• Categories
• Tips & Inspiration
• Reviews
• News
• Events
• Features
• Buying Guides
• Competitions

Olympus O-MD E-M1X First Look

Introducing the new Olympus OM-D E-M1X, a brand new line of OM-D camera. Offering impressive features including world leading image stabilisation and a pro design, we look at the key features of this new camera.

First look at the Olympus OM-D E-M1X

We were lucky enough to get hands-on with the latest member of the OM-D family. Olympus are rightly proud of their new baby, which is geared towards sports and wildlife professional photographers.

It's fast, durable, and thanks to enhanced weatherproofing, it's tough. Read on as we cover the key technical details and how it handled. We've also included some sample images, so you can see how perfectly suited it is to professionals within their field.

Look and Feel

So to start things off, it’s a bigger design than you might normally expect but with that said, it’s about the same size as the Olympus OM-D E-M1 with the battery grip. The integrated vertical grip means that you’ve got two batteries, dramatically extending your shooting and it gives you more options for how you’re going to be taking photos.

On top of that it’s got better ergonomics with embedded dials that feel lovely and very intuitive to use (not to mention helping to improve weatherproofing) as well as ISO, Bracketing and Bulb control buttons on the body.

It’s also sporting a very handy variable screen that is able to twist and turn to suit your needs. It makes shooting in awkward positions much easier and really helps for all kinds of photography and videography.

Specification Overview

See the full spec on our website.

In terms of image quality, it’s got a 20.4 megapixel sensor and also featuring two Trupic VIII Processors which makes it exceptionally fast.

It means that you can shoot 10 frames per second in continuous mode in raw with a buffer of 287 shots and because of those two processors; you can still scroll through images or use the menu while the camera is still writing to card.

It’s worth mentioning as well; it does have two card slots.

In terms of image stabilisation, this camera is incredible. You can get up to seven and a half stops of image stabilisation when paired with lenses with sync IS.

It means you can shoot at much slower shutter speeds than you would normally be able to get away with and it means you can get some nice, smooth video footage.

Speaking of video, it will shoot 4K at up to 30 frames per second and it will shoot full HD 1080p at up to 120 frames per second so that you can get some lovely slow motion. It’s got great dynamic range and surprisingly good low light capabilities as well as a Log mode which you can use for better dynamic range and to make colour grading easier later.

In terms of autofocus, there’s a lot going on here. This camera has a lot of ways to setup your autofocus so that you can get it just how you want it. It’s been designed with customizability and usability in mind and in addition to that, it’s got an intelligent subject detection autofocus which is designed to be able to detect and track people, cars, motorbikes, aircraft, trains but setting the points yourself you have a few options.

You can customize the size and shape of your autofocus points depending on what you’re going to be shooting and this gives you a really great way of setting up your camera for specific situations.

We never had any issues with the autofocus, it was fast and snappy and easy to use and setup and it also works in low light down to -6EV.

Features

This camera is packed full of features, there’s a high resolution mode where the camera will take multiple shots and combine them to create a high resolution picture. So you can shoot in handheld to create a 50 megapixel image or shoot on a tripod to create an 80 megapixel image, great if you’re shooting a beautiful landscape and you want that extra level of detail.

The Live ND feature allows you to get some slower shutter effects without an external filter.

You can watch our video below to see more of the camera and our experience with it.

Olympus OM-D E-M1X Video Review

You may also like:

Relive the build up to the OM-D E-M1X launch

Street Photography with the Olympus OM-D E-M1X  

Olympus OM-D E-M1X  Review

Share this post:

By Ashley Laurence on 21/01/2019