The Brand New Olympus OMD EM1 MarkIII by Olympus Visionary Tracie Maglosky
Disclosure Statement
I am an Olympus Visionary. While I love Olympus products and truly share my love for Olympus because I’m a total fan girl, I am also compensated by Olympus. However, I have not been compensated by Olympus for the information in this blog. These are just my independent thoughts on the new product launch.
My first impressions of the Olympus EM1 MarkIII were at the Visionary Summit at the end of 2019 in Tucson, Arizona at the Saguaro National Park. It was so exciting to get the new camera in advance of the launch! We stayed at a beautiful ranch called Tanque Verde Ranch. My first thoughts were how familiar the camera felt in my hands. Much like the EM1X and the EM1 MarkII, it has those same comfortable Olympus ergonomics we’ve all come to love. I look forward to adding a grip to it as well as I most often shoot with the grip. I love the addition of the joy stick on the EM1 MarkIII inherited from the EM1X.
If you don’t know this about me, I LOVE horses and there were so many horses at Tanque Verde Ranch. We even got to go on a horseback ride…literally, my favorite thing ever!
Things I noticed while we were photographing these beautiful creatures and the gorgeous Saguaro National Park using the EM1 MarkIII:
Face/Eye Priority is much, much better than the EM-1 Markii
Live ND integration inherited from the EM1X is a great upgrade in a smaller body
Hand Held High Res also inherited from the EM1X
Starry Sky AF the brand new, ground breaking technology
I mention Starry Sky AF because I am not a star shooter! I live in Cincinnati, Ohio with all the light pollution that you can imagine invading the night skies so, there is rarely an opportunity to photograph the night skies well. However, AZ is a perfect place with minimal light pollution to photograph stars. A few of the Visionaries took off on a golf cart up the hill to photograph stars the first night we got our hands on the EM1 MarkIII and tried out the Starry Sky AF. I know that there will be a million better images out there of stars from the star shooting masters but I have to say I was rather impressed with how this feature works and how easy it is to use. I literally believe anyone could use it and create magical images. If you have questions about this feature for your work, I highly recommend checking out Peter Baumgarten and hit him up with questions about the night skies.
Finally, on to what makes this camera genius for me and my work. As I’ve mentioned before, the EM1X was never given it’s proper due for the improvements in the darks of the images created by the camera. I’ve always loved shooting light, vibrant work and will continue to do so. However, the improvements in the darks seen both in the EM1X and now the EM1 MarkIII have catapulted my work into other areas now as well. I’m finding myself exploring darker settings and leaving room for light and shadow to truly tell the story of my images and set the mood. You can see in the images I’ve placed below from my studio work that the darks look lush and delicious and these are all unedited! I’m loving the improvements that no one is really talking about. I stand by my thoughts that the image quality from the EM1X and the EM1 MarkIII are superior to that of the EM1 MarkII (and don’t get me wrong, the EM1 MarkII is a beast in itself). With the new image processing engine
(From Olympus: With the new image processing engine ,TruePicIX, combined with its 20.4 Megapixel Live MOS sensor, the world’s most effective 7.5 shutter speed steps of compensation, and high-resolution M.Zuiko Digital lenses deliver minimal noise even at high-sensitivity settings.)
On a personal note, I’m always so freaking excited when Olympus comes out with a new product because I know the core values that Olympus holds. They will never compromise on portability, quality and reliability. Olympus innovations are always mind-blowing and I can count on them to move not just their own technology but the entire industry of photography forward and go where no one has gone. So many of these innovations over the years…TTL, Dust Reduction, 5-Axis Image Stabilization, Micro 4/3 and the introduction of mirrorless, Live ND, Starry Sky AF, Handheld High Res, the list goes on. So, yes, I’m a fangirl!
