Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

I just caught wind of the announcement of the new Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III, and I got really excited about the prospect of a higher resolution (20MP!) sensor.

I currently own an E-M1 Mark I that I bought just before the Mark II was released (at a steep discount). I originally planned to buy an E-M10, but the cost delta from that to the discounted E-M1 was small in late 2015, and the feature set was a huge step up. Now, coming from that E-M1 Mark I, the performance improvements of the E-M5 Mark III aren’t as pronounced as coming from an earlier generation E-M5.

I pulled together some specifications comparing the OM-D E-M1 Mark I, OM-D E-M5 Mark III, and the OM-D E-M1 Mark II (which I’ve managed to avoid splurging on over the last few years):

Camera | OM-D E-M1 Mark I | OM-D E-M5 Mark III | OM-D E-M1 Mark II
Price | $1400 (in 2013) | $1200 | $2000 ($1700 now)
Body type | SLR-style mirrorless | SLR-style mirrorless | SLR-style mirrorless
Processor | TruePIC VII | TruePic VIII | TruePic VIII
Max resolution | 4608 x 3456 | 5184 x 3888 | 5184 x 3888
Effective pixels | 16 MP | 20.4 MP | 20.4 MP
Sensor size | Four Thirds | Four Thirds | Four Thirds
Sensor type | CMOS | CMOS | CMOS
Sensor rate | 10fps | 30fps | 60fps
Autofocus | 81 Points | 121 Points | 121 Points
ISO | 100-25600 | 64-25600 | 64-25600
Stabilization | 5-axis, 4EV | 5-axis, 6.5EV | 5-axis, 5.5EV
Video | 1080p @ 30fps | 4k @ 30fps | 4k @ 30fps
Lens mount | Micro Four Thirds | Micro Four Thirds | Micro Four Thirds
Focal length X | 2× | 2× | 2×
Articulated LCD | Tilting | Fully articulated | Fully articulated
Screen size | 3″ | 3″ | 3″
Screen dots | 1,037,000 LED | 1,040,000 TFT LCD | 1,037,000 TFT LCD
Viewfinder | 2.36M | 2.36M OLED | 2.36M OLED
Max shutter speed | 1/8000 sec | 1/8000 sec | 1/8000 sec
Format | H.264, Motion JPEG | MPEG-4, H.264 | MPEG-4, H.264
Storage types | SD/SDHC/SDXC | SD/SDHC/SDXC(UHS-II) | 2 SD/SDHC/SDXC(UHS-II)
USB | 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec) | 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec) | 3.0 (5 GBit/sec)
USB Charging | No | Yes | No
Weight | 497g (1.10 lb) | 414 g (0.91 lb) | 574 g (1.27 lb)
Dimensions | 130 x 94 x 63 mm | 125 x 85 x 50 mm | 134 x 91 x 67 mm
GPS | None | None | None

These specifications really highlight DPReview’s claim that the new Olympus E-M5 Mark III is a mini E-M1 II. But, for me, I think it would be the better camera. Smaller, lighter, less expensive, and nearly as capable. The main advantages of the OM-D E-M1 Mark II are “a significantly faster burst rate with AF and a deeper, more comfortable grip”, but I don’t think that’s worth $500 to me.

The more important question is whether the benefits of the OM-D E-M5 Mark III over my current OM-D E-M1 Mark I justify the upgrade. The main benefit for me would be the higher resolution sensor; I’ve never really found myself limited by the sensor throughput, and I’ve never used the camera for video. I think I’ll wait for now to see how the camera is received when it’s released later this year.