EM1-mk2 or wait for the mk3?

[ac12]

Ok battery should be charged..... where are the photos it's been over 3 hours.

Seriously though, be interested in your impressions when you have played with it a bit

Cheers and enjoy

Played with it for a bit. Enough to realize that I have a learning curve to deal with.
One thing, I quickly saw. I like the tilt screen of the mk1 better than the articulated screen of the mk2. A tilt screen is easier and faster to get into the high/low angle positions. Articulated screens and L-brackets don't get along together.

Then it was back to work editing photos for school. I am REALLY backed up, from having shot MANY events.
I need to figure out a faster workflow next year. Maybe get a student as an assistant.

 

[Ross the fiddler]

Played with it for a bit. Enough to realize that I have a learning curve to deal with.
One thing, I quickly saw. I like the tilt screen of the mk1 better than the articulated screen of the mk2. A tilt screen is easier and faster to get into the high/low angle positions. Articulated screens and L-brackets don't get along together.

Then it was back to work editing photos for school. I am REALLY backed up, from having shot MANY events.
I need to figure out a faster workflow next year. Maybe get a student as an assistant.

One of the things that weren't so great was the AF target selection going from the Mk I to the Mk II so I changed the 4 way pad to Direct Function (which I have done to the previous OM-D's) & then swapped the keys with the dials for the position & grouping etc so I then press the left key for AF selection & use the dials to move it around while up/down keys selects the group & small AF targets. I also have the Fn1 button set up for Home position. Maybe that might be helpful or you might have a very different approach.

 

[djtaylor7]

If only this program was available in NZ.

The June promotion for us looks to be a free 45mm lens. That's the 45mm F1.8, not the 45mm F1.2 (otherwise I would be buying).

 

[MirrorlessKiwi]

The June promotion for us looks to be a free 45mm lens. That's the 45mm F1.8, not the 45mm F1.2 (otherwise I would be buying).

That certainly won't pass muster with the CFO. Oh well!

 

[ac12]

I can't wait for school to start up in Aug, so that I can see how the mk2 works for shooting sports.
The two holdouts have been field sports (football, soccer, lacrosse) and gym sports (volleyball and basketball). The EVF on the mk1 just did not work for these sports.

The mk2 + 40-150/2.8 is about the same weight as my D7200 + 70-200/4, so I don't gain any weight savings there. So no real incentive to switch to m4/3. But the Panasonic 35-100/2.8, at half the weight of the 40-150/2.8, is attractive.

 

[Lcrunyon]

I found that when traveling, unless the charge time is FAST, I need to charge two batteries at the same time.
On my last trip with the EM1-mk1 + P-Lumix 12-60, the battery life was about 4 hours (continuous); consistently changing battery about 11am and 4pm. I charged 2 batteries as soon as I got to the hotel, and #3 overnight. This let me start the day with 3 fully charged batteries. That was a bit tight for me at the end of the day, so I got a 4th battery, as an end-of-day spare.

The EM1-mk2 battery has about 40% more capacity than the EM1-mk1 battery, so I am hoping for about 6 hour run time. But I don't want to be in the situation where I am hitting empty at the end of the day on battery #2, so I want #3 as the end-of-day spare.

The wrinkle in this is the 12-100/4 lens. Run time on my EM1-mk1 is about 2-1/2 hours, continuous So I expect a similar heavy drain and reduced battery life with the mk2, maybe down to 4 hours continuous? But I need to do an actual run down test with the mk2, to determine the run time.

Check out the Hahnel Cube for Olympus. Great for travel. Will work with all your Olympus batteries, AA, and USB. Multiple adapters, including car.

 

[Reflector]

There are also USB based double chargers for the BLH-1, which are nice in the sense that you can just carry them and a (big enough) USB power bank. A bunch of generics exist, I just found out the two Kastar ones I have with a LCD burn out so those are off my recommended list. There's ones without the LCD screen that are sort of oval shaped, I've had pretty good luck with that one and a "BLESYS" one with a LCD that took some time to arrive. There's also single bay ones that are even more compact as well.

 

[ac12]

Update
The mk2 is sooo much better than the mk1 for sports.
The EVF does not freeze like the mk1, so maintaining tracking while shooting fast moving players is easy. That was such an irritation on the mk1 that it was a fatal flaw, that at this point, I doubt will ever get fixed.

I noticed a big difference shooting the mk2 along side my Nikon D7200.
The EVF of the mk2 was MUCH BRIGHTER than the OVF of the D7200. This was without extra EVF brightening.
That made it almost painful to switch to the dim Nikon.

However, for sports, IMHO, the zoom ring on the 12-40/2.8 and 12-100/4 are too STIFF. When shooting sports, I am constantly turning the zoom ring, and turning a stiff zoom ring for a few hours is tiring.
But that is not a fault of the camera body, it is a fault of the lens.

So I am glad that I got the mk2, rather than wait for the mk3.
And it looks like the mk3 will be 2020, or later, since we have heard noting about it.