Karl Ludik the Olympus Specialist joins John Warkentin at michaels and they discus the brand new Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III The OM-D E-M10 Mark III is an interchangeable lens camera that lets you capture high-quality images without having to make any complicated operations.
Among other fascinating features, it is equipped with a reliable 5-axis image stabilisation for reducing camera shake in any situation so you can enjoy capturing beautiful photos.
Purchase the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III in Silver https://michaels.com.au/collections/p...
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John Warkentin and Karl Ludik
(John Warkentin)
John Warkentin here from Michael's Camera.
Today I am joined by Karl Ludik from Olympus and he is our resident Olympus expert and he has brought a very special camera with him today and he's just done a little "touch and feel" demo on the sales floor here at Michael's Camera.
So, tell us about what you've brought.
(Karl Ludik)
Yeah, so this is the new OMD EM-10 Mark III.
It's an upgrade of the 10 Mark II which has been a very successful camera for us.
But obviously, with time, you need to make some changes to the camera, and we've made some really significant changes to this one.
A really fun camera to use; but apart from that there are a few upgrades which one would expect with time. So, what we've done is we've incorporated the Trupic 8 processor, which comes from our flagship camera the EM 1 Mark II.
(John)
So, we've got basically, the brains of the big boy in a small, fun, travel-friendly camera.
(Karl)
Excellent.
(John)
Which, I must admit, is a very attractive camera.
(Karl)
So, somebody stepping up from a compact camera into this one isn't going to be compromising in quality - they're going to get the same image quality as they would expect from a really good camera, but it's affordable, it's easy to use and it's fun.
Apart from that, it also comes with the stabilisers, which Olympus has become famous for.
(John)
Yes, so it's got a 5-axes in-body image stabiliser!
(Karl)
Yes, a 5-axes image stabiliser.
For those who don't understand what a 5-axes is: Usually a camera would correct that sort of movement - your pitch and yaw.
[Karl demonstrates a vertical movement with the camera]
Well, our Olympus 5-axes image stabilising corrects pitch, yaw, translation, horizontal and vertical, as well as body roll.
[Karl demonstrates all the different directions and axes that the correction works on]
Now, a lens-based system cannot correct roll, only an in-body image stabilising system.
So, this is image stabilised to 5 axes and really effective as well.
So it does away in most instances with the need for a tripod.
(John)
Wow!
And certainly for a camera designed for the travel photographer, a tripod is almost like - who wants to carry one of those?
(Karl)
Exactly!
One reason you will still need a tripod is one of the fantastic features in this camera is live composite - the ability to shoot amazing long exposures.
But we'll get to that later.
(John)
But needless to say, you could rest it on a table, you know.
(Karl)
You could!
(John)
Or the edge of the bar. There's an awful lot of things you can make into a tripod when you're travelling.
(Karl)
Absolutely, yeah.
(John)
Well, that's very exciting.
So, now, of course, this is the Micro 4/3 system, so this is an interchangeable lens, mirror-less camera.
So, the complete line of Olympus lenses - and we've got quite a few of the sexy ones beside us here...
(Karl)
At last count, 104 lenses.
(John)
Wow!
(Karl)
Yeah, from different manufacturers. So yeah, quite a few people getting into our system and manufacturing lenses for our system.
But, the interesting thing about this camera - what you'll immediately see - is that it's our first entry-level camera with 4K video on it.
So, not only 4K but there are four different types of video here: We have 4K video; we have full HD video; we have slow-motion video - 120 frames per second at full HD - and then we have something called Clips, which is great for the traveller.
You either set the camera to 2, 4, or 8 seconds and every time you press the red video button, the camera will just take a 2, 4, or 8 second video as you've set it.
So, I would, if I'm somebody who shoots in aperture priority, I'm walking around on holiday taking pictures; every now and then I see something that's video worthy; I press the red button and I get a 4 second video clip.
(John)
So, it's right there whenever you need it, you don't have to worry about getting into a special mode; it's just ready to take just short and sweet, suitable for sharing on social media.
(Karl)
Yeah, but the beauty of Clips is at the end of the day when I get back to my hotel room, I review my images; I pull up one of the clips and say, export my clips - it takes all of those 4-second videos, fades them into one another; applies background music and outputs a complete video of my day.
(John)
Oh, that's great!
(Karl)
It's fantastic. Yeah.
(John)
So, now, there are some other menu changes on this camera that you were telling me about.
(Karl)
Indeed.
(John)
Can you demonstrate those?
(Karl)
Yeah, I can.
So, what we've done is we've introduced a short - I suppose you would call it a short key or a fast key button - that enables you to jump into the menu.
So, for example, those four video features that I spoke about: If I go to video on my dial, instead of then going into the menus to try and find those four options, all I do is press the rear dial, the button here, and my four options automatically jump up, so that they're nice and fast and easy to find.
The same would apply to my art filters: I simply press that button and all my art filters become available to me, and speaking of art filters; there happen to be two new art filters in this camera and they are bleach bypass - so there are two different options of the bleach bypass.
(John)
And that simulates an old film process?
(Karl)
Correct, yes.
Where you bypass the bleach and some more silver was retained in the emulsion, yes.
(John)
So, the overall look of that is a little bit sort of a washed out kind of look?
(Karl)
Washed out with muted colours, yes.
(John)
Desaturated, okay.
(Karl)
So, if those people who saw Saving Private Ryan, a lot of the scenes in that film were filmed with a bleach bypass look to them.
(John)
Okay, that's good to know.
For what it's worth, for those who are new to the Olympus format, the art filters are very popular. Think of them as sort of Instagram on your camera, in a way.
(Karl)
It is, and a lot of cameras have similar things, but a lot of them are gimmicky.
(John)
Yeah, yours are quite attractive.
(Karl)
Correct. So, what they mimic is physical filters that we used to screw onto the front of the lens; or a dark room technique.
So, they're very usable, and something that photographers for decades have been used to using.
But, apart from that, we have a new viewfinder - it's 100% coverage; 2.36 million dot viewfinder with a very, very fast response time.
So, it feels very much like an optical viewfinder, except the beauty of it is, what you see is what you get.
So, the old method of taking a picture and looking to see whether I got it right, that's gone - because what I see is exactly what my picture is going to look like.
Very lightweight body - only 362 grams.
So, a full metal construction, and yet very light.
But, I was talking about fun and the thing that I love about this camera and what makes it really fun is that Olympus is quite famous for putting some really unique and fun features into our cameras.
Like Live Composite, which is our ability to shoot amazing long exposures; multi-exposures; keystone compensation for correcting your lines in architectural work and that sort of thing.
We've got those in our cameras but they somehow are sometimes quite hard to get to through the menus.
So, what we've done on this camera is, on the front dial we've put a feature called Advanced Photography.
So, once again, we're going to press that hotkey button and up pops all those lovely features.
[Karl demonstrates by pressing the hotkey]
So, what I have here is Live Composite, Live time, Multi-Exposure, HDR, Silent Shutter which is great for shooting in the theatre or in a museum, Panorama, Keystone compensation, AE Bracketing and lastly, Focus Bracketing. Which is great for shooting macros as well.
(John)
So, basically, what you're showing us is that there's really no need to crack open the user's manual - everything you need to learn how to use this camera, and to advance your photographic skills - it's right here. It's ready to help you!
(Karl)
One button away, yeah.
(John)
Well, that's a great feature set!
(Karl)
And that's the camera in a nutshell.
(John)
And when are we expecting to have this in to customer's hands?
(Karl)
I would say Monday!
(John)
Monday? Okay!
(Karl)
I was hoping today, but...
(John)
So, very soon. So basically, by the time you watch this video this camera is going to be at Michael's Camera.
(Karl)
Absolutely!
(John)
Unless you're staying up very late on Friday night.
[Laughs]
(Karl)
Available in black, so a black body with a black lens, or a silver body with a silver lens.
(John)
So, now, the black finish will be very similar to the other unit here then?
(Karl)
Yes, that's right.
(John)
Obviously, it's much, much smaller, but it will look kind of like that sort of finish.
(Karl)
Absolutely.
And, some nice little design changes as well.
So, it feels a lot more comfortable in your hand than the previous model EM-10 used to.
(John)
It's got good build; it feels nice. It's very small but it's got a feel of quality. I like it.
I like having the direct access dials.
It just looks really nice. It looks like it should cost a lot more than it does.
[Laughs]
Now, how does the screen fold out? We've got some options there.
(Karl)
Yeah, so, the screen basically just flips out like that.
[Karl folds the back screen out]
So, if I'm shooting from a low angle I can shoot down from here.
If I need to shoot over a crowd, I can move it up like this and shoot above the crowd.
But the other beauty of being able to flip it out like this and turn on the touch screen, is that I'm now able to just shoot from here.
So, for candid street photography, I can hold the camera close to me and just shoot off the screen, using my fingers.
(John)
Ah, it's got a Sneaky Mode.
(Karl)
Sneaky Mode, that's it.
[John laughs]
(John)
Now are there any new lenses in the line that you can talk about?
(Karl)
Not that I can talk about.
(John)
Ah, well, I always try to weasel something out of you.
[Karl laughs]
(Karl)
What we do have on this camera is a 14-42 - so equivalent 28-84.
(John)
Okay, that's a very nice travel range.
(Karl)
Yeah, with an electronic zoom.
So, nice smooth zoom.
[Demonstrates the zoom to the camera]
(John)
So very good for your video shooting, for your clips.
(Karl)
Yeah, for videography. And silent, so obviously, there's no noise in the camera as well when you zoom in like that.
(John)
And then when powered down it's still very, very compact.
(Karl)
Absolutely. When powered down it disappears into the camera and it's in your pocket really.
(John)
So, it's a very jacket pocket-able. Good size.
(Karl)
Yeah. And if you need a flash you simply take that on/off switch a little bit further and you've got a pop-up flash.
[Demonstrates how the flash pops up, holding the on/off switch]
And the beauty of this little pop-up flash is, when you go into the RC mode, you can use it to trigger our FL... [Triggers pop up flash]
(John)
Oh! So it's got a path for more advanced lighting. That's very good.
Now, what would you suggest would be a good second lens for someone who is going to move into this system and you know, and they want to do a little travelling?
(Karl)
Well, two options really: The 40-150, which is our next step in the zoom range.
(John)
Okay, so this stops at 42, so that's a nice overlap.
(Karl)
Absolutely, so you can take it then to equivalent 300 mm, which is great.
And, what I do when I travel, is I carry a small lens like this, because I like to travel light.
But, I always carry in my pocket a nice portrait lens in case I want to take a portrait where I've got a lovely blurred background, and so I normally travel with the 45 f/.18.
(John)
Okay then. Well that would be a very nice three lens kit for someone and it still would fit into a courier bag, a shoulder bag.
(Karl)
Fits in your lunchbox. Yeah.
(John)
Kind of harks back to the days of that film camera, the Pen-F.
(Karl)
Indeed!
(John)
That was a half-frame camera! Remember the ads for it way back in the sixties? They showed the camera and a couple of lenses sitting in a shoe.
(Karl)
Absolutely, 1963, the year of To Kill A Mockingbird, we produced the Pen-F, which was one of our legendary cameras.
And of course now, we have the digital version of it.
(John)
I know, and a very attractive camera as well.
(Karl)
It is.
(John)
Yes, we should in the interval just talk about some historical film cameras.
I'll pull them out of the museum and we can go down memory lane!
(Karl)
Absolutely! And there are a lot of good memories in Olympus.
Last year was our 80th year in cameras.
(John)
Wow!
(Karl)
Yeah, so 1919 is when we began producing cameras, but '29 was ... getting my dates wrong here.... but, yes, 80 years ago, last year, was when we started producing cameras.
(John)
Well, I've really... thank you for coming in today and putting on a little "touch and feel" demonstration downstairs for our customers and sitting down for an interview with us.
And I think that the Mark III is a beautiful little camera, and a welcome addition to anybody's travel kit.
And if you'd like to step up from mobile phone photography and get into something with interchangeable lens, that's got superb quality, extremely easy, you know, just great usability, and you know the flexible. You know the micro 4/3rds format is just a brilliant format. There are a lot of manufacturers that support it; there's... you guys have got over a 100 lenses, and there are other lenses - it's a very good system; good standard.
And, again, a jacket pocket-able camera that is built to last and is going to take superb pictures.
(Karl)
And, of course, Christmas is coming... there's no better time to upgrade your camera and get in early of course, for the technology of tomorrow.
(John)
If someone's not buying one for you, you can give yourself your own gift.
[Laughs]
Anyway, thank you so much for joining us, Karl, and we'll see you very soon.
Take care, and we'll see you guys on the next YouTube video.
Thank you!
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