Olympus EM1 II and Nauticam NA-EM1II Review

[PHIL RUDIN]

You can find my full review in the new issue of uwpmag.com, this is a free PDF download.

 

[temas]

nice review! can you tell how long does the battery lasted? was it with with kit flash or with a flash trigger?

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Thank you, I used both the Kit flash and the Nauticam flash trigger. No recycle issues with the flash trigger at all. After two one hour ocean dives the battery graph showed 76% of remaining power. This can vary greatly depending on the chosen lens.
With a macro lens that hunts the battery may run down quicker. Based on out of water experience I expect this camera to have the best battery life of any mirrorless camera to date.

 

[Ardy]

Great review Phil. Is this to be your go-to camera for a while? Sounds great for UW photos any pro photo's you would recommend looking at?

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Thanks Ardy, I am Senior Reviewer for Underwater Photography magazine and I have been doing these reviews for over six years now. Some of the equipment is mine and some was borrowed. I am a fan of the mirrorless systems and spent the last 18 months reviewing Sony A7 full frame equipment. I have owned Olympus cameras since the E-1 was introduced and I find the M43 systems excellent for most of my work.

 

[bvanant]

Two things I think are a bit puzzling. One, the camera tray covers the battery compartment so you have to unscrew the tray to replace the battery; that is puzzling. The second is that there are no indents in the finder ring to align either the Nauticam or Inon 45 finders so they wander around a bit. Again puzzling. In any case I am looking forward to shooting this next month in Indonesia (Komodo and Alor).
Bill

 

[Ricardo V.]

Phil,
Are you able to select focus points with the Nauticam housing for the Olympus with ease?
Thanks for your reviews by the way!

I have a classic Canon 7D, housed in Nauticam, and focusing, selecting and moving the focus points around, is one of the reasons I love my old setup. I realize it's getting up in age and while I confess I've been looking to upgrade, this Olympus camera is on my radar screen and would like to know your thoughts when it comes to ease of focus, focus tracking, point selection and ease of doing that while housed.

Thank you,
Ricardo

 

[bvanant]

The EM-1 II is really nice, especially for macro things. Easy to move focus points around underwater and much better focusing speed than the old EM-1. I used to shoot a 7D in a Nauticam housing but sold it because the pics I get with the Oly are just as nice but the setup is way easier to travel with and now there are some amazing lenses for u 4/3.

Cheers

Bill

 

[Ricardo V.]

What housing do you have for it? Is it Nauticam? How do you select focus?

With the Nauticam 7D, I can back-button focus, move the focus points around using the 4 joystick type selector, all while keeping the subject in my view finder.

Is it better with the Olympus?

Thank you,

 

[Ricardo V.]

Bill,
Very nice photos on your website hyperlink.
Thank you,