Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III
A new sensor and processor in a smaller body gives Olympus’s latest camera serious appeal. Is it third time lucky? Angela Nicholson investigates
Although Olympus has given the OM-D E-M5 III the same 20.4MP
Live MOS sensor and TruePic VIII processing engine as the flagship OM-D E-M1 II, the processor has been reworked to make it even snappier.
Using this sensor means that the E-M5 III has the same 121-point (all cross-type) hybrid autofocus hardware as the E-M1 II. However, Olympus has rejigged the focusing algorithm to make it more sensitive and consistent in difficult conditions. In addition, the tracking performance has been upgraded, as the AF system uses data from both the Live View feed and recorded images.
That’s good news, and it comes paired with the ability to shoot at up to 10fps with the electronic shutter in continuous autofocus (C-AF) mode. The maximum rate with the mechanical shutter with C-AF is 6fps, but it can achieve 10fps in Single AF (S-AF) mode.
If you need to capture split-second moments, there’s Pro Capture mode, which enables shooting at up to 30fps in Single AF mode. When this mode is selected, the camera starts shooting from the moment the shutter release is half-pressed. When it’s fully pressed, it records the 14 proceeding images and continues to write files until either the maximum frame count is reached or the shutter button is released.
Further good news is that the sensor cleaning system has been upgraded with the addition of the electronic membrane of the E-M1X, which is said to reduce the chance of dust sticking to it.
Thanks in part to the reduction in the size of the in-body image stabilisation system, Olympus has been able to make the E-M5 III smaller than the E-M5 II. Although it’s made from polycarbonate, it still feels pretty robust.
It’s also good to see that the three-inch, 1.04 million-dot touchscreen is mounted on a variangle hinge. That’s really useful when you’re shooting above or below head height in either landscape or portrait orientation.
There’s also an OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) with 2.36 million dots. There are larger, more resolute viewfinders available, but the E-M5 Mark III’s is fine, and it gives a decent preview of the scene. If you prefer, you can activate the Simulated Optical Viewfinder (S-OVF) to see the image without any of the camera’s settings applied, but that misses a key benefit of an EVF.
Existing OM-D E-M5 II users will spot a few differences in the Mark III’s control arrangement, and it’s now quite similar to the E-M1 II, with the mode dial sitting on the right side of the top plate. Crucially, there’s direct access to most of the key parameters (white balance is a notable exception), and the Super Control Panel is activated with a press of the OK button.
It’s great to see that the clever Bulb modes (Live Bulb, Live Time and Live Composite) are now accessed via a B option on the mode dial, instead of adjusting the shutter speed beyond the longest selected exposure time.
One disappointment is that Olympus has stuck with the navigation pad on the back of the camera. A mini-joystick would be faster and easier to use, especially for setting the AF point when the viewfinder is in use, but it’s not to be. When AF Targeting Pad is set to On in the menu, you can use the screen to set the AF point while you look in the viewfinder, but it’s a bit temperamental.
As it has a Four Thirds type sensor, the E-M5 III lags a little behind APS-C and full-frame cameras for image quality at high sensitivity settings, but it delivers excellent results in
most situations. Noise is controlled well up to around ISO 6,400 or 12,800, but the top setting of ISO 25,600 is best avoided because there’s a bit too much noise or smudging of details, depending upon whether you look at RAW or JPEG files.
However, thanks to the excellent stabilisation system, the upper sensitivity settings aren’t required as often as they might be with another camera. At the wide end of the 12-40mm f/2.8, for example, we managed to get sharp handheld images when shooting with shutter speeds measured in whole seconds. With an elbow rest, we could even get sharp handheld shots with exposure times of around eight seconds. That means on many occasions you can leave your tripod behind, and a motorised gimbal is unnecessary for video shooting.
Olympus’s work on the AF system has paid off here, and the E-M5 III copes extremely well with most situations that are thrown its way, including very low light. In good light it can be relied upon to get fast-moving subjects sharp when they contrast from their background. And although the AF Tracking (C-AF TR) struggles with very fast movement, it’s great with subjects like birds that tend to move rather unpredictably.
In addition, the Face and Eye detection picks out eyes in a scene very quickly, even in very dim conditions, helping to get the most important part of a portrait sharp.
Olympus’s work on the AF system has paid off here, and the E-M5 III copes extremely well with most situations