It may not be a large and bulky digital SLR, but the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II is a heavy hitting camera that's designed especially for those of you who desire advanced controls -- controls of the sort that can tailor almost every single aspect of your photographs before you even transfer them to a...

Crisp image quality; Advanced controls and highly customisable; High quality EVF

Left-hinged screen feels unintuitive on this camera

As a camera brand, Japan's Olympus always has the feel, for me, of an ingénue, bravely squaring up to the big beasts, Canon and Nikon. And yet it is relatively old-school, equally known for medical and surgical instruments as well as other items, from face creams to plastic kitchenware.

Basically, it plays piggy in the middle to the more expensive OM-D E-M1 and the cheaper E-M10 II, so you can pick one up for just over $1000.

Well designed camera that on first blush seems to handle well. However, in three months of ownership it has been functional for about two weeks. Both the function lever (on the first day of use) and one of the control dials (four days after returned from repair) have broken off.

The body feels more sturdy than the original, and in particular the control buttons, knobs, levers, etc. give a greater sense of durability. The new higher resolution viewfinder is excellent, and the 5-axis IBIS system (in-body image stabilisation), which was already very good in the first...

Complicated Menus

Finally, Olympus has sprinkled it with the fairy dust that made the original OM cameras so desirable and which it has obviously rediscovered for the OM-D era. It's that indefinable ‘something' which creates a camera you just can't resist picking up and using.

The E-M5 line continues to offer the best combination of compactness and capabilities in the OM-D mirrorless system, and the Mark II model packs even more into its small bodyshell.

Supremely compact and lightweight; High Res Shot mode gives 64MP RAWs; Extensive range of M43 format lenses

Micro Four Thirds losing shine to bigger sensors; Clunky user interface

Existing Olympus Micro Four Thirds owners should upgrade to the E-M5 Mark II, while new buyers should put it on the shortlist. It's that excellent.

High-quality stills and videos; Five-axis image stabilization; Superb high ISO handling; 40-megapixel photo mode; Highly customizable

Menu system and controls slightly clunky to use; Flash not built in; No 4K support

Among a season of good cameras last year from Sony, Samsung and Fujifilm was Olympus' OM-D E-M5 Mark II. This is one micro four-thirds mirrorless camera can shoot images at a resolution of up to 40 megapixels.

Excellent camera. Weather sealed, responsive etc. etc. But what makes this camera stand out from all the others is its superb image stabilization. I spent one day in my local park with the 40-150 f2.8 lens.

Robust construction; responsive; excellent autofocus and absolutely incredible image stabilization

Menu navigation a bit confusing at first