OT. OM-5 first impressions
After the weight of my new (13 months) K3III in my handlebar bag caused my bike to fall over and but the Smart Function knob, I looked into OM-5s again. The price had dropped below my pain point, and since thanks to online shopping there aren’t any convenient camera stores to look at them, I bought on on Amazon, and if I don’t like it I’ll feel no guilt over returning it.
My one word review:
Adequate
My basic review of the Lumix GH3 was that I loved the size, was unimpressed by the sensor/image quality and hated the UI.
The OM-5 is the same size, seems to have a substantially better sensor, and the UI is better but really makes me appreciate my Pentax cameras. I would not want one as my primary camera, but for something light and convenient to carry, if not use, it’ll work.
One example of something that I do on my pentax bodies that I can’t quite do on the OM 5 is my nominal shooting modes are two stop bracketing, either nominal and -2, or three stops shot in order of -2, nominal and +2. First of all, with the OM, I get at most one stop per frame, it also always shoots nominal first. Another difference is that with the Pentax, one press of the shutter shoots all of the bracket frames at once.
In daylight, the EVF, frankly, looks like shit. It is little better than giving me the shape of the objects in the frame. I recognize that there are advantages of EVF, particularly in low light, for manual focusing, focus peaking is nice to have, and other info, but for the experience of photography, not ready for prime, or even zoom, time.
Also the camera’s biggest strength is also a weakness, the small size makes it awkward to shoot with, even with my tiny hands.
Battery life seems mediocre, I’m used to running on Pentax batteries for hours, and this seems to be running low fairly quickly, but batteries are light and can be bought cheaply.
--
Larry Colen
lrc@red4est.com sent from ret13est
On Sat, May 11, 2024 at 04:50:59PM -0700, Larry Colen wrote:
After the weight of my new (13 months) K3III in my handlebar bag caused my bike to fall over and but the Smart Function knob, I looked into OM-5s again. The price had dropped below my pain point, and since thanks to online shopping there aren???t any convenient camera stores to look at them, I bought on on Amazon, and if I don???t like it I???ll feel no guilt over returning it.
My one word review:
Adequate
Hmm.
I was considering getting an OM-5 as a backup/lighter alternative;
I still feel nervous going anywhere with only a single camera body,
even though I'v never yet had a digital camera body fail on me
(and, in 50 years, only had two mechanical failures; once when my
MX motor drive bent a drive shaft in my MX, and once when my PZ-1p
objected to being used in rain, and took some time off to dry out.
I don't count my MZ-S objecting to having its lens mount knocked
off when I slipped climbing down from a photo tower and banged it
hard against an upright - that was entirely my own fault).
I suspect 'adequate' might still serve my purpose, although I will
admit that I was verging towards the slightly newer OM-D E-M5 Mk III.
I'll be interested to see how you feel about it after a week or two.
On May 11, 2024, at 10:32 PM, John Francis johnf@panix.com wrote:
On Sat, May 11, 2024 at 04:50:59PM -0700, Larry Colen wrote:
After the weight of my new (13 months) K3III in my handlebar bag caused my bike to fall over and but the Smart Function knob, I looked into OM-5s again. The price had dropped below my pain point, and since thanks to online shopping there aren???t any convenient camera stores to look at them, I bought on on Amazon, and if I don???t like it I???ll feel no guilt over returning it.
My one word review:
Adequate
Hmm.
I was considering getting an OM-5 as a backup/lighter alternative;
I still feel nervous going anywhere with only a single camera body,
even though I'v never yet had a digital camera body fail on me
(and, in 50 years, only had two mechanical failures; once when my
MX motor drive bent a drive shaft in my MX, and once when my PZ-1p
objected to being used in rain, and took some time off to dry out.
I don't count my MZ-S objecting to having its lens mount knocked
off when I slipped climbing down from a photo tower and banged it
hard against an upright - that was entirely my own fault).
I suspect 'adequate' might still serve my purpose, although I will
admit that I was verging towards the slightly newer OM-D E-M5 Mk III.
If you like the OM-1, then I suspect the OM-5 would be just fine for you. I also suspect that a lot of things that take the shine off for me aren’t things that come up for you as often. My shooting needs are generally very different from yours. If you don’t do a lot of bracketing of raw files, then my complaints there are totally irrelevant, and even so may not be something that bothers you.
I'll be interested to see how you feel about it after a week or two.
This afternoon/evening we bopped by the Getty to play with cameras. As things got darker I ended up needing to lean on the ISO a bit harder, it’ll be interesting to see how the images turn out. On a quick look on my laptop, they seem to be usable at 6400.
I was shooting with the 25/0.95 I bought from Boris and focus peaking went away in Manual Focus mode. I put one of the autofocus lenses on, and focus peaking worked fine. So, for some reason, manual focus assist does not work on manual focus only lenses.
As we were leaving, I saw someone else waiting for the tram with a small retro looking camera, thinking that it might be another Oly I took a closer look, it was a Pentax MX! I did tell him about PDML, he found the camera in his dad’s attic and is interested in learning more about photography in general and the camera in particular.
--
%(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List
To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
--
Larry Colen
lrc@red4est.com sent from ret13est
Lar
I use an Olympus OM-D EM1 mark II as a video camera (only) but in conjunction with a very bright Fotga external monitor. The IBIS is excellent and one of the reason I got it. That and it was pretty cheap so reasonably easy to replace if it goes wrong or gets damaged.
I use it on conjunction with manual lenses and I have the focus peaking set on permanently. Maybe your still focus peaking can be enabled in the menus on the OM5 somewhere? It’s essential for my eyes.
Cot
It seems that I'm not the only one, it may be that it works differently in video mode
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4732898
I did put another 500 frames on it yesterday on a hike in Malibu Creek Park. I'm starting to get a bit more comfortable with it. And it is a damn sight easier to carry than the k1.
On May 12, 2024 1:30:24 PM PDT, Steve Cottrell cotty@seeingeye.tv wrote:
Lar
I use an Olympus OM-D EM1 mark II as a video camera (only) but in conjunction with a very bright Fotga external monitor. The IBIS is excellent and one of the reason I got it. That and it was pretty cheap so reasonably easy to replace if it goes wrong or gets damaged.
I use it on conjunction with manual lenses and I have the focus peaking set on permanently. Maybe your still focus peaking can be enabled in the menus on the OM5 somewhere? It’s essential for my eyes.
Cot
%(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List
To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
--
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
I'd be interested in your opinion if you use the hand-held hi res mode. I'm more than happy with my EM-5ii but the OM-5 has several features that interest me. I'm just not sure if the benefits make sense financially.
Cheers
Brian
On 14 May 2024 4:43:48 am AEST, lrc@red4est.com wrote:
It seems that I'm not the only one, it may be that it works differently in video mode
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4732898
I did put another 500 frames on it yesterday on a hike in Malibu Creek Park. I'm starting to get a bit more comfortable with it. And it is a damn sight easier to carry than the k1.
On May 12, 2024 1:30:24 PM PDT, Steve Cottrell cotty@seeingeye.tv wrote:
Lar
I use an Olympus OM-D EM1 mark II as a video camera (only) but in conjunction with a very bright Fotga external monitor. The IBIS is excellent and one of the reason I got it. That and it was pretty cheap so reasonably easy to replace if it goes wrong or gets damaged.
I use it on conjunction with manual lenses and I have the focus peaking set on permanently. Maybe your still focus peaking can be enabled in the menus on the OM5 somewhere? It’s essential for my eyes.
Cot
%(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List
To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
--
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
%(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List
To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
Another weird thing about the camera I noticed on my hike is that if you're shooting in "non-silent" mode, it doesn't just make the shutter sound with a speaker, there's some haptic bump to the camera. I guess if what you care about is whether it feels like a film camera that's nice, if however you care about image sharpness, then something that bumps the camera around while you're taking photos can't be good.
On May 13, 2024, at 3:57 PM, supera1000 brian-w@lyons-ryan.org wrote:
I'd be interested in your opinion if you use the hand-held hi res mode.
I wasn't planning on it, but I'll try to give it a try. If I really care enough about image quality on a shot to do that, I'll use my K-1. Although in retrospect, it might actually make a stop or two difference in noise/dynamic range.
I'm more than happy with my EM-5ii but the OM-5 has several features that interest me. I'm just not sure if the benefits make sense financially.
I was debating which to get and the impression I got (which is why I got the OM-5), is that if you don't have either, it's worth while buying the OM-5, but it's not worth trading in for. Unless of course you want an excuse to get a new camera. :-)
Cheers
Brian
On 14 May 2024 4:43:48 am AEST, lrc@red4est.com wrote:
It seems that I'm not the only one, it may be that it works differently in video mode
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4732898
I did put another 500 frames on it yesterday on a hike in Malibu Creek Park. I'm starting to get a bit more comfortable with it. And it is a damn sight easier to carry than the k1.
On May 12, 2024 1:30:24 PM PDT, Steve Cottrell cotty@seeingeye.tv wrote:
Lar
I use an Olympus OM-D EM1 mark II as a video camera (only) but in conjunction with a very bright Fotga external monitor. The IBIS is excellent and one of the reason I got it. That and it was pretty cheap so reasonably easy to replace if it goes wrong or gets damaged.
I use it on conjunction with manual lenses and I have the focus peaking set on permanently. Maybe your still focus peaking can be enabled in the menus on the OM5 somewhere? It’s essential for my eyes.
Cot
%(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List
To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
--
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
%(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List
To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
--
%(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List
To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
--
Larry Colen
lrc@red4est.com. sent from Mirkwood