Starting this month, Rangefinder, a member of the Technical Image Press Association (TIPA), presents reviews of camera tests conducted by test lab Image Engineering. Here are condensed results from the Olympus OM-D E-M1X.

The 20-megapixel OM-D E-M1X is basically the flagship E-M1 Mark II on steroids. It features a built-in vertical battery grip and two batteries will ship with the camera. This combo pushes the camera’s battery life to an impressive 870 shots, per CIPA standards.

Thanks to the grip, the E-M1X has a duplicated set of controls for shooting with the camera both horizontally or vertically, with the ability to lock certain controls in a given shooting position so you don’t accidentally trigger them. The entire package is robustly weather-sealed.

The other notable enhancement is to image stabilization. The E-M1X can deliver 7.5 stops of image stabilization when paired with select Sync IS compatible lenses from Olympus. 

The company says that level of stabilization would deliver a crisp image with a 4-second shutter while shooting handheld. Even without a Sync IS lens attached, the E-M1X can deliver 7 stops of shake correction.

The AF system has also been revamped with an AI-derived algorithm that enables superior object recognition, including of trains, cars and airplanes. When shooting things like motorcycles, the camera will automatically focus on where it believes the driver’s head should be. The AF system is powered by a pair of TruPic VIII processors. Like the E-M1 Mark II, the E-M1X features 121 all cross-type phase-detect AF points that are accessible at any aperture.

The E-M1X also carries over the E-M1’s blistering burst mode of 18 fps with AF tracking and a 60 fps “Pro Shot” mode that can snap up to 35 images to buffer memory with a half-press of the shutter.

On the video front, the E-M1X can record cinema 4K video or full HD at 120 fps.

While it borrows heavily from the E-M1 Mark II, there are a few novel features in the E-M1X. One is a Live ND mode for slow shutter shooting without an actual filter. The effect can be set at five levels and previewed through the display. The E-M1X is packed with several sensors including GPS, temperature, manometer and compass for adding more detailed metadata to your photos.

Price: $3,000

Key Takeaways from Image Engineering

The camera produces visible noise at surprisingly low ISO settings, trailing comparable Micro Four Thirds cameras like the Panasonic G9.

Both color reproduction and dynamic range are among the best in class for a Micro Four Thirds camera when shooting stills. Dynamic range trails rivals in video. 

While the camera does an excellent job resolving details in still photos, it’s resolving capability drops sharply in video. 

Resolution

At ISO 200, the E-M1X can resolve 97 percent of its sensor’s theoretical maximum. It’s a solid score, but not the highest possible theoretical maximum (that’s 140 percent, based on Image Engineering’s test methods). 

The camera’s resolving power is above 95 percent through ISO 1600.

At the top native ISO, the camera’s resolving power drops sharply to 68 percent. That’s lower than Panasonic’s G9, which could resolve 76 percent at its highest ISO.

Visual Noise

When viewing images at 100 percent on a monitor, noise would be visible at all ISO settings. That’s a worse showing than the G9, which didn’t show noise in this scenario until ISO 6400.

When viewing a postcard-sized print, noise would be “mildly noticeable” at ISO 1600. Again, that’s far behind the performance of competitors like the G9, which kept noise well contained through ISO 12,800.

When viewing a print that’s 15 inches tall, you can expect noise-free images at ISO 200 and 400. 

Dynamic Range & Color Reproduction

You’ll be able to hit a very impressive dynamic range of 11 f-stops at ISO 200 for JPEG images. It declines to 10 f-stops at ISO 800. These are excellent results, besting the G9 (10.6 stops at ISO 200) the GH5S (8 f-stops at base ISO) and many other larger-sensor cameras.

The E-M1X also does an excellent job with color reproduction, with only four colors (all red tones) deviating strongly from their reference target. 

Video

The camera resolves 76 percent of its sensor’s theoretical maximum when recording video. That’s significantly worse than the G9, which hit 97 percent. 

Video sharpening is fairly strong through ISO 1600.

Visual noise is noticeable at ISO 200 and 1600 when viewing video enlarged on a display. On a small mobile display, however, noise won’t be visible until ISO 1600.

Dynamic range in video recorded internally is 9.3 f-stops at ISO 200, below the GH5S’s 11 f-stops. 

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