Great Cameras of 2013 Part III: Olympus and Panasonic

Well, this one is certainly going to be the easiest one of these posts to write: 2013 saw the introduction of two of the best Micro 4/3 cameras to date.

Olympus: Three cameras in particular are of interest from Olympus this year. The E-P5 is the current version of the Pen. It's a beautiful and capable camera that is also elegantly styled. If you're particular about your camera's looks and you don't need a built-in viewfinder, the E-P5 belongs on your short list. The Stylus 1, all-new this year, is the company's deluxe bridge camera—dpreview rightly points out that camera companies are (somewhat anxiously) working to figure out what regular people will buy when they want something more than the camera in their smartphones, and the Stylus 1 is Olympus's very slick attempt at an answer. But despite its handsome angular styling and well-specified  lens, the Stylus 1 would not be a camera to naturally tempt enthusiasts because of its 1/1.7" (i.e., <8x6mm) sensor.

No, the towering product intro from Olympus for this year for enthusiasts is without question the OM-D E-M1, an improved E-M5 made to a higher spec. I've been using an E-M1 and I have a lot of thoughts about it, which I'll defer to another time. But that it should be a strong nomination for CoY 2013 is beyond doubt.

Panasonic: Olympus's main partner in the Micro 4/3 consortium also introduced its best-ever camera this year.

But first we need to mention the wee little GM1 and the SLR-like G6. Both fine cameras. Good, now we've done that.

The Lumix GX7, recently field reviewed by Carl Weese in these pages, takes the GF1's somewhat up-and-down lineage to a whole new level. It is to today's digital cameras just about what Leica's M6 was to cameradom in 1984. Or close. (the Leica M, a replica in digital of the actual M6, is a whole different beast now, with a whole different meaning.) Of course the GX7 will not be anywhere near as iconic because its life will be so much shorter (out, out, brief candle!). But right now....

Another no-brainer nomination for CoY.

So the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the Panasonic GX7 get the invitation to our award show.

We're getting closer to the Big S.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2013 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

adamct: "Ooof! For what it's worth, I think the GM1 deserved more serious consideration than you gave it. On paper (or on a website) it is easy to dismiss out of hand as a possibly cute toy that is overshadowed by its larger, sexier, bristling-with-features big brother, the GX7. In the hand, it is a tiny, jaw-dropping jewel of a camera, very responsive, with picture quality the equal of its beefier sibling. It is a camera that makes you want to slip it into your pocket and go for a picture-taking walk. The thing is smaller than an LX7, fer cryin' out loud!!! Anyway, taste is personal, but if you get the chance to actually hold one yourself, you might find yourself surprised...."

JK: "One note about the GM1: just on a size/weight basis, it removes any excuse for Micro 4/3 users not to carry around a backup body at all times. If you'd pulled this thing out a few years ago you'd have had jaws dropping in disbelief. A few years before that and you would have been burned as a witch."

Comments

[john crowley]

I'm putting my money where my mouth is and saying the OM-D E-M1 is my camera of the year... yes I bought one! Of course it may not be 'the best' camera of the year but that's irrelevant really as all cameras are dumb without an intelligence behind them. The photographer maketh the camera.

[Moose]

As a long time Olympus user, from early OM-1 to OM-4Ti, and a bit fannish, I'm pleased at the E-M1's apparent success.

I'm also a bit puzzled. But for a couple of added features that will benefit few users, it is, for all but a select group, a bigger, heavier, more expensive E-M5 with no significant improvement in image making ability.

The select group, including many of my friends and acquaintances, are those with a stable of 4/3 lenses. They've been waiting, with various degrees of patience, for successors to the E-5 and E-620.

For them, the E-M5, with full adapter and PD AF speed, is a home run. And I'm very happy that Oly has not left so many loyal buyer/users hanging.

For others, either with µ4/3 gear already or new to the format, I don't see the attraction of spending a few hundred extra $ for the extras for 4/3 users.

I can hope for an E-M6, E-M5 size and weight, with the extras of the E-M1 plus an EFC, to finally put the shutter shock bugbear to rest.

Yes, shutter shock is apparently less on the E-M1. Mostly, I'll bet, simply because of the extra weight. Were it otherwise, we'd have heard of an improved shutter design, in terms that trumpet it's virtues, while skirting around the reason for it.

Until we see what Oly does next, my E-M5 will go head to head with a new GX7, which added things more significant to me than did the E-M1. The electronic shutter really does eliminate shutter shock or the shutter delay necessary to fix it on Oly bodies.

Moose

[Paul]

Wait! The gh3 is an amazing camera. First one I've liked since the original 5d. It should be on your list.

[Bruce]

I sell cameras part time in Melbourne , Australia, and have had a chance to play extensively with both the EM-1 and the GX7 .( I'm a Canon shooter, and have been about to jump ship to Olympus since the EM-5, but can't quite afford to dump all my Canon stuff and buy the equivalent Oly and Pana lenses
quite yet. ) But that time is VERY rapidly approaching.... I use an EP 3 for more and more wedding pix, and find the JPEGs almost never have to be post produced. ( The 2 kit lenses - the 14-42 and 40 - 150 are vastly under-rated and will enlarge to A3 remarkably well) The GX7 and EM-1 are almost indistinguishable from each other in image quality, but I'm leaning heavily to the EM-1 because of the fantastic "Live Bulb-Live time " feature for my night pix... Also the built in time lapse recording. Both cameras are much better than my Canon 7D at 1600 ISO, and I'd be comfortable shooting at 3200 ISO with either for dark interiors at churches in wedding photography. (Not many brides want above A3 for the church pix). Camera Of The Year, is the EM-1, but the GX 7 may end up as my back up. We are becoming VERY spoiled.

[James Weekes]

It's a strange thing. I am fully committed to Micro 4/3. I have been happily surprised since my first little GF3 at how good the files are and what a great choice of lenses there is. But I have not found a body that I love. The Olympus EM-5 is lovely but the menus are really off-putting. The Lumixes (Lumices?) have such intuitive menus but all were a bit unengaging. Until I spent the early Autumn shooting only with the GX1. After a year of owning it, it suddenly fit. I think it was Ralph Gibson who wrote that Camera Craft was very important to his shooting method. I now feel that it is part of my eye and can shoot at will. I have two bodies (the second one was a steal at $200.00 on a B&H closeout). But the GX7 looks enough like it to tempt me. Maybe when the GX8 comes out.

Every camera you have picked is a winner, glad it's not my job to choose.

[David]

The E-M1 is a fantastic little camera. I purchased one along with the Olympus 17mm and Panasonic 25mm lenses.

Overall image quality doesn't match my 5D Mark II - at least not when you're pixel peeping - but it bests it in many other ways. Dynamic range is superb, autofocus is fast, and the viewfinder is a positive revelation.

In the end, what really marks it out as a great camera for me is that it's so damn fun to shoot with, and that surely is the only thing that matters.

[Tom Bell]

I must say the GX7 is a quietly good looking camera.
Small and compact.
EVF 2m dots
Tilting Screen
IBIS
Goodish menus
WIFI

It is a clever package and seems to cover all those things that the GX1 failed to. However given the IBIS I am very surprised that they didn't pair it with the smaller 14-42 vario lens and in a twin kit with that and the 20mm.
My only concern is that it is less comfortable in my hands than the less beautiful G6 which is now a very good value package.
Nobody loves an ugly duckling!!

[Eolake]

There are many fine comments here. I will agree about the E-M1. I really love it. It's hard to explain why, it just really fits and really works.
It reminds me of my affinity for my old Pentax ME Super back in the day. It's neither the most powerful nor the most compact nor the most full featured of cameras, but it's the best compromise of these things fitted into a perfect form.
(Yes, I'm even starting to like the looks a lot, despite the initial disappointment compared to the lovely retro E-M5.)

It is eating me that my current bad health is stopping me from going out and using this camera to the full extend it deserves.

[adamct]

To supplement my earlier comment: what makes the Panasonic GM1 significant to me in the larger context is that it feels like the camera that ought to kill the small sensor premium compact class of camera. If you can have a responsive camera with a much larger sensor AND interchangeable lenses, why would you pick a bigger camera with less flexibility and worse image quality?

[Pieter]

At what point does "evolution" become "new"? I personally think that the Canon 70D has enough merits over the older ones to be considered "new", especially based on Mike's suggestion that the E-M1 isn't an evolution of the E-M5, and similarly that the GX7 isn't an evolution of the numerous Panasonic incantations...

[David Dyer-Bennet]

The E-M1 may have benefited me by dropping used prices on the E-M5, which I bought recently from KEH. Some of the M1 benefits looked significant, but they weren't significant *enough* -- they don't shift any major classes of photo from my Nikon D700 to the M43 system for me. For people without a system with fantastic AF and shoot-in-the-dark performance, the M1 might be a significant improvement on the M5.

Plus of course the special audience of people with existing non-micro Four Thirds lens collections.