This offering was sent to me body only but with a 12-40 lens for my testing. I was surprised first by the way it arrived in a brown box with each part bubble wrapped and second when I mentioned no manual to be told no printed manuals are supplied now with any of our cameras. Even for someone used to using an interchangeable lens unit surely no manual is not the way to go, however you can still download one in PDF from the website.
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The Olympus OM-D E M5 III body measures 11.5x8x4.5cm without lens. With the supplied 12-40mm lens attached the last figure increases to between 12.5 and 15.5cm. The weight is 800 grams without neck strap which I assume is included although not sent to me.
All the outputs are on the left side behind rubber bungs. The base has tripod screw and solid battery bay, the SD card slot is on the right behind a snap shut door. The top has nine different buttons and knobs which you really need to read the manual to get the best from. There is also a flash shoe above the viewfinder. The face has the lens. This leaves the back that has the 7.8x5cm TFT reversible display with two pairs of buttons split by the five position joystick control to its right.
Once you have inserted the solid battery and any SD card you use the first switch on asks for menu language and then to set time and date.
Now as with all cameras my first few days of use are with the camera set to Auto before I try to get clever making some selections for myself. My review period was short so most of my images were using Auto or either reading extracts from the manual before trying some of the numerous options.
Olympus describes this as a camera for the enthusiast or semi professional user.
It has weather sealed construction and high performance auto focus capabilities and powerful image stabilisation.
So let’s see I used it in the rain and as I am well past my three score and ten and my images were steady I assume that is down to the image stabilization. I did take some images from my tripod and was happy with most of what I shot. The unit is cable of catching an image in as little 1/8000th of a second.
Even with the 800 gram weight it still sits comfortably in the hand. I notice from a press release that they mention a 14-150mm lens and that might be more a problem without a neck strap.
It is capable of catching up to 10fps in burst mode. Live composite, Pro capture and 4K movie possibilities.
I cannot cast any great pearls of wisdom due to the short review time and the fact that I had no suitable flash unit and this was reviewed during the shortest days of the years.
I always enjoy stretching myself to what Olympus call an enthusiast but that is being very generous of them.
At the time of publication the Olympus OM-D E M5 III body is available from the Amazon for £1023 including free delivery.
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