Leica M Monochrom vs Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Leica M Monochrom and the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II, highlighting the advantages of each over the other, discussing their pros and cons, shared strengths and weaknesses, and providing a rating based on their available features and specifications to assist you in choosing the one that best suits your needs.

Leica M Monochrom was introduced in May 2012 and Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II was introduced in February 2015. Let us first list highlights of the models.

Now that we've looked at the most essential specifications and gained a basic understanding of these cameras, we can delve into more details and see the differences between them.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Leica M Monochrom over Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II over Leica M Monochrom.

We already listed pros and cons of each model. However, you may also find useful to look at their common strengths and weaknesses shown side-by-side.

Screen

Leica M Monochrom has a 2.5" Fixed screen with 230k dot resolution and Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II has a 3.0" Fully Articulated screen with 1,037k dot resolution. Fully articulated screen makes Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II selfie and vlogger friendly and generally very useful for video shooting. Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II also features touchscreen which has advantages such as easy menu navigation, intuitive controls, quick setting adjustment and most importantly a Touch-to-Focus functionality (available only on Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II) allowing users to select a specific point on the screen where they want the camera to focus. This feature can be helpful for achieving precise focus in both photo and video recording.

Viewfinder

Leica M Monochrom has a built-in Optical (rangefinder) viewfinderOlympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II has a built-in Electronic viewfinder with 2,360k dot resolution. with 0.68x magnification and Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II has 100% coverage with 1.48x (0.74x 35mm equivalent) magnification.

Leica M Monochrom features a 19 megapixel Full Frame CCD sensor with dimensions of 36 x 24 mm and a total area of 864 mm². Its native ISO range is 160 - 10,000. Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II features a 16.1 megapixel Micro Four Thirds MOS sensor with dimensions of 17.3 x 13 mm and a total area of 169 mm². Its native ISO range is 200 - 25,600 and expands to 100 - 25,600 in boosted mode.

Here is a sensor size comparison chart where you can see how different sensors compare with each other:

Sensor size chart

	Sensor	Dimensions	Area	Aspect Ratio	Crop Factor
	Medium Format	44 x 33 mm	1452 mm2	4:3	0.79x
	Full Frame	36 x 24 mm	864 mm2	3:2	1x
	APS-H	27 x 18 mm	486 mm2	3:2	1.3x
	APS-C	23.6 x 15.6 mm	368.2 mm2	3:2	1.5x
	APS-C (Canon)	22.3 x 14.9 mm	332.3 mm2	3:2	1.6x
	Micro Four Thirds	17.4 x 13 mm	226.2 mm2	4:3	2x
	1-inch	13.2 x 8.8 mm	116.2 mm2	3:2	2.7x
	1/1.7-inch	7.44 x 5.58 mm	41.5 mm2	4:3	4.7x
	1/2.3-inch	6.17 x 4.55 mm	28.1 mm2	4:3	5.6x

Leica M Monochrom can take pictures up to 5212 x 3472 resolution. It can also take pictures with lower resolution like 3840 x 2592, 2592 x 1728, 1728 x 1152, 1280 x 846 with 3:2 aspect ratios. Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II is equipped with TruePic VII processor and can take pictures up to 4608 x 3456 resolution.

Lens Mount

Leica M Monochrom has Leica M lens mount and Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II has Micro Four Thirds lens mount. Due to Full Frame sensor in Leica M Monochrom its crop factor is equal to 1x, this means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length. Due to Micro Four Thirds sensor in Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II its crop factor is equal to 2x, this means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length times 2.

In-Body Image Stabilization on Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II has a built-in 5-Axis Sensor Shift in-body image stabilization (IBIS). This means that you are still getting vibration reduction when camera is paired with non-image stabilizied lenses. It also works with lenses with optical image stabilization and in combination can achieve even better compensation.

Built-in Wi-Fi on Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II has a built-in Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n, 2.4 GHz) which allows to easily transfer photos and videos from the camera to other Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as smartphones, tablets, printers, or computers. This eliminates the need for cables and allows for quick and convenient media sharing and social media integration. It gives you the ability to control your camera remotely using a smartphone or tablet. This is particularly useful for taking self-portraits, group shots, or capturing images in challenging conditions without having to touch the camera. Firmware updates can also be downloaded and installed wirelessly.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in WiFi.

USB Inputs and HDMI Outputs

Both models have USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec) inputs for data transfer. connector for video signal output.

Battery

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II comes with BLN-1 battery pack with battery life of 310 shots.

External Storage Slots

Leica M Monochrom has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot. Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-I) card slot.

Shutter

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II has Mechanical Focal Plane shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/4000 sec on Leica M Monochrom, and up to 1/16000 sec with electronic shutter and up to 1/8000 sec with mechanical shutter on Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II. Leica M Monochrom can shoot continuously up to 2.0 fps. Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II can shoot continuously up to 10.0 fps.

Exposure

Exposure meterings of Leica M Monochrom and Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II range from 0 to +20 EV and -2 to +20 EV respectively and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±3 EV range on Leica M Monochrom and ±5 EV range on Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II. You can also do exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Leica M Monochrom and exposure lock, exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II.

Flash

Cameras have no built-in flash but an external flash may be connected to both of them via Hot Shoe. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/180 sec on Leica M Monochrom and 1/250 sec on Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II.

Leica M Monochrom body has dimensions of 139 x 80 x 37 mm (5.47 x 3.15 x 1.46") and Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II body has dimensions of 124 x 85 x 45 mm (4.88 x 3.35 x 1.77"). Leica M Monochrom weighs 600 g (1.32 lb / 21.16 oz) and Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II weighs 469 g (1.03 lb / 16.54 oz).

Leica M Monochrom

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II

139 mm

80 mm

124 mm

85 mm

80 mm

85 mm

37 mm

45 mm