WHAT’S NEW
An overview of the changes and improvements to the OM1-MKII
WHAT ARE THE CHANGES TO THE OM1-MKII?
In comparison to the OM-1 at first glance not a great deal, however when you delve deeper the changes are significant. The body remains unchanged although the control wheels are now rubberised which for me is a huge improvement, I found the OM-1 wheels too plasticy and less responsive than the old EM1-MKIII. The Delete button can now be reassigned to Menu, handy for left handed control, although it is hardly a physical change.
It has the same sensor and processor as previous but has had the in-camera memory or Ram doubled which is a physical change, which in turn means a huge increase to the buffer, where images are stored before being written to the card. It means in real world terms that the Auto Focus can be improved, new AI Detections in the form of Humans can be added, and shooting speeds can be improved with such things as blackout free shooting at all speeds and more images captured, 200 Raw images at 120fps compared to 90 previously. Increasing the buffer means in Pro Capture it is virtually impossible to miss the shot.
C-AF+Tracking has been removed as an option when combined with Subject Detection. In truth it was never intended to be used at the same time as Subject Detection, it just caused conflict with the two modes trying to track. It is sill available, just not with Subject Detection.
Actual features added are limited. A new Live GND, the ability to use in camera Graduated ND Filters is new and it is an industry first. We will look at those in detail. Also High Res Mode has been improved dramatically to capture 14Bit files instead of 12Bit, meaning more colours and subtle graduation of tone.
The interface has had some minor changes, the Menu has changed as you would expect with new features and AF Menu has been simplified, the Super Control Panel has a new item added with the inclusion of AI Detection. The increased Ram does mean the wholes system is a little more responsive.
Stabilisation is now increased to 8.5 stops which is a huge. It makes it even easier to capture images with long lenses, improves hand holding at slower shutter speeds and of course improves High Res hand held and Live ND.
The Olympus logo has been replaced with OM System of course. It is sad to see the name vanish, but do remember there is still a nod to the heritage of the brand with OM System being the original name of the Olympus line-up back in the 1970’s.
If you are upgrading from the OM-1 you will feel very familiar with the MKII and will benefit from the improvements with the memory and buffer. For anyone upgrading, or new to the system, the OM1-MKII is a beast.
COMPARISON
A summary of some of the main differences.
| OM1-MKII | OM-1 | E-M1 MK3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensor | 20.4 Stacked BSI CMOS | 20.4 Stacked BSI CMOS | 20.4 CMOS |
| Processor | TruePic X Dual Quad Core | TruePic X Dual Quad Core | TruePic IX |
| EVF | 5.76 M Dot OLED | 5.76 M Dot OLED | 2.36 M Dot LCD |
| AF | 1053 Cross Type Phase Detect | 1053 Cross Type Phase Detect | 121 Phase Detect |
| A. I Detect | Motorsports, Planes, Trains, Birds, Animals, Humans | Motorsports, Planes, Trains, Birds, Animals | None |
| Frames Per Second | 12.5fps, 16.7fps, 25fps, 50fps C-AF / 120fps S-AF / 120fps Pro Capture 99 frames | 25fps, 50fps C-AF / 120fps S-AF / 120fps Pro Capture 70 frames | 10fps C-AF / 15fps S-AF / 60fps Pro Capture |
| ISO | 80 – 102,400 | 80 – 102,400 | 60 – 25,600 |
| Weather Sealing | IP53 | IP53 | IPX1 |
| High Res Mode | 80MP (Tripod) 50MP (Hand-Held) 5s Processing-12 or 14Bit | 80MP (Tripod) 50MP (Hand-Held) 5s Processing-12Bit | 80MP (Tripod) 50MP (Hand-Held) 15s Processing |
| Live ND | 7 Stops ND128 | 6 Stops ND64 | 5 Stops ND32 |
| Modes | High Res, Live ND, Live Time, Focus Stacking, Live Composite, HDR-All Hand Held | High Res, Live ND, Live Time, Focus Stacking, Live Composite, HDR-All Hand Held | High Res, Live ND, Live Time, Focus Stacking, Live Composite, HDR |
| Live GND | 1-3 Stops, Soft, Medium or Hard | None | None |
| Custom Modes | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Stabilisation | 8.5 stops | 7 stops | 7 Stops |
FULL LIST OF CHANGES
EXTERNAL
New rubberised Control Wheels, a huge improvement especially when out and using gloves. ‘Delete’ can be reassigned to ‘Menu’, extremely useful if like me you like to access as many controls as possible with just your right hand.
MEMORY AND BUFFER
Memory or Ram has been doubled on the logic board, with a faster interface, allowing improvements to autofocus, tracking and AI Detection, and new features. Increasing the Buffer allows up to 200 Raw images at 120fps.
AUTOFOCUS & SUBJECT DETECTION
Improved autofocus system with a simplified user interface. Improvements mean C-AF+Tracking has been removed as an option when Subject Detection is active. Human Subject Detection added to track humans even if facing away, and improved focus on eyes. Different focus priorities can now be assigned to the shutter button and AF-ON, meaning both can be used for different priorities, Subject Detection on one and active AF Point on the other. Improvements have been made to detecting and tracking birds in branches and behind grass and AF is now much more ‘sticky’; when previously the Target had to overlap a subject this is no longer the case. Subject Selection has been added, or rather replacing Face Selection, which means when multiple subjects are detected we can now choose which subject is priority and the AF will lock onto it.
Low light S-AF has also been improved.
SEQUENTIAL SHOOTING (BURST)
Blackout free shooting (SH2) in all shooting speeds from 1/160s including high speeds. OM1 was 1/320s. This goes hand in hand with increased buffer for more shots before buffering. Burst Shooting has two additional speeds, 12.5 and 16.7 frames per second.
PRO CAPTURE
Expanded frames captured to buffer expanded from 70 to 99 to give more chance of capturing the shot, including allowing 12.5 and 16.7fps. For example 99 frames divided by 12.5fps =7.92s, meaning you could capture a shot that happened almost 8 seconds before you pressed the shutter. Conversely 70 frames is 5.6s, so it is an improvement of over 2 seconds. It does not sound like a big deal, but it really is.
LIVE ND
Expanded to 7 stops ND128, previously 6 stops ND64. This is incredibly useful, sure it is only one stop but it means when struggling to get a long enough exposure with ND64 one stop effectively doubles the exposure. The maximum is still limited to 60s.
LIVE GND
New in camera graduated filter with selectable position, auto switch orientation, 1, 2, and 3 stops Soft, Medium or Hard Graduated selectable. An industry first and very useful for me especially. It cannot be used with any other computational modes such as High Res or Live ND, but it is still very useful
HIGH RES MODE
Increased from 12Bit to 14Bit Raw capture for increased tonal range. Processing speed in camera has not been increased but it has not slowed down and the camera has to do more work processing 14Bit. 14Bit is supposed to provide more tonal range and it really does. 12 and 14Bit are selectable if you prefer.
IMAGE STABILISATION
Increased from 7 to 8.5 Stops. Really great for even more possibilities hand holding especially with long lenses ad slower shutter speeds.
VIDEO
Support for 16:9 vertical video recording. It may be of no interest to you, it is added for those that want to share video online to social media using the vertical format. It is now also compatible with UVC (USB Video Class), great for using as a web cam.