Olympus OM-D E-M1 vs Nikon D7000

By Scott Gietler
Owner, Bluewater Photo

A little history - in the beginning

Of course I shoot with a dSLR. Why would I downgrade to one of those crummy little mirrorless cameras, with their wimpy size sensors?(Disclaimer - I don't really think mirrorless cameras are crummy - this article is meant to have a humerous tone - ha ha).  I shoot with a Nikon D7000, the top of the line dSLR with respect to dynamic range and color depth according to dXO Mark. Even the more recent Canon 70D and the Nikon D7100 have not beat it out, in my opinion.

Crab shooting away cardinal fish, Nikon D7000, 105mm macro lens

The competition - mirrorless

OK - first Olympus comes out with the E-PL1, then the E-PL2, then the E-PL3, which focuses much faster than the others, and takes some nice images - but no, I will not use the E-Pl3 as my main camera, I will continue to use my D7000, thank you. Then the OM-D E-M5 comes out. A little nicer, and nice images, but I thought "come on, the body build quality is like I am used to with my dSLR, I will stick to my D7000". Finally, the Olympus E-M1 arrives. It is enough of a serious and popular camera that I decide that I should give it a serious try on our 4th annual Anilao workshop, where I will do some of the best diving that the planet offers.

Olympus E-M1, 8mm fisheye lens, F13, 1/125th, ISO 200

I had been shooting for over a week with my Tokina fisheye lens, and my macro lenses. Except for a inordinate amount of pesky backscatter, I'd been pretty happy with my photos. As it was getting near the end of the trip, I figured I had better take out the Nauticam OM-D E-M1 so the packing wasn't wasted.

Going wide with the OM-D E-M1

Wow, the Nauticam OM-D E-M1 was really easy to use underwater. And very light. Easy to position behind crinoids and other smal subjects. The dials worked great. I could compose with the LCD! Since I was shooting into the sun, the sun was blowing out in images in my LCD while I was trying to compose but who cared, the images were looking not too bad. Holding the rig and taking photos with just one hand was a breeze. I was liking it.

Olympus OM-D E-M1, 8mm fisheye, F11, 1/320th, ISO 400

I was still getting some backscatter, but I'm not sure it was the cameras fault. Although I couldn't zoom the 8mm fisheye lens like I could the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye, I didn't really miss it. I just got close, got closer, and composed carefully.

Scorpionfish and diver, OM-D E-M1, 8mm fisheye, F10, 1/80th, ISO 200

The image quality was looking great. The camera was not limiting me, it was my lighting, composition, and subject selection that were the final factors. I had entered the matrix!

Shooting really, really small stuff with the OM-D E-M1

After doing two dives with the 8mm fisheye, I switched to the 60mm macro lens, and a wet diopter for even smaller subjects. I scheduled the boat for 2 of my favorite macro dives, and started planning my shots in my head. Having dove these sites already, meant that I had the possibility of being very productive photographically. That's easy to do in Anilao!

I immediately noticed that the macro setup was much lighter and easier to handle than my D7000 macro setup. A big plus! Again, I used the LCD to compose photos which was nice. Dials were easy to use, and it was easy to move the focus points around on the camera. I quickly swam deep to where I remembered there were some sawblade shrimp. 

Sawblade shrimp, E-M1, Olympus 60mm macro lens

The sawblades are not easy to shoot, and after about 15 shots I was lucky to have one that I really liked. I went for the "3-D diagonal" composition that I teach in my classes - a compelling composition, but very hard to achieve without amputating the subject.

After the sawblades, I swam to the cardinalfish with eggs. These guys move around, and here I found myself wishing I had my D7000 - the E-M1 + 60mm macro is just not as fast for shooting behavior as my dSLR is. Oh well!

On the last dive, the night dive, my goal was skeleton shrimp. I made my way to the skeleton shrimp section of the site and there they were. I tried shooting with my Sola red light - but with no luck. The LCD of the OM-D just couldn't show me a good image with the red light. So I had to switch to the white light, hopefully the shrimp wouldn't mind.

Dueling skeleton shrimp, E-M1, Olympus 60mm macro lens with Bluewater +7 diopter. F16, 1/250th, ISO 200

I tried to shoot some subjects with the white light, looking through the LCD. But it just wasn't working - the quality of the LCD wasn't good, I just couldn't find the subject in the image. So I switched to the electronic viewfinder - much better! Even with a wet diopter, finding the subject and focusing was easy. I was liking this macro setup. Now I just had to get these very active skeleton shrimp to stop jumping around!

Small soft coral crab, waving his feeding claws to catch food. E-M1, 60mm macro, F20, 1/250th, ISO 200

Nikon D7000, 105mm macro lens, Sola 800 red light, F13, 1/250th, ISO 400

Conclusion - OM-D E-M1 versus Nikon D7000 shootout

The mating mandarin fish shot above was taken with my Nikon D7000 and the 105mm lens. I may have been able to get it with my Olympus 60mm macro lens, but I don't think so. For shooting behavior and fast fish - my dSLR still wins out. For flexibility with my Tokina fisheye, the D7000 wins out. The dynamic range of the D7000 seemed to be a little better than the E-M1.

However, the small size and the LCD display of the OM-D helped me get some great shots. I just one day, I was very productively photographically with the E-M1.

For the most part, I felt like I wasn't too limited by the equipment. finding the subject, composing the shot, and lighting it properly were going to be the most important factors. I could do an entire trip with this setup if I had to  - add come back with great shots. If you are moving up from a compact - you are going to have some tough choices to make. You may see me with 2 rigs on my next dive in Califorina. - Scott