The EM5 Mk1 cameras were for me a special case in my photographic life.

Never before have I actually worn cameras out from new, but with the EM5’s the original OMD’s, I am close to running three into the ground.

The oldest two are 2012 original versions. Seems an age ago and they have earned their rest, but I still use them as alternates or for personal projects.

Would I trust them for important jobs or big trips? Probably not and last trip to Japan I rejected nostalgic thoughts and used two newer EM10 Mk2’s also well loved, but considerably newer.

I did however start a project when I came home using the older Japan trips and discovered to my delight that these older images lost nothing to my newer ones, in fact I was reminded just how good the files were and heartened by their response to newer processing.

The EM5 sensor had a special look in strong light. Almost film-like it held highlights gently.

Looking at the one camera I had retired (there are two, but the other is a well used one I bought off a friend that has died completely), I found it is still capable of producing files, but only at shutter speeds consistently below 1/1000th. Above that it often gives me black frames, which was the first sign of the other one dying.

There are other issues like occassional pink banding and refusal to fire up, but undaunted and under no pressure I grabbed a 45 at f1.8 set ISO to 800 and fired away.

Matching the files with ON1 NoNoise (2022), produced some interesting results.