The new OM System OM-1 — a few scattered observations

Back in February, I preordered one of the new Olympus OM System OM-1 camera bodies, and after a few weeks of waiting, it arrived at my local camera store. There are plenty of full reviews of the camera available for your perusal online, so I won’t attempt to compete with / duplicate them.

Just the same, I’ve spent a few weeks traveling with the OM-1 (using it daily), and I’ve got some thoughts:

  1. I really wish OM System had designed the camera to be (at least somewhat) compatible with the BLH-1 battery used by E-M1 Mark II and Mark III. Some of us already have spares of that battery, and supplies of new camera battery models are still particularly constrained. Fortunately, the OM-1 can take a lot of images on a single battery charge, and tethered power via USB C is still there for folks with more-demanding use cases (like video).
  2. I was ludicrously happy to discover that one of my pet peeves about older OMD cameras has been fixed in the OM-1 — namely, if you select silent / electronic shutter for use in your still images, the same will now carry over when you capture HDR (high dynamic range) image sets. I often use HDR image capture in indoor environments (cathedrals, etc.) where quiet is appreciated from / expected of visitors, so this is a real boon for me.
    Sadly, my other HDR-related pet peeve survives — HDR frames are taken in the sRGB color space, even if you’ve opted for Adobe RGB in the camera’s settings. I can’t guess why this limitation is still in place, but at least it’s documented in the camera’s manual (p. 155 of the English-language version).
  3. I’m *really* liking the RM-WR1 remote for this camera. It’s a little weather-sealed Bluetooth remote, and allows me to remotely trigger the OM-1 even in awful weather (vs. using a cabled remote that potentially breaches the camera’s weather-sealing, or relying on my phone as a remote —  fine in clear weather but pretty fiddly in rain).
  4. The old menu system was not a particular bother for me, but still — the new menus are fantastic! The new system makes it so much easier to find things.

More to come on this camera as I run across things…

4 thoughts on “The new OM System OM-1 — a few scattered observations

  1. Oh, c’mon! You’ve had it for FOUR WHOLE DAYS NOW! Spill the beans!

    Mine arrived today, and I’ve heard there’s already a firmware update, but I can’t seem to get it to connect via OM Workspace the way that I can with my E-M1 Mark II. Any ideas? I’m also unable to make it work with my recently-purchased Android phone.

    • COCKPIT ERROR!

      I had the USB plugged in to the charger, not the computer.

      I plugged it in to my trusty, thirteen-year-old MacPro 4,1 and the update proceeded as it was supposed to.

  2. The Android issue doesn’t surprise me — I know that OM System’s iPhone app doesn’t recognize the new firmware update (1.1) yet, so it could be a problem that’s impacting all mobile OSes.

    As for OM Workspace, have you updated that software first? I know that’s been tripping quite a few people up.

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