8 22 February 2020I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113
Olympus OM-D
E-M1 Mark III
AndyWestlaketakesacloselook
atOlympus’supdated,super-fast
Micro Four Thirds fl agship
IT’SBEENa littleoverthreeyears
sinceOlympusreleaseditshigh-speed
E-M1MarkII, makingthetimeripefora
replacement.Afterlastyear’sbehemoth
E-M1Xwithitsintegratedverticalgrip,
Olympushasrevisitedthesmallerbody
designwiththenewE-M1MarkIII.The
previousversionwasa finecamera,and
thefirmhascarefullyupdatedit without
makingwholesalechanges.
IndeedI suspectevenkeenOlympus
fanswillstruggletoquicklyidentifymany
differences.Externally,themainupdateis
thewelcomeadditionof a joystickfor
repositioningthefocusarea,whichhas
the knock-on effect of moving the menu
Ataglance
£1,600bodyonly
£2,200with12-40mmf/2.
£2,500with12-100mmf/
■20.4MPFour Thirds
sensor
■18fpsshootingwithC-AF
■121-pointphase
detectionAF
■5-axisin-bodyimage
stabilisation(IBIS)
■Extensiveweather-
sealing
Joystick
Themostnotable
externalimprovementis
theadditionofa joystickfor
selectingthefocusarea.It
canalsobeusedtonavigate
menusandchange
settings.
USBpower
Thecameracanbepowered
duringshootingusinga USB-C
PowerDeliverycompatible
powerbank,andthebattery
canbechargedusingany
3AUSBsupply.
Vertical
grip
TheMarkIII usesthesame
HLD-9gripastheMarkII. This
replicatesthemainshooting
controls,butuserswillhave
tomakedowitha d-padto
movetheAFpoint.
Modedial
AnewB positiongiveseasy
accesstoOlympus’suniquely
usefullongexposuremodes,
andthere’sa fourth
user-customisable
C positiontoo.
includingLiveNDthatmimicstheeffectof
usingneutraldensityfilterstoachievelong
exposures,anda handheldhigh-
resolutionmulti-shotmodethatoutputs
50MPimages.There’salsoan80MP
tripod-basedmulti-shotmode.More
generally,Olympussaysthatthenew
processorprovidesup-ratedall-round
performance,includingimprovementsin
suchareasasfaceandeyedetectionAF.
Theheadlinespecificationsaremostly
unchanged.Olympushasstuckwiththe
familiar20.4MPFourThirdssensor,
offeringISO200-6400asstandard,and
extendedsettingsof ISO64-25600.
On-chip phase detection supports 121
buttonacrosstotheleftshoulder.Aside
fromthat,buttons,dialsandswitchesare
foundin allthesameplaces,althougha
fewhavechangedtheirdefaultfunctions.
A buttonbehindtheshutterreleaseis
earmarkedforexposurecompensation,
whilethatontherightshoulderis givenover
toISO,asontherecentE-M5MarkIII.
Butthisis Olympus,soeverythingcanbe
re-configuredaccordingtoyourpersonal
preferencesanyway.
Thebiggestupgradeis actuallyinternal,
becausetheE-M1MarkIII debutsa
brandnewprocessor,theTruePicIX.This
allowstheinclusionof someof themost
interesting features from the E-M1X,