46 11 April 2020I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113
pointsused,butalsohow
finelytheycanbemoved
around.Soif youexpecta subject
toappearin a specificareaof the
frame,it shouldbepossibletoset
upandpositiona customgroup
appropriately.
WhiletheMarkIII doesn’tinherit
thesubjectdetectionAFfoundon
theE-M1X,whichcanbesetto
focusonlyin cars,trainsorplanes,
theadditionof theTruePicIX
processormeansthatit gainsclear
improvementsin faceandeye
detectionAF.It reliablyrecognises
andfollowsfacesandeyeseven at
acuteanglesandin difficult
lightingconditions.
Overall,mylastingimpressionof
theMarkIII’sAFis thatit works
verywell.It nailedfocusonalmost
everythingI pointedit at,from
rapidlyapproachingplanesto
erraticallymovingbirds.It’snot
quiteasgoodat instantlyacquiring
focusthenkeepingeverysingle
framepin-sharpastheverybest
AFsystems,butoftenyou’llonly
seethedifferencewhenzooming
in onimagesonscreen.I found
thatstarryskyAFworkedreliably
too,althoughwiththecaveatthat
Londonisn’tthenecessarilybest
locationtotestit, becauseonlythe
brightest stars are visible to target.Performance
I’vebeenshootingwiththeE-M1
MarkIII forlongerthanweusually
gettotestcameras,andthemore
I’veusedit, themoreimpressed
I’vebecome.It’sanincredibly
quickandresponsivecamera
that’sunfazedbyalmostanything
youmightaskof it, andwhich
deliversgreat-lookingimages.
Indeedthecombinationof
excellentergonomicsand
responsiveoperationmeanthat
thisis a camerathatrarelygetsin
thewayof theshootingprocess.
Meteringandautowhitebalance
arebothveryreliable,which
meansthatthecameraroutinely
givesgreat-lookingJPEGfiles,
aidedbyOlympus’ssignature
warm,vibrantcolourrendition.
Soit’sa greatchoiceif youdon’t
wanttospendallyourtime
processingrawfiles.
Olympus’sin-bodyimage
stabilisationis implausiblyeffective,
especiallywhenusedin
combinationwithoneof thefirm’s
IS lenses.It’spossibletoshoot
hand-heldat shutterspeedsthat
wouldbeinconceivablewithother
cameras;forexampleusingthe
12-100mmF4in thewiderhalfof
itsrange,I routinelyfoundmyself
using speeds as long as 4 seconds.Thisis anextraordinarycapability
thatfundamentallychangesthe
wayyoucanwork.Forexample,
whenshootingstaticsubjects
hand-heldin lowlight,it allowsyou
tokeeptheISOlowtominimise
imagenoise.Alternativelyyoucan
uselongshutterspeedsfor
creativeblurringeffects.
High-resolutionmulti-shotis
veryusable,too.Thetripod-based
80MPversionrequires
impeccabletechniquetoensure
thatthecamerais heldcompletely
still,butdeliversfantasticlevelsof
detail.Howeverit’sthehand-held
50MPversionthatreallystands
out:it reproducesvisiblymore
detailthansingle-shotmode,
whilealsogivingmuchcleaner
imagefiles.It stilldoesn’tquite
matcha high-resolutionfull-frame
camera,notleastbecause
anythingthatmovesbetween
frameswillgivevisibleblurring,
andpotentiallymultipleghost
images.ButOlympus’sprocessing
rendersthisin a relatively
attractivefashion,withnoneof the
uglypixel-levelartefactsseenin
earlieriterations.Thebigcaveatis
processingtime,withthecamera
lockingupcompletelyforten
secondsorsoaftershooting.
All of the other special featuresworktoo,andexpandtherangeof
imagesyoucanshootwithout
alwayshavingtorelyonfurther
accessoriesorextensivepost-
production.LiveNDis brilliantfor
extendingshutterspeedsfor
motion-blureffects,andcanoften
beusedhand-held.Close-up
photographerswillappreciate
in-camerafocusstacking,which
allowsyoutoincreasedepthof
fieldwhilekeepingbackgrounds
nicelyblurred.Keystone
compensationis greatfor
correctingconvergingverticals
whenshootingarchitecture.There
arejustsomanyfeaturestoget
yourcreativejuicesflowing,once
you’veworkedouthowtoaccess
andusethem.
Ofcoursetheelephantin the
roomis therelativelysmallsensor,
andhowit impactsonimage
quality.TheE-M1III inevitablylags
behinditspeersin termsof
resolution,dynamicrangeand
high-ISOnoise,butin contextyou
canstillmakea detailedA3print,
recoverat leastthreeadditional
stopsof shadowdetailin raw
processingat lowISOs,and
happilyshootat ISO6400.It’s
uptoeachphotographertodecide
whetherthiscounts as being
good enough.The50MPhand-heldmulti-shot
modegivesvisiblyhigherdetail
thana 20MPsingleshot,with
thetripod-based80MPoption
beingevenbetter
Olympus12-100mmf/4at24mm,
1/500sec at f/5.6, ISO 6480MP tripod multi-shot 50MP hand-held multi-shot 20MP single shot