As the Olympus Micro Four
Thirds flagship, the E-M1 Mark II has the unenviable task of taking on Panasonic’s Lumix GH5 in the video arena and, like its predecessor, this camera is seriously orientated towards pro cinematographers. In fact, if you want a mirrorless camera solely for making videos, the GH5 essentially offers everything you’d find on a pro-level camcorder. That said, Olympus has followed on from the E-M5 II which has been popular in the video world, equipping the E-M1 II with an impressive suite of high-end features and capabilities.
For starters it records 4K video in either the proorientated Cinema 4K resolution of 4096x2160 pixels at 24 fps – giving a massive bit rate of 237 Mbps – or in the Ultra HD resolution of 3840x2160 pixels at either 25 or 24 fps (PAL standard, but the NTSC speeds are available too). Full HD 1080p can be recorded at 25 fps or 24 fps with the options of inter-frame (IPB) compression or intra-frame (ALL-I) compression to optimise image quality. Full HD can also be recorded at 50 fps with, logically, IPB compression, but there are no faster speeds to creating slow-mo footage. Automatic partitioning of files at the 4.0 GB size allows for recording clip times of up to 29 minutes and 59 seconds, theoretically at least. You can also make time-lapse movies in 4K, FHD or HD.
Built-in stereo microphones are supplemented with a stereo audio input and there’s also a stereo audio output for connecting headphones. Both are standard 3.5 mm stereo minijack connections. Sound levels can be adjusted manually and there’s a built-in attenuator for shooting in very noisy locations. The wind-cut filter can be set to Low, Standard or High. You can also adjust the levels sent to the headphones. Additional electronic stabilisation – which shifts the image across the sensor slightly – is available when shooting video and, as with the E-M5 II, makes for remarkably smooth hand-held shooting. The electronic stabilisation results in a crop of the image – made prior to downsampling – so there’s the option of just using the sensorshift IS which maintains the full horizontal frame coverage.
An uncompressed and ‘clean’ video feed (8-bit, 4:2:2 colour) is available at the camera’s HDMI terminal for recording to external devices with the option of adding the info displays when feeding to an external monitor. There’s timecoding, a flat ‘Movie Picture Mode’ profile for footage which will be colour graded in post-production, and a slate-tone marker for synchronising sound and vision.
You can use continuous AF with tracking, all the ‘PASM’ exposure modes, the ‘Picture Mode’ presets (if the flat profile isn’t selected), most of the ‘Art Filter’ effects, a choice of four ‘Movie Effects’ (called Art Fade, One Shot Echo, Multi Echo and Old Film), the Highlight/Shadow control, lens vignetting correction, the grid guides, the real-time histogram display and the focus peaking display in a choice of colours. Auto ISO adjustment is available with the auto and semi-auto exposure modes, but not manual.
Touch controls are available for AF point selection, pull focusing, exposure adjustment, audio recording levels, headphone levels and power zooming. This eliminates any operational noise, but you still need a light touch to avoid creating any noticeable vibrations in the image.
Olympus really has stepped up a good few rungs with this camera’s video capabilities and the performance in the 4K resolutions is truly excellent, ably assisted by the effective stabilisation, reliable autofocusing and surprisingly good sound quality from the built-in mics. The E-M1 Mark II is still primarily designed for photographers, so that it’s also a pretty handy video camera – even for more serious productions – is a big bonus.