By Patrick Avenell
What are Olympus customers unhappy about? Not enough lenses, no built-in viewfinder and no tough offering in its system camera range. That message was flashed upon the wall yesterday by Olympus Imaging Australia managing director Marc Radatt as he launched the new OM-D E-M5 Micro Four-Thirds camera to his dealer partners in Sydney.
Of course, Olympus customers are happy about some things, with Radatt saying they are most pleased by the cameras’ convenience, system compatibility and ‘creative expression’ features. Naturally enough, Olympus has retained these three plusses while addressing the negatives.
Olympus Imaging Australia MD Marc Raddat. Just to prove his point about smartphones being unreliable cameras, I took this photo on an iPhone 4S.
The new E-M5 body is a retro design, though not so retro as to be compared to the great street cameras produced by Leica and adored by hipsters. This is mainstream retro, with a noticeable modernity infused to create cross-generational appeal.
Considering Micro Four-Third’s status as a cross brand open standard, lack of lenses is a surprising complaint from customers. Purchase just the body, and a customer can affix an Olympus lens or one from several companies adhering to the standard, such as Panasonic. There is also an adaptor for the E-M5 so users can utilise lenses purchased for Olympus’ DSLR range.
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To solve the second gripe on Radatt’s list, the E-M5 has a built-in viewfinder. Problem solved. It also has a detachable flash that comes in the box. Throw in the world’s fastest auto-focusing (according to Olympus) and a five-axis image stabiliser, plus a horizontally tilting 3-inch OLED touchscreen and you have some fairly decent hardware.
Although Olympus’ Japanese rival Panasonic has the best tough features on the Australian market, Olympus will never stop reminding you that it was the pioneer of this category. So much so, tough camera enthusiasts have been demanding that these features flow up to its system camera ranges.
While the E-M5 is nowhere near as proofed as what you’d expect from a fixed lens tough camera, the body is described as having a “splashproof and dustproof metal alloy chassis”. Furthermore, a number of the lenses have similar proofing, while some even include a seal on the mount to increase protection.
The new Olympus OM-D E-M5.
To the nuts and bolts of the E-M5: it has a 16-megapixel LiveMOS sensor, 1.44-megapixel electronic viewfinder, 35 AutoFocus zones with 3D AF tracking, Full HD video recording and a 9 frames/second sequential shooting rate.
The E-M5 is due to hit retail shelves on 1 April 2012. An Olympus insider told me that it will be sold in three ways: body only, one-lens kit and two-lens kit. Pricing is still to be determined, though I was told by a different Olympus insider that the $1,500 mark is being aimed for, though this could come down to as low as $1,200.
This insider further told me that unlike a number of suppliers in the camera category, Olympus Imaging Australia is not being particularly affected by grey importing as its Australia pricing is in line with that of other regions.
One specialist camera retailer I spoke to was particularly enthusiastic about the E-M5, saying it was hitting a definite niche in the category and that interest for this camera would be high.