In pictures: The new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II flagship camera

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The OM-D E-M1 Mark II is Olympus’ new flagship, following on from the E-M1 released in 2013. The keyword for the new Micro Four Thirds camera is "fast." Read on to see what’s new with the E-M1 Mark II, together with our first impressions of the camera.

Note: This gallery was first published on 2nd November 2016.

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The focus is on speed, with more frames per second and faster auto-focusing. The E-M1 Mark II goes up to a maximum 18 frames per seconds (fps) with AF/AE tracking, up from 6.5fps on the E-M1. There are 121 AF points, up from 81, and all of them are cross-type*, with the Dual Fast AF system providing both phase-detection and contrast detection AF in C-AF.

*Here’s an astonishing comparison, the Canon 1DX Mark II has 61 AF points, 41 cross-type, and the Nikon D5 has 153 AF points, 99 cross-type.

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Resolution has been increased from 16MP on the E-M1 to 20.4MP on the E-M2, and the camera now shoots C4K/24p video with a high bitrate of 237Mbps. The E-M1 Mark II takes the 40MP High Res. Shot from the E-M5 II and takes it up to 50MP with an ultra High Res. Shot mode. While Olympus says you still need to shoot on a tripod in High Res. Shot, the camera can now cleverly reduce ghosting for subjects that move slightly.

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While the E-M1 had a deep grip, the E-M1 Mark II has a deeper and chunkier grip for a more secure grip. The camera is still weather-resistant, being dust-proof, splash-proof and freeze-proof. The Mark II is slightly thicker and heavier than the E-M1, at approximately 498g (body only) compared to 443g (body only).

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The E-M1 Mark II comes equipped with dual SD card slots, slot 1 supports UHS-II/UHS-I and slot 2 supports UHS-I cards.

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For a high-end flagship, it was surprising that the E-M1 didn’t ship with Custom Mode dials. The E-M1 Mark II rectifies that, not with one, but three Custom Mode dials to save and quickly access settings. That raised button in the middle of the Mode dial locks the dial only when you press down on it. Press again to release the Mode dial.

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Whereas the rear touch monitor on the E-M1 could only swivel up and down, the E-M1 Mark II has a fully articulating rear touch monitor.

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The E-M1 Mark II comes with a brand new battery, the BLH-1, that’s pretty chunky. It has a 37% higher capacity than the battery used in the E-M1, giving you up to 440 shots on a single charge (CIPA standards), almost a hundred more than the E-M1’s 350 shots. The new battery charger,  BCH-1 charges the battery 50% faster than traditional chargers. Happily, the E-M1 Mark II now displays the percentage of battery life remaining on the battery, instead of an approximation.

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All the goodies from the E-M1 are back; like twin control dials for shutter speed and aperture control, as well as Olympus’s class-leading 5-axis image stabilization system. To be honest, there are so many features packed in this camera, both old and new, that it’s going to take anyone a while to go through them all.

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The Olympus E-M1 Mark II is no simple upgrade. While it looks similar to the E-M1, there’s so much more going on under the hood, with an emphasis on being fast. For example, the Mark II has a double quad core TruePic VIII image processing system that’s 3.5 times faster than the preceding TruePic VII, and those faster cores are responsible for the dramatic increase in AF response and frames per second shooting speed. I’ll be putting the Mark II through its paces, watch this space for its upcoming review.