The Olympus OM-D E-M5 is the company's latest enthusiast-level Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens compact system camera. Taking its design cues from the company's esteemed 35mm ‘OM' SLR range, the EM-5 is the first and, for now at least, flagship model in a new 'OM-D' interchangeable lens...

Super-fast AF and excellent image quality; Lots of features and user customisation; Easy to use and solid build quality; Good quality EVF and tiltable screen

Neck strap can get in the way; Plastic buttons feel a bit cheap

Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera offers rich feature set, fine design, and excellent image quality.

Olympus reached back to its design roots when crafting the new OM-D E-M5 micro four thirds camera. The original OM line of film SLRs was known for its rich feature set and stylish, compact design. Now, released as a digital body, the first offering in the new OM-D line is the E-M5.

Outstanding image quality; Highly customizable feature set; Compact design; Wide selection of accessories and lenses; Weather resistant body; Art Filters add fun factor; Good macro mode on 12-50mm zoom; Fast autofocus and burst mode

Menu system can be daunting; No built-in mic adapter; Small buttons can be difficult for large fingers; Soft humming noise when powered up

Buy this camera if : - You want a compact and well-built, SLR-like digital camera with interchangeable lenses, raw file capture plus in-camera image stabilisation and effective dust reduction technology. - You'd like Full HD video recording with stereophonic sound.

Olympus has been a leader in the Compact System Camera revolution, and the OM-D E-M5 will solidify that position. It is a good-looking, well-designed, highly capable camera. I recommend the 12-50 mm zoom lens with the body, which currently lists for £1,149 for the kit.

The Olympus OM-D E-M5 is the latest Micro Four Thirds compact system camera from Olympus and its first with a built-in viewfinder. Announced in May 2012, the E-M5 design is based on the popular and, for it's time, diminutive Olympus OM series of SLRs, from the late 1970s.

Tough weather-sealed build quality; Outstanding High ISO noise performance; Great quality viewfinder and tilting OLED touch-screen; 5-axis image stabilisation which works with any lens; 2; 3; 5 and 7-frame auto bracketing

Screen only tilts and there's no touch functions in movie modes; Distracting whirring noise from stabilisation motor; No built-in mic socket; Flash unit clips-on rather then being built-in; Continuous AF not as consistent as a phase-detect system

By far the best compact that I have used, picture quality A1, and settings to compare with anything that I have seen.

If I were in the market for a mirrorless, interchangeable lens compact digital and was not wedded to any particular manufacturer or system, the E-M5 would probably be it. Of all the other cameras in this class that I've already reviewed, I like this one the best.

Good images and video; DSLR-like feature set; Compact; stylish form factor

Costly body-only configuration; grip and lenses add expense; A 2x crop factor doesn't lend itself to wide angle shooting

As I have pointed out in the beginning of this review, I have been looking for a good mirrorless camera for a while now, mainly to complement my professional DSLR gear. While I absolutely love the image quality, speed and capabilities of my Nikon DSLR cameras, my biggest issue to date has been...

The OM-D E-M5 is an incredibly capable, fun camera that you won't easily tire of.

Great battery life; Superior image quality; even in low light; You can really push ISO without sacrificing resolution; Durability; Very powerful auto-focus and image stabilization technology

Button design; No pop-up flash – accessory only; There can be some in-camera digging before you get your customized settings up and running