The OM-D E-M5, which was announced roughly two years ago is getting an upgrade. Olympus has officially announced the arrival of the OM-D E-M5 Mark II.
Though it could replace the flagship O-MD E-M1 in terms of features, new model is expected to go head-to-head with the recently released Sony A7 II and other similar cameras in the mirrorless category.
Boasting one of the market's fastest autofocus speeds, HD video and WiFi integration have been added to the features including five-axis image stabilization. One of the more notable features in the OM-D E-M5 Mark II is its 16 megapixel Live MOS sensor that moves laterally to create a high-resolution 40 megapixel composite image.
Improvements such as dust and splash proofing have been made to the body - weighing at 417g.
At the rear is a three-inch touchscreen with variable angle featuring Adaptive Brightness, automatically adjusts monitor brightness depending on the light in the surroundings. The electronic viewfinder boasts a 2.36 million dot display and has a 100 percent field of view with a magnification of 1.48x and an upgraded 81-point auto focus system.
Other new features include LV Boost II, which eases the capture of stars at night and Creative Control, which offers the user the freedom in choosing color, image tonality, focus and aspect ratio has also been added.
The shutter is quieter thanks to the TruePic VII processor. The shutter is capable of 1/8000sec and can be expanded to 1/16000sec via the electronic shutter mode. It has a maxmimum ISO of 25,600 and can shoot a 9 frames per second burst (with locked focus).
E-M5 Mark II's video capabilites have been improved by offering a number of frame rate options: 24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames per second when shooting at 1080p; it can handle up to 77Mbps bit rate at 30 frames per second.
The OM-D E-M5 Mark II will come in silver and black variants and is expected to hit shops this month for $1,099 (body only).
