Olympus OMD E-M1 - First Impressions

Goodbye ol' friend

It's finally here.  After feverishly checking the status on my pre-order, I am happy to say the OMD E-M1 has shipped to my office and is ready for the weekend.   I have been OMD-less for the last 2 weeks, as I had sold the camera to my brother (wanted to keep it in the family and he was bugging me to finally deliver).  Letting go of the OMD was tough, but I knew that I wouldn't be disappointed with the E-M1.  Although I can't say much about the image quality, since I've only had it for 6 hours, here are some of the things I really like about the camera:

1. Good heft and fantastic grip.  I may be in the minority here, but I love the heavier feel to the camera.  I had the horizontal grip permanently attached to the E-M5, so having an integrated grip with easy access to the battery is a huge plus.

2. The EVF is fantastic.  It is noticeably larger and crisp.  It will definitely make manually focusing easier even without the magnify feature.

3. Focus peaking, oh how I love the focus peaking.  I am a man who loves to shoot with legacy glass, so this is a welcomed addition to the camera.  Can't wait to try out my voightlander 40mm f1.4 on the E-M1.

4.  Buttons have a more tactile feel and are nicely laid out across the body.  The directional pad and center button are no longer mushy/gummy and feel more responsive.

5. Shutter sound is a little louder...I like that.  

6.  The wi-fi and Olympus Share app work seamlessly together.  Installing the app and getting the phone to control the camera took less than a minute to do.  I already shared a couple of photos with my co-workers.  The photo below came straight out of the camera. Pretty cool, right?

Bottom right - worst angry face ever

These are just some of my initial thoughts on the camera.  I plan on doing a more thorough review with a list of pros and cons once I get a bit more mileage with the camera.  You can bet I will be posting a ton of sample pics in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.  Thanks for stopping by.

So say we all,
Dino