paulevy Loc: Lawrenceville, NJ USA

Bought an Oly E-M1 and have a mix of Oly and Panasonic lenses for it. I find the camera too complicated to use. Can any one recommend another body?

RobertW Loc: Breezy Point, New York

Go back to a Pen EP1

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Start by using the Auto setting. Move to P after that. Just because the buttons and controls are there, that doesn't mean you have to use all of them.

londonfire Loc: NY to NC

I still have 2 Panasonic G1 bodies. I think they have the best control layout of any of the MFT cameras. I prefer it to my GH-3 and G6. I don't use it more because I keep telling myself it's 'only' 12mp. But if I look at the metadata from trips years ago some of my best pics were taken with those cameras.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

On my Panasonic m4/3 cameras, twisting the dial to iA simplifies everything!

jenny Loc: in hiding:)

What, first of all, is your previous use of cameras? P&S? film?
And what was your usual use of one, if there was any common routine? Auto? PASM?
The Olympus E M-etc.- models... can be such a joy to use. The manual is "something else"...and
possibly a hurdle to overcome?
I suggest you merely set the mode dial to P, and the ISO to it's recommended basic 200.
then, for early/late day, change the ISO to a higher # if you see in the viewfinder that the picture will be too
dark. From there you can start to experiment cautiously and I urge you not to give up. Anything this good,
is worth your attention and practice, and you are just as capable as anyone else to get the little beastie "trained"
to perform. PM me if you like for further encouragement.

BebuLamar

What do you mean by too complicated? I think the E-M1 is among the simplest one in 4/3. Most P&S are more complicated.

chaman

Stick with your cell phone. If you find that camera complicated dont bother with photography at all.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

BebuLamar

If the OP gives me the Oly I have no problem using it. I am having problem figure out how to use my Iphone 6s as camera.

frankie c Loc: Lake Havasu CIty, AZ

I don't know how buying a new camera is going to help. Like others have said start in either auto mode or program mode. That keeps it simple. Address more options as your learn. All camera's have a menu system you have to learn. So trading one for another does not make much sense to me. OMD's have a reputation for a scary menu structure. It really is not that bad after you figure out the menu is grouped by task and you address each as you need and learn. Olympus does a good job of covering almost any shooting condition. If you ain't there yet just don't use them. I have an OMD E-M1, OMD E-M10 and an OMD E-M10 mark ii. They each have a purpose in my arsenal but the menu structure is the same. I am not familiar with menu's in other 4/3's cameras. My Nikon DSLR menu's are just as detailed. I don't know of any camera that will get you away from details in the menu. So I just don't see buying more stuff is going to solve your problem. I use to buy lots of golf clubs (really lots) each one was gonna improve my game. Somehow that really didn't work. The solution was learn and practice. Just Sayin........ GOOD LUCK.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

The EM1 is a great camera, and you won't find any other comparably capable camera body easier to use, unless you back up to a point and shoot, but there's no reason to do that. You can use the EM1 as a point and shoot by putting it on iAuto until you feel more comfortable, and gradually add other controls/dials as you learn. Olympus actually has more features for a beginning user than most brands.

Jenny has given you some excellent advice about how to make friends with this little electronic beast. There are quite a few of us Oly owners on UHH, so feel free to ask for help if you need it. Another resource is the DPR photo forum (the M43 and Olympus subsections) which are specific to these cameras. Darrell Young has written a good reference book called Mastering the Olympus OMD EM1, available on Amazon. The book assumes no prior use, so you can easily use it from a beginner's standpoint or from a veteran of other cameras making a move to this one.

katastrofa Loc: London, UK

What a stupid answer. I presume you've never seen the menu on an Olympus E-M1 camera (I own E-M1 II, use it mostly in aperture or shutter priority mode, enjoy using it, but still would prefer the menu to be laid out better - e.g. an option to build your own "user menu" with most frequently used options). They are very complex and E-M1 was being criticized for this in many reviews, which compared its menus not to P&S cameras but to semi-pro DSLRs.

katastrofa Loc: London, UK

This webpage has tons of useful advice about Olympus OM-D cameras (including a menu cheat sheet): http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/m43/index.html

johneccles Loc: Leyland UK

I have an EM10 and an EPL-5, the EPL series are much simpler to use. As some one else has said, buy an ELP-1 would you can get here in the UK for £75 ans all your lenses will fit.