Olympus O-MD E-M10 mark iii - Long Term Review

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The anti-review, or actually using the gear, or a love letter to a camera focused on fun

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The Olympus O-MD E-M10 mark iii is one of the last cameras produced for the O-MD line of cameras prior to Olympus selling off its consumer imaging brand. It sports 5-axis in-body image stabilization, a 16mp sensor, 4k (cropped) video, and styling that’s easy on the eyes.

This camera gave me my introduction to mirrorless cameras, adapted lenses, and singly reignited my passion for photography.
Pros:

• Small and compact
• Stylish af
• Easily pocketable in a jacket with the kit lens
• Affordable
• Perfect form factor for street/run-and-gun/walkabout usage
• Nice grain structure in higher ISO settings
• Decent colors
• Miniscule RAW files
• Lots of fun modes make for light-hearted fun shooting
• In-body image stabilization

Cons:

• Low resolution
• Low dynamic range
• RAW files, while small, can't be pushed very hard without breaking down
• Feels pretty cheap, largely made of plastic
• Kit lens is VERY plastic-y
• Not weather sealed
• No USB charging

The backstory and lore
I bought this camera at the outset of the pandemic. This was my first mirrorless camera, purchased at the outset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. replacing a well-worn Canon T3 that I had been using for the better part of a decade. After being fairly casual about photography for quite a few years, I stumbled across articles about adapting vintage glass to mirrorless cameras and I was intrigued. I’ll be honest: I didn’t choose the Olympus E-M10 for its specs, the sensor, feature sets or anything like that. I chose it because it was rather handsome looking, and most importantly it was by far the cheapest option I found that didn’t involve buying a Sony that was the same age as my aging T3. Using the handy ebay machine, I converted about $300 into an Olympus O-MD E-M10 and a 14-42mm kit lens and I was off to the races.

The first vintage film era lenses I bought were a set of three Mamiya lenses that came from a local antique shop. A 28mm f/2.8, a 50mm/f1.7 and a 135mm f/2.8. These were all for a Mamiya NC1000, and as there were no readily available adapters I did some research and laser cut a custom plate for a EF to MFT adapter. With my homebrew adapter complete, I became addicted to adapting lenses.

At this point the kit lens got put to the side almost immediately. I explored different 70s Japanese glass with the trusty little Olympus. Pentax, Minolta, and some oddball Vivitar lenses started filling out my collection. M39 Russian lenses came next. I began amassing a respectable collection all while honing the rust off my actual photography skills.

About a year in I got a used Fujifilm X-T1, quickly followed by an X-S10 shortly after it’s release, and the Olympus got put into the cupboard for about a year. This fall I pulled it back out, and with a year's worth of extra photography experience to help inform my ability to use the little four thirds snapper, I feel as though new life has been breathed into this camera for me.

The design and how I use the thing
The beginner-friendly design intention can be off putting at first. There’s tons of weird decisions that on first glance don’t make sense–things like not being able to use electronic shutter outside of the AP (advanced photography) mode or having a mode on the mode dial dedicated solely to using the different simulations that can be applied in every other mode–make much more sense when you relax and use the camera with a more free-flowing methodology.

There’s two main ways I have used this camera in the two years that I’ve owned it. First is a manual/aperture priority driven platform for adapted vintage lenses (namely my small handful of Soviet-era nifty fifties), and the second being as a pocketable point and shoot camera with the collapsable 14-42mm kit lens.

Street I’ve done a small amount of street shooting with the camera + kit lens setup, and overall it's very pleasant. Even though I have the silver model it's very inconspicuous, especially double fisted in a pair of large hands. The (for me) much preferable tilt screen articulation is fantastic for hip shooting, and keeps the overall envelope very small compared to an articulating screen. The IBIS helps here, as it does in most use cases. Great feature that has only started becoming more commonplace.

Walkaround
This is really where this camera shines for me now. Something I can throw in my pocket when I’m out on my evening walk with my girlfriend, or keep in the glovebox of my car and go on impromptu photo walks when the mood strikes. The nature of this camera suits this usage really well for a few reasons: The MFT sensor, lacking in dynamic range, forces higher ISO settings than I’m used to. This adds some grit and texture to the images, and when shooting in black and white (where I feel this camera absolutely excels) it's an absolutely stripped back experience. It almost feels like walking around with an old point-and-shoot film camera, and the results themselves are not far off from using a grainy 400 speed B&W film The size is tiny. I keep coming back to it, but besides the practicality of it the size confers a much different overall feel. I’m not plodding around with a bigger or heavier camera with a very high fidelity sensor with dynamic range to spare, I’m popping off shots and focusing much more on composition and light and not ISO settings or film simulations or any of the other more technical distractions that come with the territory of more “serious” shooting. The results are pretty amazing in terms of my personal satisfaction because of the limitations forced on you while using it. The highlights are easy as hell to blow out, so it's not film-like in that regard, but the crushed down dynamic range makes you think about the light in your frame differently than a “better” sensor.

Some favored configurations

1. Adapted lenses, my current favorite combo being the M39 mount Jupiter 8 50mm f/2 Russian lens. My runner up combo is the Industar-22 50mm f/3.5 lens. A fantastic optic that works great with the micro four thirds sensor, although I do wish it had a faster aperture.
2. The kit lens. This turns it into a functional point and shoot with solid quality output and great on-the-go ergonomics.
3. Chinese 3rd party lenses. It's absolutely fantastic with the Samyang and Pergear/7artisans lenses I’ve used with it. These combos end up being cost-effective, small, light-weight and just plain fun to use.

To sum it all up…
In the year or so I heavily used the E-M10 as my primary camera, I used it for everything from landscapes to macro shots to some astrophotography. It did pretty decently with all of these, but for more serious work I felt that I had to upgrade to a larger sensor and better lenses. I haven’t regretted my switch to the Fuji ecosystem at all, but that also doesn’t mean there’s no value in this capable little camera.

Basically, this camera kind of pushes you into the Lomography motto of “don’t think, just shoot”, for better or worse. That may not be your cup of tea, and in my opinion it's also not an amazing set of characteristics for a beginner or student camera, but it is a shift of pace from how I’m used to shooting. That alone can be invaluable, especially for breaking creative ruts. So while this does, in my humble opinion, fail somewhat in its aims at being a beginner’s camera, it is an amazingly fun camera that offers a less serious shooting experience while still delivering decent results. It's also held up pretty well given that I’m not one to baby my gear.

So that’s it. Will the O-MD E-M10 mark iii deliver professional quality results? Probably not. Will it make Instagram level bangers and offer more ergonomic useability than a smartphone? Heck yes. I like it.

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