Reviews |Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II vs The French Alps

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II vs The French Alps

Review

As I was getting ready for a skiing trip in the French Alps my thoughts inevitably turned to which cameras I should take with me. The natural choice is a GoPro or other action cam, and while I slipped a couple of GoPros into my bag, I was keen to take something a bit more serious along as well.

After discovering how good the image stabilisation (IS) system is in the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, I thought it would be fun to find out if it can cope with being used hand-held on the piste in the French Alps. Decision made.

I didn’t use any rig or support, I merely held the OM-D E-M1 Mark II in my hands as I did my best to ski smoothly across lumps, bumps and ice. As a precaution I had a strap around my neck to prevent losing the camera altogether if I slipped.

The video is shot with the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.89 Pro mounted and in 4K, the highest resolution available on the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II. I also used continuous autofocus mode to keep the subject sharp.

The E-M1 II’s Image Stabilization system was set to Mode 1 (M-IS 1) so that both sensor shift and digital stabilisation were employed.

I also had the screen flipped out to the side to give me a clear view of the scene, however, accurate framing is pretty tricky when you’re skiing.

As you’ll see, this isn’t the most polished video, I’ve kept it pretty raw so you can see how the camera performs in a variety of situations such as on a ski lift and skiing behind as well as alongside another skier.

I’ve selected short clips that represent how the camera performed during the first half-dozen occasions that I shot with the camera on the piste.

The audio has been recorded using the on-board mic and naturally it has caught a fair bit of wind noise.

Apart from the odd issue with framing, largely resulting from my inability to stay with my subject, and the occasional jump caused by a sharp change of direction, the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II coped very well.

The footage shot from alongside another skier is particularly impressive with numerous bumps and shakes being smoothed out very effectively.

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II sample photos

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