Olympus has announced the fourth generation of its entry-level OM-D E-M10 Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera, which will come supplied with a camera bag, extra battery and SD card for a limited time.
Last month Olympus announced that it was in talks with Japan Industrial Partners – the company that took the Vaio computer business off of Sony's hands in 2014 – to "transfer" its imaging wing over to JIP by the year's end. Until that happens, it's business as usual, with Olympus today unveiling a beginner-friendly shooter packed with a number of mid-range features.
The most notable upgrade to the retro-stylish OM-D E-M10 IV comes in the shape of a 3-inch, 1.04-million-dot, flip-down LCD touch monitor – a first for OM-D series cameras – and dedicated selfie mode. It also gains a 20.3-megapixel four-thirds (17.4 x 13-mm) Live MOS sensor and TruePic VIII image processing engine pairing for ISO80-6,400 light sensitivity that's expandable to 25,600, and up to 15 frames per second continuous shooting. The camera boasts 4K video chops at up to 30 frames per second too, or you can drop down to Full HD for 60 fps.
The Mark IV comes with improved contrast detection autofocus with 121 focus points available for selection, and Olympus has treated it to face and eye detection from the E-M1 Mk III too. A 5-axis sensor-shift image stabilization offers up to 4.5 stops of shake compensation for stills and video.
If you don't want to frame up using the touchscreen monitor, there's a 2.36-million-dot OLED viewfinder around back, a silent shutter mode allows for stealthy capture of wildlife or quiet operation during events, and a pop-up flash has been included. Remote operation and wireless data transfer are possible thanks to built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE.
There are 28 scene modes, 16 art filters and other composition aids to make it easier for beginners to get a great shot with minimum effort, though users can also dive into the settings if they wish.
The Mark IV is currently up for pre-order ahead of shipping on September 25. The body-only price is US$699.99, while the camera plus an M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZiv kit lens will add another $100 to your checkout total. As mention above, if you buy before November 1, a starter kit that includes an Olympus bag, additional BLS-50 battery and 32-GB SD card valued at $99.99 will be thrown in for free. The video below has more.
Product page: OM-D E-M10 IV