Olympus System OM1 Camera - First Look

I've been meaning to change my DSLR cameras for a couple of years - not because I'm unhappy with the picture quality produced by my current Canon gear, but because (I'm finding) it's getting too heavy.

 

For me an obvious replacement is a four thirds system camera - these cameras epitomise exactly what a digital camera should be - much smaller, considerably lighter and cheaper than DSLRs (in particular, the current rash of full frame mirrorless cameras produced by Canon/Nikon/Sony). 

When it comes to the full frame mirrorless market, I just don't get it. Most of the cameras are in the $4k+ price range, and some of the lenses are more expensive than regular DSLR lenses. The majority of photographers these days never print anything and just post stuff on social media, so paying such a very high price seems to be a big folly.

The Olympus OM1 body costs about what I paid for my Canon EOS 5D MkIII - eight years ago. And though it has a significantly smaller sensor than the 5D, everything else about it leaves the MkIII specs for dead.

Here are some of the good bits that I've discovered about the OM1 after a couple of weeks play:

• As expected, it's a very compact body (compared to the 5D MkIII). Almost too small for my hands (I have the Olympus Battery Grip on order which should make it easier to hand-hold longer lenses).
• It's really light in weight (511g vs. 950g for the 5D MkIII).
  
• It's feature-packed - too many incredible features to even begin listing here.
• There's an impressive hi-res mode - producing (if you use a tripod) 240Mb RGB files (against 60Mb RGB files from the 5D MkIII). It's not a new feature - you'll find HiRes mode in other Olympus bodies but are the resulting files good? Yes, they are very impressive if and when I need to print a billboard.
• Very fast AF - apparently this model has AF sensors arranged across the entire screen/frame area (I've not really tested this, but it seems to be considerably more comprehensive than Canon/Nikon/Sony equivalents).
• Focus stacking. OMG. I used to teach how to do this using Photoshop. But Olympus cameras can master this action in-camera, producing normally impossible to achieve depth of field results. You can choose how many frames to use (up to 15), the space between shots (according to the lens' field of view) and the delay between shots (in case a flash needs to recharge). Of course there are some limitations to the mode/lens/settings used, but in practice, it works brilliantly. (recently used when taking product pictures of my Canon gear before posting it for sale on Gumtree).
• I read that the OM1 has excellent weather sealing against rain, snow and dust (not tested as yet).
• The Olympus Menu, which has been a source of great frustration for me for many years, has, in this new model, seen a significant redesign - so much so that it now looks similar to a Canon/Nikon hybrid. Brilliant move!
• I'll get to Olympus lens options in another post, but have to say that its Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 Pro lens (24-80mm 35mm equiv) doesn't appear to display any chromatic aberration or colour fringing! Pity I can't say about some Canon lenses I have used. Zuiko Pro lenses appear to be very well received by every review I have read (and I read a lot).

Anything niggles with the camera as such? Not that I found in this first look - here are a few: 

• Doh! The camera strap is not long enough for me (anyway, I usually replace the maker's strap with a better padded strap bought at Yodabashi Camera)
• A separate battery charger isn't included in the box - an Olympus twin battery charger, offered separately, costs about $150. Currently the only third party batteries and chargers I could find are from Wasabi Power (US$30 for a BLX-1 battery and US$15 for a small USB charger).
• Supplied charge cable is USB-C to USB-C, and is fine for connecting camera to computer for a firmware upgrade - providing you have a newish Mac or PC with USB-C ports. I suspect that most don't have this newer port, including myself. It's trivial but it would have been nice to see a $5 cable included in the box (next to a charger) - now its just something else I have to order on eBay.

Quick side by side comparison between the Olympus OM1 and my 8-year old Canon EOS5D MkIII body (511g versus 950g).

Where photographers really benefit with 4/3 cameras is with the Crop Factor and its affect on lens focal length. Above: Here's a rough comparison between three lenses: the Olympus 300mm f4 lens, a Canon EF 300mm f2.8 lens and the Canon 600mm f4 lens. Because of this crop factor, the Olympus 300mm lens has the same magnification as the 600mm lens, but it's 2.5kg lighter, more than half the size and is around $15,000 cheaper. For my experience, this is one of the most compelling reasons to buy into the 4/3 camera market - considerably more bangs for your buck.