There was the consumer touch and try event happening all over Malaysia for the newly launched OM System OM-3 camera, so I decided to pop by Artishutter X N4 Camera Store to get my hands on the OM-3. Special thanks to the awesome people at Artishutter X N4 for allowing me to do my first impressions video in their premises. There are many things that I do really like about the OM-3, but there are also a few potential deal breakers for me as I have used the camera for a just a short duration of time in the store. I think OM-3 is going to be a hit for OM Digital Solutions, and honestly I cannot wait to see what else they will launch for the remaining of this year 2025. If you prefer to watch my first impressions in a video format, you can do so here (click).
DISCLAIMERS
I am not connected to or associated with OM Digital Solutions in any way. I was an Olympus Visionary in the past, but I have left my position as an ambassador in the year 2022. Considering I have very limited time with the camera (total time spent in the camera store about over an hour), I cannot make a full review covering every single aspect of the camera and its performance. However, I can share what I like, and dislike having quickly handled the OM-3 and boy do I have a few things to say.
WHAT I LIKE
1. CAMERA DESIGN
The OM-3 looks more beautiful in real life than in photographs, that much I must admit. I do think the OM-3 is one of the best looking cameras ever made by OM System and Olympus. I know this will be controversial, but it is my own personal opinion anyway, I think it is more beautiful than the PEN-F. I love that OM Digital Solutions continues to draw inspiration from their rich film SLR heritage, and having their own legacy DNA in the camera look and design itself is quite a marvel to witness. The OM-3 looks very sleek, polished, and very inviting. It is the kind of camera that encourages you to pick it up to go out and shoot more.
2. BUILD QUALITY
The body of OM-3 is made of metal construction and it does feel very solid in hand. Handling it for the short duration of time I have had, the camera feels very reassuring in hand, there are no loose or creaky parts, the camera feels very "together" and it oozes the sense of premium grade. I also appreciate that OM Digital Solutions made the OM-3 weather-sealed, protecting it against splash and dust. I believe that was one of the mistakes when they made the PEN-F back then, by excluding the weather-sealing. The OM-3 is clearly targeting more casual shooters and street photographers, and being a street photographer myself, I sometimes shoot in the rain, and having a weather-sealed camera opens up more photography opportunities.
3. FLASGHIP INTERNALS
The OM-3 shares plenty of similarities with the flagship OM-1 Mark II. It uses the same image sensor, image processor, has the same imaging capabilities and advanced computational features, similar AF performance. Basically the OM-3 is a mini OM-1 Mark II fitted into a vintage retro looking body, minus the dual card slots, beefy hand gripping area, high resolution EVF and a few other features.
4. NON WILDLIFE CENTRIC
Since the very beginning, every single product being released by OM Digital Solutions have been wildlife-centric. Based on their public communications (content being published on their official sites, Instagram, YouTube, etc) they have emphasized on outdoor, nature, bird, macro and wildlife, which can be a put off for many photographers. Let's face it, the photography world is a lot larger than what the bubble OM Digital Solutions trapped their products in. I am glad with the OM-3 they are clearly now looking outside the small bubble, and expanding their focus on wider range of photography genre - travel, street, everyday casual shooters, portraits, documentary, human interest, architecture, etc.
WHAT I CANNOT COMMENT ON
Since I have limited with the camera, the two things I cannot make conclusions on the OM-3 are the image quality and autofocus performance. I did not take any sample images home with me, and even if I did, there was no way for me to open the RAW files with no compatibility support from the post-processing software, since the camera has just been launched.
Nevertheless, I do expect the image quality to be very similar to the OM-1 Mark II, after all these two cameras use the exact same image sensor and processor. OM-1 Mark II sharing the same sensor with the OM-1, which I do have, and have shot quite extensively with, I dare say, for non-professional environment, if you don't need massive pixel count, the 20MP sensor is more than sufficient to deliver great results - super sharp with the right lens (plenty to choose from the Micro Four Thirds system), dynamic range with good latitude for shadow and highlight recovery, and the high ISO performance is also not too shabby, even for today in 2025. I never found myself having issues with the image quality output from the OM-1 (and my main workhorse E-M1 Mark II) actively shooting for jobs.
WHAT I DISLIKE
1. HANDLING
Let me be completely honest - if you are using small, compact prime lenses on the OM-3, the handling is excellent, I find no issues whatsoever, and the camera and lens combo is such a joy to use.
Things quickly change when you attach larger and heavier lens on the OM-3, and it does not take much, only the Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 PRO, which I have tested on the OM-3, to warrant some worry over handling.
The front part of the camera lacks the beefy hand gripping area, which would help in securing the fingers on the camera ala "pistol grip" style, like any traditional DSLR design.
However, that is not the main issue. The two problems I had with the OM-3's hand gripping area:
a) the flat part of the camera for hand gripping feels smooth and somewhat slippery. Half of the time it feels like the camera is sliding off my fingers because of the smooth holding area, and I wish it had some texture for better gripping. I was only using the 12-40mm PRO, imagine if I had heavier lens like the 40-150mm PRO, that would have been a big nope.
b) the position of the creative dial at the front of the camera gets in the way of my fingers. As I handle larger and heavier lens, my fingers dig deeper into the dial, and the sharp edges are not comfortable as they feel like they cut into the finger.
I understand the OM-3 was not made for handling super large and heavy lenses, but come on, even the 12-40mm PRO can cause some discomfort in handling, I expect OM Digital Solutions to do better.
2. CAMERA SIZE
As much as I was surprised by how beautiful the OM-3 was, I was also equally astonished by how large the camera was seeing it in real life. I expected the camera to be about 15-20% smaller. The size of PEN-F, or even smaller, that would have been amazing. After all, isn't Micro Four Thirds all about making truly compact and portable camera system that can deliver great performance and results? I think they missed the mark here, by making the camera smaller, it can appeal to a wider audience. There is a huge demand for compact sized cameras these days, just look at the market movement and trends.
3. ELECTRONIC VIEWFINDER
I do admit the EVF used in the OM-3 is not a bad one, far from being bad I might add. On the other hand, it uses the same OLED panel that was found in E-M10 Mark II and PEN-F, both cameras launched more than 10 years ago. I'd expect that a camera at this price range would include a better EVF, I am not asking for OM-1 Mark II's amazing 5.7M dots viewfinder, but at least the 3.7M dots that are available in many cameras in the market, that would have been a huge step up from the old and aging 2.36M dots panel. I would not complain about the EVF if the pricing was set at USD1000 or below, but clearly that was not the case for OM-3.
4. PRICING
The only thing more shocking about the OM-3 than its beauty when I saw it in person, was the launch price. At a whooping USD2000, I was honestly taken aback. The OM-3 was not a flagship level camera, the fact that it had single card slot, it was limited to 6fps mechanical shutter and did not have proper hand gripping for larger PRO lenses positioned the camera lower than flagship level. Yet at that price, you can get into a full frame mirrorless camera system that may offer some significant advantages over the OM-3, and trust me, they are not that much bigger in size either.
MY COUNTER-PROPOSAL
Let's entertain an exciting suggestion I have in mind. I propose two big changes in the OM-3 - better EVF, and lower in price during launch, say USD500 lower, and bring it closer to USD1500.
In order to cut down the price, there must be some kind of compromises. I believe the OM-3 does not benefit much from using the latest image sensor and processor from the OM-1 Mark II. It is not made for professional use, and surely with such poor handling on the camera, it would be a nightmare to use larger lenses like 300mm PRO shooting birds or wildlife on the camera.
Therefore I propose to strip down the components - use the older E-M1 Mark III/E-M1X 20MP image sensor, which basically produces equal image quality output as the latest OM-1/OM-1 Mark II image sensor anyway, same resolution, dynamic range and high ISO performance, and I have verified this by testing the OM-1 vs E-M1 Mark II, both cameras I still own, side by side. Even larger review sites like DPReview and Petapixel agree with this finding, so using the older image sensor will bring down cost, since it was not a stacked sensor.
There is no need for 120fps burst shooting, the older processor from E-M1 Mark III can do 60fps, which is already insanely fast even by today's standard! Since we have established that the OM-3 is a bad pairing with longer lenses associated with wildlife, we can safely take out the subject detection AF features, like bird AI AF. If they can somehow magically still include a better, upgraded human face/eye tracking AI subject detection AF that would be amazing. Just to stay competitive in the market place.
They can safely remove some computational features, Live Grad ND, heck even the hand-held high res shot, if they can remove them, but at the same time, bump up the EVF resolution to 3.7M dots, make the camera 20% smaller in size, improve the overall AF performance - just give us the bare basics of what makes a great camera, I think we will have a winner. A USD1500 OM-3 alternative, with the same beautiful design, excellent build quality, weather-sealing, 5-Axis IS, and can still deliver great results, without the unnecessary bloating.
CONCLUSION
I think OM Digital Solutions almost made the perfect street camera in OM-3. It has such a sexy look, it is quite a capable camera, so well built and weather-sealed. However, the high launch price at USD2000 may put some people off, it is hard to justify since this is clearly not a flagship level camera. Furthermore, the use of such an old EVF panel is also questionable for a camera at such high price.
All things considered, I hope the OM-3 can sell well, as the company clearly needs the boost in income to continue to fund their R&D activities to create future products. And I do want to see more awesome products from OM Digital Solutions.
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I prefer reading a review vs video (I am a old guy). Having compromised handling with the 12-40mm f2.8 Pro would be a real issue for me, as this is my go to lens for most uses. I never had an issue using that lens with the E-M5 or E-M5iii, and in a pinch, it is usable attached to an E-PL7 (if my EM-5iii fails). The low res EVF (same as the EM-5iii) is disappointing at this price point, and the front dial is useless to me shooting RAW, unless it can be reprogramed for other functions. A believe it's size is to accommodate the OM-1 battery in a form factor without a grip, though the under 500 gram weight is a benefit. It is also possible that the OM-1ii AF features cannot be performed using the E-M1iii's sensor, and that there is no alternative available except the Sony stacked sensor. Producing a new camera without respectable subject recognition and tracking is a non starter given the completion from Fuji, Canon, Nikon, Sony and Lumix .
ReplyDeleteI do hope it sells well, but if it needs an accessory grip for use with the 12-40 Pro (not yet available from 3rd parties), I might as well just buy an OM-1ii.
The launch of the 17mm and 25mm lenses alongside the OM-3, rather than the typical kit lenses (14-42mm, 12-40mm, 12-60mm, 40-150mm, etc.), likely signals a shift in target market for OM System. They appear to be focusing on casual photographers who value design, build quality, simplicity, practicality, tactile feel, confidence, and aesthetics.
ReplyDeleteLike many photographers these days, I've found the EVF less essential, preferring the flexibility and practicality of the rear LCD for composing and reviewing images. OM System's decision to forgo a high-resolution 5.7M or 3.7M dot EVF makes sense, given that most users primarily utilize the LCD. The existing 2.3M-dot EVF is perfectly adequate for composition, and I'd much rather see investment in improved build quality than a rarely-used, high-resolution EVF.
The crucial question is whether the OM-3's design, build, stacked sensor, weather sealing, computational photography features, Art Dial, and other innovations justify its $2,000 price tag.
For me, the answer is likely yes. The OM-3 appears to offer a superior value proposition compared to the Leica Q3, which was my initial camera of choice.