What is wrong with my E-M10?

[Hugo]

Hi:

I recently purchased an E-M10 to replace my GF2. I thought it would be a huge upgrade but I’m on the fence to return it. I bought the body with the Olympus 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ Interchangeable Lens which I thought would be easier to travel. I took my new camera for a test drive over the weekend. I use P on a sunny day to take some landscapes and portraits. Some of them I even use a tripod. When I got home and bring those pictures on my PC. Immediately I notice that they are not sharp at all! I wonder maybe I did some setting incorrectly. So on Sunday, I took it to take more shoots. This time, I switch to AUTO and make sure the 82 points AF is selected. After taking few outdoor portraits (bright sunny day) using tripod. I still got blur images.

My previous GF-2 has a pancake lens 14mm f/2.5. Compare to pictures took by GF2, the image quality came out of E-M-10 is a huge downgrade. Does anyone have any idea why? Is it because the 14-42mm lens? Or did I get a defective?

Thanks!

 

[Transalp01]

You can't compare 14-42 ez with the 14/2,5. Try the 14/2,5 on your E-M10. Then you could compare.

14-42 EZ is a kit lens and not as sharp as 14/2,5. I use my 14-42 EZ as a travel lens and if I use RAW and Lightroom 5, then I think it's good enough for vacation. But at home I prefer 12-40/2,8 or a prime.

But in some situations the 14-42 EZ is pretty good! But it needs more light than 14/2,5 to perform.

 

[Hugo]

Translp01,

Thank you for your quick response. I'm just wondering how come the image is so blur (or not as sharp as my GF2)? I can understand that the EZ lens requires more light but it should at least have the same sharpness. Those pictures I took are even worse than those I took by my Samsung Galaxy S5 camera phone on the same day!

 

[Albino_BlacMan]

Post some examples with EXIF so we know what the aperture, ISO, shutterspeed etc. were and we can tell you if it's the camera or the user.

 

[swede]

Sounds like there could be something wrong with your lens (maybe) I just bought an EM10 with 14-42 ez, and i must say I'm impressed by the output from this little lens. My previous camera was a Nikon D600 and some very sharp 1.8G lenses. This 14-42 is still a "kit lens", but it sure is one of the better i've seen. Fuji's 18-55 may be better.

 

[50orsohours]

Did you turn off the IS?

 

[Ulfric M Douglas]

There must be something wrong with your lens, or something in the settings is causing your lens to be blurred.
Some combinations of powerzoom lenses and various bodies cause repeat blurring/shuttershock problems.

Put your 14mm pancake on your new camera and try again.
Some of the "kit zooms" are really excellent and sharp, perhaps try to get a hold of one?
in my opinion the best are Lumix14-45, Lumix14-42MkII and Olympus14-42collapsible MkI or MkII
The worst are your 14-42EZ and Lumix 14-42MkI, again my opinion.

I'll repeat : you have a bad lens or your camera+lens combination add up to bad.
The sensor in your camera is painfully sharp with the right lens, even sharper than your GF2, really!

 

[Hugo]

Will try my Panasonic pancake this weekend and see what happened. I know the 14-42mm EZ lens didn't get a very good review but I really love the size and the design....

50orsohours, do you mean image stablizer? If so, no. I did not turn it off. In addition, I use tripod and timer too....

 

[50orsohours]

Well, you have to turn off image stabilization if the camera is used on a tripod. Also put the camera on 2 second delay just to make sure

 

[gobeatty]

Try turning all noise reduction off. Even at base iso the NR can rob sharpness.

 

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

Well, you have to turn off image stabilization if the camera is used on a tripod.

Why?

 

[Robstar1963]

It is standard practice to switch off image stabilisation when the camera is used on a tripod
This is whether it is in camera or in lens stabilisation
Using image stabilisation whilst the camera on a tripod will actually induce blur
You should be able to confirm this or yourself within the Olympus instructions booklet
Regards
Rob

 

[Hugo]

I still find it hard to image. I never turn off my GF-2 IS whether it is on a tripod or not and the image is way sharper than E-M10. Besides, how come a sunny day that you need to put sunglasses would impact sharpness? You have too much light that you can hardly screw up. Finally, I can’t overcome the fact that a freaking cell phone built-in camera yields better picture (the say day and say spot) than a $800 camera…..By the way, Samsung Galaxy S5 is not on a tripod.

 

[50orsohours]

The gf2 doesn't have IS.

 

[Hugo]

It does. Thru lens not the body.

 

[50orsohours]

the body doesn't have IS, if the panasonic lens has IS, turn it off

 

[MarkRyan]

Impossible to diagnose without some photos showing your issue. Nobody knows what you're talking about, people will assume different things.

 

[SojiOkita]

Did you try MF?
My 14 42 ez is sharp in MF... And not sharp at all in AF.
I sent it twice to Olympus... No change...
https://www.mu-43.com/showthread.php?t=62732