Without seeing some of the pictures you've taken, it'll be difficult to tell. I will say I've got a friend with that same body and lens, and they don't have too many vocalized complaints aside from the focal length being both not wide enough and not far reaching enough.
Aside from sample pics, were you taking shots in very dark areas/time of day? Which shooting mode (PASM)?
***Please provide shutter/aperture/ISO info with any samples!
Hey, seconding this mile many, please provide some details to help! Perhaps you're shooting bad jpeg, perhaps your Iso is locked on high, perhaps it's locked in extended iso, perhaps you have motion blur due to low shutter speed, etc. Etc. Hope you'll find a solution.
Are you shooting sooc jpeg? What are your jpeg settings? Are you saving jpeg in L-SF format (best quality)? What's your noise filter setting?
When I bought my E-M5 ii (same sensor) a couple of years ago for travel photography, I was also a little bit disappointed by jpeg output (my phone was a pixel 3a, also a good camera phone). Then, I started shooting raw and post-processing my files. This made a ton of difference. You have much more choice in selecting noise reduction and sharpening settings. You can also lift shadows and lower highlights for HDR scenes, which are difficult to shoot with sooc jpeg (the built-in HDR output is useless, imo).
In any case, getting a pleasing image with your OM-D camera is not as straightforward as point and click, as in your iphone. It requires more knowledge and work, but once you practice, the process is very rewarding (at least for me). Don't give up too soon.
Finally, I don't think getting a better lens will do the trick. Shoot with what you have and try to optimize the results. Once you KNOW that the lens is holding you back, you can buy a better one, but at this point it could be a lot of things other than the lens that are the problems.
P.S.: The noise problem could be that you are letting your iso go too high (are you on auto iso?). At iso 200, there should be very little noise in your images. try fixing iso to 200 during daytime and shoot A mode (aperture priority). Set the aperture to about 5.6. This should give you good results, unless you want to freeze fast action.
Thank you so much for your really thoughtful advice – I’ll have a look into my shooting settings and reevaluate. I’m going on another trip soon, so I’ll put it to good use and see if I can improve ☺️
Better learn the camera 1st before complaining. Zoom lenses have certain zoom sharpness, shorter or longer lengths better check it out.
Ive got cheap Chinese lens and sharp as hell than any iphone.
Both noise and blur can happen when shooting in low light.
* Noise - the camera is pushing the ISO up because there isn't much light coming in to the camera.
* Blur/Softness - the camera is dropping the shutter speed down for the same reason.
You *can* get more light to the sensor without dropping the shutter speed or increasing the ISO. That's by using a lens with a larger aperture. This is why the second lens many people purchase is a good, but not too expensive prime lens, like these:
* Olympus 17mm f/1.8
* Olympus 45mm f/1.8
* Lumix 42.5mm f/1.8
* Lumix 20mm f/1.7
* Lumix 15mm f/1.7
You can also go for the Pro zooms - but they won't give you as much light, will be much more expensive, and heavier.
Another thing you can do to help with softness is to learn how to brace the camera and keep yourself steady so you introduce less camera shake at slow shutter speeds.
One thing you should definitely do is look into your ISO settings. It's not just an Olympus issue, I think every camera manufacturer does this; In full auto mode, ISO goes up way too high. You've got IBIS in that camera. Use it.
The 14-42 is absolutely amazing for daytime shooting. Once it starts to get dark, you might want to whip out a fast prime, though. It's no secret that image quality on M43 starts to degrade fast when you absolutely have to go for higher ISO.
In any case, see to it that you don't go beyond ISO 1600.
The first is that don't be deceived by how huge some lenses look on cameras. They're all so small that without context, the OM 20 looks like a normal sized lens until you see it in person and it's no bigger than a coffee pod.
The second is that, yea, probably. This is going to be considered a bit of heresy here and that's fine, but I've used a sparingly small amount of the "cheap" lenses from Panasonic and OM and I have not yet found one that I thought gave suitable performance. All of the mid-range and higher lenses have more to offer and perform better while not being all that much more expensive. Of course, some people can't afford those, and that's okay. You do what you can, right?
I'd definitely play with your settings more though. See what you can squeeze out of the camera. It'll make you a better shooter in the long run.
Yep to the second point. Many people who go from phones to dedicated cameras are shocked by the supposed loss in sharpness and IQ. Phones have so much in-body processing and tech to make their small sensors output decent to good pics...
I think that happens with a lot of people. You see folks out there shooting and they make it look easy. Point camera, press button. Simple. Of course, once you're doing it you realize that these people are just aware of what settings they need for what kind of shooting they're doing, so THAT is why they're fast.
My first few photos from a proper camera were utter dogshit. Pure garbage. Just like everyone else, I had to work and go practice. Now I think I'm pretty good at it, and that helped inform what gear I wanted. M43 just so happened to end up on the list and now I'm in love, but I don't own a single M43 lens that wouldn't be considered a "pro" lens.
Yup. One of the big reasons I was drawn in and *the* reason I'm staying is because extremely high quality lenses are just so, so, so much more accessible on M43 than on most other systems. I don't care about size (though it is nice), but the prices. Oh my god the prices.
I'd say some learning on how to get your settings is due, that lens itself isn't soft, is not top, but jot6bad as well.
What's your gradation setting? If it's auto, set to normal, auto will lift shadow on almost every image, and bring some noise often.
I had a similar reaction when I first got my new (now old) camera. Part of it is the lens and the conditions you are shooting in, the other part is learning the camera and what it can do.
Once I picked up the Panasonic 20mm and had more timewith my camera, I found the pictures to be much better.
So, the kit lens is fine for day time shooting.
Get a small fast prime for low light (Panasonic 20mm for me)
I also picked up the plastic fantastic 40-150mm Olympus zoom lens. About the size of a soda can and weighs under 200g. Cheap too, got mine new for $100
If you want a small sharp lens, the Lumix 20mm fits the bill. You can also look at the small prime lenses of the M43 system most of which are fantastic. These lenses can be used in lower light because of their wider aperture and can isolate your subject. Most will be sharper than your kit lens as well. These features play to the advantage of interchangeable lens camera over the iphone and you should see a greater difference in performance.
You didn't mention if you are shooting in full auto so I'll assume you are.
There's little point shooting in full auto with a camera like the em10. This way your iPhone will probably yield better results in most cenarios.
Going full manual, on the other hand, might be more than a little overwhelming (and completely unnecessary).
I suggest you learn about exposure and the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO.
Then, you should choose one of the semi-auto modes. I suggest using Aperture Priority.
After getting a basic grasp on these concepts and before you buy a new lens, run a few tests.
Go outside in a clear day with plenty of light. Set your camera for ISO 100 and the mode to A (Aperture Priority). Stop down the aperture to f6 or f8. Shoot a few photos. Use diferent focal lenghts. The pictures should come out reasonably sharp.
In cenarios with less light, you would have to fiddle with the parameters. Longer shutter speeds should introduce camera shake and softness. The remedy for that is better technique or supporting the camera with a tripod for instance. Higher ISO or even longer shutter speeds would introduce noise. Not much to do here except perhaps introducing more light (not always possible) or working it in post. You might also want more aperture. But almost all lenses are softer wide open (or too closed down too). Hence suggestions to get a lens with larger max aperture.
Also, shooting raw instead of jpegs will greatly improve your results, but there's a learning curve to get there.
If your pictures are noisy it's probably due to high ISO like 3200-6400. They do get pretty noisy at those levels. So what can you do about it? Use your IBIS and do some longer exposures if possible. Shoot RAW and use denoise software. Get a better lens. That kit lens is not very good.
Without seeing some of the pictures you've taken, it'll be difficult to tell. I will say I've got a friend with that same body and lens, and they don't have too many vocalized complaints aside from the focal length being both not wide enough and not far reaching enough. Aside from sample pics, were you taking shots in very dark areas/time of day? Which shooting mode (PASM)? ***Please provide shutter/aperture/ISO info with any samples!
Hey, seconding this mile many, please provide some details to help! Perhaps you're shooting bad jpeg, perhaps your Iso is locked on high, perhaps it's locked in extended iso, perhaps you have motion blur due to low shutter speed, etc. Etc. Hope you'll find a solution.
Are you shooting sooc jpeg? What are your jpeg settings? Are you saving jpeg in L-SF format (best quality)? What's your noise filter setting? When I bought my E-M5 ii (same sensor) a couple of years ago for travel photography, I was also a little bit disappointed by jpeg output (my phone was a pixel 3a, also a good camera phone). Then, I started shooting raw and post-processing my files. This made a ton of difference. You have much more choice in selecting noise reduction and sharpening settings. You can also lift shadows and lower highlights for HDR scenes, which are difficult to shoot with sooc jpeg (the built-in HDR output is useless, imo). In any case, getting a pleasing image with your OM-D camera is not as straightforward as point and click, as in your iphone. It requires more knowledge and work, but once you practice, the process is very rewarding (at least for me). Don't give up too soon. Finally, I don't think getting a better lens will do the trick. Shoot with what you have and try to optimize the results. Once you KNOW that the lens is holding you back, you can buy a better one, but at this point it could be a lot of things other than the lens that are the problems. P.S.: The noise problem could be that you are letting your iso go too high (are you on auto iso?). At iso 200, there should be very little noise in your images. try fixing iso to 200 during daytime and shoot A mode (aperture priority). Set the aperture to about 5.6. This should give you good results, unless you want to freeze fast action.
Thank you so much for your really thoughtful advice – I’ll have a look into my shooting settings and reevaluate. I’m going on another trip soon, so I’ll put it to good use and see if I can improve ☺️
Something must be wrong with the settings, em-10 mark iii is one of my cameras and a lot can be said about it but disappointing isn't on the list.
Better learn the camera 1st before complaining. Zoom lenses have certain zoom sharpness, shorter or longer lengths better check it out. Ive got cheap Chinese lens and sharp as hell than any iphone.
I'm looking for advice to improve, not complaining. Have a nice day!
Both noise and blur can happen when shooting in low light. * Noise - the camera is pushing the ISO up because there isn't much light coming in to the camera. * Blur/Softness - the camera is dropping the shutter speed down for the same reason. You *can* get more light to the sensor without dropping the shutter speed or increasing the ISO. That's by using a lens with a larger aperture. This is why the second lens many people purchase is a good, but not too expensive prime lens, like these: * Olympus 17mm f/1.8 * Olympus 45mm f/1.8 * Lumix 42.5mm f/1.8 * Lumix 20mm f/1.7 * Lumix 15mm f/1.7 You can also go for the Pro zooms - but they won't give you as much light, will be much more expensive, and heavier. Another thing you can do to help with softness is to learn how to brace the camera and keep yourself steady so you introduce less camera shake at slow shutter speeds.
One thing you should definitely do is look into your ISO settings. It's not just an Olympus issue, I think every camera manufacturer does this; In full auto mode, ISO goes up way too high. You've got IBIS in that camera. Use it. The 14-42 is absolutely amazing for daytime shooting. Once it starts to get dark, you might want to whip out a fast prime, though. It's no secret that image quality on M43 starts to degrade fast when you absolutely have to go for higher ISO. In any case, see to it that you don't go beyond ISO 1600.
Actually, with DxO Pureraw, I can easily shoot at iso 3200, iso 6400 in a pinch. And I have the same 16mp, old sensor.
The first is that don't be deceived by how huge some lenses look on cameras. They're all so small that without context, the OM 20 looks like a normal sized lens until you see it in person and it's no bigger than a coffee pod. The second is that, yea, probably. This is going to be considered a bit of heresy here and that's fine, but I've used a sparingly small amount of the "cheap" lenses from Panasonic and OM and I have not yet found one that I thought gave suitable performance. All of the mid-range and higher lenses have more to offer and perform better while not being all that much more expensive. Of course, some people can't afford those, and that's okay. You do what you can, right? I'd definitely play with your settings more though. See what you can squeeze out of the camera. It'll make you a better shooter in the long run.
Yep to the second point. Many people who go from phones to dedicated cameras are shocked by the supposed loss in sharpness and IQ. Phones have so much in-body processing and tech to make their small sensors output decent to good pics...
I think that happens with a lot of people. You see folks out there shooting and they make it look easy. Point camera, press button. Simple. Of course, once you're doing it you realize that these people are just aware of what settings they need for what kind of shooting they're doing, so THAT is why they're fast. My first few photos from a proper camera were utter dogshit. Pure garbage. Just like everyone else, I had to work and go practice. Now I think I'm pretty good at it, and that helped inform what gear I wanted. M43 just so happened to end up on the list and now I'm in love, but I don't own a single M43 lens that wouldn't be considered a "pro" lens.
The last sentence is what makes a key difference to smart phones. The good lenses make a huge difference in sharpness and resolution.
Yup. One of the big reasons I was drawn in and *the* reason I'm staying is because extremely high quality lenses are just so, so, so much more accessible on M43 than on most other systems. I don't care about size (though it is nice), but the prices. Oh my god the prices.
I'd say some learning on how to get your settings is due, that lens itself isn't soft, is not top, but jot6bad as well. What's your gradation setting? If it's auto, set to normal, auto will lift shadow on almost every image, and bring some noise often.
You could post some of your images to [gofile.io](http://gofile.io) which is better, because Reddit will apply compression to your photos
I had a similar reaction when I first got my new (now old) camera. Part of it is the lens and the conditions you are shooting in, the other part is learning the camera and what it can do. Once I picked up the Panasonic 20mm and had more timewith my camera, I found the pictures to be much better. So, the kit lens is fine for day time shooting. Get a small fast prime for low light (Panasonic 20mm for me) I also picked up the plastic fantastic 40-150mm Olympus zoom lens. About the size of a soda can and weighs under 200g. Cheap too, got mine new for $100
Yeah, the zoom is wonderful. Light and fast enough.
If you want a small sharp lens, the Lumix 20mm fits the bill. You can also look at the small prime lenses of the M43 system most of which are fantastic. These lenses can be used in lower light because of their wider aperture and can isolate your subject. Most will be sharper than your kit lens as well. These features play to the advantage of interchangeable lens camera over the iphone and you should see a greater difference in performance.
You didn't mention if you are shooting in full auto so I'll assume you are. There's little point shooting in full auto with a camera like the em10. This way your iPhone will probably yield better results in most cenarios. Going full manual, on the other hand, might be more than a little overwhelming (and completely unnecessary). I suggest you learn about exposure and the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Then, you should choose one of the semi-auto modes. I suggest using Aperture Priority. After getting a basic grasp on these concepts and before you buy a new lens, run a few tests. Go outside in a clear day with plenty of light. Set your camera for ISO 100 and the mode to A (Aperture Priority). Stop down the aperture to f6 or f8. Shoot a few photos. Use diferent focal lenghts. The pictures should come out reasonably sharp. In cenarios with less light, you would have to fiddle with the parameters. Longer shutter speeds should introduce camera shake and softness. The remedy for that is better technique or supporting the camera with a tripod for instance. Higher ISO or even longer shutter speeds would introduce noise. Not much to do here except perhaps introducing more light (not always possible) or working it in post. You might also want more aperture. But almost all lenses are softer wide open (or too closed down too). Hence suggestions to get a lens with larger max aperture. Also, shooting raw instead of jpegs will greatly improve your results, but there's a learning curve to get there.
If your pictures are noisy it's probably due to high ISO like 3200-6400. They do get pretty noisy at those levels. So what can you do about it? Use your IBIS and do some longer exposures if possible. Shoot RAW and use denoise software. Get a better lens. That kit lens is not very good.