E-M5 in my hands now

[thx1138]

Took the plunge. Got the new E-M5 right in front of me now. Battery is in the charger, so need to be patient for a little longer. I did get to try it out in the store while the battery wasn't flat yet. First thing you notice ? Damn, it's small. I'd expected it to be in between the PEN and a DSLR but it's almost the same size as a PEN EPL-1/EP-2/3. Second thing you notice ? It's friggin' gorgeous. Got the black one. It's the best looking camera out there as of now. So you turn it on and then ? Bleep, very fast and accuracte AF. And smooth and quiet too. Like a DSLR equally fast using the 12-50. So, I got home. Unpacked it. And tried to see if the battery was flat. It almost was, so I did get a few extra shots. But then it hit me... What the hell am I hearing ? It's buzzing !!! Scared the crap out of me. I reset, turned off, removed lenses like 5 times. I couldn't get the damn thing to be quiet. Sounded like an everlasting anti-dust shake or IBIS initialization. Oh damn....did I just get the first DOA Olympus of my life..... Stay calm. Try again. I then noticed the buzzing went away during video. I then remembered reading the IS system switching to 2-axis instead of 5. So I Googled.....and now all is fine. Seems the buzzing is the IBIS the sensor floats around in. Even if you turn off IS, you can hear it. But rest assured, you will not hear it all the time. You'd have to be in a quiet room to pick it up, I didn't notice it in the store either. But I had no idea it did this and I did read up on the E-M5 in advance. I do wonder what this will do to the battery life. Anyways, it's a non issue once you get past the scary part Now all I gotta do is wait for the battery charge.

[Johannes]

While you are waiting for the battery, it is the best time to RTFM....

[laingjd]

While you are waiting for the battery, it is the best time to RTFM....

But that would spoil all the questions......

[Johannes]

But that would spoil all the questions......

I guess he is not reading it, instead he is checking every corners of the camera, and watch the clock every 10 mins .......

[thx1138]

While you are waiting for the battery, it is the best time to RTFM....

Done !!!

Only 5 pages in the printed manual. Unless you speak al 23 languages, then you can repeat it 23 times

[TSCTSC]

Interesting.....After 2 weeks of ownership, I have never noticed any buzzing or humming sound.....

[cosmonaut]

Your wrong the M9 is the best looking digital camera out there. Congrats, my newly acquired 9-18mm sets lonely on my computer desk. Maybe next week?

[thx1138]

Interesting.....After 2 weeks of ownership, I have never noticed any buzzing or humming sound.....

You sure ?
It stops after 1 minute (or whatever the sleep timer is set to), and comes back when you press any button that wakes it up again. You must have heard it. It's also documented on the EM-5 Faq page.

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_se....asp?id=1583#2

Question number 2.

Any other E-M5 owners care to comment ?

[Mar]

I guess people have different hearing sensitivity...
Some might hear it more, others less, some even won't be able to hear it

But in use it's a non-issue since nobody except you can hear it (maybe some bats can hear it too, so E-M5 might not be the best for bat photography )

I ordered mine too, it should arrive on Tuesday along with 12-50, 12 and 45mm.
Plan to get fisheye for it too and maybe UW housing.

Figured I don't want to carry around my DSLR any more and calculated that E-5 and 14-35mm weighs about the same as: two E-M5s, fisheye, 9-18mm, 12mm, 25mm, 45mm and 40-150mm lenses

Also, since I started mountain biking a lot and going on 50km+ rides, every gram counts and E-M5 with couple of lenses should weight as a water bottle which is quite nice and manageable.

[WolverineX]

i have E-M5 with 45mm/1.8 for 4 days now, and i love it
humming sound is coming from IS and is heard indoors where isn't that much ambient noise. but when shooting outside humming is not noticeable unless you put the camera directly at your ear

[olympusman]

Did you try the FL-50R already ?
Looks a bit big, isnt'it ?

[Johannes]

Before THX reply .....

I also own the FL-50R, but I will use it off camera with R function, more flexible lighting position, less weight on the camera body.

If I want less heavy combination, I will use the good ole FL-20.

[Johannes]

You sure ?
It stops after 1 minute (or whatever the sleep timer is set to), and comes back when you press any button that wakes it up again. You must have heard it. It's also documented on the EM-5 Faq page.

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_se....asp?id=1583#2

Question number 2.

Any other E-M5 owners care to comment ?

It is normal, don't worry.

[thx1138]

Well my first day of using the E-M5 is over. I'm a happy camper

Still looking at the results right now, needed to get LR 4.1 RC2 to get E-M5 support. Shots will follow.

I always liked the PEN's for their smaller format and portability. But I never liked their performance. No dedicated VF (or akward add on EVF), slow, much less comfortable grip and troublesome AF performance in low light. The E-M5 fixed all those issues, and more.

The AF is simply stunning. Low light AF is even better then my E-30 and with little extra's like touch-screen AF and the smooth swithing between OLED screen and EVF, it's like a whole new world.

The tilt OLED screen works like a charm. It cannot be oriented for portrait shots like the screens in the E30/E3/E5/E620, but it still does the job and it feels stronger and less flimsy. OLED quality is awesome too, menu's look less 1990's
Menu's are very familiar to E-system users too. Glad they choose to do so, and not a PEN menu style or a new one for that matter. Didn't need to check the manual, everything feels familiar and explains itself pretty much.

I switched the turn-dials, so the front one does aperture in A mode and back one does exposure compensation. My index finger reaches the front dial easier. But I'm not used to this setup, so I might switch it back.

Now the 12-50mm lens. I was afraid it might not deliver. But it does. Ok, it's not super bright (fast) but the high ISO performance of the E-M5 makes that a non issue. And there's still enough bokeh at f/3.5 and 6.3 surprisingly. Bokeh looks to be creamier and less harsh then on the 12-60 SWD too. Need to have more experience to be sure. All in all, the 10mm shorter focal length wasn't missed. It fel like having the 12-60 on it. Who needs SWD, the E-M5 AF is just as fast if not faster.

But, the 12-50 has a nice extra bonus. Which is the power-zoom. This was a very pleasant surprise. I practically used the E-Zoom all the time. Didn't think I would but I did. When shooting overhead or down low in akward positions, it's a lot easier then turning the zoom ring. I hope they do this on every future zoom lens, but guess it depends on the design a lot. Didn't use the macro mode yet.

Last think worth mentioning is the 9 FPS. Ok, IS is turned off, but my AE brackets are now 99% perfectly overlaid in freehand.
Oh almost forgot. No mirror, but also virtually no shutter sound. Very good for candids

Negative points ?
Hmm guess the only one I can think of now it that the sensor that detects your eye against the EVF is perhaps a bit too sensitive. When you move something close to the EVF the back screen sometimes switches off. Happened many times. Not sure if this is something to get used to, or will be real issue in the long run.

[Godfrey]

Played with one at the store today. Also an X-Pro1..

Didn't like the X-Pro1 at all.

The E-M5 seems very nice, a tight little camera. Control space is a bit snug, but everything seems usable. My friends behind the counter tell me they're selling a lot of the E-M5. Seems like Oly has a good winner in hand.

Me? I'm content with what I got at present. :-)

[Gwyver]

humming sound is coming from IS ...
but when shooting outside humming is not noticeable unless you put the camera directly at your ear

when you put the camera directly at your ear - is it better to frame your pictures using the EVF or the LCD?

[WolverineX]

when you put the camera directly at your ear - is it better to frame your pictures using the EVF or the LCD?

regular comedian, aren't you?

[thx1138]

Thought I'd share an E-M5 example shot in macro mode with the 12-50mm, which in macro is fixed at 43mm. Closed it down to f/8, ISO 400, 1/6th sec, handheld, no flash overhead spotlight.

I cropped the shot to an area of 70% of the full image, and resized to 950 pix wide. The second shot is a crop in the middle of the frame.

It's the cockpit of a P-51 Mustang model kit I'm building. I think the amount of detail is stunning. And it also proofs the benefit of the 5 axis IBIS. Handheld at f/8 only ISO400. On a tripod at f/11 perhaps with a flash I imagine you get even more detail out of it.

[RocketRick]

That IBIS is pretty darn effective to do THAT good in a macro shot, handheld, at 1/6 second! Wow!

I can handhold and get pretty sharp photos sometimes at some pretty slow shutter speeds, but 1/6 second is REALLY pushing it, in macro no less.