Review of the Olympus OM-D EM-5 For Street Photography

by Eric Kim on March 9, 2012

1x1.trans Review of the Olympus OM D EM 5 For Street Photography

Recently when I was in Kuala Lumpur, I had the great pleasure of meeting Robin Wong, a passionate local street photographer. He was also lucky enough to get a test-unit of the new Olympus OM-D EM-5 directly from Olympus, and tested it extensively the past few days.

As mentioned in my last post, you don’t want to fall victim to GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). However if you are using a DSLR and find it too bulky or have a point-and-shoot and want something a bit beefier yet compact, I found the Olympus OM-D EM-5 a pretty solid option paired with the Olympus 12mm f/2 Lens (which is great for zone focusing). However if you already have an Olympus EP-3 or any other relatively Micro 4/3rds camera out there, I wouldn’t recommend an upgrade.

If you got any questions about the camera, make sure to ask Robin Wong over at his blog.

Tagged as: em-5, equipment, olympus om-d, street photography

  • robin wong

    Thanks Eric for the link and kind comments on me !!
    It was indeed a great honor meeting you and having you with us in Malaysia. Luke and Kelvin were raving on how much they have learned from your workshop, and you really did inspire many of us to just grab the camera and go out, make some street photography happen.
    Do come back to Malaysia again !! We miss you already.

  • http://twitter.com/pookiepookieca poo

    Five days for Eric to screw over his own “10 Tips on How to Cure Yourself of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)”….

    Congratulations on proving the hypocrisy of your own post Eric!

    ***I am in no way referring to Robin Wong in any disparaging way whatsoever, he clearly knows his stuff and is a very knowledgeable man.

    • http://erickimphotography.com/blog Eric Kim

      As mentioned before, I fall victim to GAS as much as the next guy! But I still try my hardest to avoid the temptation.

      As with the review of the OM-D, it is a great camera in my opinion for anyone who wants to get a new camera for street photography that is compact and responsive. Not a good idea for someone with GAS (simply buying cameras for the sake of buying cameras, when you already have a ton of cameras). Hope that clarifies things!

      • EK

        it’s sad that so many people fall for your utter BS

    • EK

      he doesn’t know how to produce a single good photograph, that’s why he’s hiding behind gas and shiny Leica gear

  • http://twitter.com/brysonwong brysonwong

    Do you think an EVF is essential for street photography with the E-P3? Thanks!

    • http://erickimphotography.com/blog Eric Kim

      I would say it isn’t but try it out if you like it!

    • Dacoit

      In bright sunlight, the lack of an EVF is a real handicap.

  • http://www.eriklaurikulo.se/ Erik Lauri Kulo

    Alright, now we want to see it in action!
    I think Olympus failed big time with the camera considering that it doesn’t have the benefits of the original OM-series: small, light-weight with great performance. This OM-D is small, yes, but it doesn’t have a full frame sensor – thus it’s not small compared to its competition with the same sensor size.

    • http://www.friendlyimitationofwork.com/ Tobias W.

      Sorry, but this is the one of the most useless comments posted on this blog so far. Are you just trolling?

      You measure the “performance” of a camera mainly by its sensor size? That’s pretty pathetic.

      The competition with full frame sensors (in small bodies) has not managed to deliver a body that has 5-axis in-body image stabilization, blazingly fast auto-focus that can also be used on a high resolution touch screen and weather-sealing. By the way, the OM-D body is half the price compared to the Fuji XPro1 (which is also not full-frame).

      Full-frame is so overrated. Small sensors now have good enough noise performance on high ISO for most use cases (I want to believe Robin when he says clean images at ISO 6400, but it’s likely going to be 3200, which is good enough. In any case, it’s probably going to be close enough to be on par with older full-frame sensors). As to the depth of field: are you one of those bokeh-whores? Is that why you are drooling over a bigger sensor? That’s so yesterday and Flickr-Explore. Just get a faster lens and get over it.

      This new Olympus OM-D promises to be what Micro Four Thirds should have been from the start. Olympus is far from failing here as you claim. I’m confident I can be more productive and produce more high quality images with this camera than with any full-frame camera currently available on the market, in particular when it comes to have a camera that I can take everywhere. And judging by your website and the images you chose to show, I think most of those images you could have easily produced with an OM-D (or any other decent smaller sensor camera) without breaking a sweat.

      • http://www.eriklaurikulo.se/ Erik Lauri Kulo

        I don’t know why I would even bother responding to such a ill-meant comment. Why do you feel the need to insult me just becuase you disagree with me?

        I’ve used crop sensor cameras for a longer time than I’ve used full frame and while it’s difficult, if not impossible to tell the difference in a blind test; you can sure tell the difference out on the field. Mainly because you’re not limited to the crop sensors longer depth of field, so you have the availability of using a short depth of field when you’d like, and longer when you’d like. It doens’t have anything to do with “bokeh-whoring”, it’s all about not letting the camera be a limitation. It should be an extention of your artistic ideas, not a limitaiton.

        As I said: if this Olympus is going to be the next OM-series camera, then it should also follow the path that OM was all about. Now it’s “just another Micro Four Thirds” in my humble opinion. Which doesn’t mean it’s a bad camera, I just think it fails to follow the path of earlier OM-cameras.

        • http://www.friendlyimitationofwork.com/ Tobias W.

          Erik, I didn’t mean to insult. But you gotta admit that your only argument against the OM-D is the absence of a full frame sensor. That IS a super useless comment, also given that you state this was a failure of Olympus.

          The sensor size does not define the merit of a camera system. If that was the case, there would only be full frame sensors and almost nobody could afford to buy such a camera.

          Why should Olympus try to produce a full frame OM-D that is going to be four times as expensive as the actual OM-D and wouldn’t come with dozens(!!) of existing native lenses to chose from?! That just doesn’t make sense – neither for Olympus nor for its users.

          You are talking about limitations of non-full-frame sensors. Isn’t it obvious that most full frame cameras are really big, really expensive and need really big and heavy lenses as well (if you want auto-focus and zoom lenses that is)? Do you carry your 5DII with you all the time? Including what lenses? How much does that weight? Can you use your 5DII in all environments without drawing too much attention? Can you use your 5DII with a tripod everywhere without restrictions? Can you hand-hold your heavy 5DII with its heavy lenses and compensate with image stabilization (using ANY lens) for more than 1 stop? Is your 5DII sealed against dust and water?

          The answer – if you’re honest – is probably no. Smaller cameras, with smaller sensors and thus smaller lenses fill that void. It’s a segment that is growing faster than any other camera segment. To state that the OM-D is a failure because it doesn’t suit /your/ personal preference for a larger sensor, is neither realistic but simply amusing. It’s probably going to sell like hot cakes.

          • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504436614 Lee Harris

            Totally with you Tobias, also I am sick of the ‘full frame bullshit’ as if it was somehow handed down to us from the gods, it was a bastardised format that was convenient because motion picture happened to use it!!! An ideal format for a lens is square or close to. If you are so obsessed with depth of field and ‘full frame get a Hasselblad, etc etc, god knows they are not much bigger than the monsters Canikon are churning out these days. And yes I have said before that the justifying of FF with the DOF argument is crap, (akin to MHZ myth, where fanboys cling to whatever excuse to justify their ‘religion’) maybe 5 % of images MIGHT benefit from extreme DOF but trust me I recently took images with 4/3 camera using a 50 mm equivalent lens at f2.8 and DOF was pretty extreme, so 90mm at 1.7 mm will be more than enough, the OM D type camera and EVF is the future say good bye to the over priced DSLRs (5 years?)

        • http://www.friendlyimitationofwork.com/ Tobias W.

          Oh, I forgot to ask. What do you think the original OM camera system was about? The fact that is used a full frame to expose? Back then, the OM’s market differentiator was the size of the camera, not the fact that it exposed on a full frame. Also, later OM models used a patented method (invented by Minolta) that was measuring the exposure off the film while the shutter was open. Later, Minolta started to use their own patented method in their CLE.

          For buyers back then, full frame or not was not a differentiator (actually, 35mm “full frame” was the smaller format already compared to the more expensive medium format).

          And today, the main differentiator of the OM-D is again the compact size and an innovative and unique in-body image stabilization as it exists in NO OTHER camera. I can’t see how the new OM-D is not following the footsteps of the original OM series given Olympus managed to establish unique differentiators that match the original OM in spirit.

  • EK

    where are all the great pics from your world travels??

    • http://erickimphotography.com/blog Eric Kim

      Working on some long-term projects, will hopefully publish them by the end of the year in December!

  • Talnae

    Is amazing to see how to Olympus has cloned in the set the Blanahi´s cameras appearance mounting the old Hexanon lenses. Also the rectangular shape of the new Olympus lens hood is identical to the Konica black aluminium ones. (http://blanahi.fortunecity.es/ )

  • Druv Kamat

    hey eric, i originaly wanted a second hand lieca m8 but im starting to reconsider the camera i want. i would like to know what the very low light preformanc eis on the camera, and what will the camera be like with a leica lense mounted. also, whats the quality of the pics like?

    thanks

  • Aiden Lloyd

    Great video, great post, but now I’m more confused than ever…X-pro1, X100, EM-5, or GRDIV for a street alternative to my D5000??? Or something else (not Leica I can’t afford one haha)? Please help!

  • http://www.facebook.com/alain.lee.338 Alain Lee

    for the Iso performance alone I thought it was worth upgrading to the OM-D. I used to own an e-pl3 and found street photography at night with a f2.8 lens just couldn’t cut it. Now cranking it up to 3200 or even 6400 it still takes quite good shots. Also I find the EVF crucial when I am using it with the old canon fd manual focus lens.

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