Dial Hard With A Vengeance

Olympus’s OM-D E-M5 Mark III is finally here, with big smarts and twiddly bits galore crammed into a tiny package

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Viddy well

The E-M5’s video capabilities have been massively improved, and you now get 4K shooting in true C4K resolution at 24fps.

Things have really moved on since the OM-D E-M5 Mark II launched in 2015. With Sony and Canon pushing things forward, Olympus was starting to look like Disco Stu at grime night… but the new Mark III packs a lot of tech into a tiny body and serves up images as good as the best of them.

This Micro Four-Thirds camera will slip easily into a small bag – it feels light and portable even with a lens on. The only downside: Olympus has used un-premium polycarbonate for the body.

Thanks to a host of well-placed manual controls, it’s mad easy to handle. On top there’s a nice big mode selector with a locking button and two customisable dials for shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation or other settings. A handy little switch lets you toggle between two modes.

The tech stuffed inside this thing is astonishing. It has one of the most effective image stabilisation systems we’ve used, meaning you can shoot handheld down to 1/4s or even slower with good results, and in murky conditions. And the AF has been upgraded to 121-point phase-detection.

Battery life is so-so – Olympus claims 310 shots or an hour of video. There’s no built-in flash, but it does come with an external one that can flip and rotate. This does a great job in most situations.

Tech specs

Sensor 20.4MP Micro Four-Thirds

Displays 3in LCD touchscreen, 2.36m-dot OLED EVF

Video 4K/C4K @ 24fps, Full HD @ 30fps