Comparing the Fuji Finepix X100s and the Olympus OM-D EM-5

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I have never reviewed anything in my life for public consumption so please bear with me for an extremely general and opinion filled post. Over this long Easter weekend, I had a Fuji X100S in my hands for the first time and used it for all of my family photos. This is what I use these mirror less cameras for 95% of the time so I am using only real-life family photos as examples. For the last year I have been using an Olympus OM-D and Olympus EPL-5 and decided to compare them in my usual varied conditions using only natural light.

So what does a professional photographer shoot with when at home….

Since the age of 8 I have searched for the “perfect” camera. Of course, there is no such thing and what any one person considers perfect changes daily depending on what your requirements are. Purely for the sake of taking photos, you can’t really compete with the modern high-end DSLR as a picture taking machine just in terms of reliability and general capabilities. Add to this the many lens and flash options and they really are as close to perfect as we can get (don’t quote me in that in 5 years). Where they fall short is that they are very tiresome to carry and are easily left behind. This is a problem since according to the oldest cliché in photography, “the best camera is the one you have with you”. This is exactly the niche that allowed cell phone photography, Instagram, and every other photo app to explode over the last few years. Personally, I believe that taking great photos with a cell phone is a pointless waste of time since I am cursed with a wish for high quality.

Fuji X100S F2.0 ISO 200 JPG straight from camera

Enter the mirrorless camera. There are quite a few mirrorless camera options out there and the ones that have caught my interest over the last few years have come from Fuji (the original X100) and Olympus (the OM-D and EPL-5).  I won’t get into any of the others since I have no experience with them and only wish to compare what I know.

My criteria for a “perfect” home camera are simple:

1. It has to be small so that I want to have it with me.
2. It has to be easy to use so that I can change settings quickly. In other words the camera functions are easy to access.
3. It has to be fast to focus and accurate.
4. It has to have a fast lens of at least F2.0 or faster. I like the option of being able to switch lenses but it’s not essential since that adds to bulk and inconvenience.
5. It has to have great image quality.

Fuji X100S F4.0 ISO 3200 Processed in Photoshop from RAW with noise reduction

On paper, both of these cameras have all of the above criteria that I need and both are highly?desirable. Where it becomes interesting is when you compare these criteria between the 2 cameras.

Let’s look at them one by one:

1. It has to be small so that I want to have it with me. Both of these cameras are small and light enough to carry all day without getting tired of the them. The OMD however is less comfortable for one reason alone, the protruding eye cup! When you have this camera slung over your shoulder, the rubber eye cup actually pokes into your back constantly and will get on your nerves in about 20 minutes. The X100S is also a flatter camera since the lens does not stick out as far. This makes it easier to pocket.
2. It has to be easy to use so that I can change settings quickly. In other words the camera functions are easy to access. While opinions on this vary, both are great in my opinion except for one thing – the focal point. The Fuji requires that you push a button to access the available focus points while the OMD allows you to tap on the rear LCD and choose exactly where to focus. This is easily five times faster than anything I have seen on another camera (including the Canon 5D Mark III).
3. It has to be fast to focus and accurate. While both are are good, the OMD again comes out ahead. In all types of the light, the OMD is faster and more consistantly accurate in focus. The X100S is also more likely to not be able to lock focus.
4. It has to have a lens of at least F2.0 or faster. I also like the option of being able to switch lenses but it’s not essential since that adds to bulk and inconvenience.  The Fuji has an F2.0 lens while the OMD has all sorts of excellent lenses as fast as F0.95 and more commonly from F1.4 to F2.
5. It has to have great image quality. Image quality is based subjectively on many variables from colour to ISO noise, bokeh (the quality of the blurred portions of the image) dynamic range, etc…. While the Fuji has a significantly larger sensor, the OMD doesn’t seem to suffer from any degradation in quality by comparison. Put a great lens in front of the OMD sensor and you will get great quality images. The Fuji has marginally better high ISO performance (6400 ISO isn’t bad at all) while the OMD has?noticeably?better dynamic range allowing you to pull more information from bright and dark areas of an image. I’m shocked to say that I prefer that of the OM-D.

Fuji X100S F2.0 ISO 1250 RAW converted to B&W in Photoshop

There are other traits about these cameras that make them even more different and will mean more so some people than others.

1. The OMD has an LCD that can swing out?horizontally?up or down. This is great for ground level or overhead shots. It also helps for being more subtle while shooting.
2. The Fuji X100S is one of the coolest looking cameras out there. This has a tiny bit of relevance to me but would never make me buy a camera.
3. The Fuji X100S feels great in your hands.
4. The Fuji X100S has a very advanced hybrid optical view finder while the OMD has an electronic view finder only (both also have the rear LCD of course). I personally don’t use the view finder and would rather not have one since in adds to the size of the camera.
5. The Fuji X100S has very good image quality straight out of the camera that require little post-processing. Once you turn the noise reduction to its lowest setting (-2), the JPG files are close to perfect. The RAW files need very little work.
6. The OMD has the best in-body-image-stabilization (ibis) of any camera on the market. This isn’t completely essential for me but it’s certainly useful at times especially when you use longer lenses and video.
7. The OMD has surprisingly good video, dedicated video buttons and the ibis is so good that it’s like having a steady cam. Not being a big video person, it’s not a deciding feature for me but would be for some.
8. The OMD is sealed and so very water-resistant.

Fuji X100S F4.0 ISO 200 RAW converted in Photoshop
So with all this said, which camera would I prefer? ?I honestly love them both but in the end I believe the Olympus OM-D to be better suited for my needs. The X100S can’t keep up with a?fidgety?2 year old nearly as well as the OM-D. The downsides of the OM-D unfortunately have also made it not my first choice and I opted instead for an Olympus EPL5. This camera has the same sensor and processor as the OM-D but has no view finder at all and as such, is significantly smaller than the OM-D. It’s also less expensive. On the downside, the ibis is not nearly as effective, it’s not sealed, and it looks more like a toy than the other cameras. More importantly, it’s also missing easy access to many of the camera’s important functions (fewer buttons and knobs).

In a perfect world, I would have the Olympus OM-D body and function without the electronic view finder. The closest thing to that is the Olympus E-PL5

UPDATE: Over the last few days I have continued to shoot with the Fuji X100s and like it more the more I use it. The focus seems to be getting better and it is?truly great in outdoor light (finally had a chance to take it outside some more). After having to process quite a few of these images, I greatly appreciate the low need for any additional work on the images. The noise levels and colour and great and remind me of why I enjoyed the original X100 so much. You would have a hard time distinguishing the final images from anything taken with a full sized DSLR. As a standard, no-nonsense, every day camera, this is something else (assuming you’re okay with fixed lens).

Olympus E-PL5 17mm F1.8 2000 ISO RAW processed in Photoshop

Olympus E-PL5 17mm F2.2 ISO 200 RAW processed in Lightroom

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