Camera review
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Olympus OM-DE-M1 After the OM-D E-M5’s success, Olympus developed an OM-D for professionals – the OM-D E-M1. It has the same retro styling as the E-M5, except for a more chunky handgrip. The viewfinder is up there with the best, and performs well in low light, keeping colours vibrant. A Dual Fast AF system includes phase detection pixels so using old Four Thirds lenses is seamless. Micro Four Thirds lenses use only contrast detection, but this is very quick nonetheless. In continuous AF mode, phase detection joins in and the dual system does an impressive job of keeping moving subjects in focus when shooting bursts of up to 6.5fps. Also featured is the excellent OM-D five-axis sensor-shift image stabilisation. After inputting the focal length of the lens you’re using, the effect is great. Sharp images at an equivalent focal length of 300mm using a shutter speed of 1/20sec.
Olympus OM-DE-M10 You could mistake the E-M10 for the E-M5 – it’s the same design, although a little smaller. This can make handling a little cramped – an accessory handgrip helps, for an extra £54. Otherwise, handling is excellent with plenty of direct control and incorporation of 2x2 control from the E-M1 via an assigned button. You can also assign multifunction capabilities to one button, and together with six programmable buttons, it all makes for excellent flexibility. Most of the technology inside the E-M10 is a mix of features from the other two OM-Ds. The sensor is the same as the E-M5, and in many ways the E-M10 offers more than the E-M5. The main area where it falls short is in the image stabilisation, a three-axis system rather than five-axis that reduces the advantage on paper, but is still very good. We could get a third of shots sharp at 1/20sec, even using a focal length equivalent to 600mm.
PRICE £1949 with 12-40mm lens CONTACT www.olympus.co.uk SENSOR 16.3-megapixel Live MOS with TruePic VII engine ISO RANGE ISO 100-25,600 (expanded) AUTOFOCUS Single, continuous, manual SHOOTING SPEED Single, continuous 10fps, self-timer DIMENSIONS (WXHXD) 130.4x93.5x63.1mm WEIGHT 497g (inc. battery and memory card) KEY SPECS
PRICE £679 with 14-42mm lens CONTACT www.olympus.co.uk SENSOR 16.1-megapixel Live MOS with TruePic VII ISO RANGE 100-25,600 (expanded) AUTOFOCUS Single, continuous, tracking, manual SHOOTING SPEED Single, continuous 8fps, self-timer DIMENSIONS (WXHXD) 119.1x82.3x45.9mm WEIGHT 396g (inc. battery and memory card) KEY SPECS
Panasonic GH4 The headlines about the GH4 have been about its 4K video skills, but it’s first and foremost a stills camera for serious photographers. It feels good in the hand, but it’s big and not far off the size of a DSLR – the usual size advantage is reduced, but the 2x crop factor still means a huge advantage when it comes to lenses. White-balance, ISO and exposure compensation buttons are within easy reach on the top-plate, and the buttons across the back offer quick control. Custom control options are plentiful – five physical and five virtual Fn buttons, assignable to one of at least 50 functions. Focusing is based on contrast detection, but incorporates Depth from Defocus (DFD) technology, a kind of software-based phase detection – speed is on a par with Olympus’s Fast AF. A sensor and processor designed to cope with 4K means an impressive top shooting rate of 12fps, or 7.5fps with continuous focusing.
Panasonic GX7 The GX7 sits at the top of Panasonic’s CSC lines that aren’t styled like DSLRs. It’s much smaller than the GH4, although the magnesium alloy chassis is still solid, and the handgrip is chunky. The viewfinder has an impressive resolution with 2.76 million dots. It also tilts upwards by 90˚, positionable at any point along the way, or there’s the tiltable LCD. There are dual command dials and other main controls on the directional selector buttons, but nine Fn buttons, including five on the touchscreen, give you flexibility. Focusing is contrast detection based so requires hunting, but it happens very fast. A Low Light AF system provides claimed sensitivity down to -4EV, and performance was impressive. The GX7 was the first Panasonic to feature in-body image stabilisation. We were getting 60 per cent of shots sharp at 1/25sec when using a focal length equivalent to 400mm, so it’s an impressive system.
PRICE £1749 with 14-140mm lens CONTACT www.panasonic.co.uk SENSOR 16.05-megapixel Live MOS with Venus Engine ISO RANGE ISO 100-25,600 (expanded) AUTOFOCUS Single, flexible, continuous, manual SHOOTING SPEED Single, continuous 12fps, self-timer DIMENSIONS (WXHXD) 127x95.5x41.7mm WEIGHT 560g (inc. battery and memory card) KEY SPECS
PRICE £599 with 14-42mm lens CONTACT www.panasonic.co.uk SENSOR 16-megapixel Live MOS with Venus Engine ISO RANGE ISO 125-25,600 (expanded) AUTOFOCUS Single, flexible, continuous, manual SHOOTING SPEED Single, continuous 5fps, self-timer DIMENSIONS (WXHXD) 122.6x70.7x54.6mm WEIGHT 402g (inc. battery and memory card) KEY SPECS
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Issue 12 | Photography News
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