OM-1: is the ‘Wow’ justified ?
The OM-1 is the first camera brought out by Japan Industrial Partners, who bought the imaging division of Olympus back in January 2021 and renamed it OM Digital Solutions (OMDS). Rather confusingly, despite being sold under the new OM System brand, it still carries the Olympus name on the body, in a clever nod to the first Olympus film OM-1 that came out 50 years ago. But it will be the last camera with that name. OMDS put out a lot of pre-launch hype around the OM-1, suggesting that this was a camera that would make photographers say ‘wow’. But was this over-hyped, or does it live up to its billing?
In contrast to the tinkering around the edges when the OM-D E-M1 Mark III succeeded the Mark II, the OM-1 is a different beast altogether. It gains ramped-up computational photography, with the handheld hi-res mode now getting its own button, and processing sped up to under five seconds. The weather-sealing is now rated IP53, which would explain the two recessed dials, and the five-axis in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) has been slightly improved with up to eight stops of image stabilisation. The menu system has been completely revised to a horizontal format that feels far more user-friendly, with related functions grouped together. It’s not just handheld hi-res which now processes super-quick; there are also similar speed improvements to focus stacking and other
