A follow-up to the first Micro Four Thirds OM-D series camera, the Olympus E-M5 II has a tough act to follow. Absolutely bursting at the seams with the latest technology -- including a unique high resolution mode that takes it far beyond what its sensor should be capable of -- this 16-megapixel...

Excellent handling in a compact, weather-sealed body; Crisp, roomy electronic viewfinder; Image quality that can take the fight to APS-C DSLRs; Unique high-res mode lets it bat far above its weight for static scenes; Extremely fast 10 fps burst shooting, Excellent video feature set, Great handling...

Control dials are easily bumped; Below-average battery life at default settings; Buffer depths for raw shooters are a bit limited; 16-megapixel sensor resolution feels dated; Weak bundled flash strobe, Front and rear control dials are too easily bumped, changing settings by mistake, Speaker is...

The E-M5 Mark II is the first professional Olympus Micro Four-Thirds camera to enter its second generation. Even though it falls in the middle of the OM-D family, the E-M5 Mark II has an incredibly rich feature-set which almost matches the flagship E-M1 reviewed here Olympus OM-D E-M1 while offering...

Excellent image quality; Very good metering; Reliable Automatic White-Balance; Superb built-in stabilization; Virtually no shutter-lag; Fast contrast-detect AF; Fast shot-to-shot speed; Very responsive; Excellent automatic Manual Focus Assist; Good build quality

Poor color accuracy; Strong anti-alias filter; Not always Exposure-Priority and frequently wrong Live-Histogram; 1080p @ 60 FPS has recording 8s limit; 1s filming delay; Weak LCD hinge; Uncomfortable eyelets; Short battery-life

It may not be a large and bulky digital SLR, but the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II is a heavy hitting camera that's designed especially for those of you who desire advanced controls -- controls of the sort that can tailor almost every single aspect of your photographs before you even transfer them to a...

Crisp image quality; Advanced controls and highly customisable; High quality EVF

Left-hinged screen feels unintuitive on this camera

As a camera brand, Japan's Olympus always has the feel, for me, of an ingénue, bravely squaring up to the big beasts, Canon and Nikon. And yet it is relatively old-school, equally known for medical and surgical instruments as well as other items, from face creams to plastic kitchenware.

Basically, it plays piggy in the middle to the more expensive OM-D E-M1 and the cheaper E-M10 II, so you can pick one up for just over $1000.

Well designed camera that on first blush seems to handle well. However, in three months of ownership it has been functional for about two weeks. Both the function lever (on the first day of use) and one of the control dials (four days after returned from repair) have broken off.

The body feels more sturdy than the original, and in particular the control buttons, knobs, levers, etc. give a greater sense of durability. The new higher resolution viewfinder is excellent, and the 5-axis IBIS system (in-body image stabilisation), which was already very good in the first...

Complicated Menus

Finally, Olympus has sprinkled it with the fairy dust that made the original OM cameras so desirable and which it has obviously rediscovered for the OM-D era. It's that indefinable ‘something' which creates a camera you just can't resist picking up and using.

The E-M5 line continues to offer the best combination of compactness and capabilities in the OM-D mirrorless system, and the Mark II model packs even more into its small bodyshell.

Supremely compact and lightweight; High Res Shot mode gives 64MP RAWs; Extensive range of M43 format lenses

Micro Four Thirds losing shine to bigger sensors; Clunky user interface

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II review video: this clever new OM-D camera can produce 40MP images with its 16-megapixel sensor. Is this Olympus's game-changer? The Olympus E-M5 Mark II is incredibly powerful and versatile, yet small and light too, and Olympus has introduced some very interesting...