This is a follow-up article to a recent posting, OM-D E-M1X Hand-held Hi Res Images at Bird Kingdom. Further to a request from one of our readers, Colin McNaught, this article features E-M1X Hand-held Hi Res 100% crops and compares them to 100% crops of standard resolution images.

The more I have been experimenting with the Olympus OM-D E-M1X’s Hand-held Hi Res Mode, the more potential that I see with this technology. Rather than just read about it… let’s look at a few real world examples that I photographed over the past two days.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

I wanted to investigate how well the E-M1X’s Hand-held Hi Res Mode would work when using a fairly long telephoto lens. The image above is a standard 20.4 MP resolution capture. Let’s look at a 100% crop from this photograph. This photograph was captured with the M.Zuiko 40-150 mm f/2.8 fitted with the M.Zuiko 1.4X teleconverter. The equivalent field-of-view was 420 mm.

Let’s compare it with a Hand-held Hi Res Mode photograph of the same subject, along with a 100% crop of the Hi Res image.

Now let’s compare some photographs of a discarded coffee cup lid in the mud. First a standard resolution image, followed by a 100% crop.

And, now the E-M1X’s Hand-held Hi Res capture, followed by a 100% crop.

When I was out doing some landscape photographs for the J5 comparison with the OM-D E-M1 Mark II, I came across a very small toy that had been left in a public gazebo. First the standard resolution image and 100% crop of it, then a Hand-held Hi Res Mode photograph and 100% crop.

Now we’ll look at some subject matter that you are likely expecting to see in this article. A flower photographed at standard resolution, with a 100% crop. Then the same blossom captured using the E-M1X’s Hand-held Hi Res Mode, with a 100% crop. After these flower images… we’ll have a look at two things you’re probably not expecting to see.

OK… now for something a little different. The next set of images that you will see are of my left hand. I captured these images holding the Olympus OM-D E-M1X with my right hand, with the camera pressed up against my chest for support.

If you have wondered about the sharpness of the M.Zuiko 12-100 f/4 IS PRO lens, or the IBIS system in the OM-D E-M1X body have a good look at the hand images above. Remember… these photographs were captured one-handed. Look at the EXIF data… 1/50th of a second with an equivalent field-of-view of 200 mm. The photographs that you are looking at are straight-out-of-camera jpegs captured at ISO-6400.

Well… let’s have a look at our final sample. I do not have a standard resolution version of this photograph. Once you see it you will understand why I only had time to capture a single Hand-held Hi Res Mode image.

You may be wondering why I would capture this image. See that tiny, little ant on the flower bud? It was actually my intended test subject.

If you look hard, you can see some hairs on the back of the ant’s body. How’s that for detail?

Some reviewers apparently think that the Olympus OM-D E-M1X Hand-held Hi Res Mode is just a gimmick, or that it isn’t very practical to use. I can unequivocally say that I disagree.

Technical Note:
All photographs in this article were captured using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. Many images were produced using the Olympus Hand-held Hi Res Shot Mode. All photographs displayed in this article are straight-out-of-camera jpegs. They were resized to 1200 pixels for web use. 100% crops of each image are included.

Use of Olympus Loaner Equipment
All of the photographs in this article were captured using Olympus Loaner Gear which was supplied by Olympus Americas Inc. on a no-charge basis. We are under no obligation what-so-ever to Olympus Americas Inc. in terms of our use of this loaner Olympus camera equipment. There is no expectation or agreement of any kind with Olympus Americas Inc. that we will create and share with readers any images, articles or videos, or on what that content may be.

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