It’s that time of year. Couple the Christmas shopping season with a strong dollar against the yen and Olympus not hitting their unit volume numbers for the year so far, and it’s created a bit of a opportunity for those interested in getting into m4/3.
First off, the E-M5 is now on the discontinued list and being highly discounted (to the point where it’s less than the newer, but lesser E-M10). That said, it’s a fine body that matches the image quality of Olympus’ best to date. You should get the E-M1 if you really need to use 4/3 lenses on your body, otherwise the E-M5 is a better deal that comes close to matching the E-M1 in most things. What do you lose by picking a E-M5 at discount over an E-M1? 1/8000 top shutter speed with 1/320 flash sync, regular microphone socket, PC Sync socket, WiFi, viewfinder previewed HDR blending, some corrections with the TruePic VII processor, and of course the phase detect autofocus with 4/3 lenses.
But look at the price: body only is now US$600.
Coupled with this you can bundle Olympus lenses with the E-M5 body (or any current Olympus m4/3 body) to get further discounts. In particular, the excellent 12mm f/2 at US$600, the more-than-excellent 45mm f/1.8 at US$300, the phenomenal 75mm f/1.8 at US$800, and the strong fast 12-40mm f/2.8 zoom at US$800, are all very nice lenses with the E-M5.
Support this site by purchasing from this advertiser (note that you have to add camera and lens to your shopping cart to see the extra lens rebates):
