.....Not really....
taken with Fuji x100s
Having just own an
Olympus OMD EM10, i just had to test the camera straight away. Take it straight out of the box, put in the battery, fire some test shots and here we go. i dont know how much battery power left so lets just snap away till it died.
This is my review. This aint scientific. Hell, i dont even know how much megapixels this camera is, i just know that it's the same as OMD EM5 and EM1's processor but i still dont know whats the science in that. Since those both OMDs won awards i guess its a fine camera. This is not a pro review because this is for the noobs, amateurs, and enthusiast, pointers and shooters just like me. This is a point of view coming from a Fuji X100S user. So i'll be comparing the two. i dont care if its apples and oranges, yea you trolls just gonna bashed me, say its a different cameras bla bla bla (insert trolls lines here) bla bla....
I'll be doing point and shoot, a lil bit of manual controls, just a travel camera user experience kinda review. i dont really pixel peep. just occasionally for low light pictures. i hate unbearable noise. i am not gonna do tech specs or describe you how the body is, there's dpreview for you. lets just cut to the chase and show pictures shall we?
Anyway, i was in Singapore, i just hop off the MRT to Chinatown from Vivo City where i got my EM10. its night time. and i love low light. its also good way to test the Em10 low light capabilities. i set the auto ISO to 3200. i think based on my internet research everybody is not recommending the iso6400, thats why i still love my fuji. Damn those fujis are good at low light. These pictures will be OOC (out of camera for you noobies like me out there). i'm gonna try some night time street shooting. although i suck at street shooting.
THE CAMERA
taken with Fuji x100s
At this time i haven't figured how to set the camera focus at the center, so the camera automatically chooses which to focus. it sucks but the camera focus quickly, by the second focus it already focus where i want it to. Autofocus is handy but i still want to be in control. Need to RTFM. but the manual is in the CD and i dont bring a laptop. so i have to live with it. Lets just autofocus through the night.
The OMD EM10 is bundled with the new pancake auto zoom kit lens. that lens is awesome, its so small making the em10 compact easy to carry around. I think personally based on the compactness and the slight lighter weight of the OMD and dont me get started with the zoom, okay okay, it got zoom where as the Fuji X100S is just one focal length camera, if zoom is your sort of thing i think the OMD is a much better camera to bring around anywhere, covers all the angle, wide to zoom, its 14-42mm multiply by crop factor two so its 28mm-84mm. but with Fuji x100s u can easily get bokeh. you can get bokeh with EM10 kit lens if you zoom in.
and i also think the OMD in your hand handles better because of the slight grip than the x100s. Put the OMD around my neck and its not heavy, x100s too is not heavy. i once travel with SLR and i made a promise will never bring SLR for travel. too heavy and bulky. its a nuisance. but the OMDs and the Fujis, no problems at all. it doesnt fit your jeans pockets but its small enough to put in a backpack or pouch. i dont think i mind if i use a wrist strap all the way.
EVF is great. i dont really mind using both camera's EVF although i used a lot of OVF with Fuji X100S. During Sunny Day is a great time to use EVF's.
What else is there to say? hmm... lets just go straight to pictures.
Disclaimer: i'm not sure if blogger enhanced the pictures i uploaded but i upload this straight from my hard drvie. and if you wanna use my picture please ask permission and do credit me. lol...and i just realised that the pictures that i upload here are not the full blown out jpgs. its been resized by blogger.
HIGH ISOs
iso 2000 f3.5 14mm 1/60
To be honset, honest...damn you typo... honestly, i think i prefer how the Fuji handles noise and their grain structure, whatever that means, the omd noise and grain is errrr... i dunno... to smudgy i think? but maybe there is a way of doing noise reduction, i mean like settings, or lightroom process. please point me to the direction. all i can do is play around with luminance noise in lightroom, setting it up to 30 seems to lower the noise better. not bad not bad at all... you just have to control the noise, limit the iso to 3200. More high isos pictures below.
All pictures above are ISO3200
a lil bit of manual shooting... blur pedestrians
FOCUSING
The OMD wins hands down. You just have to point your camera, half press the shutter and beep, its in focus, shoot. thats ninja style. Fuji X100S likes to hunt sometimes. especially at low light scene. If you like a really fast auto focus then the OMD is the camera for you. i think the x100s mindset is like a leica, but in auto. a really fast manual focus but its actually auto. u get it? no? its ok. i rant sometimes.
With the OMD, i just need to pick up my camera and point at the subject and focus and shoot, sometimes i do it while i walked, the stabilisation helps though some pictures wont be really sharp if you pixel peep but its okay for web or 3R 4R prints.
i was looking for hawker centre when i saw this oldie sleep, like i said, point, focus, shoot, walk.
you cant do that on a x100s. maybe you can 50% of the time but the other 50% it likes to hunt.
not with the omd.
THE REST
Before i put thoughts on keyboard i have a lot to say but now i think im out of words. let me just post pictures and you pixel peep all you want. and let me just rant whatever comes to mind. All JPGs size are average less than 10Mb. Same with X100S.
Nice to have wide angle lens. iso3200.
You do get a bit of bokeh with this kit lens. this is also iso3200.
Sometimes the 3 axis didnt really work wonders, i was trying to be a ninja but i think i shake a lil bit. i think i shake a lot. this was walking and then noticed there's an alley to my right, point, focus, shoot while walking. so there's a lot of shaking going on.
blogger enhanced this photo. anyway, i have to credit Zack Arias for this. his tips were really helpful. You pretend that you shooting for the menu board (looking up) via EVF and then point to the strangers looking at the back lcd pretending you're checking the photo you just took but actually taking their photos.
too bad this guy at the right taking up too much space. need to crop this later.
the reason i went to little india. Red Mutton Soup.
iso2500. The noise during day time is better than night time. obviously. just mentioning.
i want to do this in black and white but i promised you OOC.
Here's bokeh for you bokeh lovers. Zoom at 42mm equivalent to 84mm at f/5.6 iso3200
its handy to have a zoom. did i say that already?
Anyways, both cameras are great and i'm not ditching Fuji. i love both companies. But to be honest i still prefer Fuji, the way they handle/render images, i dont know what that means. honestly i think Fuji has better image quality although im not saying that the OMD sucks. OMD also creates good image quality with controlled noise. with OMD i had to adjust luminance noise in lightroom, not with Fuji. but maybe i need to use the OMD with a different lens, a faster lens, maybe the new 25mm 1.8. Please OLYMPUS lend me the lens, i want to try it before i buy it. i also have the old Zuiko lens of the OM10, i need to get an adapter, fast!.
So my conclusions would be:-
Fuji is better at low light conditions. Olympus is faster at focusing. The EM10 is also compact, smaller and lighter than the x100s. The X100S looks cool if aesthetic/rangefinder is your thing. EM10 kit lens covers all the angles u need for travel photography. The Fuji can easily get bokeh. Let me put in bullet points.
Fuji X100S:-
1. better at low light
2. cool looking rangefinder-ish (this is personal)
3. easy bokeh
4. faster lens
OMD EM10
1. Faster focus
2. Smaller and lighter
3. Kit lens wide and zoom.
4. tilt-able lcd
5. Wifi, cool for selfies. and spy. and the list goes on.
Both have built in flash but i dare say Fuji X100S has better built in flash. The EM10 is too direct? splat on your face flash kinda. but the EM10 has wifi. You can take selfie with EM10 via your iphone. now thats pretty cool. you can zoom in and out via wifi. focus via wifi. thats some cool stuffs. i know the Fuji Xt1 have those features too but for one grand cheaper, the Em10 is value for money.
UPDATES: i just realised OMD is making noise when focusing. like a white noise/tv channel ends. google it up and its the axis stabilisation making noise. some kind of magnetic field. only in quiet room you can hear it but not annoyingly loud.
And i just remember when you record video with your OMD, you can take pictures at the same time too! aint that cool? Fuji dont have that. in fact everybody said Fuji videos sucks. i guess its a pure photography camera like a Nikon DF, except that a DF dont have video capabilities but Fuji does, just an added bonus of Fuji. i dont really mind with videos to be honest. im all pure photography haha.
i know back in my mind i have a lot to say but im just lost for words.
iso1000 1/30 f5.3 32mm
i loved tight crop and that is razor sharp. thats OOC.
So my GAS have won me over and make me buy an EM10. if i have to blame someone for my recent purchase of the omd em10, i guess its
robin wong and damian mcgilycuddy. creating such nice pictures with the OMDs. Robin should get a raise cos he work for Olympus.
Next up Xpro1.
