Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-04-11)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 11 April 2020 47

FEATURES 9/10

BUILD& HANDLING 9/10

METERING 9/10

AUTOFOCUS 9/10

AWB& COLOUR 9/10

DYNAMICRANGE 8/10

IMAGEQUALITY 8/10

VIEWFINDER/LCD 8/10

Noise

Resolution

CAMERA TEST Testbench

Thecropsshownbelowaretaken
fromthearea outlined above in red

There’slittletofaultwithlow-ISOimages,whichdisplaystrongcolour

andplentyoffinedetailwithnovisiblenoise.A littleluminancenoise

creepsin atISO800,butyou’llonlyseeit whenviewingfilesclose-upon

screen.HoweverbyISO 3200 noiseis havinga muchstrongerimpact,

withfinedetaildisappearingandcoloursufferingtoo.AtISO6400,

imagequalityis stillperfectlyacceptableforsmalleroutputsizes,and

morethangoodenoughforsocialmediause.ISO12,800cangive

perfectlyacceptableresultsin black & white, but I’d steer clear of

ISO25,600asfar as possible.

RAW ISO 100 RAW ISO 400 RAW ISO 1600

RAW ISO 6400 RAW ISO 12,800 RAW ISO 25,600

AtlowISOs,usingtheOlympus60mmf/2.8Macro
atf/4,theE-M1III cleanlyresolvesatleast 3600 l/ph.
However,someimageartefactsbecomevisibleat
higherfrequencies.Noiseonlystartstohavea clear
negative impact at ISO 1600, with resolution

droppingtoaround 3500 l/ph.ByISO 6400 thisfalls

toabout 3100 l/ph,beforeplummetingto 2600 l/ph

atISO25,600.Olympus’sJPEGprocessinggives

slightlylowerresolution in a bid to reduce artefacts

andimagenoise.

Withits20MPFourThirdssensor,theE-M1MarkIII deliversverysimilarimagequalitytoboth
itspredecessorandtheE-M1X,meaningthatit’scapableof recordingeasilyenoughdetailforan
A3print.Thesmallersensordoesmeanthatit lagsbehinditsrivalsforimagenoisewhen
comparedISO-for-ISO,butin somesituationsthiscanbeoffsetbyitsoutrageouslyeffective
imagestabilisation.Whileyou’llgetbest results at ISO 1600 and below, I’d happily shoot at up to
ISO 6400 as a matter of course.

Lab results

AndrewSydenham’slabtestsrevealjusthowthe camera performs

Ourcamerasandlensesaretestedusingtheindustry-

standardImageEngineeringIQ-Analysersoftware.

Visit http://www.image-engineering.de for more details

ONPAPER,theE-M1MarkIII looksso

similartoitspredecessorthatit couldeasily

bemistakenfora ratherunderwhelming

update.Butthankstotheextrahorsepower

providedbytheTruePicIXprocessor,almost

everyaspectof thecamerafeelsuprated

andimproved.LikewisethenewAF-selector

joystickelevatestheMarkIII tobeingoneof

thebest-handlingcamerasin itsclass.

Thespecsheetmaynotbemuchof an

updateovertheMarkII, butit’sstillincredibly

impressive.Thisis a camerathatyoucan

hand-holdat shutterspeedsof several

seconds;thatcancapture 35 framesbefore

youcanevenreacttowhatyouseein the

viewfinder;andthatcanautofocusonstars.

In short,it letsyoutakepicturesthatwould

bepracticallyimpossiblewithalmostany

othercamera.ThegreatfuturologistArthur

C.Clarkeoncesaidthatanysufficiently

advancedtechnologyis indistinguishable

frommagic,andI canonlyassumethat

whenhecoinedthephrase,he’djustgotout

of a timemachinewiththeE-M1MarkIII.

Ofcoursewithfullframebeingflavourof

themonth,it’stemptingtoassumethat

MicroFourThirdshashaditsday.Butthe

systemoffersconsiderableadvantagesof its

own,particularlyin termsof sizeandweight.

It’snotthebestoptionif youregularlymake

verylargeprints,areaftershallowdepthof

field,orfrequentlyshootmovingsubjectsin

lowlight.Butit’sa greatchoiceif youwantto

carrya largerangeof lenseswithout

breakingyourback.TheE-M1MarkIII

deliversonthesystem’spromisebetterthan

everbefore;it’sthecamerathattheE-M1X

shouldhavebeenallalong.

Ultimately,choosinga camerais allabout

compromises.Olympushasprioritised

mobilityoverrawimagequality,thenthrown

in asmuchtechnologytocompensate.The

resultis a superbcamerathat,forserious

photographerslookingtominimisesizeand

weight, may just be the perfect choice.

Verdict

Ontherightweshowdetails
fromourresolutioncharttest
pattern(above).Multiplythe
numberbeneaththelinesby
200 togivetheresolutionin
lines per picture height.

RAW

ISO 25,600

RAW

ISO 6400

RAW

ISO 1600

RAW

ISO 100

GOLD