Olympus E-M5 II Technical Review

A headphone jack is provided on the optional grip.

Well done, and thanks. I have both the E-M1 and the E-M10.  I actually prefer the E-M1 for travel.  Although a bit larger than the M10, the M1 is weather sealed when used with the excellent Olympus M.Zuiko 12-40 Pro lens.  Weather proofing is important to me for travel; I use the M10 for as a home base, carry around, everyday camera when I'm not concerned about foul weather.

Nice review Tony !! But: The Alpha 7 Sony has much bigger lenses than the Olympus ! If you are traveling that can make a difference !!!

How about the EM5 MKII with 75mm f1.8 in studio.  Would expect to take at f1.8 ISO 200 where would need ISO 400 up with Nikon with 70-200 f2.8

For stills I much prefer contrast focus. Especially from olympus. It's much much faster than pdaf offered by most others. And don't even bother down talking the ibis. It's easily one of the best available. Better than the em1 also.

Hello Tony, I currently have a Canon T1I with the 18-55 kit lens and the 75-300 sincee 2009. I want to change to a new camera and I am struggling to know which camera will be better. I like the Olympus OM-D EM5 Mark II and the Sony A6000 and the Panasonic GX7. Which of the two will you recommend to buy or which other will you recommend instead of those. I travel several times a year and I want something that is easy to carry to substitute my T1i. Thanks in advance.

I enjoyed your review and comparisons.  I was looking at the E-M1 vs the E-M5 II, thinking "But the M1 has phase detection AF."  I suppose if I had a bunch of older Four Thirds lenses, that would rock.  But I don't so… what's left in the E-M1's bag of tricks?  Better ergonomics?  Better battery?  Seems the E-M5 II has eclipsed the E-M1 in everything else.

Couple other things I think you could have thrown in for your comparison to the Alpha a7.  I think the lens selection for the M43 standard is better than the Sony's full frame E-Mount lenses.  Also, no IBIS for the a7 and I have heard the IBIS in the a7 II is good, but still not as good as the E-M5 II.

Minor corrections, Panasonic also fails to employ phase detection and Olympus does included it, but only with the E-M1. The phase detection on the E-M1 does work with M43 lenses in conjunction with contrast detection. With 4/3 lenses, it only uses phase detection. In high speed mode you can see the phase detection array on the screen while releasing the shutter with either 4/3 or M43 lenses. I agree that phase detection on the E-M1 was added to bring into the fold those displaced 4/3 lens owners more so than to add any substantial functionality.  However, the firmware 3.0 has really improved phase detection on the E-M1 to the point that there is definitely a noticeable difference in its performance versus using the low mode which is solely contrast based. In af-c high speed mode, I find that it takes slightly more time (fractionally) to initially lock onto a subject than the A6000, but tends to be far more accurate and has a higher keeper rate.

In this review i found out that my E-M5 is USB 2.0  🙁 How I could missed that. From now on, Ill visit your  channel and only choose USB3.0 and up from Sony. My vision:  Sony A7K ThunderShutter USB 5.01 (K stands for Kurwa ) .
For those who made mistake like me, i know where to buy compatible spare battery at very attractive price.
4K i don't care much. Once i showed  GoPro 4K footage to my 2012 Mac Pro and I wait for days his response. Since then we both happy with 1080p. 
16 megapixel is enough for me i'm not greedy. Phase detection and  torch definitely should be introduced on MkIII. 
GPS i'm missing 🙁 but not that much as USB 3.0

T

I just wanted to add that with the E-M5 II, the 40mp is JPEG. If you do the high-res mode in RAW, it is 60mp.

Hi Tony, I'm curious how weather proof is this rig? I left it in the rain for 2 hours and gets splashed when I'm doing vids of fish upclose and personal. (Fresh water) but would also like to risk it in salt water action?

Thank you for putting so much time and effort into your reviews and material, I don't know where you get that energy!

I'm considering buying this camera, but wonder how it compares to the fuji xt1…

I'd like something fairly compact, because my old Nikon D300 is a bit chunky to carry around and getting a bit long in the tooth. This Olympus is a good size and I like the hi-res option, very exciting technology; I could use it to take images to archive my artwork. The EM5 mark 2 also has a good range of affordable lenses.

However, I like the viewfinder on the Fuji better, more capable focus tracking and a bigger sensor for better general photo taking. I find the gps tagging from a phone an interesting prospect, as well as the ability to print wee photos from that fuji printer gizmo with relative ease.

Urgh, decisions…. (though it is fun :D)

Thanks a lot for your video! Is there a Focus Bracketing mode in OM-D E-M5 II? (with new firmware) Thanks!

I need buying advice. I love shallow depth of field, but my last DSLR collected dust because it was too big and inconvenient. I'm looking at the Fuji and Olympus lineup – love the compact size of Olympus, but can it still capture the shallow depth of field that I love? Fuji looks good but the size and cost of the system is a good chunk of change more than the Olympus. thanks!

Yes the A7 is about the same size and weight, but the lenses dwarf the size and weight of the Olympus lenses.

toward the end you say the A7 Has a touch screen? are you Sure? thats one thing i didnt like is i though all A7 had no Touch Screen? PLEASE Confirm Tony?

As Usual Great VIDEO TONY Thank YOU 🙂

is a brand new $700 EM5ii body only a good deal?

Tony my canon 70d crapped out and im deciding to get a new camera, what would be your advice to choose between EM5 II and Panasonic GX85..or some other camera around $800…mostly i use camera for still pictures in low light, dont care that much about 4K. thanks

Does EM 5ii has built in flash? just saw 1 site saying it doesn't have one.

hi Tony, i have trouble doing the panoramic on my new M5 markii , do you have a video tutorial on that part? much appreciated

I think the headphone jack is provided when you add on the optional grip. Least that's what their promotional video on the product page says.

U never did a full review!!!!

got mine thanks  for review , love it great size for me, although looks very cluttered for a guy with large hands .

got it just , bit overwhelmed with all it can do guess I will sort it out in time, bit of a jump from my Fuji bridge camera .

Olympus definitely heard it when Tony said "I would like 60 frames per second…"

Feburary …..

Whoa, I am just waiting for one to be delivered and now we get the disappointments! Doh.

But I do have and FZ1000 for 4k 🙂

I'm surprised Tony didn't take the camera out on his own. Reviews can be bios and fixed to the out come they want

Congratulations on your always impartial opinion. I like this.

But in fact, I am in a cruel doubt to buy EM5II or EM10III?
The 4k format (and the images) seduced me, but the stabilization of the E-M5II and general professional characteristics disturbs me …

I am a professional videomaker and I intend to make corporate videos (institutional)
with the chosen camera. I have other dslrs. I need a mirrorless.
Can you guide me?

I can't decide between Sony A7 or Olympus E-m5 ii,

which is better?

Can you do a review for the E-M10 Mark III

Did you ever do the review of the E-M10 Mark 3?

Possible to set "Low ISO" (even in my E-M10 mk II) which goes lower than 200…

When comparing MFT with FF – don't forget the optic size + you can't go smaller than a camera that will be comfortable to hold.

Feburary? lol

This would have to be one of the most bias reviews I have heard – Some of the images you showed to discredit the EM5mkll are so obviously edited. You critics just can not handle the fact that the MFT cameras system is so brilliant. Get over it!

Get the E-M5 II on Amazon at http://help.tc/em5ii

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