The OM-3 is officially here

[Gate Keeper]

The OM-1 Mark II has the best animal and bird AI ID and tracking AF of the OM System range. It's a slightly improved version of the OM-1 Mark 1 system. The OM-3 probably probably has the same level of AF as the OM-1 Mark II.

Ian

Thank you Ian and Malcolm / Malfis for answering my question so quickly, amazing!

You are both appreciated.

[Wreckdiver]

Here Mark McGee is testing the OM-3 in London shooting street photography. Apologies if this link has already been posted.

[pdk42]

What do you mean by "it's lost a stop"?

[rchammer]

Possibly LadyG is referring to the image stabilisation being rated one stop lower compared to the OM-1. However there is discussion elsewhere that the IS is the same but that CIPA have changed the standards for measuring, something to do with looking at both the centre and the edge stabilisation.

[LadyG]

Yes - rchammer got what I was on about!

[Malfis]

A short comment/review about the OM3 from someone who is certainly not an OM ambassador. Go to 7 mins and 26 secs.

[pdk42]

He's such a cynical b'stard.

[Tram]

So having watched a few reviews and read some too my take on it is as follows.

Pros Looks and feels nice, good feature set, well built and weather sealed.
Cons Not great evf, bit on the large side, no AF joystick, single card and overpriced.

I wonder if it will be similar sales and popularity wise as the Panasonic GX8.
That replaced the smaller, lighter and cheaper GX7, but didn't sell that well when launched.
In latter years became bit of a classic and still commands a decent secondhand price.

An alternative view from Casey

[pdk42]

Is he the guy who wouldn't go to the Panasonic launch event in Tokyo because he refused to get a Covid vaccine?

[Tram]

No idea, he isn't a friend, just someone whose videos I watch every now and then.
I would be alright though, had seven Covid vaccine jabs at the last count
Or was that just a rhetorical question?

[Dave in Wales]

An alternative view from Casey

Plenty of home truths in there, I love it.

Thanks for posting.

[pdk42]

I think it's way too easy to carp on like this when all you do is make YT videos. If he ever tried to design and build a camera I'm sure he'd see it in a completely different way. His comparisons of size/weight between FF and m43 are a huge exercise in cherry picking. In my experience (as someone who has used both m43 and FF a lot), the size and weight of a real-world FF setup is notably greater than m43. Lenses like the 12-100 f4 are without parallel in the FF world when you look at range, IQ, stabilisation, build quality etc. And if you compare the OM3 with the A7C, then you'll quickly appreciate that even the smaller-than-OM1 EVF in the OM3 is significantly better than that in the Sony; and that's even before you look at the differences in build quality between the two.

And his contention that OM have lost all their R&D and innovation is just such a laughingly dumb thing to say. The fact is that there is a lot of quite unique tech in OM gear - like class-leading IS, composite modes like Live ND, Live ND Grad, HHHR, Live Comp, and Live Time. Sure, the sensor in the OM1 and OM3 might be "only" 20Mp, but it's got super-fast readout and quad-pixel PDAF across the whole sensor. And in any case, 20Mp is really quite enough unless you're going to be doing massive cropping.

So, in my view, the only "home truths" here are those that reveal an armchair cynic in action.

[griffljg]

Pros: Looks and feels nice, good feature set (much the same as OM-1 Mk II), well built and weather sealed. (+ large battery - same as OM-1)
Cons: Not great evf, bit on the large side, no AF joystick, single card and overpriced.

Spot on! All the above discussion compressed into two statements. Prospective users can look at the pros and cons and decide what really matters to them and so deduce whether the camera suits them or not.

[Tram]

Not so sure about the large battery, making room for it meant wider body.
Bit of a pro and con because on the other hand it is good being longer lasting

[griffljg]

The bigger battery means that you can sometimes get away with not carrying a spare battery around, which I consider being more important than a slight increase in size to accommodate the larger battery. I also don't consider the lack of an AF joystick to be a major Con, but I accept that some people might. I never use the joystick on my OM-1 and E-M1 Mk III anyway.

[Miketoll]

A short comment/review about the OM3 from someone who is certainly not an OM ambassador. Go to 7 mins and 26 secs.

I never give any credance to what this guy says about any camera or make of camera.
Olympus wise I was told by an OM System employee that when he requested an OM-1 for review they refused to send him one. When he got hold of one from somewhere else and put up his review, which I watched, it was so full of factually incorrect information it was excruciating. He's a clickbaiter.

[Ian]

So having watched a few reviews and read some too my take on it is as follows.

Pros Looks and feels nice, good feature set, well built and weather sealed.
Cons Not great evf, bit on the large side, no AF joystick, single card and overpriced.

I wonder if it will be similar sales and popularity wise as the Panasonic GX8.
That replaced the smaller, lighter and cheaper GX7, but didn't sell that well when launched.
In latter years became bit of a classic and still commands a decent secondhand price.

An alternative view from Casey

This guy is very focused on video, which is not something OM System is that focused on. Nevertheless, OM System video is certainly not terrible, you simply need to work a bit harder in post-processing to get the most out of it.

His moan about the 300mm f/4 not being much less than his Nikon 600mm conveniently overlooks the fact that the Nikon is f/6.3, is 1.3 stops slower. The f/4 version of the Nikon is 3.8kg compared to 1.3kg for the m.Zuiko 300mm f/4. The 300 f/4 Pro also focuses to 1,4 metres compared to 4 metres for the Nikon.

Is his jibe that nothing is being developed true? Clearly some improvements were made between the OM-1 Mark I and Mark II, some minor hardware changes, some changes to the circuitry and the addition of new and improved software in the camera. It would be good to see some radical changes, but for now OM System has focused on the form factor and retro marketing appeal.

The OM-3 is a very advanced camera, but OM System can't sit on their laurels, that's true.

Ian

[pdk42]

As per my response to Dave in Wales's post above, his video is really just one long carp from someone who seems to think designing and building a camera is easy. He also goes on to cherry-pick various cameras and lenses (A7C, Nikon 600 f6.3) in order to show that FF and m43 are equivalent in size and weight. That is not a fair position when looking at a real-world camera kit.

[Downwind Dec]

The only point he made that made me wonder is the zoom's IPX1 rating. It's a pity OM weren't able to better that with the latest model. It has always been my belief that the weatherproofing is a lot better than the claimed rating, which seems to have been borne out by our collective experience, but then the OM-1 upped the game with it's best in class IP53.

[Tram]

This guy is very focused on video, which is not something OM System is that focused on. Nevertheless, OM System video is certainly not terrible, you simply need to work a bit harder in post-processing to get the most out of it.

His moan about the 300mm f/4 not being much less than his Nikon 600mm conveniently overlooks the fact that the Nikon is f/6.3, is 1.3 stops slower. The f/4 version of the Nikon is 3.8kg compared to 1.3kg for the m.Zuiko 300mm f/4. The 300 f/4 Pro also focuses to 1,4 metres compared to 4 metres for the Nikon.

Is his jibe that nothing is being developed true? Clearly some improvements were made between the OM-1 Mark I and Mark II, some minor hardware changes, some changes to the circuitry and the addition of new and improved software in the camera. It would be good to see some radical changes, but for now OM System has focused on the form factor and retro marketing appeal.

The OM-3 is a very advanced camera, but OM System can't sit on their laurels, that's true.

Ian

If you get past some of the more manic and video centric stuff you often find he makes some poignant remarks.
Not everyone's cup of tea, but sometimes a more lighthearted and neutral look at things away from paid ambassadors is very welcome.

[Ian]

I'm afraid I find his tone too sarcastic and a bit arrogant. And his points are not always well-formed. That means I can't really trust what he is saying. He needs to work out if he actually needs to be knocking on doors in Hollywood.

[pdk42]

I agree Ian. He certainly gets to handle a lot of gear, but I'm unconvinced by his analysis on many things. He's an armchair critic whose primary interest is clicks and YT channel revenue.

[Ian]

The only point he made that made me wonder is the zoom's IPX1 rating. It's a pity OM weren't able to better that with the latest model. It has always been my belief that the weatherproofing is a lot better than the claimed rating, which seems to have been borne out by our collective experience, but then the OM-1 upped the game with it's best in class IP53.

The rating is a certification from testing. It doesn't actually mean it might have failed the next highest rating.

Ian

[Downwind Dec]

This is true. I was hoping they'd test to a higher rating and, for particles and dust, at least test for any rating ('x' signifies untested).

[gazza95]

So is the OM-3, like the EM-1x, a Marmite camera? You either love it or you are indifferent. While it's not for me I can understand why some really like it.


Having much smaller sales volumes than other manufacturer it makes a lot of sense OM to reuse core parts in different packages to appeal to different users.

Roll on Feb 2026 and upgrade time for OM-1


Gary

[pdk42]

So having watched a few reviews and read some too my take on it is as follows.

Pros Looks and feels nice, good feature set, well built and weather sealed.
Cons Not great evf, bit on the large side, no AF joystick, single card and overpriced.

I think like lots of other product reviews and comparisons, you can look at the data (features, speeds, sizes, weights, price, Mp etc) to form a view, but you can also look at the user experience and the results. It seems to me that the OM3 is delivering the goods in terms of user experience and results, even if the raw data makes the final judgement more nuanced.

Given where this camera is positioned (the retro-look, high build quality, attention to in-camera tools), I think OM have done a really great job. The Mark McGee video shows how well the OM3 works for the sort of photography he does. Lets face it, a 20Mp m43 camera will delliver IQ that's more than enough for street photography. But having things like Live ND, uber-solid IS, and HHHR can make a significant difference to the images you can capture.

I think we need to judge the OM3 by how well it sells - and I think the one impediment to that is its price. It needs to be down at the £1200-£1300 level IMHO. I'm sure they would be making a great margin even at that level.

[cedge]

...Clearly some improvements were made between the OM-1 Mark I and Mark II, some minor hardware changes, some changes to the circuitry and the addition of new and improved software in the camera.
Ian

I thought it was just a ram upgrade? Do we know whether the om-3 has the same amount of ram as the om-1 or om-1.2? If it's the former then I'm a bit miffed at why the live gnd and human AI detection that is in the om-3 wasn't brought to the om-1.

[Ian]

I thought it was just a ram upgrade? Do we know whether the om-3 has the same amount of ram as the om-1 or om-1.2? If it's the former then I'm a bit miffed at why the live gnd and human AI detection that is in the om-3 wasn't brought to the om-1.

This was debated back when the OM-1ii came out. OM System promised a subset of the improvements, without any details, for Mark 1 users in a future firmware update, but we haven't received that yet. The Mark II has more RAM.

Ian