The Olympus OM-D E-M10 III is a 16MP Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera. It looks like a slightly prettier version of its predecessor and the main changes are to the user interface (UI) and menus, in an aim to make the camera more accessible to relative newcomers to photography.

From a hardware point of view, it's a fairly minor update to the Mark II but the improved ergonomics and UI all have a part to play in making the camera nicer to shoot with and in making some of its smarter features easier to get at.

Beyond the attempts to make the E-M10 III and its more specialized photographic modes easier to use, a more powerful processor brings 4K video shooting. Impressively, the camera is able to offer a combination of mechanical and digital stabilization in 4K mode (most cameras can only digitally stabilize 1080), giving uncannily smooth footage, even when moving the camera around.

Beyond this, the camera's Auto mode has also been reworked so that it attempts to detect movement in the scene, to help it better select the right settings for shooting. Overall it's a subtle update, but calling it the OM-D E-M10 II Mark II would be silly, even for Olympus.

Rivals and Peers

Although the E-M10 III is the entry level to the OM-D series, it's a distinctly mid-level camera. Its profusion of direct controls make it a camera with plenty of space to grow into and, even with the work done to ease access to its full set of features, it still feels like a camera aimed at people who want to do a lot more than just point and shoot.

As such, it falls somewhere between Sony's a5100 and a6000 models (offering the touch-screen ease-of-use of the former with the hands-on control of the latter). Its pricing also puts it squarely into competition with Canon's EOS T7i / 700D and Nikon's D5600. Panasonic's GX85 is its closest Micro Four Thirds peer, and the only other 4K-capable camera in this class.

2017-9-1 11:00