EXCERPT page containing first few paragraphs. 2024-04-18 23:06:23
UA_SEARCH_BOT_compatible_botmozilla/5.0 applewebkit/537.36 (khtml, like gecko; compatible; claudebot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com) @ 18.218.127.141
For full access, subscribe here. Or click title to login. 
Olympus E-M1 Usability
Menu system
Once configured the camera is highly usable. But anyone approaching the EM1 for the first time should find a comfortable chair, and expect to take a good half hour, at least, to configure the camera, particularly the programmable buttons.
As with it EM5 predecessor, the menu system is the most confusing and Byzantine kitchen-sink mess on the market today, a non-design disaster zone. It’s easy to miss a setting and have great frustration finding it (going past its menu again and again), because so many settings are buried several levels deep.
It took 20 minutes to go through the E-M1 and configure the settings buttons as I wished, and that is with being already familiar with its E-M5 predecessor. And at least one button (right button on 4-way controller) could not be reprogrammed and it is hard-coded to a setting that is of no use for raw shooting.
Article continues for subscribers...
Diglloyd Guide to Mirrorless is by yearly subscription. Subscribe now for about 25 cents a day ($90/year).
BEST DEAL: get full access to ALL 8 PUBLICATIONS for only about 75 cents a day!
Diglloyd Guide to Mirrorless offers comprehensive integrated coverage of most APS-C and full frame mirrorless cameras and lenses.
Special emphasis is placed on Sony full-frame, including Sony lenses and the high performance Zeiss Batis and Zeiss Loxia lenses plus Rokinon/Samyang and others. Fujifilm X, Olympus and Panasonic M4/3, Sigma dp Merrill and dp/sd Quattro are also covered in depth. Years in the making, it offers a wealth of material for choosing and using a mirrorless camera.
- Make better images by learning how to get the best results right away. For example, the best way to set up your Sony camera.
- Save money by choosing the right lens for your needs the first time, particularly with the numerous lenses available for Sony.
- Make better images, a sort of “cheat sheet” saving yourself months or years of ad-hoc learning—best practices and how-to and processing parameters are discussed and shown.
- Jaw-dropping image quality found nowhere else utilizing Retina-grade images up to full camera resolution, plus large crops.
- Real world examples with insights found nowhere else. Make sharper images just by understanding lens behavior you won’t read about elsewhere.
- Aperture series from wide open through stopped down, showing the full range of lens performance and bokeh.
- Optical quality analysis of field curvature, focus shift, sharpness, flare, distortion, and performance in the field.
Want a preview? Click on any page below to see an excerpt as well as extensive blog coverage, for example on Sony.