Olympus OM-D E-M1X mirrorless camera

Tuesday 29 January 2019, 23:32 by Michelle Peeters | 4,414 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Olympus has announced that the OM-D E-M1X mirrorless camera will be available from the end of February for a recommended retail price of 2,999 euros. This new mirrorless camera is particularly suitable for sports and wildlife photographers because it excels in speed, among other things.

18 to 60fps

The new Olympus is a mirrorless camera with a Micro Four Thirds sensor and a resolution of 20.4 megapixels. You can shoot at no less than 18 photos per second in RAW format while retaining autofocus.

Without autofocus, you can even shoot at 60 photos per second, also at full resolution and in RAW. There is support for two UHS-II SD memory cards.

The camera has a 3-inch screen that can be fully rotated and folded forwards, allowing you to easily make vlogs or take selfies. With a joystick, you can choose from 121 cross-type phase-detection autofocus points on the sensor.

This comes on top of a traditional contrast-detection system. You can use the screen to choose a focus point by touching it.

Batteries, stabilisation, weather resistance

The camera also has a built-in battery grip. Two BLH-1 batteries fit inside it. This lets you capture up to 2,580 images in battery-saving mode.

You can charge both batteries via the USB charging function, which takes about an hour. With a cartridge system, you can remove the batteries from the camera fairly easily, even when the camera is mounted on a tripod.

The electronic viewfinder has a resolution of 2.36 million dots and a magnification of 0.83x. The camera is sealed against dust and splashing water, and can withstand temperatures of -10 degrees Celsius.

According to Olympus, the stabilisation in this camera provides up to 7.5 stops of benefit, measured using the M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4.0 lens at 100mm, or 200mm effective. A new gyro sensor makes this possible.

Video functions

The camera has a video function with a maximum resolution of 4096 x 2160 pixels at a frame rate of 30 fps and a bitrate of 102 Mbit/s. When the DCI 4K format is used, a maximum of 24 fps is possible with a bitrate of 237 Mbit/s.

Full HD video can be recorded at up to 120 fps. A 4K video function at sixty frames per second is not supported. According to Olympus, the camera has five-axis image stabilisation and they have added a Log function.

The new Olympus has two quad-core TruePic VIII image processors, which according to Olympus make the start-up time and recovery time from sleep mode shorter, among other things. According to the manufacturer, this doubling of processing power also enables some new features, such as the built-in grey filter, an updated multishot mode and a new autofocus system.

Self-learning autofocus system

According to Olympus, the autofocus system has been trained using machine learning. This allows the camera to recognise subjects and track them automatically.

The autofocus system has been trained to recognise four types of objects that you can set the camera to: motorsport, trains, aeroplanes and helicopters. When this function is switched on, this system takes priority over normal autofocus.

The camera is probably not able to learn by itself. Olympus will presumably add more types of objects in future firmware updates, which the new autofocus system can target specifically.

Multishot mode without a tripod

The traditional multishot mode using a tripod generates 80-megapixel photos, but there is now also a mode that does not require a tripod and takes sixteen images. These are then combined into a RAW file with a resolution of fifty megapixels.

As with the Pentax K-1II, in this mode the camera detects how much the sensor has moved, after which this movement is compensated for in the final, combined photo.

The camera also contains a GPS sensor, a temperature sensor, a pressure gauge and a compass. This allows you to add detailed information to your photos.

In principle, you should be able to use this sensor, in combination with sensor stabilisation, to track stars, but Olympus says nothing about it. The camera weighs 997 grams and will be available at the end of February for 2,999 euros.

High-end lens with teleconverter

A new high-end lens is also on the way: the M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm f/4.5 with built-in stabilisation and a built-in teleconverter with 1.25x magnification. This makes a focal length of 1000mm possible in 35mm equivalent.

The manufacturer is also introducing a separate new teleconverter with 2x magnification. This teleconverter can be fitted to the 150-400mm telezoom that is yet to be released, or to the existing 40-150mm f/2.8 lens.

Prices

The OM-D E-M1X will be available from the end of February for a recommended retail price of 2,999 euros. Prices for the new lens or the teleconverter are not yet known. The teleconverter will go on sale in summer 2019, and the new telezoom sometime in 2020.

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