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First Impressions - EM-10

swandy

New member
Just picked up my new EM-10 (Silver) from Adorama this afternoon and some initial impressions.

Decided not to read the manual yet - just went through my basic setup that I have used on my previous Olympus m4/3 cameras. (This replaces my EP-5 if anyone cares.)

Body build seems very nice and sturdy for the bottom of the OMD line. The feel seems very close to what I remember of the EM5 when I had it. Like what they did with the dials and buttons (really disliked those mushy buttons on the EM5). I can see why there have been comments that the two dials move fairly easily - they do, but it has not bothered me yet. I originally replaced my EM5 with the EP5 because I liked that body style (and slightly smaller size) better. But after using the Stylus 1 (which replaced my XZ-2) for a few weeks, I discovered that I did miss the EVF - so hence the EM-10. The EVF is supposedly the same one on the EM5 (as far as size/resolution) but it seems clearer and I do like the way it adjusts to ambient lighting.

The AF system will take a bit of getting used to. I love the idea of all those AF spots - certainly not used to it - but I do like knowing where the camera is focusing. And now the center spot - even without turning the "small" AF spots - is very small. I tried using the 9 center spots, but went back to using the single spot. The AF speed is great. Tried it on the 14-42IIR, the 40-150 (latest version) and the Panasonic 14mm. On the 14-42 the AF was almost instantaneous in decent to good light. And had no issues in low light. The 14mm was a bit slower, but not by much. The 40-150 did lag behind both of them a bit - but then it always did. I do have the new 14-42EZ pancake on order and interested to see how that compares in AF and IQ to the 14-42IIR. Tried the focus peaking on a few of the lenses (really wish they would have put that into the Stylus 1 instead of the magnified view) and it is great.

Tried the HDR mode - nice to have it automated, though I do have to pay attention that when you do it indoors (bit cold out) the slow exposures are slow because from what I see the ISO is locked at 200. Have to check if that can be changed.

Tried some test shots up to ISO 25600 (yeah right) and have only been shooting JPEG so far as I really don't like Olympus Viewer. And with Noise Filter OFF, the images are very good up to and including 3200. But I am not normally a pixel peeper and a little noise does not bother me. Your mileage may vary.

That's it for now. So far very impressed with the camera.
 
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