Olympus E-5 in my hands

[Godfrey]

Lot of people have asked me what the noise at various ISO settings looks like. This might answer:

http://www.gdgphoto.com/Olympus_E-5-ISO_check/

 

[jonoslack]

- The E-5 shutter/mirror sound is brighter and higher pitched than the E-1, for sure. The E-1's shutter/mirror is soft and gentle, it's almost blurred. The E-5 sounds more business-like.

and much much much louder!
It just seems tragic to me that the E1 has the quietest shutter of any dSLR, by a big margin (quieter than an M8 by a margin). . . . . and it doesn't seem to be of interest to anyone any more.

Oh Well

The ISO tests look really good, and beauty is certainly in the eyes of the beholder.

 

[cam]

and much much much louder!
It just seems tragic to me that the E1 has the quietest shutter of any dSLR, by a big margin (quieter than an M8 by a margin). . . . . and it doesn't seem to be of interest to anyone any more.

Oh Well

it makes a huge difference to me... that's why i got the E-1

(and my M8 is now quieter... well, except for the horrid recock which seems to petrify poodles.)

 

[Godfrey]

and much much much louder!
It just seems tragic to me that the E1 has the quietest shutter of any dSLR, by a big margin (quieter than an M8 by a margin). . . . . and it doesn't seem to be of interest to anyone any more.

Oh Well

The ISO tests look really good, and beauty is certainly in the eyes of the beholder.

I guess the shutter sound doesn't bother me. I recorded them both, same settings on the digital recorder: it doesn't appear to be much louder, just a different timbre and sound shape.

I'm happy with the noise samples. ISO 6400 is useful, although ISO 1600 is where I will likely stay most of the time.

 

[RichA]

The version of Olympus Viewer 2 that comes in the box is the only released application software currently able to read E-5 .ORF files to the best of my knowledge. I expect that to change very soon.

However, given that the sensor is very closely related to the E-30 sensor, if you go in with EXIFtool and change the Camera ID to "E-30" in the .ORF files, the E-5 files are immediately usable in Lightroom 3.2. Camera calibration profiles might be off, but that's a simple matter to rectify by using DNG Profile Editor or Xrite Passport software to create an appropriate camera calibration profile.

Thank you!

 

[bbodine9]

Jono,

Over at the dpreview forum the E-1 still has a very, very strong following led by that infamous henchman " Bootstrap Bill"! Seriously for a lot of us it is still the camera of choice even though it is rather an antique by today's standards.

 

[jonoslack]

Jono,

Over at the dpreview forum the E-1 still has a very, very strong following led by that infamous henchman " Bootstrap Bill"! Seriously for a lot of us it is still the camera of choice even though it is rather an antique by today's standards.

HI There - hope you're well, nice to hear from you.

Silas has been using my E1 for a few years now - I play with it sometimes, and still think it's the nicest feeling SLR I've ever had, and that shutter noise!

But even he's cracked and fancies something with more pixels and higher ISO.

 

[DonParrot]

- The E-5 shutter/mirror sound is brighter and higher pitched than the E-1, for sure. The E-1's shutter/mirror is soft and gentle, it's almost blurred. The E-5 sounds more business-like.

Hi Godfrey, congratulations on you new toy.

Just can't wait for the day when the first will batch will be delivered in Germany.

By the way: I read that the shutter is louder than the one of the E-1 but clearly less loud than the one of the E-3. And soon (hopefully) I will know how it compares to the one of the E-30.

 

[kweide]

No E-5 here in Germany
In the meantime i fulfilled another dream: The Panaleica 25 mm f1.4. While strolling around in the city a passed the showcase of a photodealer and my beloved wife said: "My dear, is that the lens you talked about last week ??" Well, what can i say else: "Yes my dear, take that beautiful pair of Valentino shoes ... i will be back in a second. Go and try that shoes....!"

Wow, what a lens !

 

[kevinparis]

Klaus.... welcome to the club

 

[Jonas]

Here we have some nice, good or fun decisions everywhere... Klaus, the PL25 is the best very fast normal lens I have used, and Godfrey... Congratulations! and a lot of interesting reading you also got. (I don't have my G1 manual in my bag but it is placed somewhere easily accessible).

/Jonas

 

[DonParrot]

(I don't have my G1 manual in my bag but it is placed somewhere easily accessible).

As the G1 manual is a truly awful read, I assume.
Tried several times to read mine in a go when i purchased the cam in spring 2009 - but it proved to be just impossible. Such a fine cam and such a poor manual!

 

[Godfrey]

As the G1 manual is a truly awful read, I assume.
Tried several times to read mine in a go when i purchased the cam in spring 2009 - but it proved to be just impossible. Such a fine cam and such a poor manual!

Most of these manuals read better as a PDF with hyper-links. I find myself reading the E-5 manual with several bookmarks to obtain proper continuity, allowing me to jump back to where I jumped from conveniently. I hope they post the PDF version quickly.

Yesterday I had a wedding party to attend (not as a photographer) and took out the G1 for the first time in six weeks. I brought the 20, Konica 40, and FL36 flash, which all fits nicely in the unobtrusive Terraclime 100 bag (along with the other junk I hate having in my pockets...).

- It really is very small and light!

- I'd forgotten how hard it was to keep from changing the shutter speed/aperture by accidentally hitting the control dial with my finger. I guess my right hand's lost that training from using the E-1 and now E-5 for so long. :-(

Still makes very nice photos.

 

[DonParrot]

Most of these manuals read better as a PDF with hyper-links. I find myself reading the E-5 manual with several bookmarks to obtain proper continuity, allowing me to jump back to where I jumped from conveniently. I hope they post the PDF version quickly.

Right you are. Nonetheless, I'd say that reading the manual of my E-30 was far more pleasant than the one the of the G1 or some years ago, of my Pana FZ 30.

I'd forgotten how hard it was to keep from changing the shutter speed/aperture by accidentally hitting the control dial with my finger. I guess my right hand's lost that training from using the E-1 and now E-5 for so long. :-(

Still makes very nice photos.

Yes the control dial - the only thing I really dislike at the G1.
Still, I love this little technical marvel.

 

[Godfrey]

another picture with the E-5

I'm continuing to test and explore the E-5 ... Lots of details to learn.

I was curious about its performance under very difficult light at elevated ISO settings so I racked it up to ISO 3200 and went for a walk by the coffee shop after dusk. These two lamps against the wall and along a stairwell created a very very contrasty scene with an enormous dynamic range. I liked the idea of it, so I made three exposures at nominal 1/80, -.7EV 1/125 and -1.7EV 1/320 second settings.

The OOC JPEGs showed some banding in the dark areas so I opened up Olympus Viewer 2 and spent a couple of hours fighting with it. Awful software. Anyway, I couldn't kill the banding with it.

So I decided to experiment further ... I used EXIFtool to change the camera model tag to "E-30" and opened the .ORF in Lr 3.2. A minute later, all three exposures were processed: NO banding: the 1/320 sec exposure was just under the saturation threshold on the lamps but a little too dark/noisy on the wall, the 1/125 seemed to give me the best range with just a touch of blowout on the lamps.

Olympus E-5 + ZD 35mm f/3.5 Macro
ISO 3200 @ f/3.5 @ 1/125​

I'm pleased with that. Obviously, if this wasn't purely for testing, I'd have used a tripod and a lower ISO value, done a bracket, etc. ;-)

 

[Godfrey]

​

Finally getting back to making photographs.

I've been through the E-5 manual four times, have made about 1800 test photos with it, have tried several different configuration setups, and I'm getting very very comfy with the new machine now.

I've also been working daily on the office in our new condominium and passed the watershed yesterday where the furniture is finally moved into position according to my design. My workstation is now fully operational again at last. Yay!

Altogether a very very intense past several weeks. The E-5 is fantastic, I'm delighted with it, and very glad I went for it over the E-3. Have to say, I haven't found anything about it I don't like yet ... it suits me very well.

Posted the photo above over in the B&W thread too with more information:

http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showpost.php?p=260500&postcount=1226

Equipment time well spent, onwards Photography!

 

[jonoslack]

Altogether a very very intense past several weeks. The E-5 is fantastic, I'm delighted with it, and very glad I went for it over the E-3. Have to say, I haven't found anything about it I don't like yet ... it suits me very well.


Equipment time well spent, onwards Photography!

HI Godfrey
Glad to hear you're pleased - great shot as well, it looks like ISO 3200 is quite useable.
AFter the initial disappointment that the E5 offered so little 'revolutionary' features I've changed my mind - it seems to me it's a splendidly 'sorted' camera.
There are times I regret selling those lovely Zuiko lenses

all the best

 

[kweide]

Today was my lucky day..... got an E-5
Bought it directly from an Oly promoter. It was fresh, delivered today, just out of the packing material and i forced him to repack handing over my credit card.....

Now its time to shoot....