Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-02-22)

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,