Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III Review - Review 2022

As the entry-level model in the OM-D series, the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III ($649.99, body only) is a mirrorless camera that has to serve several audiences, one of which are those who don't know an f-stop from a truck stop. Olympus has refined the interface to make the newest E-M10 easier to use, and offers some improvements for advanced amateurs, enthusiasts, and even pros looking for a lightweight, inexpensive camera. It does an adequate job serving multiple audiences, but its sensor is dated and its focus system lags behind competing models. You're improve off with the Sony a6000, which delivers higher-resolution images with less racket, and sports an autofocus system that runs circles around the Mark III.

Design

The Mark Three ($549.00 at Amazon) looks a lot like the Mark Two, with the same retro-chichi finish. Only at that place are some changes to the body, notably a deeper handgrip, larger command dials, and larger point type labeling buttons and dials. Information technology isn't that far off in size (3.iii by 4.eight by 2.0 inches) or weight (xiv.five ounces) from its predecessor (3.3 by four.vii by 1.8 inches, xiii.8 ounces), only the new grip makes information technology feel a fleck more secure in the manus. Like others in the series, the new E-M10 is available in all black or a two-tone argent-and-blackness finish.

Y'all tin can buy the camera as a trunk only for $649.99, the choice that photographers upgrading from an older Micro 4 Thirds model are likely to make. But if you're new to the organisation you can too purchase it with the graceful 1000.Zuiko ED 14-42mm f3.v-5.six EZ zoom for $799.99. That'south not a bad deal, as the 14-42mm EZ sells for $300 on its own.

As mentioned, the control dials are larger and more comfortable to use. On the top plate you'll find the new Shortcut button on the far left, next to the combined power switch and wink release. 3 dials sit to the right of the hot shoe and flash—the standard Mode command, along with forward and rear control dials. Acme buttons include the programmable Fn2 and a Record push for movies.

The Fn1 (AEL/AFL past default) push is squeezed into the top right corner of the rear plate, in a higher place the ergonomic thumb balance. Below it are iv buttons—Delete, Info, Card, and Play—flanking a iv-way controller with OK at its middle. Each directional press has a labeled function—Bulldoze, Flash, Focus Surface area, and ISO.

The buttons are supplemented by a touch interface. The 3-inch LCD is mounted on a hinge, then it can tilt upwards and down to nab shots from more interesting angles, and you lot can tap on a part of the frame to set focus or to focus and capture an image. You'll also utilize the display to navigate through the carte systems—the Due east-M10 has an on-screen overlay to access mutual functions, launched via the Shortcut button, likewise as a more than extensive menu to configure the camera to your liking.

Shortcut is likewise used to alter in-camera art filters or adjust scene modes. If you switch the Mode dial to one of those settings you lot'll exist greeted with a menu of the dissimilar filters and preset modes available to you. In previous models, changing what you initially selected was a chore; now y'all can exercise it on the fly merely past pressing Shortcut.

You don't have to frame shots with the rear LCD, though at i,040k dots it'south plenty precipitous. The Due east-M10 Mark III also has a built-in viewfinder. The EVF is an OLED blueprint, crisp thanks to a two.36-million-dot resolution. It'south non the largest you'll find in a mirrorless photographic camera—it delivers 0.62x magnification when paired with a standard-angle lens.

Filters and Connectivity

Olympus has long put art filters into its photographic camera line, and all of your favorites from previous models—black-and-white, selective color, soft focus, and the like—are however here, with the addition of a Bleach Bypass setting. It's easy enough to utilise filters when shooting—there's an Art setting on the Style dial and the Shortcut button is there to change the filter.

If yous shoot in Raw format you tin can employ the filters after you lot've captured a shot, only it's not the most intuitive procedure. You'll need to select Raw Information Edit from the playback screen and then enter the ART BKT setting. This takes you to a long listing, showing every filter available, which you tin check or uncheck. It'southward great if you want to create a agglomeration of dissimilar versions of a shot, simply a cumbersome process if just want to use a single filter. I'd have liked to encounter this interface streamlined for easier use. It would besides be nice to have later-the-fact filters available for JPG shooters, even if they weren't as robust as the Raw options.

You tin can access some of the specialized capture modes past setting the Way dial to AP—Advanced Photograph. Hither you'll find Live Bulb, Live Composite, and Live Time capture, which take a lot of the guesswork out of capturing long exposure scenes. HDR is available for scenes with dynamic lighting—though you'll have to use a tripod or set the camera on a flat surface for the best results as it requires iii consecutive exposures to piece of work. If you lot like to shoot compages there's Keystone Bounty, which is a real-time upshot that straightens the converging lines you get when tilting the camera upward to capture an image of a alpine building—this does cut the field of view of the lens.

In that location'south a Panorama mode too, merely it'due south not in photographic camera. The E-M10 helps you frame shots to stitch using desktop software. That'southward fine for avant-garde users, but for the entry-level target market I'd accept preferred a sweep panorama mode with in-camera stitching, a characteristic you lot observe on mod smartphones. Automatic focus (for extra depth of field when shooting with a macro lens) and exposure (for HDR and other catchy lighting situations) bracketing are also available, but like the Panorama way, you'll need to combine images using software after capture when using these options.

It'south almost a given at this point, but Wi-Fi is congenital in. The Mark III promises to support wireless file transfer and remote control to Android and iOS devices using the Olympus Image Share app. The app offers a strong remote control interface, with full transmission control available and a smooth live feed from camera to phone. One thing of notation: You don't become Bluetooth or NFC with this model, then you'll need to employ an on-screen QR code or manually type a Wi-Fi password into your phone's settings to institute a connection.

Images are stored on a standard SD, SDHC, or SDXC retentivity card. In addition to the menu slot, the camera includes a micro USB port (in-camera charging is not supported) and a micro HDMI connector. The Mark 3 uses the same battery as its predecessor, as well as the same charger. CIPA rates the camera for 330 shots per charge, or well-nigh 80 minutes of video recording.

Operation and Imaging

The Due east-M10 Mark III powers on and focuses apace, in about 0.7-2nd, when paired with a mechanical zoom or prime lens. Yous'll expect a picayune bit longer for the first shot if you use the fourteen-42mm EZ lens, about 1.two seconds, every bit it has to extend in gild to work. In bright light the focus system is very speedy, locking on in as petty as 0.05-second. It does slow in very dim weather condition, to about 0.4-second.

Outburst shooting is speedy if you continue focused locked for a sequence. I clocked information technology at viii.8fps, a bit better than the 8.6fps that Olympus promises. The Raw buffer is rather small, giving yous only 12 Raw+JPG or 26 Raw shots at a time, merely write times to a Lexar 300MBps memory card are very quick, just nearly two seconds, and then you can catch another full burst after a short interval. If y'all shoot in JPG format with a fast memory card yous can get every bit long equally you want; I held the shutter button downwards for xxx seconds when shooting JPGs and the camera never slowed. I used a UHS-II card in testing, but the slot tops out at UHS-I speeds, and so a 95MBps card is all y'all need.

Run into How Nosotros Exam Digital Cameras

If you want to rail a moving subject yous'll need to slow the photographic camera down, to about 4fps, a bit shy of the iv.8fps promised by Olympus. The autofocus organisation, while offering improvements like face up recognition and middle detection, still can't keep up with high-speed shooting. I institute that focus in our standard moving target exam was expert through a sequence when our target moved toward and away from the lens at a steady rate, but it did falter with large, dramatic changes in position between shots. There are better mirrorless cameras out there for tracking fast-moving action—the Sony a6000 and Fujifilm X-T20 are a couple to look at if it's a priority for your photography.

The epitome sensor is still a 16MP design. It's stabilized, with 5-centrality compensation for both stills and video, which means that whatsoever lens you use benefits from stabilization. You lot get more resolution from competing APS-C models, which are almost all 24MP now, and more than expensive Micro Four Thirds cameras, which have moved to 20MP. Honestly, you probably don't demand the actress pixels, but newer sensors tend to offer other prototype quality improvements, specially when information technology comes to dynamic range and high-ISO capture.

I checked the ISO performance using Imatest and found the Mark Iii behaves much like the Mark II, and the original Due east-M10 before it. It keeps noise under 1.v per centum through ISO 6400 when shooting JPGs at default settings. As for image quality, you can expect to shoot through ISO 1600 with no visible loss of quality. There'south some slight smudging at ISO 3200 and 6400, but I wouldn't hesitate to use those settings. Beyond that, at ISO 12800 and 25600, images take a much more noticeable hitting. If you're a JPG shooter, though, and don't venture into manual ISO control, you won't know, as the Mark Three doesn't range in a higher place ISO 6400 with Auto ISO enabled.

If you shoot in Raw format you lot'll exist able to squeeze a bit more detail out of photos at higher ISO settings, but y'all'll as well run into some more than noise. Raw quality is strong through ISO 3200, just it does get quite grainy at ISO 6400. Grain is heavier at ISO 12800, but I'd still feel comfortable setting the ISO that high if a shot calls for it. I'd avoid ISO 25600, every bit images are very rough. It'southward when pushing the camera this far that more than modern 24MP APS-C sensor models show a existent advantage—the Fujifilm X-T20 ($419.99 at Amazon) delivers Raw output at ISO 51200 that'due south clearer than what the Olympus shows at ISO 25600, and while the Panasonic GX85 uses a sensor the aforementioned size and resolution equally the Olympus, it ekes out a chip more detail and shows less noise when pushed to higher sensitivities.

The E-M10 Mark III offers 4K video, a common choice in recent cameras, but it's difficult to find. You need to switch to the dedicated Movie mode to use it, and even so yous have to enable it using the Shortcut button. The frame is slightly cropped at the edges when shooting in 4K. You do go some frame rate options—24, 25, or 30fps—but yous need to dive into the bill of fare organization to admission them. I'm non sure why they're cached, or why you take to modify into a specific video mode to shoot in 4K, specially on a model that touts ease of employ.

In almost modes the Mark III is limited to 1080p capture at upward to 60fps; at that place's too a 720p30 pick. The footage looks adept, for 1080p—information technology doesn't pack the resolution or impact of 4K capture. There'southward no mic input, which limits the quality of audio the photographic camera can tape. Despite the limitations, video is quite well-baked, and fine for casual recording. I'd expect to a camera with an external microphone support for any sort of serious video work.

That'southward a shame, as the Mark III does give videographers some skilful in-camera creative options. You go access to the same Fine art Filters as y'all do with stills, and there are some in-camera editing tools—basically the power to trim clips in-camera. That makes information technology easier to pull out a portion of a video to share, or to select highlights to make afterward sessions in iMovie go a bit more speedily.

Conclusions

The Olympus OM-D East-M10 Marker Three doesn't have a lot of head-turning new features—the addition of 4K video is the biggest upgrade. Other changes—improved ergonomics, faster processing and focus, and improve results when shooting in automatic mode—are smaller, simply they are there. The elephant in the room is the camera's aging paradigm sensor. I don't think most casual shooters need more than 16MP, simply they will benefit from other improvements nosotros've seen in the latest round of 24MP APS-C chips and the newer 20MP Micro Iv Thirds sensor that Olympus uses in pricier models, notably epitome quality in dim light.

I'd also take liked to have seen the hope of ease of use go a bit further. The camera's art filters are a lot of fun, and tin can give shots a different look, simply adding them after you've shot an image is clunky and requires you lot to shoot in Raw mode. Smartphone owners used to being able to add together an Instagram filter to whatever shot volition recognize this as a shortcoming. Likewise, the lack of in-camera panorama stitching is a bummer. It's something you can practice easily with a smartphone.

The E-M10 Marking Three does deliver much better paradigm quality than a flagship smartphone. Simply if Olympus, and other camera makers, want to court young photographers who have cut their teeth with iPhones and Instagram, they need to practise more than say a photographic camera is easy to employ. Interface improvements and refinements are supposed to exist the story hither, and while the Shortcut push button and improved automatic operation are benefits over the Mark II, the interface isn't fully baked. That's not why I'one thousand rating the E-M10 Mark 3 a bit lower than its predecessor, however. It scores lower because it's continuing withal when it comes to image quality and tracking autofocus, while other models that sell for the aforementioned or less deliver more.

I nevertheless recommend photographers looking for a photographic camera in this cost range get the Sony a6000 ($398.00 at Amazon) ; it's three years old at present, just packs a 24MP image sensor that, while no longer form-leading, is however a fleck better than the 16MP sensor we see here, and shoots at a blistering eleven.1fps rate with tracking—and it sells for the aforementioned cost with a lens that the E-M10 Mark III does without. Y'all tin can also opt go with an SLR; if you lot practice, the Nikon D3400 is the all-time entry-level choice, but understand that its video autofocus organisation isn't well-nigh every bit skilful every bit you go from a mirrorless camera.

Other mirrorless options in this cost and feature range are more than similar to the Eastward-M10 Marker III in performance and image quality: the Panasonic G7 ($447.99 at Amazon) and GX85 ($597.99 at Amazon) both sport 16MP Micro Iv Thirds sensors, and, while supplies concluding, the East-M10 Marking Two is still available.

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Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/cameras/17245/olympus-om-d-e-m10-mark-iii-review

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