Olympus OM-D E-M5 photo samples
The camera easily handles a wide variety of shooting situations from bright, high-contrast light to the relatively dim.
Dynamic range, JPEG
As far as I can tell on my mediocre laptop screen, the E-M5's JPEGs deliver a reasonable dynamic range. I don't yet know how much recoverable detail it retains in the highlights, though, as there seems to be a little more clipping in the highlights in some photos than I'd like.
Note that this image is square because I accidentally managed to switch the aspect ratio settings. That's Shawn Barnett from Imaging Resource knee deep in the snow.
(1/1600 sec, f8, ISO 200, center-weighted metering, AWB, 12mm lens)
Note that this image is square because I accidentally managed to switch the aspect ratio settings. That's Shawn Barnett from Imaging Resource knee deep in the snow.
(1/1600 sec, f8, ISO 200, center-weighted metering, AWB, 12mm lens)
12mm lens
The 12mm lens is a nice, sharp lens, and you can see it delivers good midrange detail. But once again, the images look a bit oversharpened to me. That's Josh Root from photo.net pointing the camera right back at me.
(1/1600 sec, f5, ISO 200, spot metering, AWB, 12mm lens)
(1/1600 sec, f5, ISO 200, spot metering, AWB, 12mm lens)
Sharpness
This looks quite sharp -- borderline oversharpened, at least on my laptop display. The Olympus 45mm lens is one of my favorite Micro Four Thirds lenses, though, and great for street photography.
(1/200 sec, f4.5, ISO 200, spot metering, AWB, 45mm lens)
(1/200 sec, f4.5, ISO 200, spot metering, AWB, 45mm lens)
Shooting speed
The E-M5 performs very well, focusing and shooting fast enough for impulsive shots.
(1/500 sec, f7.1, ISO 200, spot metering, AWB, 45mm lens)
(1/500 sec, f7.1, ISO 200, spot metering, AWB, 45mm lens)
Continuous shooting
With a fast SD card, like the 95MB/sec SanDisk Extreme Pro I was using, the E-M5 can sustain a fast burst rate for a reasonable number of frames -- about 10 or so -- shooting raw+JPEG.
(1/320 sec, f4.6, ISO 200, spot metering, AWB, 12-50mm lens at 20mm)
(1/320 sec, f4.6, ISO 200, spot metering, AWB, 12-50mm lens at 20mm)
ISO 400 JPEG
I can see processing artifacts in the out-of-focus areas, though the area of focus looks okay -- at least on my mediocre laptop display.
(1/60 sec, f2.5, ISO 400, spot metering, AWB, 45mm lens)
(1/60 sec, f2.5, ISO 400, spot metering, AWB, 45mm lens)
45mm lens bokeh
The 45mm lens renders lovely out-of-focus highlights. This is Pascal Forget of Technostérone and Salut, Bonjour!
(1/500 sec, f1.8, ISO 200, spot metering, AWB, 45mm lens)
(1/500 sec, f1.8, ISO 200, spot metering, AWB, 45mm lens)
ISO 800, JPEG
This isn't bad for ISO 800. It retains a significant amount of detail, and the only softness you see is in conjunction with the falloff in depth-of-field. That said, this is also a close-up shot, which tends to start out sharper.
(1/80sec, f2.2, ISO 800, spot metering, AWB, 45mm lens)
(1/80sec, f2.2, ISO 800, spot metering, AWB, 45mm lens)
ISO 1600, JPEG
ISO 1600 shots can be quite usable. Though there's some color noise and processing artifacts at this level, you may not see them at smaller sizes. I can't tell much on my laptop display.
(1/100 sec, f1.8, ISO 1600, spot metering, AWB, 45mm lens)
(1/100 sec, f1.8, ISO 1600, spot metering, AWB, 45mm lens)
More Galleries
My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera
My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera
20 Photos
Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra
Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra
10 Photos
The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum
The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum
23 Photos
Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design
Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design
23 Photos
I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites
I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites
34 Photos
17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About
17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About
18 Photos
AI or Not AI: Can You Spot the Real Photos?