Olympus E-M5 shooter’s report posted!

As product reviewers, we're faced with a bit of a problem. The cameras we most want to tell you about are the ones we find really enjoyable to shoot. Since we're having fun with them, though, it can be difficult to extract these gems from anybody's hands for long enough to put them through our lengthy lab testing process, let alone get some writing done! If you've been hopefully looking forward to our Olympus E-M5 review, we have good news on two fronts.

First, we've managed to tear the E-M5 from Senior Editor Shawn Barnett's grip long enough for him to put pen to paper (well, fingers to keyboard, anyway) and share his thoughts in his Olympus E-M5 shooter's report. Shawn had the opportunity to shoot the 'M5 at the TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival, held last month at the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort near Vancouver, Canada. Not only did that give him a chance to get a feel for its real-world handling, but he also netted some great gallery shots, which have also been uploaded to our Olympus OM-D E-M5 review. If you've got the E-M5 on your wishlist or are considering picking up a new mirrorless camera, you'll definitely want to read Shawn's report for some insight on its strengths and weaknesses.

The other piece of good news is that once Shawn finished his Shooter's Report he no longer had any excuse to keep it, so we whisked the Olympus M5 body away with only a brief struggle. Hence, the M5 is now in the lab, where Lab Technician Luke Smith is taking it through our usual battery of in-depth tests. Watch this space for more when the testing's done. (And Shawn, you can have the camera back soon, we promise! Well, if you can prise it out of Luke's grasp, anyway...) ;-)

UPDATE 5/14/12: We've posted our first set of OM-D E-M5 lab test shots! Visit the Olympus E-M5 Samples page to see what we've shot so far, and stay tuned for more test shots in the coming days!