VideoPic Blog: Walking with my E-M5 II and 12-45mm Pro lens

Last updated: 16th September 2025

The E-M5 II introduced many innovative features in 2015 and continues to be a joy in 2025. Olympus engineers knew that physical size is not a reliable measure for sensor sensitivity. This led to the Live MOS digital M43 format, computational photography, tonal control, IBIS, and the 40MP high-resolution mode to overcome technical limitations, such as the noise floor found in all image sensors. We don't need expensive PCs or SSD drives to edit 16MP files or 1080p videos. For instance, a 32GB V30 SD card is sufficient when using the E-M5 II. Imagine all this plus filming for less than $450.

I have been using the Olympus E-M5 II extensively over the past few weeks while working on the next article in my series on filming with M43 cameras. I am always intrigued by the engineering excellence of these older Olympus OMD and PEN cameras. The combination of knowledge and experience makes filming and photographing with Olympus cameras a breeze. For example, the histogram tells us more about our camera settings, sensor data, and scene information. This includes shutter, aperture, ISO, color, shadows, midtones, highlights, luminance, sensor saturation (ETTR), and SNR info.

I converted and edited the following enhanced raw files in Workspace. This includes Color Creator and tonal adjustments, a warm color filter for some photos, and the "Low" noise filter in the camera and Workspace. The color space was RGB, and some of the images were sharpened. I prefer iEnhanced, but in some cases I used the natural picture mode to adjust colors in Workspace. My color space is sRGB when I export my processed images from Affinity Photo 2. These were 16-bit Tiff files, which I resized and exported from Workspace. The bird-in-flight shots were taken with the M.Zuiko 12-45mm f4 Pro lens, while the close-ups were done with the M.Zuiko 12-50mm f3.5-6.3 EZ lens.

While perusing the images below, ask yourself what is more important, the perfect camera or telling the story? How about learning more about the photographer as you page through these photos? For instance, what was the time of day? Were they all taken on the same day? Is this a casual, hobby, or professional photographer? What did you learn about this photographer's photography style and post-processing preferences? What is your editing and preferred photography or creative style?

Photography is fun and a wonderful way to experience and relax in nature...

PS: These images are best viewed on a 4K, 27' iMac PC.