The Olympus system is wonderful...and the more you get used to it the better it gets

Wow. The olympus is super impressive.

Thanks for the ISO comparison really surprised and pleased by how good the Olympus is!!

I own both cameras. I shoot snowboarding and tbh, for me it's the best combo. I use the strenghts of each camera and always get professional quality images. I was sceptical at first concerning the E-M1X, i watched so many videos of people talking about it, and it was hard for me to decide if i should buy or not regarding the fact that I was 100% canon system. In the end, i bought it with the Viltrox adapter so I can use all my canon lenses and I have no regrets! Fantastic camera!

@garybrown9719

3 жыл бұрын

@Muizuddin Shami i have the em1 mark I and the vitrox works on some of the lenses

I own the E-M1X. To use the tracking feature with birds in flight. Customize your focus points to a horizontal 5 cube. The focus point is then able to lock onto the wing spread.

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the tip! Does that work with messier backgrounds than the sky as well?

I should have mentioned this in the video, I'm comparing the Olympus mft with the Canon 7Dii as it can help as a reference point when it comes to ISO performance depth of field.

Very informative ! Thank you. I am an Olympus Shooter and love their cameras and lens

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Jerry :)

Good comparison. It's tempting I had seen a used Olympus 300 f4 for £1500 which looked in top condition.

Excellent review Espen....

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much Ian :)

Thank for the review.

Great video and review, i was going to buy in to the Olympus system awhile back as they are very good.But the poor iso capabilities was a game changer for me, so i went with the Sony system instead and no regrets.

Great review, many thx

1/13/2022 thank you for sharing this information

Personally for me it's a case of using a Lumix G9, 100-400 Leica DG and Topaz Denoise and get as good (technically) images as FF cameras up to about ISO 6400 after that I will either invest in a 200 2.8 or maybe get a FF Sony with F5.6 lens. The M43 2.8 option is far cheaper though and will achieve the same thing albeit at a shorter focal length. Honestly M43 is more than good enough. You can shame people with 15k setups with ease.

@finnillson4808

4 жыл бұрын

Joe Marano totally agree. When you factor in newer de-noising algorithms it can really extend ISO “ability” in the field. Would much rather carry around that EM1X with 600mm FF equiv than the 7D or a FF 600mm!!

@JoeMaranophotography

4 жыл бұрын

@@finnillson4808 Not just that but the price! Case in point - not long ago I met a really nice retired chap at a local reserve who has a nice 15k Sony setup. We both posted pics of the same type of bird that's found there on the same Facebook group. I got over 200 likes and his got about 20. Everyone in the hide treated him like God and me just blasé. It was quite funny now I look back on it. Now I don't mean to prove any type of point really but gear is still very much secondary to the whole process.

Olympus killing it as expected !

To keep the focus, look for the option "reset lens" in the menu. Switch it off. The camera should then keep the focus distance even after a power off/power on cycle.

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Good tip, thanks!

@errantarcher

4 жыл бұрын

Very good point. I keep mine on so that it returns to "infinity" for night shooting. Some days I miss the focus distance scale on some lenses.

Good user review!

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you:)

I love the manual focus clutch on these lenses. You will know in future once you've accidentally pulled it back a couple of times :) The battery life in the Em1iii is impressive I think. I always carry a spare but rarely need it. No GPS in use. The EM1x must be heavier on usage.

I have been an Olympus shooter for 13-14 years I think. Going back to the E-500. Currently shoot with an E-M1 mark I I always enjoy seeing someone new finding out that this system is much better than EVERYTHING else they have probably seen or read. Good real life review. Glad you enjoyed the X. I am waiting to see what the M1 mark III is like before I pull the trigger on the X. Did you order one yet? :)

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

No, can't afford a change just now. Will see in the future, the portability of the system is a real draw for me.

Great and fair review. The side-by-side comparisons of similar images are really valuable. I agree the Olympus has some superb features and the image quality is on par or better than other cameras in that class.

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you Douglas :)

@errantarcher

4 жыл бұрын

@@EspenHelland Your welcome! And the comment is deserved. KZread is populated by talking heads (a definite "never do" in television). You actually show us what you're talking about. Much appreciated.

Thank you for this comparison. I'm just not sure that you should call it a comparison, because it's a 2014 vs 2019 camera. So, maybe it's more why I changed to the Olympus. Also, it's a DSLR vs Mirrorless 4/3. Never the less, thank you for the info. Really good.

@EspenHelland

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks, that would probably be a better name for it.

I`ve used the Olympus E-1 in snow and rain and even fished it out of a river once, Olympus level of weather sealing is in my opinion second to none. I Have the E-M1 and love it, and also a G9 now and the system has a portability which Canon and Nikon lack. I own an 5DII and Canon 400mm f4 DO but I'd rather go cross country with the Oly or Pana than the Canon rig, also the IS is great on the m4/3 gear.

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Can't believe you had it in a river and it was still good!!?!

@Hokum_Paints

4 жыл бұрын

@@EspenHelland this is the original 4/3 E-1, I even washed the mud off in a shower. With the 14-54mm lens attached. The m4/3 models are apparently even better sealed.

@brianlaunchbury4491

4 жыл бұрын

Been done with em1-x and em1 mk2 as well. Only Pentax comes close in my opinion.

I have the "X", and when it powers down, it is setup to return the lens to infinity, this can be turned off in the menu, so this might apply to the quick sleep mode. GPS and sensors WILL eat up the batteries.

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Randy, got myself an em1ii and found the setting to turn the focus reset to infinity off :)

Espen, at the 15 min mark are you referring to Peter Forsgard? He is an Olympus visionary from Helsinki.

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Yes, that's the one :)

@CarolyneMacMillan

4 жыл бұрын

@@EspenHelland I thought you were talking about Jari Peltomaki. He's a Finnish wildlife photographer and Olympus visionary. jaripeltomaki.com/

Espen Helland. Good video.

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you Pete :)

Great comparison, Espen. The question is now... do you see yourself switching? Do you think you'd still switch if you had a full frame Canon with a 600mm f4? That portability aspect just seems very hard to ignore.

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Brian! Tough question, I'd switch from what I have now, but I haven't tried full frame with 600mm f4 yet....

@finnillson4808

4 жыл бұрын

FF 600mm is back breaking. There is a reason all those sports photographers don’t move much at games. I have a feeling after using the MFT Olympus you will say it makes the right trade offs, more so than ever with an good AI denoiser

Where did you buy the topaz Denoise please mate?

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

topazlabs.com/denoise-ai/ref/383/?campaign=YTdes 👌🏻

It's nice to see that you can push the Olympus to 6400, especially with the software we have these days to handle noise.

a prime F4 will always be sharper than a zoom in my opinion

Very interesting results. I realize there's an age difference, but I assumed there would be more detail with the Canon. Good timing too. I'm trying to get an better understanding of micro 4/3 gear.

@JoeMaranophotography

4 жыл бұрын

I am happy to help. Been shooting M43 for some years now. Video and photo.

@weizenobstmusli8232

4 жыл бұрын

Oly free hand, Canon on tripod?

Thank you for a really interesting comparison. I have the Canon set-up like yours, but my noise level seems to be far worse than other peoples at 1600, why I don't know. It was interesting to read that you found the Canon smaller in the hand as I only have small hands and find the Canon too big to use successfully with back button focus, so I would find the Olympus probably too big for my hands.

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Maybe, though I don't think it was big to grip around, it's more of an all-round grip. My little finger often gets lost under the 7Dii. Regarding the noise level, do you expose to the right? It's best to get the image as bright as you can in the field.

@kerry5586

4 жыл бұрын

@@EspenHelland Yes I always expose to the right, but still get the high noise levels. I have been really disappointed with the camera, especially as it had such good reviews.

@JohnSahl

4 жыл бұрын

Kerry, if you are anything like me - "a heavy cropper" - you will have the feeling of noise being worse than if you fill the frame and dont crop as much :-)

@kerry5586

4 жыл бұрын

@@JohnSahl I rarely crop: I try to compose in camera. But thanks for the input.

@CarolyneMacMillan

4 жыл бұрын

The new EM1 mk3 that just came out has all the features of the EM1X plus a few new ones but in a much smaller body. Personally I'd take that over the EM1X.

Olympus files look better. Maybe their software is better, or the prime lens beats the zoom, but they are better.

Hi Espen, I've been looking forward to this comparison review, these two cameras offer similar performance to the XT3 and XT2 that I am using and I find myself wondering if just maybe I should switch to a different system, what you have demonstrated is that the Canon really does not produce better images than the Olympus and your other remarks confirm that I am better off with what I've got, thank you for that!. I have been finding that any ISO setting other than base gives noticeably less dynamic range and detail so none of the images are really worth keeping or printing unless they are very rare birds or subjects that I just can't get any other way!. The Fujifilm lens that I am using is quite a lot sharper a F8 than wide open and forces me to use the image stabilisation and slow shutter speeds to avoid the high ISO, therefore very difficult to use for birds in flight. I have only ever used mirrorless cameras and often wonder if the optical viewfinder would be better, the fact that you can't see your exposure in the viewfinder would put me off!. The issues you raise with reference to the 'learning curve' intrigue me, I have now taken maybe 40,000 shots with this system and now say that I am pretty much at ease with it, I sort of just turn it on and use it without really having to stop and think, pretty much every shot turns out as I expect, it seems to have taken me a very long time!. There is another U-tube photographer , Thomas Heaton, who is trying the Fujifilm system, coming from Canon, the 5d mk4 in his case, and he seems to be quite happy with just a few weeks use!. Ever since they brought it to the market I have been wanting the new -ish Fujifilm 200mm F2 lens but it is nearly £6,000!, Janet just wont let me!. Thank you again for your good work, do keep it coming. Cheers, Richard.

@u0096

4 жыл бұрын

Hi Richard, what lenses are you using with your Fujifilm system for bird photography? I have the XF 100-400 and it is tack sharp wide open. If you have to stop down to F8, I'd suggest that there's something wrong with your lens, or are you using a different lens such as the XF55-200 or the XC50-230?

@richardharvey1732

4 жыл бұрын

@@u0096 Hi Euan, it is the standard 100-400 tele, the pixel peeping that I've done is extreme, the fine detail on insects, butterflies and dragonflies when I zoom in to 200% on my 26inch Mac trying to see the facets and hairs on the eyes is when it shows most, detail that would be hardly visible on n A3 print right up close,! but I was trying to get the best out of it. In the last year or so I have been able to get some really nice close ups with the 80mm macro lens, on those rare occasions when I manage to keep the thing still when I shoot the resolution is simply phenomenal!, so much of this image quality stuff is rather academic but you can see the difference in the A3 prints, if you get up close enough. The almost invisible touch of softness to which I refer on the100-400 wide open at 400mm is not all that important but it is there!, perhaps I am just asking too much. Cheers, Richard.

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Richard! Yeah I wouldn't change to dslr for the viewfinder, some people say the mirrorless lags a bit, but it didn't bother me much. Easy thing to get used to for being able to see the exposure you're taking. The Canon 7Dii is quite old now and you probably would see better results with a newer setup or full frame, but you've got a great setup and like you say you know it inside out. Btw £6,000? Janet would kill you...😅

Good comparison, but shame about the vey low quality video that makes it difficult to spot any difference!

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks, sorry about the poor video quality. Maybe I need to find a better screen recorder.

I only have one small thing to say, but it may just have been me that missed it. I just feel that it's fair to mention that you are compairing two cameras with release dates 5 years apart and aquite a hefty price difference. That being said, I know you have to compare it with what you got, it wouldnt make sense any other way :-) That being said: Well done. You come across trustworthy as always, I enjoy your videos very much!

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Good point John! Thank you very much :)

@kerry5586

4 жыл бұрын

I think it is an interesting comparison because there are many people with the Canon 7D mark ii what are wondering if it is worth upgrading to the Olympus.

Are you going to switch system?

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

🤔 think I should try others before I decide.

@richardchapman8855

3 жыл бұрын

@@cliffday1183 I own the D500 and it does have amazing autofocus and tracking; i've gotten shots where I was surprised by a bird and just aimed and fired and the D500 grabbed focus beautifully. But, the 200-500 is a beast of a lens and hand holding it gets tiring pretty quickly. More often I use the cheaper 70-300.. As you say the low light performance of the D500 is quite good too. Olympus is releasing an AI subject tracking upgrade for birds this winter and it promises to be quite interesting. I've read that the Airplane AI works pretty well for birds in flight too. When I look back at my images in Lightroom I really can't tell if they were taken with the Nikon or Oly unless I look at the exif - except for the incredible shots I get with pro-capture on the Oly. You would have to be quite lucky to get such shots with the Nikon.

Thanks for the video. but you should know that your video indoors has very low volume.... It is really hard to hear even volume up.. I might need earbuds to hear it clear. Thanks.

@EspenHelland

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the feedback, hopefully have sorted out all audio issues in my newer vids 👍

The world seems to be going mirrorless personally "Camilla & I favour the Sony full frame system but the Olympus stabalization is better. I would go for the Olympus over Canon.

@klackon1

4 жыл бұрын

Camilla & I. I have an EM1X and A7R4 and they compliment each other beautifully for wildlife photography. I used to own a Canon 7D mark II and used it with a Canon 100 - 400mm f4.5 - 5.6L IS II and Canon 300mm f2.8L IS and agree with you - Olympus over Canon.

@CamillaI

4 жыл бұрын

@@klackon1 Yes I think you have the best of both worlds there awesome combination

Just wondering if it’s a fair comparison ? The canon is 5 years older. An 80D or 90D might be a better comparison. Anyway love your channel.

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Definitely not fair :) It was more meant as a reference when I compare ISO and dof.

@CarolyneMacMillan

4 жыл бұрын

The EM1X uses the same sensor as the EM1 mk2 which came out in September 2016 so probably not really 5 years difference.

Are you already thinking of committing and making the step to switch over ... ?

Hi, Problem for me is that I own all Canon lenses etc so to even consider going over to another system the cost would be to much for me however I have been looking at trading in my 7D ii for a 5D mk iv as from what I have seen online the 5D out performs the 7D in many specs ISO being near the top of the list, yes you have the weight option but I think once you gel with a system and it works well stay with it (unless you win the lottery!!!) Thanks for the video . Russ.

@JohnSahl

4 жыл бұрын

When I went from 7D til 5D3 my main problem was the reduction in "reach" = I had to buy the 100-400 mk2 to get things back to "normal". I have since upgraded to the 5D4 and it's a game changer compared to the 5D3...

@jonathanashton4758

4 жыл бұрын

Russell if you go for the 5DIV you will be amazed at the quality. It will give you beautiful files to process so long as you ETR. I used to have 5DIV and 1DX I have gone over to Olympus EM1X 300mm f4 and MC14/20- much more fun but the image quality 3200 and above is absolutely terrible compared to the Canon full frame. The Olympus you can in many cases use a stop wider than full frame and the image stabilisation is just amazing. But birds in flight ISO 3200-6400 I think you will have very few keepers with Olympus.

@justinholding02

4 жыл бұрын

Do it! I had both the 7d2 stayed in the bag

@russellwebb3672

4 жыл бұрын

@@JohnSahl Thankyou for the advice. I have the Canon 400mm and the 1.4 extender mk ii so hope that will give me the reach I would need. Russ.

@russellwebb3672

4 жыл бұрын

@@jonathanashton4758 Thankyou, Def looking at the 5D iv as not to impressed with the 7D ii ISO returns over even 800 ISO. Russ

Nice video. I tinking , you must buy a Olympus 😂

@EspenHelland

4 жыл бұрын

😅😅

You will get some different results when you put a 300 2.8 on the Canon. A prime is usually sharper than a zoom. But i know it's just a practical review and the Olympus has some awesome features.

@justinholding02

4 жыл бұрын

That zoom lens is tack sharp, i don't think he micro adjusted it and the 7d2 also has a anti aliasing filter that softens detail

@NildoScoop

4 жыл бұрын

@@justinholding02 The 300 2.8 is a lot sharper. And with microadjust you can tailor it. Comparing a 5.6 zoom with a 4.0 prime is not totally fair.

@justinholding02

4 жыл бұрын

@@NildoScoop i own both and i promise they are very close. I'll post two examples below

@justinholding02

4 жыл бұрын

@@NildoScoop 7d2 with the 100-400II justinholding.prodibi.com/a/9740ej4zj5ym6j/i/x6k8mqrqmqgexg7

@justinholding02

4 жыл бұрын

@@NildoScoop 5d4 with the 200 2.8 IS II justinholding.prodibi.com/a/9740ej4zj5ym6j/i/76jk9gm6wk1j8rv

6 years of technology apart. But one thing i always hated about the 7d2 was it's appaling high ISO and unreliable AF. I didn't keep mine long for those reasons. The 80d was marginally better. Got a 5d4 now and no looking back. One thing you might notice with the Olympus though is how much they cheat with the displayed ISO values. Check the link below. Also did you micro adjust the 100-400II to the camera body? My copy is almost as sharp as my 300 2.8 IS II. I suggest you give the 90D a go, the sensor is much better and will blow the olympus out of the water. www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Olympus/OM-D-E-M1-Mark-II---Measurements

Hi Espen, I watched this video with interest as I am about to buy the EM!X. However that said I do feel there is FAR TOO MUCH CONCERN WITH NOISE. Why, lets face it they are DIGITAL cameras and the DE-Noise programs, eg. Topaz, they are also DIGITAL programs. So what is the concern. take the photo. If there is noise, then use a good digital noise reducing program. stop worrying about noise. - ALL DIGITAL CAMERAS ARE GOING TO GIVE NOISE..

The background blur on the Olympus is horrible.

Olympus sensor is small and noisy. The Canon APSC although older, is still going to deliver cleaner images

@brianlaunchbury4491

4 жыл бұрын

Clearly wrong as we saw in the video I'll let you off if you were being sarcastic.

@brianlaunchbury4491

4 жыл бұрын

Apologies for this, I meant to say that although the Olympus has slightly higher noise it retains more detail therefore is better.

@PhotoBob

4 жыл бұрын

madmaxx72 but it doesn’t. Owned both

@njrtech

4 жыл бұрын

@@PhotoBob full frame Sony or Fuji APSC is superior in every way. At the prices they want for Olympus gear, why bother? For a little more you can go full frame and there is no comparison

@PhotoBob

4 жыл бұрын

madmaxx72 I personally have lots of reason. I shoot professionally and much prefer the Olympus system. Won’t go into all of the reasons. I actually bought the xt3 and shot it for awhile. It was nice. I prefer the Olympus lenses almost across the board though. The Sony system is great as well. No bad systems out there! I’m shoot with the 5DiV on occasion bc one of my photographers shoots it.