Testseek.co.uk have collected 169 expert reviews of the Olympus OM-D E-M5 and the average rating is 85%. Scroll down and see all reviews for Olympus OM-D E-M5.
April 2012
(85%)
169 Reviews
Average score from experts who have reviewed this product.
Users
(92%)
164 Reviews
Average score from owners of the product.
850100169
The editors liked
Weatherproof finish (and weatherproof 1250 mm lens)
Great retro design
Picture quality up to 3200 ISO
Two settings dials
Effective stabilisation system
Sharp
Smooth EVF
Tilt LCD touchscreen
Quiet shutter release
One of the first things you'll notice when holding the Olympus OM-D E-M5 is its very high build quality. It’s tough
Robust in feel and comes weather sealed to protect itself against grubby dirt particles and moisture
Making the Olympus OM-D E-M5 ideal for shooting in testing conditions. The Olympus OM-D E-M is pretty stylish too
In a very retro kind of way that keeps things simple
But still h
Outstanding image quality
Highly customisable feature set
Compact design
Wide seleciton of accessories and lenses
Weather resistant body
Art filters add fun factor
Good macro mode on 12-50mm zoon
Fast autofocus and burst mode
Solid build and retro style
Angle-adjustable OLED
Integral viewfinder
It's got the look
Innovative stabilisation system
Fast autofocus
Weather-sealed design
Customisation and detailed menus
Micro Four Thirds opens door to many lenses
Excellent viewfinder
Tilting touchscreen
Customisable dials and buttons
High image quality at low ISOs
New art filters
Very fast autofocus
Sublime picture and video quality
Not as big as it looks
Compact
Relatively light magnesium body. Both the body and the 1250mm kit lens are weathersealed. Fun
Creative art filters for incamera experimentation. A wide array of available lenses. Supercomfortable and almostindispensable grip attachment
Outstanding image quality. Highly customizable feature set. Compact design. Wide selection of accessories and lenses. Weather resistant body. Art Filters add fun factor. Good macro mode on 1250mm zoom. Fast autofocus and burst mode
Super-fast AF and excellent image quality
Lots of features and user customisation
Easy to use and solid build quality
Good quality EVF and tiltable screen
The editors didn't like
No builtin flash (separate accessory supplied)
Battery life could be better
Menus can be confusing
Handling room for improvement
No headphones or mic sockets for video
3D AF tracking isn't always reliable
No GPS
No WiFi
At around the £1
000 the Olympus OM-D E-M5 does not come cheap
Which is likely to put many off
Or encourage enthusiasts to go for alternative DSLR cameras. A lack of microphone output means that the more enthusiast among photographers will have to spend extra on an adapter.
Menu system can be daunting
No built-in mic adapter
Small buttons can be difficult for large fingers
Soft humming when powered up
Backplate buttons are tiny
Poor battery life
Pricey
Poor low-light autofocus
ISO 200 is lowest sensitivity
Image quality similar to Panasonic G3
Continuous/tracking AF not a DSLR-beater
Did we mention the price
Plastic unresponsive buttons
No in
Built flash
Odd (sound) emitted
Buttons feel a bit naff
No builtin popup flash. Can't change exposure settings while shooting video. Shallow eye cup diminishes the EVF's effectiveness in bright outdoor situations.
Menu system can be daunting. No builtin mic adapter. Small buttons can be difficult for large fingers. Soft humming noise when powered up
Great battery life, Superior image quality, even in low light, You can really push ISO without sacrificing resolution, Durability, Very powerful auto-focus and image stabilization technology
Button design, No pop-up flash – accessory only, There can be some in-camera digging before you get your customized settings up and running
Should you buy it? If you can afford the EM-5 and you're in the market for a MFT, yes, you should buy it. That might sound a little niche, but MFT cameras are becoming insanely popular and insanely expensive, so there's real demand for what Olympus is ...
Tough weather-sealed build quality, Outstanding High ISO noise performance, Great quality viewfinder and tilting OLED touch-screen, 5-axis image stabilisation which works with any lens, 2, 3, 5 and 7-frame auto bracketing.
Screen only tilts and there's no touch functions in movie modes, Distracting whirring noise from stabilisation motor, No built-in mic socket, Flash unit clips-on rather then being built-in, Continuous AF not as consistent as a phase-detect system.
The OM-D E-M5 marks the beginning of a new strand in mirrorless CSC cameras that poses the strongest threat yet to the dominance of DSLRs in the higher-end of the consumer market. It cleverly combines a retro SLR design (which is still widely held in ...
Published: 2012-05-25, Author: Lori , review by: cnet.com
A dust-and-weather-sealed design distinguishes the Olympus OM-D E-M5 from the rest of the interchangeable-lens crowd, and its class-leading performance doesn't hurt, either. Plus, it's got an interesting, relatively streamlined shooting design
The photo quality is solid, but not outstanding, especially if you shoot only JPEG
If you're looking for something a lot better, faster, and more sophisticated than a point-and-shoot that can stand up to your adventures, the Olympus OM-D E-M5 is a great choice.
There's quite a lot to like about the OM-D EM-5. If I had to mention something negative, it would be the small buttons although they do allow for a larger screen so it's really more of a positive trade off than a minor gripe. The flash is is a little...
Very good photo quality (though best results are achieved by shooting RAW), Wellbuilt, weathersealed metal body with a retro flair, Fiveaxis, sensorshift image stabilization system, Beautiful 3inch articulating touchscreen OLED display with 610,000 pixels, plus a large and sharp EVF, Full manual controls, with lots of white balance options, five kinds of bracketing, realtime tone curve adjustment
Occasional underexposure and highlight clipping, Tiny, cluttered button layout makes it way too easy to accidentally press the wrong one, OLED display difficult to see outdoors, AF system tends to "hunt" when recording movies, "Hiss" from IS system may bother some folks, No builtin flash (though included external flash is pretty good), Movies cannot be edited incamera, Full manual on CDROM
Conclusion Olympus' OM-D EM-5 is their flagship Micro Four Thirds camera, and it performs at the level that one would expect for a product with that title. It has a well-built and compact weather-sealed magnesium alloy body (available in silver or bla...
Outstanding image quality, * Highly customizable feature set, * Compact design, * Wide selection of accessories and lenses, * Weather resistant body, * Art Filters add fun factor, * Good macro mode on 12-50mm zoom, * Fast autofocus and burst mode,
Menu system can be daunting, * No built-in mic adapter, * Small buttons can be difficult for large fingers, * Soft humming noise when powered up, Price when rated: $1000 (body only); $1300 with 12-50mm 1:3.5-6.3 zoom lens
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No builtin popup flash. Can't change exposure settings while shooting video. Shallow eye cup diminishes the EVF's effectiveness in bright outdoor situations
Abstract: Three years after making its first entrance into the compact system camera arena with the PEN E-P1, Olympus has gone back to its roots again to produce the OM-D, with its retro styling owed to its analogue predecessor.Inside the camera are an all new 16 m...
The OM-D E-M5 is the best Olympus compact system camera to date, and also a strong contender for best compact system camera full stop. It delivers a compelling mix of classic looks, excellent image quality, an extensive feature set and immediate respo...
Good images and video, DSLRlike feature set, Compact, stylish form factor
Costly bodyonly configuration, grip and lenses add expense, A 2x crop factor doesn't lend itself to wide angle shooting
If I were in the market for a mirrorless, interchangeable lens compact digital and was not wedded to any particular manufacturer or system, the E-M5 would probably be it. Of all the other cameras in this class that I've already reviewed, I like this one...
