OM-1?

Has anyone tried the OM-1 underwater? I have an old EM-1 but still have all my lenses and am considering this upgrade. Would you go this route or suggest full-frame instead?

My diving is mainly warm water destinations, i.e. Socorro, Cocos, Raja Ampat.

Thanks

Sean

The OM-1 is a pretty serious upgrade over the Em-1. Full frame is significantly more expensive, but only you will know if the increased image quality is worth the price. In my opinion moving to full frame is definitely in the realm of diminishing returns.

The OM-1 has significantly better AF than earlier models, the image quality is a slight upgrade over the older 20MP sensors.  If you are traveling to your dive sites I expect the more compact size of m43 and the correspondingly smaller ports would be attractive as would keeping your current ports.  I have one and have used it on land and have not taken it UW as yet, I'm still using my EM-1 MkII UW. 

It really depends on what you expect from an  upgrade, to me the better AF would be worth it if you are doing a fair bit of macro.  There are UW reviews from the retailers like backscatter and bluewater photo online.  For me m43 is good enough for most purposes.

Hi Sean,

In case you are planning to buy your rig new, and go for an alu housing, e.g. Naurticam, I would recommend the OM-1 for the reason stated above (similar IQ, but better AF). When you add up the money, the contribution of the camera itself is a small percentage to total costs. When buying EM1-III you pay almost the same and have the.slow AF...

In case you want so save money, a second hand EM1-II with alu housing is the way to go. Siilar upgrade in IQ as from EM1-I to OM-1, but much cheaper. Several here (including me) have it and it works very well, although C-AF&Tracking could work better...

Whether MFT, APS-C or FF is a personal decision and despite numerous articles/reviews difficult to decide. Most professionals have FF, but with amateurs it is different, many have smaller sensor, some even have dorngraded from FF. Everybody will tell you that his/her system is the best...

It depends also, how satisfied you are are with your EM1-I IQ. I case you find it o.k., OM-1 is the way to go, as you have already everything except the camera/housing...

Wolfgag