OM-1 has landed

It’s here, charging!

The new digital OM-1 represents the 50 year legacy of Olympus cameras as likely the last Olympus branded camera with a new beginning now under the ownership of OM Digital Solitions.

Why Olympus?

While size and weight of the micro four third system (especially the lenses) are obvious reasons, Olympus offers aesthetics, functionality, innovation and ergonomics like no other, they just feel great in your hands.

Offering a great lens selection, full customisation and a feature list either not found in other brands or implemented better including IPX rated weather sealing for extreme conditions, live composite, live bulb, live time, live ND, pro capture, 60 fps RAW, 80MP high resolution with sensor shift, close focusing, up to 7.5 stops of image stabilisation, flexible in camera focus stacking, keystone compensation, intelligent subject detection autofocus, AF limiter, sensor dust removal, a telecentric optical path that improves corner and edge sharpness, brightness and reduces aberrations and great customer support that will hopefully continue into the future.

While many camera companies like Sony launch new cameras every year with much fanfare and generally only incremental improvements, Olympus quietly release firmware updates to improve their existing line up. For example, there have been 15 updates for the EM1II since the 2016 launch. One of the most memorable just before I jumped aboard the Oly train added 4K video to the EM1 Mark II, but they also improved in body stabilisation, lens compatibility for things like focus stacking, EVF stability, many auto focus improvements, added art filters, better battery indicator, colour reproduction, pro-capture improvements, added anti-flicker shooting and more. Often, these updates are like getting a new updated camera – for free!

I hope this practice continues with OM Digital Solutions, with a recent update to now OM Workspace software that includes automatically picking the sharpest photo from a burst, indications are positive.

While some people get caught up on the smaller sensor size and megapixel race, 20 is more than enough for most people in most instances. In the past, I have used a 6MP camera to capture an image the was published on the front page of a glossy magazine.

A camera is a tool to capture images, it’s up to the user to utilise the strengths and overcome the weaknesses of whatever tool is in your hand. In most cases, Olympus is the right tool for my requirements.

I bought this camera myself, I am not associated with Oltmpus or OM Solutions, all opinions are mine from real world, real user experience. I will try to be honest, critical and not try to justify my purchase.

Follow along as I explore this camera and learn how to use it. Feel free to ask me any questions and I will do my best to answer. Thanks for visiting 😀