Olympus E-M10 (R6 500)
Small but really powerful
Olympus is one of those brands that can be grouped together with the Pentax – all fighting for a bigger slice of the camera pie which is mostly dominated by the like of Canon, Nikon and Fujifilm. But the little guys should by no means be written off, as they are the ones with something to prove. The E-M10 is a really good example of that, as it has most (and some more) features than the big boys, yet it is almost half the size.
Handling
The most striking aspect of the E-M10 is its small size, but that shouldn’t fool anyone into thinking that it’s an inferior model. On the contrary, it will give other models with the same capabilities a really good run for their money. But with that said, the size does plan against it, in the sense that it doesn’t feel like an SLR. And because of it diminutive stature Olympus had to work rather creatively with the button placement, like the power switch, which almost hidden away in the bottom right-hand corner of the body. Reaching all the other buttons however, is really easy to do, so from that aspect, the design and handling is perfect. It also only weighs a fraction of the Pentax, so chucking it in a bag will take up almost no room, let alone weigh you down.
Image quality
Packed in the small body is a 16-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor, and given that it’s smaller in physical size than its rivals here, it’s really rather astonishing. This particular model (there are the M-5 and P-5 as well) makes use of the TruePic VII processor, where the others employ the previous version – which further refine image quality by reproducing colours naturally. For those with a bit of a shake in their step, the 3-axis image stabilization is going to do them no favours, as the other models all feature 5-axis. In low-light shooting, the M10 performs remarkable well, has a built-in flash and the shutter can buzz at up to 1/4000 of a second.
Performance
The one thing that we wanted to see in the other cameras for this group test was an articulated screen, and thankfully the M-10 didn’t do away with this. The screen 3-inch LCD touch screen is pretty easy to work, and the viewfinder makes use of ‘Adaptive Brightness’ technology, meaning that it will automatically adjust the brightness of it as the lighting around you changes. In terms of shooting it has the usual single focus, but also allows for focus peaking, continuous auto focus and tracking auto focus. But for those who prefer to shoot with manual focus, there is the manual focus with magnification option as well as face-tracking. Overall, the performance of the Olympus E-M10 is rather astonishing for such a small body, but users looking for an entry-level SLR might walk past it towards the bigger players in the market.
