see also:

• Micro Four Thirds system
• Olympus OM System OM-1 mirrorless camera
• Olympus OM-D E-M1 mark II
• Olympus OMD E-M1X pro sports camera
• Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III
• suggested settings for the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III Micro Four Thirds camera
• Official Olympus E-M1III web site

• announced Feb 2020
• similar to mark II but some of the E-M1X improvements and some extras:
  • IBIS now 7EV and 7.5EV in Dual IS
  • hand held HiRes mode, Live ND filter effect mode
  • improved custom dial mode functionality, My Menu, new rear toggle, USB-C charging
  • improved shutter life and weathersealing now has an official rating.
• perhaps disappointingly, video specs have not changed and is limited to 4K 24/30p; 1080HD to 60p, so there is no 120p slo-mo, EVF is not as high resolution as its peers, subject C-AF tracking not as good as the Sony peers, and 2nd SD card slot still only UHS-I not UHS-II
• does not get the E-M1X's Intelligent Subject Detection AF algorithm for tracking defined subjects such as trains, cars, motorbikes nor some of the features of its larger body size such as built-in Field Sensor System.
• does get a couple of features the E-M1X didn't get:
  • further improved eye AF tracking
  • new status display on LCD or EVF
  • improved custom dial mode functionality - 4 custom settings on the dial, and can set it to automatically save current settings when move away from a custom setting which makes for rapid custom setting management
  • ability to turn off EVF switching when LCD screen is articulated outwards
• no other camera other than the E-M1X offers a comparable combination of excellent IS, video AF performance, shutter life, weather sealing, usable high-res mode and shooting rate.

• the same basic features as the Olympus OM-D E-M1 mark II:
  • 20mp sensor with 121 cross-type PDAF points covering 75% vertical and 80% horizontal
  • mechanical burst still up to 10fps with AF and 15fps fixed focus
  • electronic shutter mode still 18fps with AF and 60fps fixed focus
  • Pro-Capture mode
  • shutter to 1/8000th sec mechanical and 1/32,000th sec electronic
  • Live Composite night mode
  • 2.36M-dot LCD viewfinder able to work at up to 120 fps
  • 3“ 1.04mdot fully articulating rear touch screen
  • excellent rolling shutter thanks to a fast sensor readout
  • excellent video image stabilisation and C-AF
  • UHD 4K/30p video and DCI 24p at up to 237Mbps
• plus some features of the Olympus OMD E-M1X pro sports camera:
  • 7EV IBIS (7.5EV Dual IBIS) - the best of any current camera but matching the 1X!
  • the new sensor coating and 30,000Hz SSWF shake system which further reduces sensor dust issues
  • hand held 50mp HiRes mode with options for 25mp/50mp JPEG outputs
  • tripod 80mp HiRes mode with options for 25mp/50mp/80mp JPEG outputs
  • Live ND filter effect mode
  • Anti-flicker shooting
  • 1080HD video up to 120p
  • higher rated shutter mechanism now at 400,000 actuations
  • customizable 'My Menu' tab - allows up to 35 menu items to be stored
  • 8 way joystick controller
  • USB-C port with in-camera battery charging (USB PD USB Power Delivery standard)
  • extensive, IPX1-rated weather sealing
• plus some new features:
  • new TruePic IX processor brings improved face/eye AF (new face and eye AF algorithm) and Starry Sky AF mode (2 modes: Tripod Accuracy Priority, which takes around 10 seconds, and Hand holdable Speed Priority, which takes 2-3 seconds)
  • Face Selection mode with a few options to allow you to select a face amongst a number of faces
  • new panel option
• thankfully retains much user backward compatibility with the E-MII:
  • similar user interface and ergonomics EXCEPT:
    • MENU button re-located to top left
    • INFO button re-located to bottom right where the menu button was, to make room for the toggle
    • Fn1 button is now labelled ISO
    • Fn2 button is now labelled as exposure compensation
    • PASM dial has 4 custom modes instead of 3, plus a Bulb setting but sensibly no longer has iAUTO or ART filter.
  • same BLH-1 battery (also used in the E-M1X which is very handy if you have that camera as well)
  • same HLD-9 optional accessory grip but of course it doesn't have the new toggle
• 580g
• 420 shot CIPA battery life
• $US1799

• Nov 2020 adds:
  • 12bit RAW video
  • 'Focus Indicator Display' mode that provides a focus guide, based on phase-detection distance information, when manually focusing
  • improved image stabilization performance while shooting video especially during panning
  • focus-stacking mode with the new 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO lens

• https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympus-om-d-e-m1-mark-iii-review
• My blog post and thoughts on the E-M1 Mark III
• E-M1 III's IBIS is the best for video beating the GH-5, Fuji X-T4, and Sony a6600

• the Sony a7R IV would seem a crazy camera to compare with the E-M1III, but given the two cameras are very similarly sized and potentially both could be used for travel as well as as many other purposes, I thought it would be interesting to look at the pros and cons of each in direct comparison
• see also Sony a7R IV vs Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III

• almost half the price
• image size is a much more usable and workable 20mp for most scenarios
  • the Sony MUST be shot at 61mp when in full frame mode which results in gigantic file sizes which become far larger when post-processing into TIFFs or PSD or similar files to the point that post-processing becomes a chore even on reasonably powerful laptops with 16Gb RAM. Of course, you could re-size these to 20mp TIFFs but these are far larger than 20mp Olympus RAW files as they are 16bit vs 12bit.
• IBIS is significantly better
• weathersealing is almost certainly much more reliable
• rear screen is fully articulating rather than tilt only and is far more functional
• 2×2 switch allows more rapid access to different settings
• telephoto lenses are shorter for the same telephoto reach
• HiRes mode is far more useful:
  • 50mp high resolution is probably all that anyone really needs
  • HiRes mode can be done hand held
  • tripod HiRes mode further improves image quality
  • Olympus HiRes will have far less moire than the Sony 61mp normal mode so will be of more benefit in fashion or product photography in particular
• faster sensor readout and less rolling shutter which allows:
  • better video quality
  • a usable silent electronic shutter mode and burst rates of 18fps with AF and 60fps without AF
    • the Sony is stuck with 10fps mechanical if using 12bit compressed RAW, or 6fps mechanical if uncompressed 14bit RAW and neither are silent
    • silent electronic shutter to 1/32,000th sec
• better sensor dust mechanism
  • Olympus invented this technology and although the Sony has a version of it, the Sony's are renown for collecting dust every time you change the lens.
• a better PASM dial
  • the Sony dial's locking feature should have been the same as the Olympus dial and Sony's exposure compensation dial instead, it is a 3 finger job to press down and rotate dial.
• two extra buttons on front of camera
• Pro-Capture mode
• Focus bracketing and in-camera Focus Stacking modes
• night Live Composite mode and Live BULB, Live Time modes
• EYE AF allows selection of closest eye as an option
• in camera focus range limiter that works on any MFT lens
• Starry Sky AF mode
• marginally better menu system
• able to save RAW+jpeg to one card and only RAW to another card
  • the Sony only allows RAW to one card and jpeg to the other card
• easier switching of cards in playback
• it is more fun to use and to post-process

• full frame sensor which offers:
  • better high ISO noise performance
  • more options for super shallow depth of field (DOF)
  • marginally more dynamic range and color depth (although Olympus has more accurate colour science)
• 61mp single shot high resolution images for those who need this resolution - of limited benefit if just posting on the web, and of limited benefit even for printing.
• 24mp APS-C mode - but this requires their best lenses to deliver the 24mp resolution
• mega sized HiRes mode - but this may not be very useful for anyone.
• more PDAF points with better coverage (especially in APS-C mode)
• more reliable AF subject tracking and probably more reliable face/Eye AF tracking
• animal eye AF (albeit only works with a few animals such as dogs and cats)
• much higher resolution EVF
• both SD card slots are UHS-II