Back in 2009, I bought a Panasonic GF1 camera. At that time, I was looking for a smaller camera compared to a DSLR however I wasnt willing to compromise on picture taking capability by using a compact camera. The GF1 was, to me, a perfect choice. It was light, had great picture quality and could do videos better than my DSLR. What drew me to the GF1 most of all however was the fact that it looked retro. It looked and worked (mostly) like a mini digital rangefinder would.
Mid last year, the Olympus OMD was announced and it drew rave reviews from the Olympus faithful but for some reason, I wasnt that interested. I have always been a Nikon user, with occasional dabblings in Canon, Pentax and Fujifilm. I did however love my old Olympus Stylus Mju. So much so that I still have it even though I havent shot a roll of film in years. And I also had an Olymus C5060 briefly which I was ever so impressed with.
With that in mind and also because my GF1 was showing signs of being long in the tooth i.e. the low light capability really isnt that good and the AVCHD format was just giving me fits in terms of editing - I decided to get an OMD.
Playing with the camera briefly, I purchased it in Hong Kong as a body only kit, some things immediately become clear and some things start to annoy me.
First, the really good stuff, the picture quality in low light is really good and the IBIS ("in-body image stabilization") is one of the best of its kind. The picture quality is not Nikon D4 good but its borders on being as good as a D90. Olympus added a small flash in the kit however the power output is rather poor and after a few shots I packed it carefully in the box and do not intend to use it again bar some urgent need for fill in flash. I intend to use the OMD using existing light.
The OMD is probably the fastest micro four-thirds camera that Olympus has ever produced. For years its Pen line, Olympus AF systems had a weird "hunting for focus" behaviour which my Panasonic GF1 never had. AF-speed wise and responsiveness wise, I dont think anyone will complain much about the OMD. Features-wise, the OMD has lots of other cameras licked - it has a pretty good EVF plus LCD, a "virtual horizon" feature, 9fps, tiltable LCD, light weather proofing, a magnesium alloy body - you could go on and on.
Onto the negatives - my biggest grip is regarding the ergonomics and usability. Unless your hands are small, you will find the grip to be slightly awkward to use. Its a little bit like I have to learn how to hold the camera vs having a camera grip being moulded to fit my hand. The eyelet for the shoulder strap eats into my palm each time I grip the camera tightly. Its more of a finger hold camera vs a full in your palms type of camera. The buttons are fiddly.
Olympus (to be fair - the same holds true for all pure play camera manufacturers) is not and has never been good at UI. The OMD has a lot of configurability and settings hidden and disabled. When I first got the camera - I couldn't figure how to set the ISO. One of the first things you have to do when you get this camera is to enable the Super Control Panel (go [Camera] Control Settings in Custom Menu > section D > and enable LIVE SCP). For some reason Olympus thinks that you would want a different setting for each exposure mode - a sure sign of a programmer making a decision vs a photographer. My advice - do a google search on "OM-D tips" and setup the camera once according to how you like to shoot.
To be honest - for all my complaints - I do not think there is a better camera for me. Its retro (check out this pic of my OMD with an old Nikon) and it takes good pictures. Enuff said.
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