May 2025, Carl Garrard
I chose the Olympus Evolt E-5 as my first companion to kick off this series for several reasons. This was Olympus's last built DSLR and, it was the very last camera made for the original 4/3 mount. Plus, I've been reminiscing about the last time I used one. Time really flies, as it was about 15 years ago when Dave Etchells at Imaging Resource sent me one at home to possibly review for them. Feels like yesterday.
Ultimately I passed on the opportunity to review for more familiar territory, and IR never got around to doing their full review as they had already moved on to other cameras. I used it for about a week, and I've forgotten all about it since. So using the E-5 now, is pretty much a brand new experience, save for the fact that I have plenty of experience with the old 4/3 mount since.
Fast forward to today, and now I have a Like New E-5 in my hands that I purchased from KEH for a measly $275.00. Originally the E5 cost $1,699.00 body only, and remains their most advanced (D)SLR. So it's one of the pro level DSLR bargains out there. There are almost no reviews published on the E-5 since 2013 which really surprised me, so I felt it's time it gets some attention again and thus it's a fitting first edition of this new series.
Chronicles
Handling this camera again was a huge surprise in the good column. Honestly, I was prepared to be bored with the E5 very quickly after the newness wore off. Afterall, Olympus ended support for the 4/3 system years ago, and the company sold off it's camera division. Time has marched on, and so has technology since 2010. But somehow none of that matters to me. The E5 has a charm. It's built to last generations because it's a pro level camera, and surprisingly I immediately liked it from the moment I unpacked it and held it up to my eye.
For today's shoot I chose the highly reputable 12-60 f/2.8-4 SWD lens as it's teammate. I just so happened to have this lens sitting in my closet collection from many years ago. A few test shots revealed that this lens is incredibly versatile. I noticed that the macro capability is incredibly impressive, and the 24-120mm focal length is amazingly versatile for many types of photography. It's weather sealed, compact, built really nice, has a bright aperture, and is very sharp and well behaved. Focus is very quick and quiet.
Makes me wish I had a lens with these qualities in the F or EF mount! It's an ideal match for the E5. Since it's a 4/3 sensor, you get double the 35mm equivalent depth of field for the same aperture setting so there's really no need to stop down past f/5.6 in most cases, and that helps you really keep the ISO levels low. No qualms shooting wide open at f/2.8-f/4 then. Sharp, well behaved.
More particularly it grew on me because it checks off many boxes that are very important to me. It has a bombproof weather proof build quality, addictingly comfortable sculpted grip, beautiful and large optical viewfinder that includes an eyepiece shutter, competently consistent and rather quick autofocus system, very decent image quality (with a unique look, tight grain, and fun art filters), incredible battery life, and a very usable and surprisingly quick live view experience. And it has HD video if you need it in an emergency or last resort.
The build is top level stuff which suits my fancy, it's a totally utilitarian form-follows-function design and the grip is immensely comfortable. Doesn't get better guys and gals. It feels bomb proof, so weather doesn't scare me a bit. Will I end up taking this out in the rain as my dedicated set up in the future?
The menu system is ironically very simple compared to mirrorless cameras today, and I had no issue at all setting up everything in less than a half hour. Ironic considering Olympus was well known years ago for having very unintuitive and complicated menu systems. I recall saying the same myself back then, but not now. 15 years later and experience with hundreds of cameras and Oly DSLR's alike, it's super easy.
I set it to f/4 and ISO 200, and went for an evening walk...
 |
| Slightly tweaked in ACR, out of camera art filter image |
Wanderings
Wow, the sound of the shutter is fantastic, addicting really. I would take a lot more follow up shots than usual just because I love the sound and feel of it. The E-1 fans will hate me for saying this, but I like the sound of it even more than the E-1. And I definitely like the sound more than any other Olympus DSLR or mirrorless camera I've ever used. I'd say the shutter sound ranks easily in my top 3 cameras of all time.
The E-5's viewfinder took me by surprise. It's a much larger view than I expected or remember, has very decent eye relief (16mm same as the Nikon D500), and it has a built in eyepiece shutter for long exposures (like every pro or semi-pro camera should). This is total pro stuff here. It's not full frame big but definitely big enough to get close to that standard. Olympus DSLR's had reputations for very tiny finders, but the E-5 and E-3 changed all that (1.15x magnification and 100% accuracy).
The AF points are easy to see and there's an option to engage a digital level too, all this keeps the E5 pressed to my eye as I make compositions and lose myself in the process. If that still isn't enough for you, it's compatible with Olympus's eyepiece magnifier eyecup (ME-1). It will magnify the image another 1.2x, which puts the view at the size of many big full frame DSLR viewfinders easily (at the expense of the loss of eye relief).
Did I say I liked the grip? I don't, I love it. I kept commenting to myself how much I love the feel, balance, and comfort of this camera. The size and weight feels similar to my D800E/5DSR and 5D MIII cameras, which is just right if you ask me. Weight and bulk keeps things stable (and it has image stabilization to help matters if you wish to use it), comfortable, and balanced.
It's also surprisingly accessible and quick to shoot, easy actually, and not the fastest focusing but a very competent and consistent focusing DSLR. It surprised me in a good way. Shooting with it inspires confidence. My will easily translated quickly into an exposure. Changing settings is a breeze, dual dials feel great, all the right buttons in the right place (aperture/ISO/exposure comp). Took me almost no time to get comfortable with it, which is exactly what a photographer wants.
Some highlights that stood out to me:
- A top lcd backlight that can be set to stay on permanently (like Nikon, score!)
- The super control panel for fast adjustment of non priority items
- Button and control/menu customization options (very good still even for a 15 year old camera)
- 12mp is so easy to work with in post, and it means a 64gb card will yield 3,000 raw plus jpeg (fine setting) exposures
- Much more fun to shoot with than I could have imagined (honestly I expected a frustrating dud of a camera)
- The buffer is ample and the camera never hesitated despite taking many shots very quickly, write time is also very quick
- Best 4/3 DSLR I've ever used by far, and a better experience than all Olympus mirrorless cameras (save for the EM1X)
- Has multi exposure mode for landscapers, up to 4 shots, which is plenty
- Live view is snappy, and so is focusing, quite nice to use and faster than I expected
- Battery life is insanely good, even with normal live view usage, can easily get 1,200 shots or more per charge with just a little management and menu optimization setting changes
- Jpegs are some of the best in the business including the art filters monochrome, I actually like them and I'm not a fan of the Jpeg format usually
- Auto gradation setting gets the most dynamic range out of the Jpegs and Raw files (by a measurable margin)
- Great color from the raw files, near as good and in some ways a little better than Canon
- The pop up flash housing is stout, tightly engineered, comes up with a nice pop, no flexing or wiggle, and no rattling noises, the best engineered pop up flash I've seen on any DSLR
- Too many icons all over the camera, lol, Olympus really overdid that a bit. I actually blacked out the IS badge on the camera with a marker because it annoyed me.
- It ain't a pretty DSLR, but if you like a utilitarian look like I do, it's got a charm. Olympus really improved the look of their cameras when they went to mirrorless.
- Main rear LCD is quite nice and detailed, gapless glass anti-glare treated, flip and twist, fits nice and flush to the body. Top lcd is also glass and anti-glare treated. Both are very bright and easy to see in the sun.
- Autofocus points cover a good portion of the view actually, I like using the center five and spot settings overal. Low light focusing sensitivity is good for it's time, but not up to par with modern cameras. That said, it continues to try to find focus for a while before it gives up.
- Has dual digital level on the rear LCD, and a tilt axis level only indicator in the viewfinder (enabled in the menu)
- Unlike all over Olympus DSLR's, it thankfully has an SD card slot. Also a CF card slot, instead of that proprietary XD (extra dumb) slot.
- Sensor picked up no dust after a few lens changes indoors and outdoors, the SSW dust reduction system works fantastically (better than Canon and Nikon!)
- Raw files have about 1 stop of highlight latitude to pull back at 200 ISO, decent enough, overall noise grain (both color and luminescence) is very tight, not blotchy. Some fixed pattern banding only visible on extreme underexposure pushes. Grain looks good, makes each ISO level more useable.
 |
| Cross Processed Art Filter (my favorite filter obviously) |
 |
| I really like the color and tone overall from this sensor/processor, best of the 4/3 cameras by far. Ignore DXOMark and Photon's to Photo's charts if you are smart. |
Final Thoughts
There's still time needed to learn subtleties about the E-5, but just a few days with this camera I know the meat and potatoes of it. I've been reviewing cameras for over 18 years now, well over hundreds of them owned an reviewed, and I know how to break a camera down.
Fact is, the E-5 really surprised me, it checks a lot of my priority boxes and it remains a fun but a little challenging to use, which is part of the fun. By challenging I mean it's not the latest tech, a little skill of proper exposure, anticipation, and general camera knowledge go a long way into squeezing out everything this camera is capable of.
More time with it, I'm sure I'll squeeze every last drop of capability out of it, and I intend to. My desire to shoot with it isn't going to be limited to this article, its fun enough that I know I will shoot with it more.
I think anyone writing this camera off because it's from a dead system... should reconsider. Many used cameras are from dead systems these days. The best cameras from the 4/3 mount are the E-5, E-1, and the L-1 Panasonic. Lots of good lenses to choose from, the nicer ones have held their value to this day, so reselling isn't a risk.
 |
| It makes gorgeous Landscape shots if you do your job right. |
Image quality is good enough for pro work, sure the raw files are more restrictive in terms of latitude, but with some practice and discipline, the E-5 can be mastered relatively easily and most of all, it will produce excellent quality images. You just need to know and work within it's limitations and, occasionally push it past them. The entire ISO range is quite useable (yes even 6,400 ISO) so long as you understand that proper exposure becomes more important for each step of ISO you increase.
 |
| 6,400 ISO image, early evening. Looks plenty good to me (expose correctly!). Only removed a tad of chroma noise in post via raw (I always do that anyways). |
 |
| Low light shot at 6,400 ISO. Dynamic range gets pretty tight here, so good exposure is crucial. That said, completely nice looking and useable results despite some reviews writing it off. Proof is in good technique which translates to the image. |
ESP+ AF metering setting has a tendency to protect highlights, but don't let it do that. If you shoot in aperture priority mode, push your exposure at least +.7ev, if not one full stop Shoot with your exposure as far to the right as you can without blowing critical highlights of a scene, and you will be rewarded with relatively noise free images. Don't expect to under expose your images and be able to pull shadows and midtones up in raw files after the fact. Be a good little photographer and expose correctly the first time, and the E-5 will surprise and reward you.
 |
| Absolutely love the color and tonality, and the overall look of the files in the E-5. |
When you do your job right, you will be rewarded with some of the nicest looking Jpegs in the industry, and your raw files will still be quite serviceable too. Don't hesitate to shoot with the art filters, not only can you save a raw file simultaneously, but you can develop a raw in camera if you want a normal looking Jpeg out of camera.
Tip: the jpegs from the art filters can also be tweaked properly if you open them direct into ACR and make adjustments to noise and color etc. there.
Getting to know the E-5 again has been a surprising experience, just a blast. I love getting to know new cameras, they all have a personality and it's a challenge discovering how far you can push them. Once you know that, then you can decided whether or not you will get along with them or not.
Knowing I can take it in any weather type without concern at all, is an additional bonus.
I definitely understand the E-5 much better now, and think that it's a very solid and competent image maker that is fun to use, accessible, and supremely comfortable. Not sure why I ignored it for so long, probably because the price remained high on it for quite some time.
Even with a vast stable of pro cameras from Nikon and Canon at my behest, the E-5 has really begged my attention the last few days, to me that is a good sign. The best cameras are the one's you can't keep your hands off. I'm glad I waited fifteen years to finally review this camera.
 |
| Did I say I liked the Cross Processing Art Filter? |
Yes, I have many cameras that perform better than it does, but that doesn't mean it becomes obsolete or disappointing to use. Quite the contrary the challenge of getting to know it has been a blast, and its a camera I want to pick up and use all the time now seeing just how far I can push it and still make great looking images.
It's a little sad that E-5 is a camera that gets almost no attention these days. Even forums are silent about it. I was shocked to discover this. Very few reviews of any value have been made of it since 2013, and I feel that is an injustice despite the obvious fact that Olympus and the mount are both history.
I believe it deserves an audience, and some time in the field with photographers. I'm glad I made the decision to purchase it and write up this article.
It's built to last a lifetime or more; it's not a risky investment and neither are the lenses. And you can get quite a few really good lenses for it that are weather sealed pro quality for much less than modern systems (the 50-200 f/2.8-3.5 SWD for example). Remember, the peak point of diminishing returns for digital cameras was reached about 2010-2012, and many fine imaging tools were made during this time.
To me, the E-5 defies the death of the company and the mount, and reminded me of just how great Olympus could have truly been had somehow kept the DSLR line up alive (the E-5 arrived just before much better sensors did). It makes me wonder how much I would love it with the most modern 20mp sensor and an even better AF system.
 |
| Out of camera Jpeg (Cross processed), touched up with a bit of an output level adjustment of shadows, and added a little noise grain. Imposter film look ;) |
For a pro level camera, I think it's a bargain and it offers a different experience than Canon, Nikon, or Pentax do. Because the E-5 isn't the latest tech, it's also a great way to tune up those fundamental photography skills. I have no hesitations recommending a purchase of one to anyone looking for something off the beaten path, as long as expectations are reasonable.
It's surprisingly fun to use and a consistently capable companion- so long as you understand it's limits and are willing to push them.
Without any doubt at all, it's the best DSLR Olympus ever made. One I believe needs a little more attention considering the trend I see for older cameras becoming popular again. I for one and glad I bought it, it's been a joy to reunite and finally give it some love it deserves with it in the field, and the written word.
Will it replace any of my pro gear? No, but it has created a niche that I didn't have before, and it's so fun to shoot with a few of the art filters (and raw at the same time) simply because I can and I normally discard Jpegs. I will certainly be using it for casual photography and seeing what more I can wring out of it for more serious stuff. Being that it's weather sealed so greatly (along with the lens), and that it was low cost, I can see myself getting out in the rain more often.
What a delightful surprise this camera is, and I hope others pick one up and give it the attention it deserves. Rip Olympus!
Stay focused.
-Carl
Bonus Photos From Today's Meanderings
No comments:
Post a Comment