Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-04-11)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 11 April 2020 45

68.9 mm

CAMERA TEST Testbench

Itmaylookthesameasitspredecessor,butthe

E-M1MarkIII packs in plentyofnewfeatures too

Focal points

Joystick

Themost

notableexternal

improvementis the

additionofa joystick

forselectingthe

focusarea.It can

alsobeusedto

navigatemenusand

change settings.

USBpower

Thecameracanbepoweredduring

shootingusinga USB-CPowerDelivery

compatiblepowerbank.Alternativelythe

batterycanbechargedusingany3A

USBsupplywhenthe camera is

switched off.

Verticalgrip

TheE-M1MarkIII is compatiblewith

thesameHLD-9gripastheMarkII,

whichshouldpleaseexistingusers.

Thegripreplicatesthemainshooting

controls,butusershavetomakedo

with a d-padtomovetheAFpoint.

Connectors

A2.5mmremote

releasesocketon

thehandgripworks

withCanon-and

Pentax-compatible

wiredreleases.

Headphone,

microphone,HDMI

andUSB-Cportsare

on the other side.

Dualcardslots

ThetwoSDcardslots

canbeconfiguredin

practicallyanyfashion

required.It’spossible

tousethemeither

sequentiallyor

simultaneously,and

choosewhichfile

types torecordto

each.

Modedial

AnewB position

giveseasyaccessto

Olympus’suniquely

usefullongexposure

modes,andthere’sa

fourthcustomisable

C positiontoo.The

iAutoandArtFilter

positionshave

disappeared.

90.9 mm

13 4.1 mm

theE-M1MarkIII inheritsthe
E-M1X’sMyMenusystemfor
organisingyourfrequently
accessedsettings.You’llcertainly
needtotakeadvantageof thisin
ordertomakebestuseof manyof
thecamera’sadvancedfeatures,
butthegoodnewsis thatit’s
particularlyeasytosetup.

Viewfinderandscreen
Adecentviewfinderis essentialon
a cameraaimedat serious
photographers,andOlympushas
stuckwithwhatit knowsbest,
equippingtheE-M1MarkIII witha
2.36m-dotpanelthatoffersa
veryrespectable0.74xequivalent
magnification.Whilethisdoesn’t
matchthe3.69m-dotunitused
onsomeothersimilarlypriced
mirrorlessmodels,includingthe
FujifilmX-T4,it’svastlybetterthan
theSonyA6600’sEVF,which
providesa similarspeconpaper
butis letdownbya low-resolution
liveviewfeed.Forfollowing
fast-movingmotion,theframe
ratecanbesetashighas120fps,
althoughwithaninevitableimpact
onbatterylife.
Bydefault,Olympuspreviews
exposure,whitebalanceand
colourprocessinglivein the
viewfinder,whilea buttononthe
camera’sfrontengagesdepthof
fieldpreview.Manyphotographers
findthispreviewtobean
invaluableadvantageof mirrorless
cameras,butit’snotalwaysideal,
forexamplein veryhigh-contrast
lightingconditions.In thiscase,you
canswitchtosimulatedoptical
viewfinder(S-OVF)mode,which
imitates the view you’d get using a

DSLR,withlowercontrastand

moremutedcolours.

Therearscreenis a familiar-

looking1.04m-dot3infully

articulatedtouch-enabledLCD.

Onceagain,thisis a littleoutof

datein termsof resolution,with

theX-T4sportinga 1.62m-dot

unit,butit’ssufficientlybrightand

detailedtogetthejobdone.As

withtheviewfinder,youcan

choosetooverlaygridlines,

electroniclevelsanda live

histogramin anycombinationyou

prefer.Theside-hingeddesign

enablesthescreentobesetto

almostanypositionforshootingat

highorlowangles,orface

forwardsforselfiesorvlogging.

Themaindisadvantageis thatit

doesn’tworkwellwithL-brackets

fortripodshooting.

Autofocus

Onthefaceof it, theMarkIII’s

121-pointphase-detectionAF

againlooksverysimilartoits

predecessor’s.In termsof

numbers,it’soutclassedbythe

X-T4andA6600,bothof which

boast425-pointsystems.Butin

practice,youcanplacea finefocus

areapracticallyanywhereyou

wantwithintheframe,makingthe

real-worlddifferencesomewhat

academic.

Forshootingmovingsubjects,

whereit canbedifficulttokeepa

singleAFpointpositionedoverthe

target,it’spossibletoselect

groupsof 5,9 or 25 focuspoints.

AsontheE-M1X,userscannow

defineuptofourcustom

groupingstoo,notjustin

terms of the number of focus

Face-andeye-detection

worksverywell,while

highISOsstilllookgood

in black& white

Sigma56mmF1.4DCDN,

1/40sec at f/1.4, ISO 12,800