EM5 still a good buy?

[090657]

Original EM5. My other half is really keen on her photography now and currently uses a Panasonic G1 and occasionally an Olympus EP series, both pre-loved. Have attached a couple of shots to show where she is. We were talking birthday/xmas gifts yesterday and she wants to get on the Oly ladder so was thinking an original EM5 or possibly the EM5 2. Any thoughts on these please? Lenses she uses are the excellent Panny 12-60 and 45-200. Tim

[MJ224]

Yes, my backup is the EM5 mk2. It's a grey import! It has good IQ, and is competent. Not so many bells and whistles as the EM1 mk3, but is light and easy to use.....

[090657]

Thanks MJ, pretty well sums up what she wants.

[Crazy Dave]

So good I bought it twice - the original Mk 1 that is. Paired with the Pany 12-35mm f/2.8 it’s formidable.

David

[AJW]

I had an EM5 Mk1 Elite from new (bundled with a 12-40 pro) and really liked that camera.
Be aware, though, it is now a 9 year old device and spares may be hard to come by so if you go down that route make sure you get a good warranty. Harrison Cameras have a low shutter count silver model for £150 and they give a 12 month warranty - https://www.harrisoncameras.co.uk/us...d:used-olympus
Unfortunately mine developed an out of warranty shutter fault (not entirely uncommon apparently) and Olympus advised it wasn't repairable so they offered me an EM5 Mk3 in lieu!😊( I had paid £167 for the repair so it wasn't entirely gratis)
This was just after I had bought a Mk2 (bundled with a 14-150) which I tend to use when hillwalking (although the Mk3 is llghter) and I am quite happy with the results.

Andy

[alfbranch]

The E-M5 and the Mk11 are good small cameras I have had both and they delivered well IMO

[OM USer]

I am still using my EM5 Mk1. The model is worth every penny of the second hand price it currently commands. It is dated and the Mk2 and Mk3 have more features although costlier. The Mk2 has tether capabilities which are lost on the Mk3 which gains the better sensor.

[DwrCymru]

I got myself an E-M5 Mark I and as I already have the E-M10 Mark I the similarities were amazing but the E-M5 was faulty and after being refunded I decided after reading an article on the differences between the Mark I and Mark II I got myself the Mark II version. What a great feeling camera, it does everything I want and more and it's so versatile. I have always used back-button focusing but found it rather awkward on the OM-D's so once I had the E-M5 II I relegated the front preview button to do the job, wow, the button falls just under my finger and couldn't be happier. The difference between these two models is out of this world and if you update the firmware to the latest 4.1 the camera becomes another system. I wouldn't bother with the E-M5 I now after having and using the Mark II.

[MikeOxon]

I still have my original E-M5, which started me off in the Olympus system. I use it as a second body to my E-M1-ii. The weaknesses in the M5 lie in its relatively slow speed of operation and less certain AF. There's nothing wrong with its photo quality. For an overview of differences between this and the Mk.ii see https://www.amateurphotographer.co.u...m-d-e-m5-44571 If you can stretch to a Mk.ii, I would go for that but the Mk.i is perfectly good for fairly static shots. The lenses are the more important factor in image quality.

[Tordan58]

I still use my EM5.1, purchased 10 years ago. Great little camera when size is prio 1.

[Crazy Dave]

One of the beauties of the EM-5 Mk1 is its simplicity of use. No plethora of levers, knobs, function buttons, etc, etc. When Olympus announced that it was divesting its imaging division, I bought a backup on EBay, shutter count less than 200, fancy strap, grip, battery and flash unit all for £180. I consider that a fantastic bargain. The colour rendition is very accurate, skin tones too. I recently purchased (and sold) a much lauded model released two years ago from another camera manufacturer. Image quality with an appropriate lens is still amazing, I use the Pany 12-35mm about 90% of the time. Yep, I like it.

David

[MJ224]

I use my EM5 mk2 as another lens carrier. The OM-1 carries my birding lens, 300mm + 1.4-MC, but quite often I find a view I like. The mk5 carries either the 12-100mm, or the 12-32mm tiny lens, pancake it might be called. I get my views/panoramas from this set up. IQ is good, and it is so light and handy to have. Fewer bells and whistles, but for more general photography,it works very well.....:-)