12Mar Olympus E-M5 Mark II Image stabilization in action
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.
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.
March 12th, 2015 at 11:42 am
It’s a weird little camera. It’s got timecode and a decent codec but other blogs say the video has tons of moire, aliasing and is pretty soft. The stabilization does look pretty amazing for an in-camera system.
March 12th, 2015 at 1:34 pm
If you watch close when he comes to a stop the image goes from a bit soft to sharp. I’m wondering if all of the complaints about soft images are simply due to the motion blur created by the stabilization system. I think I’d be fine with a bit of a soft image for that level of stabilization, then switch over to the Gh4 for locked down shots.
March 12th, 2015 at 3:27 pm
I’m not shure about this, but didn’t the Sony A7II get the same 5axis stabilization system?
Also, was there any major changes between the mark I and mark II? The first also had 5 axis stabilization…
I remember that the first OM-D O-M5 really caught my attention regarding the stabilization system when I watched a video on Vimeo made by someone who suffered from essencial tremor… the author was essencially talking how the technology enabled him to become a photographer.
March 12th, 2015 at 4:26 pm
I haven’t really seen anything quite as impressive on the A7II so it’s hard to say. As for the E-M5 original, IS was good, but video implementation was very poor and the codecs were pretty ruff.
March 15th, 2015 at 1:04 am
It does have some moire. There is there in some situations.
I also did a stabilization test with the GH4 and a Glidecam.
http://frugalfilmmakers.com/2015/03/07/om-d-e-m5-mii-stabilization-vs-gh4-vs-glidecam/