OLY E-M1 New Camera

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Just ordered the vacuum system for my NA-GH3. Definitely worth the expensive!
 
Yes B, with a cost difference.

---------- Post added December 31st, 2013 at 11:17 AM ----------

A post on Wetpixel in response to issues of cost difference between the Nauticam NA-EM5 system and the Nauticam NA-EM1 system, the comment was that the difference was about $1500.00.

You are way off base on the cost difference between the two systems all things being equal assuming you are buying a complete new system. First the difference in the cost of the two systems is the difference in the cost of the camera body and the housing. The ports, gears and lenses you chose will be the same with both systems, so no cost difference.

At B&H the cost of the E-M5 body is $999.00 and the E-M1 body is $1399.00 so a $400.00 difference. The Nauticam NA-EM5 housing is $1450.00 and the NA-EM1 housing is $1850.00 so another $400.00 difference for a total of $800.00 system to system all else (lenses, gears and ports) being equal.

Now you need to compare what you get with each housing. The E-M1 housings comes with the grips, 1" ball heads and stainless handle brackets as well as the vacuum system electronics built in. The E-M1 housing also has vertical shutter trigger and AEL/AFL trigger for rear auto focus along with several more function buttons for the E-M1 which is the most programable camera on the planet.

At the very least the E-M5 housing would need the Flex II tray, second grip and "1 ball heads to mount dual strobe arms. Flex tray $130.00, second grip $40.00, two 1" balls $16.00X2=$32.00 for a total of $202.00. Add the handle brackets $60.00 and the vacuum electronics around $220.00 installed by local dealer and now you are at $482.00 in add-ons which are standard with the E-M1 housing. Both housings would require the vacuum valve and pump about $220.00 for the complete vacuum system. I also have the $30.00 wrist strap with my E-M5 system because I hold the housing with my right hand to allow better assess to the shutter release rather than holding the right grip. Just the ability to use a vertical trigger and hold the housing by the grip makes the E-M1 housing very compelling.

So with tray only you have about a $602.00 difference between systems. Total difference with all items added to both both housings would be around $318.00. If you add the wrist strap you are now under a $300.00 difference system to system.

I own both systems and I can tell you that the E-M1 system is head and shoulders above the E-M5 system in terms of ease of use, function access, AF triggering and more. The difference in size between the two systems is not that great.

I realize you can probably find bigger discounts on the E-M5 than you can on the E-M1 but then the E-M5 is nearing the end of its run and the E-M1 is just at its beginning.

You can also get over $300.00 in incentives with the E-M1, with the 12-40 zoom I got a $200.00 rebate and the MMF-3 ($180.00) adapter for 43 lenses which work very well on the E-M1 and not well at all on the E-M5.

The E-M1 has been chosen camera of the year by several highly respected organization and is a true "pro" camera by definition. I think the E-M5 system is a great value with excellent image quality but the E-M1 system is truly a step above and it could be argued that it is a value compared to DSLR systems with the same image quality and less features.

Phil Rudin




 
Thanks to all for the great info- from someone toying with the idea of "upgrading" from an E-PL1.
Any comments on U/W Video performance would be great, as that's one of the reasons I'm looking (at these cameras and the Panasonic GH3 & GX7).
 
Phil,

Just used my E-M5 with Nauticam Housing for the first time for 10 days at Lembeh and then Bunaken and absolutely loved it, upgraded from G12. The only function I missed was continuous AF and would defintiely upgrade to the E-M1 if that functions well.

Was wondering if you have had the opportunity to test the continuous AF on the E-M1 and if you believe it would be usable most of the time underwater.

Will post on a new thread my impressions of the E-M5 as someone switching from a compact and some pix.

Thanks.
 
Thanks to all for the great info- from someone toying with the idea of "upgrading" from an E-PL1.
Any comments on U/W Video performance would be great, as that's one of the reasons I'm looking (at these cameras and the Panasonic GH3 & GX7).

I think the E-M1 will be worlds apart from your E-PL1!!!! Much better for video...

However if you want video performance and mFT lens capability I think you should look at the GX7 or ideally the GH3.

I've just got a GH3 for video, admittedly the E-M1 is a better stills camera, but for Video the GH3 is probably the best body for SemiPro use at the moment. The GX7 has better ISO performance than the GH3, but we are really picking at straws here!


The reason I got the GH3:

1080p30 at 50Mbps IPB (compared to the 24Mbps on the E-M1)
Live Uncompressed HDMI Output (shame its still only 420 thou). The GX7 doesn't have this and the E-M1 HDMI output has all the overlays on it.
Mic Input
 
Henny, Continuous AF has been a problem with ALL mirror less cameras using contrast-detection AF. It has also been well documented that the E-M1 sensor with the on-chip PDAF has improved C-AF dramatically. Tests at DPReview of the E-M1 Olympus OM-D E-M1 Review: Digital Photography Review were shot with the 60mm macro at 6.5 frames per second and 60 RAW images were buffered with excellent results. This would be head and shoulders above cameras like the Nikon D-7100. I don't think this is going to be a issue for U/W photography with this camera and it is yet one more compelling feature of the E-M1 over the excellent E-M5.

Regarding video, we are well aware that the Panasonic cameras trump the Olympus cameras in the area of video. But once again the E-M1 video is well ahead of many DSLR cameras like the Nikon D-7100 which seems to be the camera many what to compare the E-M1 too. I think if you want to shoot video the best value in that area is the BlackMagic BMPCC camera at around $1000.00 with the Nauticam housing. It uses all of the M43 lenses and Nauticam ports and is in a video class of its own.

Phil Rudin
 
I think if you want to shoot video the best value in that area is the BlackMagic BMPCC camera at around $1000.00 with the Nauticam housing. It uses all of the M43 lenses and Nauticam ports and is in a video class of its own.

I was really tempted by the BMPCC but from the reviews I read, the problems with the BMPCC (when I looked at it) were:

1. x2.88 Crop Factor (unless you start using a Speedbooster)
2. No Auto Focus
3. Battery Life

But for sure 12Bit RAW is the future and I bet the next m43 camera I'll be getting will include this...
 

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