The Olympus OM-D E-M1 is a fantastic mirrorless camera that is designed for the advanced or professional shooter. Those without sophisticated photography knowledge will get easily lost in the numerous features and functionality.

Great image quality; Weather proofed; Awesome grip; Great autofocus; Great viewfinder and LCD screen; DSLR-like feature set

Noise can be an issue at high ISOs; Cost; No second memory card slot

The best, most complete all-round compact system camera money can buy

Pro-like manual controls; Rock-steady stabilisation; The fastest autofocus around

Continuous AF can be beaten

Works great, and is very fast. I use this with the Olympus 75 f1.8 to shoot hockey, and the AF with the latest firmware is fantastic. Much better AF than any of Olympus's previous efforts including their SLR's.

Olympus has been pumping out cameras in its OM-D (Olympus Mirrorless Digital) series for a while now. It started back in 2009 with the arrival of the Olympus PEN E-P1, a retro camera that was a digital successor to its well-regarded analogue PEN cameras.

We were pretty much enamoured with the Olympus E-M5 (quick review) when we tested it in 2012. The E-M1 takes the best from that camera and further ups the game. Here are three things to love about this camera (and a few to hate). There is truly a lot to love about the E-M1.

Great build quality; Excellent specs; Customization is incredible; EVF is excellent

Very expensive; Battery life not that great; EVF takes a bit of time to start

Having come from a SLR and Dslr background, this camera I believe will be a first model in the dominance of DSLRs in the enthusiast/pro sector. It is amazingly fast, sharp, bright and versatile. Just allow a lot of time to adjust to the menu system and controls.

Compact; Build quality; Screen size

Battery life

Taking over from the first OM-D, the E-M1 delivers nearly impeccable performance worthy of its flagship status. This model features a state-of-the-art 16 megapixels CMOS sensor with built-in Phase-Detect autofocus while keeping its predecessor's 5-axis image-stabilization and super-sonic...

Low image-noise up to ISO 1600; Impressive dynamic-range; Reliable Automatic White-Balance; Superb built-in stabilization; Virtually no shutter-lag; Fast contrast-detect AF; Great shot-to-shot speed; Great EVF resolution and refresh rate; Unique Live-Bulb mode; Extremely customizable; Excellent...

Below average color accuracy; More over-exposure than usual; Not always Exposure-Priority and frequently wrong Live-Histogram; Poorly placed tripod mount; Low battery life; Video cuts last second

The OM-D E-M1 is the best mirrorless camera ever from Olympus, and it's attracting interest from serious photographers who had, up until now, ignored Olympus and Micro Four Thirds technology. But the E-M1 deserves all the attention--it's the new champ in the "lightweight heavyweight" class.

Since it launched the PEN E-P1 way back in 2009, Olympus has been a leading light of the compact system camera world.

Olympus put a great deal of effort into producing a flagship mirrorless camera that can match up against all but the most powerful DSLRs. While the EM-1 is slightly more expensive than comparable DSLRs, its weatherproofed body means enthusiast shooters need not fear adverse weather.

Great image quality; 10 fps burst shooting mode; Sharp; informative electronic viewfinder; Fast autofocus; Large number of customizable controls; Weatherproof magnesium alloy body

Steep learning curve; Mediocre video; Short battery life