The Second Coming OM SYSTEM OM-1
The original OM System gave Olympus its strongest showing in the professional camera market. While the original OM-1 35mm SLR wasn’t primarily designed as a professional camera, it provided the foundation for a line of models culminating in the OM-3 and OM-4 series, both widely used by working photographers. The 35mm OM System attracted a veritable who’s who of ‘big name’ photographers – among them David Bailey, Patrick Litchfield, Uwe Ommer, Terence Donovan, Ernst Haas, Eric Hosking (best known for his stunning images of birds) and Don McCullin (who participated in early testing of OM-1 prototypes). It was the camera system of choice for National Geographic’s photographers and there were plenty of celebrity users too, including F1 champion James Hunt, mountaineer Chris Bonnington and decathlete Daley Thompson.
Following the sale of Olympus’s camera business, the new entity – OM Digital Solutions – has now adopted ‘OM System’ as a brand and, for its first model, revived the iconic OM-1 model number. Of course, you will have already noticed that the digital OM-1 is also badged 'Olympus', which is a one-off dispensation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original’s launch at the 1972 Photokina. So, quite neatly, this camera is both the first and the last, and clearly there’s quite a lot riding on it for OM Digital Solutions. The previous OM-D system’s flagship – the E-M1X – did enough to attract some professional users and was way ahead of either the Canon EOS R3 or Nikon Z 9 in a number of areas. Yet it remains massively underrated, so OMDS must be hoping for better things as it kicks of the new era of OM System (take two).
While the E-M1X isn’t a small camera, especially for the Micro Four Thirds format, the much more compact and lighter weight OM-1 revisits the advantages of the smaller sensor, particularly in terms of enabling much smaller telephoto lenses for enhanced mobility in the field.
“Small is not a compromise,” runs the promo for the new OM-1. “It is an advantage. Big doesn’t mean pro, big means bulky. Out in the wild bulky can mean sacrificing on the experience. And your frame can only be as full as the experience [which, you’ll agree, is a pretty clever line]. And, out there, small is a big thing.”
If you’re getting the idea that OM Digital Solutions is specifically targeting the outdoor, adventure, action, nature and wildlife photography markets with the new OM-1, you’re spot on. Also faster (significantly so), better featured and even more rugged than the E-M1X, the OM-1 is all about resetting the balance between performance and mobility so, again to quote from the promo, “..you can now have it all”. In fact, there isn’t a comparable combo of size and speed or, for that matter, pricing, and OM System draws further ahead when you take into account the longer focal length M.Zuiko Digital lenses like the ED 300mm f/4.0 PRO (effectively 600mm) and the ED 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3 IS (a 200-800mm you can comfortably shoot with handheld).
Closing The Gap
For the first time in a long time, there’s a significant update to a Micro Fours Thirds sensor which, of course, can’t change its size, but adopting the stacked BSI arrangement that’s now becoming common in larger formats can deliver other key performance benefits; most notably a faster readout speed, an improved dynamic range and lower noise levels. Announced a bit later, the Panasonic Lumix GH6 also introduces a new generation M43 sensor that also delivers significant performance enhancements.
The sensor in the OM-1 also has a revised architecture on its receiving surface to deliver a new autofocusing system called Cross Quad Pixel AF. Under each pixel point are four photodiodes rather than one which collectively – by comparisons between each’s read-out – can determine depth and hence distance, enabling phase-difference detection measurements to be made across the entire frame. The increase to the dynamic range – by a claimed one stop – and the reduction in noise are important to help counter the common criticisms of the M43 sensor versus anything bigger, as both will contribute to improvements in high ISO performance. Consequently, the native sensitivity range is extended to ISO 25,600 and you can push on by two stops to ISO 51,200 and 102,400 – very much new territory for an M43 camera.
