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Archive 2019 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

ELinder
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

Since the camera is about to be released I thought we need a thread focused on posting actual experience with the camera. We have enough other threads for speculation, complaints, and alternative brands of cameras and feature comparisons and wishes, so lets try to keep this thread on topic.

Erich

Feb 21, 2019 at 09:48 AM

galenapass
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

Looking forward to this thread! People should be getting their copy in the next week or so.

Feb 21, 2019 at 01:49 PM

ELinder
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

My camera is on the way. Anyone else?

Erich

Feb 28, 2019 at 06:45 PM

ELinder
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

OK seriously, what is it about the weather that conspires against using new gear? The camera just arrived. Today was bright and sunny. The next few days will be colder, cloudy, darker, and with snow flurries...

Mar 01, 2019 at 05:12 PM

James Farrell
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

New EM-1X owner with just a few initial observations. Just took delivery late on Friday, March 1. So, today, Saturday 3/2, given mostly rain and quite blustery here in the AZ mountains, most of what follows are initial hands-on impressions RE set up and some comments on a few static test shots of uninteresting things like neighbor’s chimneys, trash cans and license plates. etc.

Camera arrived with 241 mechanical shutter snaps like someone else who posted that (Brianric?). Must be standard test by factory or something. Somewhat disappointed that there were no plastic cases for the BLH-1 batteries like what you would get if buying extra batteries. Two chargers and two cords just like what you get with the EM1.2. See photo below, in order not to have to carry two OEM cords for the chargers, found these handy right-angle plugs on Amazon two years ago that save a lot of space when packing gear for a trip. I know some of you will opt for third-party dual chargers. I’ll stick to the OEM chargers.

Camera build is outstanding. I have fairly large hands and the layout and grip is perfect. Buttons are well spaced, and have some bulk to them (i.e., don’t feel like I have to really hunt for them nor do I have difficulty pressing them). A ’notch’ in the lower front left of the battery housing area for the base of your thumb is really nice as it makes holding a long lens (e.g., 300 f/4 Pro) very comfortable. Well thought out. Dedicated exposure compensation and ISO buttons are a nice feature.

No top LCD - a bone of contention for many, but I don’t miss it. What I want is total flexibility to change settings on the fly with my eye to the EVF and not need to look at the top LCD. There really is no room for it anyhow.

The EVF is of interest to a lot of folks (and has been thoroughly bashed). It is much bigger than the EM1.2. Yes, same resolution. But I didn’t really notice any issues with the larger size and resulting less effective resolution. Seems very smooth. That said, those of you used to higher res EVFs may notice. Have not tested burst shooting to follow objects yet. That will happen maybe in the next day or so. Given the extra size of the EVF display, I chose to use Cog > I > EVF Style > Style 1 where all of the primary shooting info one needs is below the image in the EVF instead of overlaying the image and cluttering up things. Much neater; very similar to what you would find in a Nikon (and I assume Canon too) viewfinder.

The joystick is very nice - you can move it diagonally. Much easier to use than the 4 way controller. You can also configure it to press the joystick and use the front dial to bring up the different target modes too. If I remember, the Nikon D500 did this as well.

The shutter button is quite nice as it is has lots of empty space around it (for ease of access and for fat fingers) and is very responsive. I had no trouble using a pair of medium duty waterproof gloves operating the AF joystick and the shutter.

The My Menu is a nice addition. Still trying to sort out what I want to include in that. Probably some of the myriad AF menu options.

One thing that’s not so good - what really needs to be improved (by firmware update) is the battery charge indicator that you see on the LCD/EVF. The EM1X has two batteries as you are aware. You can choose to use battery number one or number two first (in the menu). When one battery runs out completely, the camera then automatically switches over to the other battery that (presumedly) has a full charge. However, the indicator does not change to the new, fresh battery. Instead, it continues to show your old battery totally depleted. So, you don’t have any indication of the status of the second battery. Not very reassuring. Until (and I hope soon) Olympus fixes this, what I’ve done is to add the battery set-up/status to the My Menu page one so I have quick and easy access to knowing the battery situation. Jordon Drake of DPreview first noted this in a video preview.

I did take some static test shots and noted a few things of interest. The IBIS is just simply awesome. It was especially noticeable in a positive way with the 40-150/2.8 Pro which does not have Sync IS. Fantastic with the 300/4 Pro.

The static shots were shot with matrix metering. One thing I noticed is that the EM1X meters differently than the EM1.2. While you could really push the EM1.2 to ETTR quite a bit and not worry about blown highlights when shooting RAW , there does not seem to be as much latitude with highlights with the EM1X. I’ve always thought that the EM1.2 underexposed a little at EV of “0”. The EM1X seems brighter at EV of “0” than does the EM1.2 at “0”. Too early to figure out what’s going on.

My primary challenge is to try to figure out how to configure the EM1X to resemble as closely as possible how the camera layout (buttons and functions) would be close to how the EM1.2 operates so that I can use the two different bodies interchangeably without too much muscle memory confusion.

Right angle plug bought on Amazon

Mar 02, 2019 at 07:02 PM

maf27
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

James Farrell wrote:
Camera build is outstanding. I have fairly large hands and the layout and grip is perfect. Buttons are well spaced, and have some bulk to them (i.e., don’t feel like I have to really hunt for them nor do I have difficulty pressing them). A ’notch’ in the lower front left of the battery housing area for the base of your thumb is really nice as it makes holding a long lens (e.g., 300 f/4 Pro) very comfortable. Well thought out. Dedicated exposure compensation and ISO buttons are a nice feature.

Thanks for the detailed report, Jim. I have no intention of getting an E-M1X but I was at B&H store today for something else but went over to the Olympus counter to check out this camera. I have to agree with you - it's one heck of a camera. I hope some of these ergonomic improvements are implemented in the E-M1 II successor. The only thing I didn't like about the camera was the decoupling of the shutter release button from the front dial - I like them together. Other than that, it promises to be a beast of a camera.

Mar 03, 2019 at 06:29 PM

James Farrell
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

maf27 wrote:
Thanks for the detailed report, Jim. I have no intention of getting an E-M1X but I was at B&H store today for something else but went over to the Olympus counter to check out this camera. I have to agree with you - it's one heck of a camera. I hope some of these ergonomic improvements are implemented in the E-M1 II successor. The only thing I didn't like about the camera was the decoupling of the shutter release button from the front dial - I like them together. Other than that, it promises to be a beast of a...Show more →

Thanks for your post and comments. Actually, I really like what they did with the shutter placement. The release button is in a smooth area by itself that is ever so slightly concave in shape. As such, I found my index finger rests very comfortably in it and I am able to more smoothly depress the shutter versus the EM1.2 placement. Also, I could be wearing gloves if needed and have good feel with the shutter, something I could not do with the EM1.2.

Mar 03, 2019 at 07:19 PM

brianric
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

James Farrell wrote:
New EM-1X owner with just a few initial observations. Just took delivery late on Friday, March 1. So, today, Saturday 3/2, given mostly rain and quite blustery here in the AZ mountains, most of what follows are initial hands-on impressions RE set up and some comments on a few static test shots of uninteresting things like neighbor’s chimneys, trash cans and license plates. etc.

Camera arrived with 241 mechanical shutter snaps like someone else who posted that (Brianric?). Must be standard test by factory or something. Somewhat disappointed that there were no plastic cases for the BLH-1 batteries like what...Show more →

Yep.I think it was 245 clicks. Also, agree with not having the plastic cases for the batteries.

Mar 03, 2019 at 07:31 PM

robert_in_ca
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

brianric wrote:
Yep.I think it was 245 clicks. Also, agree with not having the plastic cases for the batteries. I don’t have the X but I like having that plastic battery case. Wonder if there’s a way to get them from Olympus.

Mar 04, 2019 at 11:45 AM

ELinder
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

I haven't had the chance to shoot with the camera yet, but will in a couple of days. Olympus must have a standard QC shot regimen, as my camera also has about 240 shots on it. Ditto battery cases. Pet peeve: A huge book that I was thrilled to see what I thought was the printed manual is only a QuickStart type thing in half the languages on the planet. Seriously, at this price no printed manual?

Fit, finish, and build quality is fabulous. Most of the switches actually feel better built than my D5. In my hand it's everything I like about the D5 but actually feels better. My hands are not large, so the D5 is a bit too large and a bit too heavy. I have to stretch to reach many buttons. The X is just that much smaller and lighter that it's a perfect fit for my hands. It's interesting that in photos it doesn't look like there is a big size difference, until I hold each at the same time. Even my D500 with grip feels more bulky and not as well built. Balance with the Olympus 40-150/2.8 and Panasonic 200/2.8 feels perfect. I can't wait to shoot with them.

Erich

Mar 04, 2019 at 04:26 PM

bobbytan
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

Although I have no plans to buy this camera, I will attend the E-M1X launch event with a presentation by Joe Edelman:

https://learnandsupport.getolympus.com/events/launch-events

There might be one in your area.

Mar 05, 2019 at 06:27 PM

whumber
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

I was planning to skip this camera, or at least wait a few months until the price drops started, but I got an offer to buy one for $2600 so my curiosity got the best of me. It just came today and I only had a little bit of time to play with it but thought I would share my initial impressions.

First thing I noticed is that it feels lighter than I expected. It also doesn't quite have the same "I could beat an angry bear to death with this no problem" feeling as the 1DX bodies. Still very good build qualilty though.
As other have stated, overall grip ergonomics are fantastic although a few buttons are on the opposite side of the camera as the E-M1/E-M1ii so it takes a bit of adjustment. I'm a big fan of integrated grip bodies in general and this one is no different.
Engraved buttons are a nice touch.
Not at all a fan of the new three buttons left shoulder thing. Buttons are mushy and don't seem very responsive. There's a long delay between when you hit one of the buttons and something happening. This was true of the previous E-M1 bodies as well, but at least with those there was a click so you know you actually pressed them.
The Sony Tough SD cards just barely fit in the SD slots, actually had trouble getting them out at first.
EVF is nice but definitely has a sort of gritty screen door effect although it's not terrible. Also, there's still a resolution drop going from 60fps to 120fps mode and a further drop during a burst. Blackout time and overall performance seems identical to my E-M1ii; I seriously can't see any difference at all from the progressive vs interlaced scan of the E-M1ii although at 120fps I'm not exactly surprised by this.
Stills AF definitely seems improved although I need to do more testing here as I just did some minor testing playing catch with my dog.
Video AF is massively improved, seriously a night and day difference. Such a shame Olympus couldn't have included 4K60 or had AF tracking with 1080P120.
Some parts of the EVF display seem to have transitioned to a smaller or finer font, which I like, while others still have the older blocky font that seems to be a relic of the original E-M5 EVF. I'd like to see an option to make all the EVF display use the finer font size.
Joysticks are great, better implementation than any other mirrorless camera I've used.
My menu options, thank goodness. Olympus has desperately needed this for a while now.
HHHR mode works pretty well, takes around 1/2s or so to capture all the images and about 10s to process.
I thought LiveND mode would be great for getting extremely low noise images but unfortunately the PDAF grid pattern shows up and makes things look pretty ugly.
Seems like the AI cars and motorcycles mode works pretty well for tracking people on mountain bikes, although this is just based off of pointing the camera at some videos. Going to be a few months before I can test it in person.

Mar 06, 2019 at 05:21 PM

ELinder
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

I had the chance to spend a bit of time with the camera at the botanical center yesterday. The trip got off on the wrong foot, as soon as I walked in the door I realized I had already lost the rubber eye cup. So I'll have to reserve judgement on the viewfinder as I couldn't get my eye right up to it for fear of scratching either it or my eyeglasses. I also wanted to try out the LiveND at the indoor waterfall, but could not get it to activate. The option was always greyed out in the menu. After I got home I realized it doesn't work in Aperture priority mode, only Shutter or Manual.

So I concentrated on trying the hand held high res mode, which all these photos are. Good news and not so good. It definitely works, and very well, but with the already known obvious limitations on subject movement. The butterfly is with the camera stretched out full arms length in front of me between some branches. Full frame and a crop. I think it would have been sharper with more shutter speed, but I wanted to push the HHHR and IBIS when the camera is really moving around. The flower shows that even at very close distances extremely fine detail is retained in HHHR mode. The wall display was holding the camera above my head one handed. The final shot I waited specifically until someone walked by and nudged the hanging baskets to start them moving. As expected, there are movement artifacts.

So far, I give it a thumbs up. Well, except for the $17 price on the replacement eye cup, but at least Olympus already have them in stock.

Erich

Edited on Mar 07, 2019 at 04:27 PM · View previous versions

Mar 07, 2019 at 03:16 PM

Pwdrhound
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

How did the eyecup come off? On my EM1.1 it is secured quite well, to the point it can be difficult to remove. Have they changed how they are attached?

Mar 07, 2019 at 03:28 PM

ELinder
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

If I knew what I did that made it come off, I wouldn't have lost it.

No idea, it suddenly wasn't there. Don't know if I lost it at home, getting out of the car, walking in, or what. It's vanished. When I get the replacement I'll see how the attatchement differs from the regular EM1, if any.

Erich

Mar 07, 2019 at 03:41 PM

ericrhall
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

The regular EM1 seems to have a similar attachment albeit a bit smaller. It is very difficult to remove. I just got my 1X today. I'm impressed and about to sell all my Canon gear and stick with Olympus for my wildlife and Sony A7RIII for full frame needs.

Mar 07, 2019 at 11:24 PM

bobbytan
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

The eyecup from my E-M1 II recently dropped off too and just disappeared, and I have no idea how it happened. I replaced it with this $5 eyecup which fits perfectly:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00F2BB9E8?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_pd_title

ELinder wrote:
If I knew what I did that made it come off, I wouldn't have lost it.

Mar 07, 2019 at 11:45 PM

Wilbus
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

Thought you might all want to have a look at this

http://www.sulasula.com/en/olympus-e-m1x-autofocus-birds-in-flight/

/Rasmus

Mar 08, 2019 at 06:11 PM

Sagar
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

For all those folks who are interested but think price is too high (which probably is) there is an authorized dealer on eBay who is selling the camera for $2500-2600 all you have to do is use “Make Offer” option on eBay.

Mar 09, 2019 at 05:51 AM

galenapass
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Olympus E-M1X hands on tips, techniques, info, and photos

Wilbus wrote:
Thought you might all want to have a look at this

http://www.sulasula.com/en/olympus-e-m1x-autofocus-birds-in-flight/

/Rasmus

Finally a review that seems "unbiased" and that actually applies to the questions that many of us have. I am literally on the cusp of buying a D850 and switching to Nikon. It is not what I want to do but what I feel I have to do. But this review does give me pause.

Mar 09, 2019 at 02:47 PM


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