If you haven’t seen this yet, it’s worth a look. Basically the guys from panophoto.net attached a Panasonic GH4 with 12-35mm f2.8 OIS (image stablized) lens and a Olympus E-M5 mark II with the Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 to a mounting plate and walked around for about 10 min.

Olympus E-M5 mark II

While the Olympus E-M5 mark II footage gets a little soft as they run around, the 5-axis stabilization still seems to be top notch. When you start looking at the price of the E-M5 ($1099), it’s actually substantially less than many of the 3-axis gimbal systems on the market. For your $1099 purchase, you get a complete M4/3 camera, a stabilizer system, and you avoid the hassle of balancing, setup, and reprograming. On top of that, you’re trading out a large stabilizer rig for a tiny M4/3 camera body.

I don’t think the E-M5 mark II will completely replace 3-axis gimbals, but if you are on a budget, the E-M5 probably makes a lot more sense.  I keep seeing these stabilization videos and keep wondering if I should make the E-M5 mark II my backup M4/3 camera. On the other hand, i’m not sure I really want to learn another camera menu system. For now, I think i’ll hold off and wait to see what the Olympus E-M1 Mark II will offer, but the E-M5 is still extremely tempting.

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