Two years of Landscape photography with the Olympus OM-D Em1 Mark II
I am an Olympus Uk mentor however I am not paid to write this or I am not here to promote and/or ram Olympus products down on top of you! I became an Olympus mentor in August 2019, so I had been shooting and creating many of the images you see in my portfolio prior to joining Olympus so take that for what it’s worth. This is my honest experience shooting landscape photography with this system over the past two years. I feel that there are not enough blogs/videos/articles showing this system at work in the landscape photography field and I want to try change that. You will see some of the words throughout this piece underlined, they are linked to other content I’ve written which include further detail I don’t wish to expand on in this piece as I want to try keep it as short and concise as possible. Enjoy and thanks for reading
Introduction
Two years ago i sold my Nikon D750 and purcahsed an Olympus Om-D Em1 Mark II. Why did i go from full frame down to micro four thirds with a sensor quarter the size? Well at the time i was shooting a lot of run and gun video. I did not want to use tripods, gimbals or monpods; i simply wanted a camera with IBIS good enough that i could shoot steady handheld video. I bought the best camera to suit my needs, which is what everyone should consider before buying their camera. At the time I also was discovering my passion for landscape photography and i quickly started to head out with the Em1 Mark II and 12-40 F2.8 lens shooting the irish landscape. Any hesitations or doubts i had about switching were quickly diminished.
If you are reading this blog you may perhaps be thinking of switching or you may already be shooting on the olympus system. For those of you who are not shooting with this system and are considering it i hope this short piece provides some value and insight. I will outline some of the main reasons i love shooting with this camera, show you some sample images and discuss a few features that come in handy while out in the field.
The Ergonomics
I held many mirrorless cameras prior to the Em1 Mark II and found them all lacking a substantial grip and feel. I have large hands and i need to be able to cup the fingers on my right hand around the grip of the camera, which is easily done here. It allows for a comfortable, stable grip which I love.
The Controls
In the coming weeks I will be doing another blog on how i have my Em1 mark II set up for landscape photography but very briefly i will say that the controls on this camera make me feel like i’m creating every part of the image. I’m not sure that will make sense to everyone reading this but it stems from the tactile feel of the buttons, dials and levers, the customisability and EVF which lets me see in real time how the image will turn out.
The Weight and Size.
I have written about this specifically in my previous blog ‘Reach new heights and reap the rewards’ but to sum it up, the lighter your backpack the more enjoyable your shoots will be. You can move quicker, go more places and not feel the ache of carrying multiple pieces of gear. I have comfortably carried two bodies, three lenses, tripod (which isn’t always necessary mind you) and all accessories in my backpack while on hikes and long walks. The Olympus Em1 Mark II has struck the perfect balance between a compact form factor and solid grip/feel in the hand.
Weather Sealing
If you follow me on instagram, you will know that i love to head out taking images when a lot of people wouldn’t! And that is generally in poor weather such as wind, rain and snow. But days like that often provide the most epic light and drama! I have had this camera in freezing temperatures, it has gotten soaked in rain showers and I have gotten caught by a freak wave on one or two occasions while shooting by the shore, not to worry, a quick rinse down with some fresh water and it’s good to go. It is a beast. I generally don’t tiptoe around my gear, it gets battered and bruised throughout the year as i shoot landscapes/video around Ireland and this camera has not missed a trick. To reiterate my point at the beginning, my needs demand a solid rugged workhorse that will perform in all conditions and not let me down. Things such as dynamic range, sensor size, iso performance etc are important too but they come second to the latter need. That is not to say that any of the above are lacking in this camera. I was pleasantly surprised at the high iso performance and when stacking Milky Way images I have achieved really nice results.
Other Nifty features i like and use reguarly
Focus peaking and Magnify (when using manual focus which is crucial in landscape photography)
Incredible IBIS (I can handhold slow shutter speeds especially when shooting long focal lengths)
Auto Bracketing (with the option of in camera HDR but i rather blend in post)
L-Fn buttons on the pro lenses which can be remaped to virtually anything (i have mine set to change the ISO)
Live time/Live composite (used for long exposure photography watch the image build up on the screen in front of you. Live compositie can make star trails easy and produce stunning results)
High res mode which captures an 80mp file if you need that extra resolution and produces really good results so long as nothing is moving too much in the image.
Time to leave some of the images do the talking. I have found the dynamic range to be quite good on this camera, especially when shooting at the Base ISO of 200. It has an extended lower ISO of 100 and 64 which i use when i am exposure blending and dynamic range is not a major factor. The image contains enough data to enable creative editing and push it in post, I would however like to see 14 bit raw files at some stage in the M43 system! The lenses i have used primarily with this system are:
Mzuiko 7-14 F2.8 pro (love this lens, super wide, sharp and little to no distortion)
Mzuiko 12-40 F2.8 pro (I created 80% of my landscape portfolio with this one lens, not to mention wedding video, portraits and commercial work)
Mzuiko 12-100 F4 pro (the do it all lens, check out my blog here)
Now for some images
‘Sunrise meets the thunderstorm’ Em1 Mark II + 7-14 F2.8. Shot at 7mm. It was incredibly windy which is why you see motion blur in the rushes but I think this adds to the shot
“Golden Summer Sunrise” Em1 Mark II , 12-40 F2.8. Shot at 12mm. The colour was phenomenal
“Ireland’s Wild Landscape” Em1 Mark II, 7-14 F2.8. Shot at 10mm. Impressive colour rendition and detail
“Pine trees in the mist” Em1 Mark II, 12-100 F4. Shot at 100mm. A telephoto lens can bring a whole different dimension to your landscape photography
“Meandering River” Em1 Mark II, 7-14 F2.8. Shot at 7mm. With this shot I wanted to get the whole bend of the river in without the left river bank cutting it off, the tripod would not go high enough so I stood up on my toes and held the camera high above my head framing the whole river. Using the bracketing function I fired off 3 frames at 2 stop intervals, the frame for the shadows and midtones was a half second exposure, handheld. Zero alignment was needed in photoshop between the frames.
“The light in the woods” Em1 Mark II, 12-40 F2.8. Shot at 12mm. I waited patiently for this shot as the sun broke through the fog and lit up this woodland scene. Features such as focus peaking and magnify helped get those trees pin sharp
I could honestly go on for a lot longer and there are numerous features I did not even mention such as the incredibly high shooting speed, autofocus and battery life of this camera, it’s impressive video capabilities from the OM-Log mode for colour grading to the IBIS which gives almost gimbal like footage. But this was catered towards those of you shooting landscape photography. I hope it gave you some insight into how and why I use this system for my landscape work. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below and if you wish check out my instagram for more images and my YouTube channel where I will hopefully be back uploading vlogs and tutorials in the coming months
Happy shooting!
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