of the travel/adventure writers. So the swivel screen does make setting up shots like this a lot easier.

Calling the Animals by Phocal Art, on Flickr

But with my old EM1 it can be done as well.

Love Flute by Phocal Art, on Flickr

In the end I would prefer the tilt screen because the awkward swivel screen could cause me to miss a great shot but the tilt screen just makes doing a selfie a bit of trial and error.

About 9/10ths around the lake I came to a rocky beach and that is where I finally found Mr. Loony. In the first image I was sitting and leaned over a bit to get a little lower and the second image I was laying on the ground for an even lower perspective.

Common Loon 001 by Phocal Art, on Flickr

Common Loon 002 by Phocal Art, on Flickr

I am still very very very happy with the X. It is exactly the camera I have wanted from Olympus since I made the switch and combined with the 300/4 I am blown away. What I haven't done yet is shoot the 150/2 on the X, which is what my next update is going to be about. As a teaser I will say that the combo was a bigger improvement than I was expecting to see.

Phocal

 

[CyVan]

Had no idea that's what you looked like Phocal
Great reviews though. I've always said this when it came to criticism of the X: If you think its too big then it wasn't mean for you. To the intended audience, the system is still smaller than other gripped cameras.
Nearly every person I've heard who has it loves it and that's what matters, not armchair pundits.

 

[Breezy]

Beautiful pictures as usual.
Quite a leap from the EM1. I don't need one, but I would like one.
Same fold out screen as the EM1 MK2. It took me a while to figure out what it was I dislike about it - I decided it's because I'm convinced I'm going to break it off by accident.

Back home in England, 40 years after serving in Yemen, my dad still religiously tapped the scorpions out of his shoes before putting them on his feet.

Why would he put Scorpions on his feet?

 

[Phocal]

Had no idea that's what you looked like Phocal

I take very few selfies but with this new travel/adventure writing I have been taking them as well as landscape photos.

Great reviews though. I've always said this when it came to criticism of the X: If you think its too big then it wasn't mean for you. To the intended audience, the system is still smaller than other gripped cameras.
Nearly every person I've heard who has it loves it and that's what matters, not armchair pundits.

Completely agree. People can say what they want about the size of the X or even the 300/4, but they are still significantly smaller than a 1D and 600/4.

 

[Phocal]

The day after taking the images above I returned to the lake with my new to me Kokopelli Nirvana Spraydeck PackRaft to test it out as a photography platform and get closer to the babies.

PackRaft 001 by Phocal Art, on Flickr

First I will comment about using the packraft as a photography platform. I got this so I can pack it in to some of the alpine lakes to photograph wildlife from the water and for that it will be perfect. Well, perfect for getting deep into the backcountry with. But shooting from it is a lot more difficult than I expected because it spins around easily and doesn't stay in place like the kayaks I am use to shooting from. Between the spinning around and the birds moving on the water it was a challenge to keep the focus point on the bird. I didn't play around with tracking on this trip, just used a single small point for focus...............what I am honestly use to doing. I will say that in this situation good tracking would be pretty useful since I was constantly spinning and the birds were constantly moving as well. While it would be useful it is not necessary. I had photographed probably 60 exchanges of food and had in focus images from every one of them. The biggest problem is I didn't always have a good angle on the exchange, which comes down to a lot of luck because they move around so much.

So I get in the boat, launch and pull out the camera and notice something odd. Three of the 4 screws that hold the lens mount to the lens had come loose, which could have been disastrous because the lens could have literally fallen off and into the lake. Thankfully I had also brought the 150/2 along but could have really used the EC-14 because the 150/2 was just a little short. This was the first and only time so far that I have used one of my 4/3 lenses on the X.

To start off with I was surprised by the improved focus speed compared to the original EM1. There is without a doubt a significant improvement in autofocus speed with the 150/2 on the X vs the original EM1. While I hate to make any guesses on CAF ability with the 150/2 because the shooting conditions had way to many variables to account for, I can say that I was surprised by the number of keepers I did get. With my old EM1 I would have had a lot less in focus images in the same situation, so there is a good improvement in the camera upgrade.

I am looking forward to shooting with the 150/2 in more controlled conditions to really evaluate what kind of improvements I am seeing. Here are a couple of images that I captured from the packraft.

No Thanks by Phocal Art, on Flickr

The young one in the photo above didn't want the fish but another one did, so the parent swam past this one and gave it to another. In the photo below you see this exchange with the one from the above picture behind the adult. I really missed out on the baby birds this year due to covid and not knowing where to go, next year will be a very different story.

Feed me by Phocal Art, on Flickr

These little guys were a good test of what I have the blinkies set for as well as the DR of the camera, especially on such a sunny day. With the black and white on their heads getting a good exposure is not easy. I personally hate blown highlights and will crush the shadows keep detail in the highlights. Since I am testing the camera I shot these photos a little different than I normally do, usually I would have underexposed a bit more just to ensure I didn't blow the highlights. Needless to say, I was surprised that I was able to recover most of the detail in the highlights. I had the blinkies set for 253 and 2 and will be changing the highlights to 251 and the shadows to 3. Yes, when shooting in conditions like that I always turn on the blinkies................I really love using them to help get the exposure where I want it.

Well that is about it for this update. I am hoping to take the X out with the Bigma to find the foxes and see how that combo performs.

Phocal