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Olympus cameras have been at the forefront of the Micro Four Thirds systems. The company has changed the way we look at small sensor cameras, especially in terms of build and image quality. While there are multiple excellent options in the company’s portfolio, there is one device that is quite exceptional in the mirrorless range: The OMD EM1. Sure, it is old, but it is truly perfect in many ways. Here is a quick look.
The Olympus OMD EM1 is a mirrorless camera launched in 2013. It was designed to replace the aging DSLR-style MFT camera, the EM5. The EM5 did not impress us as much as the EM1 did, and there are multiple reasons for this. For starters, it is the solid build of the camera and the intelligent placement of the buttons. We even put the camera under the faucet, and it performed flawlessly despite the water gushing on top of it. However, the mirrorless camera can only survive if the weather-sealed lens is attached to it.
Like the outside, the insides were just as great. The magnesium alloy body houses a 16.3MP Live MOS sensor, a TruePic VII processor, and a 2,360k-Dot EVF. There were also 81 AF points, a 1,037k-dot LCD, 5-axis image stabilisation, and a burst rate of 10fps. The device had an ISO range of 100–25600, and it could also record videos at Full HD 1080p at 30fps. The AF points may seem low, but the EM1 performed well when it came to focusing. In daylight, the focus was quick and would rarely miss the originally intended subject. At the same time, the focusing points could be broken down into four more areas, which allowed for better focusing in low light.
The mirrorless camera is also the crème de la crème choice for serious photographers. The OMD camera also excelled at image quality. Although the sensor was not significantly better than the EM5’s, it certainly produced more versatile RAW files, which further improved the editing abilities of serious photographers. The dynamic range, color depth, and details were all spectacular. Unlike the performance during the day, the images at night had a grainy output. That is expected because the MFT sensor is far smaller than APS-C cameras. Images up to ISO 6400 are much cleaner, and the grain appears film-like.
The device performed so well that we had to give it our highest award, the Editor’s Choice Award. As we said in our review, “When considering this camera or any other high-end mirrorless camera, there is a major emphasis on things like lenses, image quality, features, and more. And in all honesty, the best camera has a perfect combination of these things.” The company further built from here on and launched more iterations, which became popular with travel and wildlife photographers. Thus, the EM1 continues to be commendable and an obvious choice even today.
