I preffer the look of the over 10 year old EM5 mk1’s at higher ISO’s

The tight and even black grain is workable in colour and quite film like in mono, so it is no surprise to me that I use one as my third, high ISO-prime lens camera.

So, what happens when I abuse a file from one and hit it with ON1 No Noise?

All the files in this post were taken at ISO 12800. The befores are C1 with no extra processing, the processed ones are in-out through ON1 with it applying its automatic settings. Lightroom would be interesting. I gained at least one full stop of useful exposure switching over and early tests showed that ON1 managed to “fix” LR files nearly as well as the C1 files.

Not bad before and after. Quite useable actually. The trick is to avoid under exposure.

In early tests, the little EM5’s managed to hold together better than a lot of bigger sensor cameras, gaining quite a reputation for good low light and dynamic range performance. Time moves ever onward, but there is still life there. The tell is the washed out colour, but compared to other cameras of the time, this was far nicer than the “fruit tingles” colour blotching most had in truck loads.

Although the left file, C1 processed only and with no noise reduction used is actually not a totally lost cause, the right hand file is clearly cleaner and sharper. The difference however is not as dramtic as files I have processed from other cameras.

Without doing direct comparisons, I feel the newer cameras are actually better after the ON1 treatment, but the EM5’s hold together better without extra processing at meduim high ISO’s such as 1600-6400.

It may simply be that the EM5 does its own thing and ON1 has little more to add. In the early days of the super sharp sensors that the EM5 came in at the start of, designers had an open book to work with and performed minor miracles (mine put my 5D mk2 to shame).