OM System announces OM-5, the first camera to drop the Olympus logo

Olympus has sold its camera division and it has been transformed into the independent company OM System. It promises to bring innovation to the mirrorless camera market, adopting AI processing, which has significantly improved smartphone photography and filming in recent years. It seems, however, that the new brand’s second camera won’t deliver on that promise either, being more of a “refresh” of older cameras. The OM System OM-5 is a Micro Four Thirds format camera with a compact body (weighing in at 366 grams) that doesn’t bring much new to the table.

OM System OM-5 appears to be a simple refresh

This is the first camera to ditch the Olympus logo on the front in favor of the new SOM System. The OM-1 model released last year still retained the Olympus branding.

However, improvements are few. The camera uses pretty much the same components from the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, i.e. the same 20-megapixel MFT sensor, the same 6.5-stop in-body stabilisation system (IBIS), the same 2.36-million-dot OLED viewfinder and the same 121-point hybrid phase and contrast focus system. The EM-1 Mark III was a very capable camera at launch, but in 2022, at $1,200, the new OM System OM-5 comes with limited 4K shooting at 30 frames per second.

Incidentally, others aren’t significantly changed either. We’ve got IP53 water resistance, an articulating screen good for self-portraits or vlog-style shooting, and pretty much the same software features. The only new software features would be the ability to shoot in portrait format for social media and the ability to connect the camera to a USB port for use as a webcam.

This model seems to be one of those that were still in development before OM System split from Olympus, so it didn’t get the news many were expecting. However, future models could become much “smarter” cameras with advanced processing systems. It remains to be seen when we’ll get these upgrades that have already been promised for more than a year.