UPDATE: Ill most likely be revising this again shortly- While the Photography side of the tests still stand with IS-1, looks like I had M-IS1 on, which is electronic stabilization on the EM1ii for video. I am also told that C4K is cleaner on the EM1ii, and others have suggested the Oly 12-100 to match DUAL IS. Please continue your suggestions!
I am a little embarrassed to say that it took me 2 days to figure out how to do all these tests correctly to get it right. The good news is I think I have it figured out and should be able to repeat much more quickly in the future for new cameras.
If you own either a Panasonic GH5 or an Olympus OMD EM1ii, you know your camera has IBIS (In Body Stabilization). You also might be in the market for a new general purpose lens. Panasonic has 2 12-35 2.8s that have built in stabilization, and with they new DUAL IS feature, these lenses work even better with the new GH5. The question is, how much better and do these IS lenses improve performance when used on the Olympus OMD EM1ii? In this video Michael answers those questions for both slow shutter speeds at 1/5 of a second as well as video stabilization. Enjoy!
Here are the 3 lenses I used in the test:
UPDATE: Ill most likely be revising this again shortly- While the Photography side of the tests still stand with IS-1, looks like I had M-IS1 on, which is electronic stabilization on the EM1ii for video. I am also told that C4K is cleaner on the EM1ii, and others have suggested the Oly 12-100 to match DUAL IS. Please continue your suggestions!
I am a little embarrassed to say that it took me 2 days to figure out how to do all these tests correctly to get it right. The good news is I think I have it figured out and should be able to repeat much more quickly in the future for new cameras.
If you own either a Panasonic GH5 or an Olympus OMD EM1ii, you know your camera has IBIS (In Body Stabilization). You also might be in the market for a new general purpose lens. Panasonic has 2 12-35 2.8s that have built in stabilization, and with they new DUAL IS feature, these lenses work even better with the new GH5. The question is, how much better and do these IS lenses improve performance when used on the Olympus OMD EM1ii? In this video Michael answers those questions for both slow shutter speeds at 1/5 of a second as well as video stabilization. Enjoy!
Here are the 3 lenses I used in the test:
Hey Everybody! Today I wanted to present some stabilization tests between the GH5 and the Olympus OMD EM 1 Mark II. Now, this question becomes more complex because Panasonic has a 12-35 f/2.8 version 1, and 12-35 f/2.8 version 2 that have different types of software in them. For example, the version 1 comes with OIS ,which is optical image stabilization, and with the GH5 that I’m shooting this on right now, that has internal image stabilization.
There is a new firmware referred to as dual IS. The dual IS means that the lens and the camera body can pair up and give even better performance. This is why I wanted to do these test. It’s like, how much better performance are we getting? So, the version 1 lens, if you updated to firmware to 1.3, you’ll get dual IS 1. The version 2 that I have on the OMD here, comes with the dual IS 2. So as soon as you put it on to the GH5 you’re going to see that logo change. And I want to know what happens when we put Panasonic image stabilized lenses on the Olympus body. So, do Panasonic lenses increase the performance of the Olympus?
The two tests that I wanted to do were a slow shutter speed at 1/5 of a second (some of the methodology over here), shoot 30-35 shots, count the number of “keepers”, and come up with some percentages. What I learned was that the Panasonic GH5 with no image stabilization at 1/5 of a second runs into a lot of problems. Not many “keepers”. But as soon as we put an image stabilized lens on it, it didn’t matter if it was version 1, version 2, or any of the software — it greatly improved the performance. That’s something important to keep in mind if you’re a Panasonic GH5 owner. Yes, you can expect to see increased slow shutter speed performance. When we look at the Olympus surprisingly, in the 50’s. Even with the 12-40 f/2.8 that I’m shooting on right now. Without image stabilization — better performance. When I put the Panasonic lenses, both of them, didn’t matter if the lenses were turned on or off, still in the 50% range. What this tells me is that there is no improvement using the Panasonic image stabilization on Olympus bodies but the Olympus stabilization is so good, it really won’t matter anyway.
GH5 SLOW SHUTTER SPEED TEST RESULTS
GH5 & P 12-35 V2 – OFF – 0%
GH5 & O 12-40 – NO IS – 8%
GH5 & P 12-35 V1 – OS – 33%
GH5 & P 12-35 V1 – DUAL 1 – 34.8%
GH5 & P 12-35 V2 – DUAL 2 – 31.4%
EM1II SLOW SHUTTER SPEED TEST RESULTS
EM1II & P 12-35 V2 – OFF – 51.5%
EMI1II & O 12-40 – NO IS – 54.5%
EM1II & P 12-35 V1 – ON – 44.1%
EM1II & P 12-35 V1 – OFF – 47.2%
EM1II & P 12-35 V2 – ON – 55.8%
You’re probably wondering, “What about video? You know, what happens when were start walking around with these cameras and their image stabilization? What happens then?” So that’s why I have this rig. It allows me to put both cameras side-by-side and I can walk around, switch lenses out. They’re going through the same types of motion as I’m walking. That allows me to get very specific in the side-by-side comparisons. I think that’s probably the best way to do it for now. Maybe you guys will have a better suggestion.
What I learned what that as you upgraded the software on the Panasonic lenses from OIS, to dual is 1, to dual is 2, you get dramatically improved performance. And that justifies the cost of that version 2 lens. Because I think the dual is 2 is really good. I think it’s the best I’ve seen in a Panasonic camera. So, if you’re a video shooter and you’re handholding I think you’re going to be very happy with your footage. When you start walking there’s a kind of rocking side-to-side that I’m seeing but when I put the Olympus on the rig with just the 12-40 I was pleasantly surprised with the footage coming out of it.
[Walking on the beach: Both cameras – I’m just handholding them, nothing else. I’m going to start walking. I’m going to do a shake test on this rock, side-to-side.]
Something that was even more strange is that when I put Panasonic lenses on the Olympus and I had those lens switches turned on it degraded the performance of the OMD EM-1 Mark 2. It was worse! As soon as I switched those switches to OFF, the performance – BOOM! Back again. So, suffice it to say, from these tests, that I do think the IBIS in the OMD EM-1 Mark 2 is better. If you’re a Panasonic GH5 owner — yes, the image stabilization is going to make a difference. If you’re an Olympus OMD EM1 owner — nope. It’s not going to make a difference. Save yourself some money to get that 12-40 f/2.8.
So if you guys have any of these three cameras whether it’s the GH4 the OMD EM1 Mark II or the GH5, just know I have an excellent crash course for it. I try to put a lot of time and effort into them. Gets you up to speed in no time. Thank you guys for watching and I will see you next time!
Michael’s Olympus OMD EM1ii Crash Course
