OM SYSTEM OM-1 Mark II Mirrorless Camera (Body Only)

The first OM-1 Mark II kit that Amazon sent was used--and I specifically made sure that Amazon was the seller, thinking doing so would avoid problems. Waited almost two weeks for it to arrive. The used OM-1 Mark II kit was returned and a new one ordered and received. The OM-1 Mark II is an outstanding camera with exceptional image quality using the 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro II. Have been using a 61MP FF with GM II glass for years, shooting mostly exterior architecture. The image quality of the OM-1 Mark II's hand held high resolution is exquisite for this--and the OM camera is dramatically lighter and smaller. It's a keeper!

Wrote my first Amazon review ever to say that people are being silly about the free battery thing. I wrote about the camera first and battery promotion second, so people can skip that if they just want to read about the camera. Maybe I'll write a full review of the camera someday, and include some pictures, but all you really need to know is that the OM-1 II is superb. If you want more than that, here's some more to consider: If you are coming from another camera manufacturer: Ergonomics are some of the best out there While being around the same size as many full-frame competitors, the OM-1 is usually ~0.5lbs lighter Autofocus and tracking is a step behind the best from other companies, but is still very capable, the best of any Olympus / OM product, and many Olympus lenses have the wonderful pull-back manual focus ring in case you need or want to take over Image stabilization is amazing, I can handhold a 600mm full-frame equivalent with only body IS, in the middle of a hike, and not have much trouble keeping it steady Image quality is good enough for most professional uses; biggest downside is a lack of detail and size from only being 20MP, but if you can use the high-resolution modes, 50 and 80MP hi-res shots will get you ~80% of the quality of an actual high megapixel camera Battery life is great; if you leave it "on" on, the battery will drain much faster because of the screens, but quick sleep greatly increases the amount of time, and if you are actively shooting tons of bursts, you can expect thousands of pictures on one battery. I managed ~5 hours and ~4,000 pictures on a battery before realizing later that Bluetooth On was keeping the camera from quick sleeping the whole time. And lastly, the computational features are what makes this camera truly unique. Maybe you still want to use neutral density filters, a macro rail, or a tripod, maybe you still want to take multiple exposures to process in post; you can still do all that. The OM-1 makes it possible if you don't. If you don't want to carry a tripod, you can still get long exposure shots. If you do, you can focus stack in camera. If you don't want to carry or switch out neutral density filters, you can still benefit from the effect. If you do, you can even combine them; ND filter on lens, GND on camera. It's very freeing to be able to casually go out with only a camera and a few lenses, and shoot however you want without feeling, "man, I should have brought this or that." And if doing professional work, maybe it'll make your life a little easier. If you still want to use and carry all your gear, that's fine! But you might also try these features out, and realize this is good enough for this shot or that shot, maybe I can spend a little less time switching out some gear, or lining a tripod up, or this one less step in post. How much benefit you get out of what this camera can do will absolutely vary, but what I think makes this camera special is that it just makes it easier to be creative If you are coming from an OM-1: Rubberized dials are great; maybe slightly easier to turn accidentally, but much easier to turn when you do want to turn them Stabilization is a little better; I struggled at times to handhold the 75-300mm on the OM-1, but find it much easier to do on the II Autofocus and tracking is a little better; C-AF+TR is actually useable now, and with subject detection on, C-AF has tracking completely integrated into it to where there is no option anymore to have C-AF or C-AF+TR with subject detect on, only C-AF; you may or may not like this change, but it makes it easier for me, because I normally used C-AF for no subject and C-AF+TR with subject, now I can just leave it on C-AF instead of switching every time there was or wasn't a subject (personally, it feels like the AF slows a tiny bit if you leave subject detect on, but there is no subject, as if it's spending a little more power "looking" for one, in case you wondered why I don't just leave it on all the time;) still can lose a subject or eye, but better and most importantly stickier in general Buffer is much improved; you can still fill it easily using super fast bursts, but you will get twice as long before that happens, and if you shoot on the slower ProCap modes like 5,12.5, 25fps, you'll probably be held up more by your SD card speeds than the buffer Live GND is very nice and intuitive if it's applicable to the type of shooting you do OM has stated that some II features aren't able to be ported to the OM-1; What could and couldn't work on the older camera is tough to say without being OM and knowing all the technical details, but they have also said that besides increased RAM, the memory system has also changed, so while some features might be possible, it may be extremely difficult or impossible to get them to the same level as on the II, like the improved AF performance and Live GND After spending more time with the II, it does drain the battery faster than the Mark I; this is reflected in the CIPA rating (520 vs 500 shots,) and is also noticeable to someone who has extensively used them both; battery life is still very good, but this does seem to give some more credence that the initial amount of RAM was holding OM's cameras back somewhat, like the processors were always powerful enough, but the data they had access to at any given time was so limited, that they weren't working as hard as they could be If you are coming from an older Olympus camera: Just about everything will be improved Better stabilization, autofocus, tracking, battery life, high ISO performance New menu system which can still be a little labyrinthine, but is sorted out much better Much faster sequential shooting speeds Hi-res shot is much faster to process and hand-held if it was only tripod before, stronger filter effects for Live ND, some computational features entirely depending on what Olympus you're coming from Hope this proved worth your time reading in some way, and maybe even helped you make a decision on your next camera purchase. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About the free battery promotion: On Amazon, you don't just order the camera and expect an extra battery to be in there. You needed to add both the camera and battery to your cart in order to qualify for the free battery promotion. If you did this, the battery isn't actually free; Amazon discounts you the majority cost of the battery OFF THE CAMERA (mine was also split into two separate orders: -$3.24 off battery / -$86.54 off camera when I purchased it.) The promotion is no longer going on, but if you did read it, it did in fact say to add the battery to your cart as well. If you did do this, and didn't receive the battery, then yes, Amazon is at fault for not sending something that shows up in your Order page as being properly ordered, and should rectify the situation by sending a battery. If you didn't do this, then understand that this is how Amazon handles their promotions. You can try contacting OM, and if they are nice about it, they might send you one, but they are in no way obligated to, because this promotion is being handled by Amazon. OM doesn't have anything to do with it except telling retailers, "if they order the camera during this timeframe, offer them a free battery however you do that sort of thing." You can try contacting Amazon, but it doesn't look like people have had much luck with that, and if you didn't follow their procedure, they're really not obligated to help either. If you try to take advantage of a promotion like this on Amazon again, just double-check that there is something in the order that does look like you're getting the item and for free (it is in your cart and $0 or some part of it is discounted,) and don't expect that Amazon is randomly throwing in an extra battery on their own in the package. OM isn't sending them a pallet of batteries with every pallet of OM-1s, and Amazon has one bajillion warehouses, they might not have any of the batteries in the same warehouse as the cameras, if they could even tag order pickers to grab a battery for every order of this camera during X amount of time.

As most reviewers have noted, Amazon does not ship the spare battery noted in the product description, and they have apparently since deleted that offer from the product description. Too bad they ripped off multiple buyers first. There are numerous professional reviews of this camera on line by people far more experienced and knowledgeable than I, and you should read them if you truly need to know more about what this camera can do. Currently all I am doing is photographing fast pitch softball, and this review will almost exclusively focus on that. I also do occasional wildlife and landscape photography and camera features such as pro capture, focus stacking, and exposure bracketing can be immensely valuable in those settings. I have used those features on Olympus (predecessor to OM) cameras, but have not yet used them on this camera. Pros. I have been blown away by my ability to use high ISO with very little noise. In my previous camera (Olympus M1X) my default ISO was 800 and I would never go above ISO 1250 because of very significant picture degradation. I shot my first game with Auto ISO just to see what the camera would do. It sometimes used ISO higher than 10,000 and I never observed any significant noise. I still find this unbelievable. A player's face is a small part of most softball pictures, but it is also a vital part, and automatic ISO did periodically produce a mild over exposure of players with fair skin and a mild underexposure for players with dark skin. It is adjusting for brightness on uniforms, infield, etc., not just on the players' faces. This is a minor inconvenience and requires some post camera editing, but Auto ISO saved many more pictures than it lost. When I am focused on a batter in shadows and the runner on 1B tries to steal 2B in bright sunlight, it is not possible for me to manually change my exposure settings in time to take a series of pictures. Auto ISO does it for me effortlessly, and makes fewer mistakes than I make when adjusting the camera manually. The auto focus system is vastly superior to my previous M1X, but still occasionally loses focus for no known reason. If your target is not moving too wildly this camera has a number of tracking systems which will follow your target for you. However I frequently make wild swings between targets (I'm basically trying to follow the player closest to the ball) and camera tracking does not seem useful to me. I have a love/hate relationship with the speed of picture taking. I prefer to use a Mechanical Shutter so I can hear exactly when my camera begins and stops taking pictures. My old M1X and this camera both advertise that they take 10 pictures per second (frames per second or FPS) when using the mechanical shutter. However the 10 fps on my M1X appear to be slightly faster than the 10 fps on the OM Mark II as I got fewer pictures of the bat actually meeting the ball with the Mark II. I switched to the electronic (or silent) shutter at its lowest speed of 20 fps and effortlessly obtained pictures of the bat meeting the ball. However 20 fps also means that when I finish shooting a game I have approximately 3,500 pictures to sort through instead of the approximately 2,000 I used to get. Yes I get pictures I would have missed using the manual shutter, but I also get too many pictures I would have missed with the manual shutter. Cons. The camera is complicated and requires me to learn a number of new tricks even though I was previously using an Olympus camera. This also means it has lots of cool features, but I'm too old to enjoy learning new tricks. The camera accepts two memory cards, but after I filled up one card yesterday it would not automatically switch to the second card until I manually removed the first card. There is undoubtedly a simple way to get the camera to switch, but I have not yet learned it. This camera only accepts one battery (it is designed to be light weight) so I have had to go back to carrying an extra battery in my pocket. I really liked that my M1X accepted two batteries.

The best camera of the world

Fabulous professional level camera. I am still going through the learning curve. There is no Auto mode, so you have to learn all about camera settings to be able to use it. Results in very clean images. Requires an independent lens accessory. I bought the 100-400mm attachment. Makes total weight a bit heavy, around 5 lbs. More than double what I used to carry with my Sony RX10 III. But I was looking for an upgrade. And, the way to go is to mirrorless cameras. For questions, you can Google in AI mode and get very clear and detailed answers. Better than manuals.