OM Digital Solutions, the company formerly known as Olympus, made a splash when it introduced its new flagship camera earlier this year, the OM System OM-1. Featuring a newly designed 20-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor, the OM-1 mirrorless camera is the first using the new OM System brand.
In an homage to the company’s past, the OM-1 does retain the Olympus name at the top of the camera through OM Digital Solutions says this will be the last time it uses that legendary brand on its products. So, if you’re an Olympus fan, the OM-1 might seem pretty enticing but is this camera worth your hard earned dollars?
Our colleagues at Imaging Resource, Digital Photo Pro’s sister site, tested the OM-1 both in the lab and out in the field and have condensed their findings into the 10-minute video review you see at the bottom of this post. If you want a quick rundown of the pros and cons of the OM-1, which is the “spiritual successor” to the Olympus E-M1 Mark III from 2020, hit play below.
“Boy does the OM-1 pack in several upgrades and improvements over this earlier camera,” William Brawley, Imaging Resource’s managing editor says about the camera. “The physical design is largely the same, although there have been some pleasing improvements to the ergonomics, and the EVF finally gets a higher-resolution screen and larger magnification. Plus, the durability has been improved, which is impressive given the Olympus OM-D-series cameras’ long history of excellent weather sealing.”
Of course, the biggest upgrades are under the hood. The OM-1 adds “an all-new stacked image sensor, a new image processor, a vastly improved AF system with more AF points and an even more versatile implementation of the Intelligent Subject Detection system that used to be exclusive to the large E-M1X. The OM-1 is a speed demon of a camera, offering incredible burst-shooting performance, faster AF and, yes, improved image quality.”
If you find yourself wanting more details about the OM System OM-1 after you watch the 10-minute video below, you can read Imaging Resource’s full review of the camera with full resolution test shots here.
