Here is the 2nd half of the narration. This was by far the longest video I have done.

There has been a lot of discussion about the long startup time for this camera. It can take as long as 3 seconds before you can take your first picture. I am holding the shutter button down completely and it won’t take the first picture until the display icons appear.

However, there is one setting that you can adjust to make it take a picture right away after it first powers up. You need to put it in the single exposure mode and not any of the other burst or delayed shutter modes. It will only let you take one initial picture then you have to wait for the icons to appear but at least you can take one picture right away.

With these settings you can now turn the camera off and back on and it will allow you to take a single picture almost instantly. However, this trick doesn’t work in the IAuto mode. You have to be in one of the P.A.S.M modes on the dial for it to allow a quick picture after start up.

Now click the menu button and click to the right so we can adjust the Menu 1 items. I would select the card setup option first and format your memory card if it is empty. Formatting the memory card in the camera can help prevent video card write errors in the future. Olympus claims that any class 10 card will work with this camera. However, I had the camera fail a few times with the 60p video mode and a very fast 60 Megabytes per second write speed class 10 memory card.

I had forgotten to format that card before I started. If you format a class 10 or better memory card in the camera first then you shouldn’t have any write errors.

Next select the Reset-SLASH-Myset option. Then select the Myset1 option and click to the right. Finally select the “SET” option and click “OK”. This will save all of your current settings in the Myset1 position. You will need to do this throughout the video every time we make adjustments.

The menu does not make everything entirely clear. If you want additional help to appear on menu items then just click the “Info” button while you are in the menu screen. Extra help text will appear for each item as you highlight it. If you want to turn it off then click the “info” Button again.

Next select the picture mode settings and click right to adjust them. For JPG images I use the I.enhance color mode with the following parameters in order to give me a more impactful look. Everyone’s preference will be different here so just choose the color mode that looks best to you.

Shooting RAW will give you the most flexibility. However, there are times when the burst mode and upload speed using the built-in wireless are the highest priorities. In those cases I usually shoot JPG only. The burst buffer fills rather quickly with RAW+JPG so I feel it is best to choose one or the other when shooting burst pictures.

You also need to setup the High Resolution shot mode here. By default it will only store a 40 megapixel jpg file and not the 63 megapixel RAW file. There are options out there now to handle the higher resolution RAW file so I would go ahead and setup that mode to shoot both JPGs and RAW images.

Select “High Res Shot” and click to the right. Then select a delay so that all vibrations dampen out before the image is taken. I typically use 8 seconds for sturdy tripods. However, I had to go out to 30 seconds with my 800mm telescope and my undersized tracking mount.

Now make sure you click OK on the High Res Shot so that it selects it. If you just exit out of the menu it may not actually save the setting. Once you have selected High Res Shot then you can exit out of the menu and make sure that High Res Shot is selected.

Next select RAW+Super Fine JPG while it is in High Res Shot mode. Then you can switch to whatever single shot or burst mode that you typically use. Once you save these settings you won’t have to ever go back and turn on RAW+JPG for the High Res Shot mode again. Without saving these settings it would always revert back to JPG only.

Don’t forget to periodically save your presets while you are setting up your camera. It is easy to forget to save your settings and we don’t want them to get overwritten by accident. Go ahead and save these settings again as your Myset1 option now.

Next I want to switch gears a bit and setup the Movie settings. The movie icon on the control dial is what gives you full control of the movie settings and parameters. However, you can always shoot videos in stills mode by pressing the red movie button.

Please note that it will always shoot in Program priority mode with Auto ISO when you shoot video in the stills mode. You also cannot adjust the shutter speed, aperture, ISO value, white balance, or use the program shift functionality while filming like you can with the Panasonic cameras. However, you can change the exposure but you have to do it using the onscreen menu.

The camera adds manual control over shutter speed, aperture, and ISO values while filming if you use the movie specific dial mode. However, you still have to click the “ok” button first in order to use the control wheels to change the settings. You can use the menu system to change the setting as well but it is very cumbersome. This makes no sense at all. You should have the option to adjust the shutter speed and Aperture during filming in the same manner that you do while shooting stills. The Image Stabilization can prevent any vibrations from affecting your video while you adjust the dials. Hopefully, they will improve this capability with a firmware update. Panasonic’s cameras have this capability right from the start.

If you are accustomed to changing those parameters while filming then this may not be the camera for you. The Olympus manual controls while filming definitely are not up to the standards of Panasonic’s GH line of cameras. However, the camera does an excellent job at controlling the exposure in Auto ISO modes so manual controls while filming may not be as necessary.

The E-M5 MK II really isn’t the professional video camera that the Panasonic GH4 and LX100 are. However, the E-M5 MK II definitely is a great choice for handheld run and gun filming.

Go ahead and switch to the movie specific mode and then click the menu button. Navigate to the picture mode settings like we did before and this time select the Portrait color mode and configure the settings like this if you want a really flat look to your video that more closely matches the Cinema-D profile in the Panasonic GH4.

Now a word of caution here. This really flat profile comes at a cost. All it is doing is pulling the shadows with software. This is not improving the dynamic range at all. That can only be done at the sensor level. The shadow noise will be excessive if you shoot with a super flat profile like this. I do not recommend setting up your color profile in this manner.

Instead I think you should just try to match your in camera output as close as you can to your final output. Every time you alter your video in post processing you will increase the noise. Shooting flat and then pulling it again in post processing is a recipe for very noisy video. I shoot with these settings instead of trying for a very flat profile. However, your needs and tastes may vary from mine.

You will have to switch to one of the P.A.S.M modes in order to save your settings. Make sure you save these settings as your Myset2 option. Myset2 will always have your movie settings. However, we will see later how to quickly switch back and forth between your Myset1 settings for stills and your Myset2 settings for video.

The E-M5 MK II will never give you the video detail that the GH4 can do even if both cameras are shooting 1080p video. However, the E-M5 MK II does have good latitude and contrary to other reports its moiré and aliasing are manageable if you turn sharpness all the way down.

If you are looking for ultimate quality then you will need to just stick with the Panasonic GH4 or even the Panasonic LX100. However, if you want to shoot handheld video at long focal lengths then the E-M5 MK II is an excellent choice.

The image stabilization on this camera is what really sets it apart. I can easily hand hold the camera at the 35mm equivalent of 200mm. In fact the stabilization even works with the 4x ETC crop mode. With the in-lens stabilization on the GH4 I would have to do software stabilization in post processing to accomplish the same level of stability.

So let’s go ahead and setup the stabilization while we are talking about it. Click menu. Then click down to the gears icon and select the “C” option. Next scroll down till you see the Image Stabilizer option. Click right on that option and Turn it to S-IS AUTO for stills and M-IS2 for video. This will let the camera choose the best stabilization mode for stills and it will prevent the camera from using the software based image stabilization for video.

The in camera software stabilization does help for stabilizing extremely long telephoto lenses. However, it crops some of the screen out to achieve the stabilization and it has a tendency to produce some unnatural motion. In my opinion the built-in sensor stabilization is so good that the software correction is unnecessary.

If you have Panasonic lenses with stabilization built into them like the excellent 35-100mm F2.8 lens then you will need to always make sure the stabilization switch on the lens is turned off. I thoroughly tested the in-lens and in-body stabilization and I never found an instance where the in-lens stabilization was better.

Therefore, I think you should always disable the in lens stabilization. There is a menu item that appears to allow you to do that. However, all it does is to allow you to control the image stabilization for lenses that don’t have the switch on the side. If you want to always make sure in-lens stabilization is off then you must make sure that the menu item is turned off and that the switch on the side of the lens is off.

Now let’s finish setting up the movie mode. Click menu. Then click down to the gears icon and select the “A” option. Select AF Mode and then I recommend choosing AFC for stills and AFC-Tracking or AFS+Manual for video. I found that the AFC-Tracking works surprisingly well in video as long as you don’t have multiple subjects in the field of view. It can get confused if there are many different objects moving all at once.

You can adjust what type of autofocus the camera does by pressing the left arrow button to bring up the Auto Focus grid. Then you can press the info button and cycle through till you see a grid that covers almost all of the screen. This type of autofocus is great if the majority of the screen is filled by the subject or if you are zoomed in really close. If you have multiple objects moving all at once then I would stick with one of the more precise single point auto focus options.

If your subject is not moving towards or away from you then the AFS+Manual AF option is the best choice. However, you cannot use the shutter button while filming video to trigger a refocus like you can with the Panasonic cameras. You have to setup a custom button for that purpose instead.

There are two options for refocusing using custom buttons. The first option is to use the AE/AF lock function to refocus. You have to adjust the AEL/AFL options so that it will do the refocus with a half press of the shutter button or when the AEL/AFL function is triggered.

I typically choose Mode2 for AFS, AFC, and mode3 for MF because I think half pressing the shutter button is more comfortable than using one of the custom buttons. However, if you are more accustomed to using the back button focus that most DSLRs have then you should choose mode3 or mode4 for each of the Auto Focus modes.

Please note that no matter what option you choose you will not be able to use a half press of the shutter button for Auto Focus in videos. Your only option for videos is to use a custom button to mimic the back button focus that DSLRs and some other cameras have.

Next go back to the AF/MF menu and then configure the settings as you see here and then save this in the Myset2 option.

Next go to the option “B” settings and select the Mode Dial Function option. This is where you can actually replace the functionality of the IAuto and the ART settings on the control dial. Both of those modes are utterly useless by default. Replacing them with your Myset options gives you a quick way to always revert back to your favorite settings.

I would save your Myset1 option as the IAuto setting and you can save your Myset2 video settings as the ART option or you can save your Myset3 and 4 settings there after we create them later.

Now let’s finish setting up our video settings. Pick the “S” or shutter priority mode and make sure the lever is set to position 1. Then load your Myset2 settings. Now click the menu button and go to the “B” Button/Dial/Lever option.

Select Button Function and setup your buttons this way or choose your own settings if you know there is a specific feature you want to use that I haven’t selected. I like to set the aperture preview button to act as the multi-function button.

That gives me the ability to quickly adjust several settings with one button. If I hold down the button with my finger I can select the parameter I want to adjust with the control wheel on the front of the camera. This is a very flexible option to have.

Now save these settings as your Myset2 option.

Next change the Lever Function from Mode1 to Mode2. This is what allows you to quickly change from your stills settings to your movie mode settings with one button switch. You can test this out by going to the IAuto setting on the mode dial after you have saved your Myset2 movie settings.

Look at what color mode the IAuto setting is using. Now switch the mode dial lever to the other position. It should switch between the color profiles we setup for stills and the one we setup for movies. This functionality allows us to decouple the color profiles that we use for stills from the profiles that we use for video.

However, there is a trick to making this work. You have to load your Myset2 video settings to any one of the P.A.S.M modes first. That will automatically assign those settings to the movie mode. If you loaded your Myset1 settings to one of the P.A.S.M modes and then tried to switch into video mode with the lever it wouldn’t be using your correct video settings. If you ever have trouble with this just reload your Myset2 settings into one of the P.A.S.M modes and it will resolve the issue.

Now go to the “C” Release options. Select ”Off” for both of the Release options. This will prevent the camera from taking a picture when it detects that it is out of focus. This is a critical setting for getting a high rate of keepers when shooting in burst mode with Continuous Auto Focus.

Then verify that your other settings match these and then save them as your Myset2 option.

I finally completed my E-M5 MK II Tips and Tricks Review video. Honestly, there were so many features with this camera that it took longer than I expected. However, I believe that waiting to post it also gave me time to really determine what works best with this camera.

Please note that you “CAN” actually control the aperture and shutter speed with the control wheels during filming contrary to what I said in the video. However, it requires that you click the "OK" button first and then you still have to use the menu for some adjustments.

The manual controls for filming are not as bad as I initially thought. However, they definitely are not intuitive and could still be improved with a firmware update. I still stand by the fact that the GH4 and especially the LX100 are much better for their manual controls.

That being said I absolutely love the E-M5 MK II for shooting stills and for run and gun video. The auto focus is perfect for my needs. It just simply works.

Also the way I setup the program priority mode in the video has allowed me to spend less time fiddling with settings and more time just getting the pictures and videos that I want. I still think the manual control settings on the LX100 are more efficient but this E-M5 MK II is the next best thing. In addition the LX100 can’t come close to matching the combination of my 14mm F2.5, 25mm F1.4, and 35-100mm F2.8 lenses. I am just glad that I have them all as options for whenever I need them.

I will let the video do the talking for me. However, I really feel that the E-M5 MK II can absolutely be used as a pro stills camera. Once you figure out how to set it up it really can keep up with the big boy cameras if you have the right lenses. Hopefully the video will help everyone navigate through the menus. They really are not intuitive. Luckily it has presets so you only have to wade through the menus once.

The text from the Narration is below along with some sample pictures.

The image quality isn't radically changed, compared with the original E-M5. This means it's still very good, with Raw files as clean and malleable as you'd expect for a Micro Four Thirds camera. The JPEG engine remains one of our favorites, producing bright, pleasant images at all but the highest ISO settings (though Fujifilm's film simulation modes are similarly good and offer more photographer-friendly options than the O-MD's color modes and Art filters).

Movie image quality isn't going to impress dedicated videographers, but it's of a similar standard to most of the stills-focused cameras in its class and the combination of focus peaking and the excellent image stabilization makes it easier than most to get usable footage.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympus-om-d-e-m5-ii

If a combination of excellent performance, responsive control, and finely machined, weather-sealed build appeal to you, then it's gonna be hard to pass the OM-D E-M5 Mark II up. Sure, your return on investment isn't as high as the cheaper, excellent cameras we listed above, but there's no question that the E-M5 Mark II is a better overall camera.

http://cameras.reviewed.com/content/olympus-om-d-e-m5-mark-ii-digital-camera-review

@Kit_L Didn't you do any side by side comparison mark 1 vs 2?

So far I've seen just one short AB test which is in the last part of this video @ 8:23.

Judging from the rooftops, window shutters and other fine building details I got an impression that mark 2 footage has slightly less resolution. Is it just me?

incredible quality!

@zigzigi In all fairness I messed up the comparison because I had curves on the EM5. It needs a contrast boost that I took away from the EM5.

Another E-M5ii example

@Scot thanks 4 sharing the files. From THOSE samples, GH2's image is way more natural than OM E5 vII
I dunno which settings did you use, but if that's how Oly movs look like... mmmm. It is almost like a 2 layer effect: blur then sharpen. Jpeg engine or downscale process or both in a hermafro-phone??? It is "easier" to deal with unsharp images than with halos... tried different methods but nothing worth writtin g home about. Cheers =)

Try this one. It's free and allows uploads up to 50gb. http://dropmefiles.com

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/olympus/om-d-e-m5-mark-ii/olympus-om-d-e-m5-mark-ii-review.html