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OM System OM-5 II: two-minute review

The OM-5 II is an affordable enthusiast camera that can turn its hand to just about any genre of photography. (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

What the OM System OM-5 II lacks in sensor and video specifications it makes up for with photographic features. If you want to go full-frame, or get a more powerful APS-C hybrid, then go for it; if you need these things, you need them. But if what you need is a small, affordable and supremely versatile camera that can follow you anywhere, then this is it.

What do you want to shoot? Landscapes? Nature? If you’re okay with 20MP, then the OM-5 II will do perfectly, thanks to its lightweight, hike-friendly size, weather sealing and rock-steady IBIS. Will you need to use any ND filters? The camera’s in-built Live ND can give you up to four stops longer exposures – perhaps not always enough, but it helps.

If you're into nature photography, and particularly macro work, you can use the in-built focus-stacking mode to keep your whole subject sharp, or focus bracketing if you want to merge the frames later in software.

Is the OM-5 II's high-res mode just a gimmick? I'm not convinced the 50MP handheld mode delivers a lot more detail, but I set this shot up to check the 80MP tripod mode... (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

Here's a zoomed-in comparison that shows the 80MP tripod mode (left) does offer significantly more detail than the regular 20MP version (right). (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

Fancy some night photography? Experts will insist you need the low noise of a full-frame sensor, but the OM-5 II does pretty well with a fast prime and its Starry Sky AF. While you’re at it, you can use the Live Bulb mode to see long exposures build on the screen in front of your eyes, or use the Live Composite mode to capture bonfires, fireworks or urban light trails, recording only ‘new light’ so that the image isn’t overexposed.

What about sports and wildlife? The OM-5 II is not a dedicated action camera, but it does pretty well, shooting at up to 10fps with AF and up to 30fps with focus locked on the first frame. It also has a Pro Capture mode, which offers a rolling buffer of 14 frames with the shutter button half pressed so you don’t miss the moment the action starts.

The OM-5 II has a 20MP Micro Four Thirds sensor that's really not far behind the quality of APS-C and full-frame sensors, and features excellent image stabilization. It's a generation behind the stacked sensors in the OM-1 II and OM-3, though (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

There are limits. The OM-5 II does not have the newer stacked sensor that's in the OM-3 and OM-1 II, and it uses an older 121-point AF system rather than OM Systems’ new subject-tracking quad-pixel AF. But at this price something’s got to give, and the OM-5 II’s AF is still quick and effective, and fine for everyday use.

Video isn’t a strong point either. The OM-5 II peaks at 4K 30p, and while it can do the slightly wider C4K format, that’s only at 24p. You do get Flat, OM-Log400, OM-Cinema1 and OM-Cinema2 profiles, but since this camera shoots only 8-bit video there’s a limit to how far you’ll want to push any color grading later.

There’s one more thing to mention: the OM Art Filters. Fujifilm fans make a huge fuss over Fujifilm Film simulations, but that’s nothing. From gritty black-and-white (with borders, if you like!) to super-saturated pop-art to HDR-like dramatic tone effects to vintage, bleach bypass and instant camera looks, OM System Art Filters are a fantastic playground for creative photographers. Yes, you can shoot a raw file at the same time as a backup – heck, you can even bracket Art Filter effects to get multiple alternatives for each image.

Can the OM-5 II handle high ISOs? I would probably stop at ISO 6,400, but you can get good results beyond that, especially with today's AI denoising tools (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

Beware of Lightroom's default noise settings for raw files! If you shoot raw you might be dismayed by the noise at ISO 25,600 (right), but the OM-5 II's in-camera JPEGs (left) show how it should be done (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

The OM-5 II does have limitations – of course it does. You’ll want to stay away from sky-high ISOs, its AF can’t match the latest AI subject-recognition tech in rival cameras, and its video features are basic.

And no, it’s not a huge advance on the old camera, the OM-5; but as I've said, it doesn't need to be. If you stand back and look at what this camera can do, at this price (unchanged from the Mark I version, by the way), it’s an absolute pocket rocket, even today. In my book, the OM-5 II is the best affordable travel camera going.

OM System OM-5 II: price

(Image credit: Rod Lawton)

You can buy the OM-5 II for around $1,199 / £1,099 body-only or $1,599 / £1,499 with the 12-45mm f/4 kit lens. Don’t underestimate this lens; it’s small, portable and offers excellent image quality well beyond the typical kit lens. OM System calls it a Pro lens, and it is. And, like the OM-5 II, the camera is weather sealed. You can get cheaper ‘starter’ cameras than this, but none which approach the OM-5 II’s feature set.

OM System OM-5 II: specs

Sensor

4/3-inch Live MOS sensor, 20.4MP

Lens mount

Micro Four Thirds

ISO range

200-6,400 (64-25,600 exp)

Autofocus

121-point phase/contrast AF

Burst shooting

6fps mechanical with C-AF, 10fps electronic with C-AF, up to 30fps electronic with S-AF, Pro Capture mode with S-AF

Video

C4K 24p, 4K UHD 30p, FHD up to 120p

EVF

2.36m-dot OLED

Rear screen

3-inch 1.037m-dot vari-angle touchscreen

Storage

1x SD UHS II

Battery

BLS-50, 310 shots

Size (body only)

125.3 x 49.7 x 85.2mm, 418g

OM System OM-5 II: design

This gives you an idea of just how compact the E-M5 II and 12-45mm lens combo actually is – remember, this lens is equivalent to a 24-90mm in full-frame terms (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

• Reshaped grip for better handling
• Excellent top-mounted twin control dials
• Weather sealed (as are OM Pro lenses)

The OM-5 II is a small camera with remarkably good ergonomics. The grip has been reshaped so it handles larger lenses better (just as well, because the old add-on grip no longer fits), and the top-mounted control dials are easy to reach with your thumb and forefinger and have a precise, quality feel with just the right amount of weight.

This also applies to the main mode dial, which has a central locking button to prevent accidental adjustments. The buttons are a little less impressive, and seem a bit on the small side for anyone with big hands, but they work fine, and they’re clearly labelled and well spaced. There’s a new CP (computational photography) button on the top to make it easier to access the camera’s clever computational features, though you still have to turn a dial to select the one you want.

I’ll admit the button placement here did annoy me. The CP button and the video Record button are just too close together, and too hard to tell apart by touch. Hitting CP instead of Record was endlessly annoying during my video tests.

I think the OM-5 II is actually pretty good for casual video work, but the placement of the Record button is annoying, and it's too easy to press the CP button by mistake. Those twin control dials, however, are superb (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

I'm not a big fan of power switches away from the shutter release, but I do like the drive mode and display mode buttons on the top (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

The ‘OK’ button on the back activates the camera’s ’Super Control Panel’ where you can make practically all of your day-to-day settings adjustments, and one of the key improvements in this camera over the old one is the redesigned menu system. That doesn’t sound like much of a thing, right? In fact, it transforms the experience of using this camera – if you’ve used the ‘old’ menus, you’ll know this was long overdue.

The EVF is not the highest-resolution, but it’s clear, contrasty and crisp, and it’s fine, especially at this price. The vari-angle rear screen is great too – and if you have the touch-shutter mode enabled, you can tap to focus and shoot in a single action and the response is practically instantanous.

For its size, this is an exceptionally well designed camera. Yes, if you’re new to it you will have to learn where things are, as with any camera. But once you’re past that phase you’ll find this camera fast and intuitive to operate, with fewer button presses and less lag than many of its rivals. What the OM-5 II lacks in state of the art specs, it makes up for as a pure shooting tool.

OM System OM-5 II: performance

• Only 121 AF points, but fast
• Excellent detail
• ISO best kept to 6,400 or below

The 12-45mm f/4 kit lens is great for travel photography. This was taken at its 24mm equivalent widest setting (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

At the opposite end of the zoom range, the 90mm equivalent focal length gives you a much flatter perspective for tighter cropping and fewer distractions (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

The color rendition is great and there's plenty of detail from this 20MP sensor (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

The OM-5 II is an extremely responsive camera. It starts up fast, it switches between the EVF and the rear screen in a fraction of a second as you move your eye to and from the viewfinder, and the autofocus is extremely fast too, especially using the tap shutter option on the rear screen. The only respect in which the AF system is starting to show its age is the relatively modest 121 AF points on offer, and the fact that the individual AF boxes/targets are fairly large, though you can swap to a more precise Single-S (small) option.

Detail rendition is excellent with OM Pro lenses like the 12-45mm f/4 pro and OM primes like the 17mm f/1.8, 25mm f/1.8 and (especially) the 45mm f/1.8. All optical corrections are carried out in-camera, applied automatically, and embedded in the raw files as ‘manufacturer’ correction profiles. Dynamic range is really good too, though you can’t drag up really deep shadows more than 2-3EV before they start to get a little noisy – this is where a larger-sensor camera will often do a little better (though not always).

The IBIS on this smaller sensor verges on the uncanny. I shot this handheld at 1/2 sec to blur the windblown grasses in the foreground. (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

This was taken handheld with the Computational Photography 4-stop ND option to slow the shutter speed right down to 1/2 sec. I'm not quite convinced by the movement in the leaves and the grass, but it's great if you don't like carrying filters

The OM-5 II's raw files process very nicely, with similar highlight recover to larger sensor cameras, though you might not want to bring up the shadows quite as far (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

What I especially like about the OM system is the consistent quality of the Pro lenses. With the 12-45mm f/4 you don't have to worry about edge detail or longer focal lengths – it's great at every zoom setting and every lens aperture (Image credit: Rod Lawton)

The maximum standard sensitivity on this camera is ISO 6,400, but it does offer an expanded ISO range up to 25,600 – personally I’d stick at ISO 6,400. At this setting the OM-5 II still produces very good results, though if you shoot raw files and use Adobe Camera Raw/Lightroom you might see a little more noise than you bargained for. That’s Adobe’s raw engine, not the camera. Of course, these days you can get some terrific AI noise reduction tools – I’ve used them on OM camera raw files and the high-ISO image quality is transformed.

As for video, check out the sample below. The conditions were pretty wild, but the OM-5 II did a great job under the circumstances

If you do use the OM-5 II for video you’ll get decent results. It won’t track you as effectively as some other hybrid cameras as you move around the frame, but if you keep reasonably still you should be fine. The OM-5 II is not designed for video in the same way that many hybrid mirrorless cameras are, but if you typically use video straight from the camera without any fancy grading effects, it’s fine, especially for social media use.

Should you buy the OM System OM-5 II?Buy it if…

You need a go-anywhere camera
The OM-5 II is a rugged, affordable travel camera that can tackle just about anything, from landscapes to travel to night photographyView Deal

You're fine with 20MP
Most full-frame alternatives are only 24MP anyway. 20MP is fine for even larger wall art, and for online/social use you'll be downsizing your images anyway.View Deal

You don't want a cotton-wool camera
You don't need to baby the OM-5 II. It will shrug off rain and sea spray, it won't care about dust, and it's inexpensive enough not to make you anxious about it.View Deal

Don't buy it if...

Your main interest is sports and wildlife
The OM-5 II's burst mode is nippy enough for casual shooting, but for any serious work you should look for a camera with subject-tracking AF and faster burst speeds.View Deal

You're a serious/pro filmmaker
The OM-5 II shoots decent 4K video with excellent stabilization, but you have to drop to full HD for faster frame rates, and its 8-bit video is not ideal for heavy color grading later.View Deal

You already have an OM-5!
The updates in the Mark II version are useful but probably not enough to make you swap. The OM-5 II is probably aimed more at new users rather than OM-5 upgraders.View Deal

How I tested the OM System OM-5 II

• I tested the camera for two weeks
• I used it with OM System's 12-45mm f/4 kit lens
• I shot both stills and video in a variety of conditions

(Image credit: Rod Lawton)

I’ve owned several Olympus and OM System cameras in the past, so I’m very familiar with their strengths and weaknesses and exactly what they're capable of. I spent some time with the OM-5 Mark II, comparing its improved handling and menu system with the original OM-5 which I've also reviewed, and also with the E-M5 III before that.

I used the OM-5 II and its 12-45mm f/4 kit lens for a variety of projects including landscapes, street/travel shots, and video in wet and wild weather conditions. I wanted to compare the detail rendition with my full-frame cameras, the image quality at higher ISOs, and the effectiveness of the IBIS in order to explore the compromises and advantages of this smaller format.

• First tested: October 2025
• Read more about how we test

With its rugged build, wide range of lenses and smart computational modes, the OM System OM-5 II a dream travel camera.

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Freshworks is a multiproduct, scalable software solution that offers total support for commercial businesses. Its five products provide customer relationship management (CRM) support for customer service, sales and marketing, as well as software support for IT and HR.

With this Freshworks review, we go over every aspect of the Freshworks product suite, compare its products with the competition, and tell you everything you need to know to decide if Freshworks is the best CRM software solution for your business.

Freshworks review: Snapshot

The Freshworks software suite offers a comprehensive CRM solution for commercial businesses. There are five products available to users: customer support, sales, marketing, HR, and IT.

Budget-sensitive users can benefit from Freshworks’ generous free offering, which provides enough functionality to meet the needs of a solopreneur or small business. Freshworks also boasts a very short setup time—around 48 hours. Conversely, most competitor products can take weeks or months to set up.

On the other hand, Freshworks has a smaller range of customization options relative to its competitors. Some users, especially larger organizations, may need to make major changes to the UI or create very specific custom fields, and might be better served by Salesforce (US-only link) or HubSpot in this regard.

Despite the limited amount of customization, though, we consider Freshworks to be a well-rounded software suite that is best suited for small business users.

Score: 4.5/5

Read on for the full review.

Freshworks: Key features

Freshworks offers five products, each with four levels of pricing depending on your needs and the size of your organization. Each product is a fully functional platform that provides support for a specific business need: customer service, sales, marketing, human resources, or IT.

Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a CRM focused on customer service across all channels. Its core function is to provide a ticketing system that converts customer inquiries from all channels into one inbox. From there, tickets are automatically processed and forwarded to the relevant agent. Users can customize which agent receives each type of ticket and which tickets are considered a priority. Read our full Freshdesk CRM review for more.

Freshsales

Freshsales is a CRM designed to maximize the effectiveness of users’ sales teams. Its key features include a visual sales pipeline and a system for automatically prioritizing and qualifying leads. It also has configurable automation settings for repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails to clients. To learn more, read our Freshsales CRM review.

Image 1 of 5

Freshdesk is Freshworks’ full featured customer service CRM (Image credit: Freshworks)Image 2 of 5

Freshsales is a CRM designed to maximize the efficiency of sales teams (Image credit: Freshworks)Image 3 of 5

Freshmarketer is a CRM that facilitates robust email marketing campaigns (Image credit: Freshworks)Image 4 of 5

Freshservice is a total IT support solution for businesses (Image credit: Freshworks)Image 5 of 5

Freshteam is an HR management service provided by Freshworks (Image credit: Freshworks)

Freshmarketer

Freshmarketer is a CRM for streamlining and automating marketing activities. You can use Freshmarketer to run email marketing campaigns, optimize your website for maximum conversion, and communicate directly with customers via email and chat. Find out more in our detailed Freshmarketer CRM review.

Freshservice

Freshservice is Freshworks’ IT support CRM. It’s functionally similar to Freshdesk, in that it is primarily a CRM for optimizing support tickets. It contains the same basic features, such as aggregating inquiries from multiple channels into a single ticket inbox. However, unlike Freshdesk, it is ITIL compliant and therefore suitable for IT support. It also adds IT-specific functions for incident management handling, change, problem and release management, and asset management. For more, take a look at our Freshservice review.

Freshteam

Freshteam is an HR management service that provides paperless onboarding, automation for repetitive tasks like resume screening and follow-up emails, and a system for tracking employee time off. It also aggregates staff information into one employee database. Employees can access the system to request time off, browse internal job openings, and connect with other members of the organization easily within the CRM.

Freshworks: What’s new?

Freshworks continues to update its total business CRM suite on a monthly basis, and 2021 saw numerous changes. A particularly noteworthy feature is CRM migration. It is now possible to migrate CRM data from competitors, such as HubSpot, directly into the Freshworks suite with just a few clicks.

In terms of cross-platform features, Freshworks has implemented full Slack integration in its sales CRM, Freshsales. Users can create a private chat channel specific to a particular deal, and chat directly from an integrated window in the Freshsales web app.

Another change is the ability to reorder sections of the page in Freshworks. The Freshworks UI features multiple sections. For instance, in Freshsales, some sections show recent conversations, recent activities, and related accounts. These sections can be hidden or unhidden, and rearranged as needed. Although customization still remains limited, this change gives users more options than they had before.

Freshworks pricing Freshsales' pricing plans

Plan type/feature

Free

Growth*

Pro*

Enterprise*

HubSpot* Sales Starter

Salesforce Essentials*

Cost per month

$0

$15

$39

$69

$22.50

$25

Cost per year

$0

$180

$468

$828

$270

$300

Customer database

✓

✓

✓

✓

X

✓

Mobile app

✓

✓

✓

✓

X

✓

24x5 support

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

X

Limited pipelines

X

✓

X

X

X

✓

Unlimited pipelines

X

X

✓

✓

✓

X

Custom modules

X

X

X

✓

X

✓

Freshworks offers four different pricing tiers across each of its five products: Free, Growth, Pro, and Enterprise. Overall, we find its pricing to be quite competitive, especially for the lower-end plan options.

Billing is flexible, with monthly and annual options available. Compared to the monthly option, the annual pricing is discounted 17% across the board for all of Freshworks’ pricing plans. Below is a comparison of one of Freshworks’ most popular offerings, Freshsales, against comparable offers by key competitors.

*Prices are per user. HubSpot pricing is $45 for a minimum of two users, so one user is priced at $22.50.

Freshworks competitorsHow does Freshworks compare to the competition?

Freshworks

HubSpot

Salesforce

Score

4.5/5

4.5/5

5/5

Pros

- Wide range of products - Robust free offering - Quick setup

Decent free offering - Over 300 customizable apps

Very wide range of tools - Large community with active peer support

Cons

Less customization than competitors - Premium plans are expensive if all five products are purchased

Free plan lacks telephone support - Setup takes eight to 12 weeks

No free plan - Can be expensive compared to competitors

Verdict

Freshworks is great for small businesses seeking a CRM at an affordable price, with a quick and easy setup.

HubSpot is powerful CRM software, with many customization options that are relatively easy to use.

Salesforce offers unparalleled customization options for mid- to large-sized businesses with the time and capital to implement it effectively.

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Visit site (US link)

Salesforce and HubSpot are Freshworks’ closest competitors in the CRM market.

Salesforce is an established total CRM solution. At its core, it functions similarly to Freshworks, providing CRM products to fit specific business needs. The difference is in the scope: where Freshworks offers five products, Salesforce offers 14. It also offers near total customization to the user.

Implementation is a two-to-eight week process, during which the user works with the Salesforce development team to create a CRM experience that is uniquely tailored to their needs. The software is priced accordingly, being significantly more expensive than a Freshworks subscription.

Salesforce is most suitable for an organization with a large budget and CRM needs that go beyond what a basic product package can provide. Read our Salesforce review to find out more.

HubSpot is also a total CRM solution, offering products for sales, customer service, and marketing. Unlike Freshworks, HubSpot does not offer HR and IT support. Also, we found that HubSpot is a bit more expensive than Freshworks at each pricing tier.

On the other hand, all fields in the HubSpot CRM, as well as most of the UI, can be modified, rearranged, or removed as the user requires. Additionally, HubSpot’s app marketplace is larger than Freshworks’, with 900 apps to Freshworks’ 650. This means that overall, HubSpot provides more customization options than Freshworks. Read our HubSpot CRM review to learn more.

Freshworks is less expensive, offers IT and HR products, and is faster to set up. So unless the user places a huge amount of importance on customization, we consider Freshworks to be the best option for small commercial businesses.

For mid- to large-sized enterprises, it comes down to how much they want to tailor the software to their specific needs. If a default product that is ready to go quickly is sufficient, then Freshworks is again the best option. Otherwise, Salesforce is probably the best CRM solution.

Let’s see just how Freshworks compares to its primary competitors.

Getting started with Freshworkds

Getting Freshmarketer up and running was easy, and took less than five minutes (Image credit: Freshworks)

We tested setup time by downloading Freshmarketer, the marketing CRM, which was very easy to implement. After we input our login information, the system was ready to use in-browser, leading to a total setup time of fewer than five minutes.

With the help of Freshmarketer’s tutorial, it took another 10 minutes or so to import some contacts and create a basic marketing "journey". Journeys are Freshmarker's marketing campaigns. Our journey mapped out our cold email campaign and set follow-up dates.

Freshworks’ website features testimonials describing setup in less than 48 hours. Based on our own testing experience, this timeframe is realistic. It can be even shorter, depending on the user’s customization needs.

Some users will want customization beyond the default offering, so we decided to test just how much customization Freshworks offers.

Freshworks customizations

Freshworks features limited customization, allowing users to edit and move some fields while keeping most of the UI static (Image credit: Freshworks)

Customization is an important part of any CRM software. Every user has their own unique needs, and some tailoring of the software will inevitably be required. With this in mind, we tested exactly how much customization Freshworks offers to users.

The major features of the program UI, like sidebar layout and navbar position, are fixed, but there is a large amount of useful customization within the existing fields. For example, contacts in the database can be edited with up to 27 pre-set fields such as name, address, annual revenue, and territory. If none of those 27 options suit you, it is easy to create your own custom field in just a few clicks.

Moreover, Freshworks features one-click import from other CRMs and easy integration of apps from the Freshworks marketplace. Although Freshworks may not have the same level of customization as some of its competitors, the available options are more than sufficient for a client looking to make tweaks to the basic package.

How we test CRMs

Since Freshworks features five separate products, we chose to test features that are common across all of them: namely, setup time and customization. These features are particularly important to small business owners and solopreneurs, who may not be able to accept weeks of downtime while setting up a CRM service.

Freshworks: Final verdict

Freshworks is a powerful platform offered at a reasonable price. It offers comprehensive HR and IT support, something that is missing from many CRMs. It's great for empowering collaboration and boosting employee productivity.

It is also extremely straightforward to install. Many features, such as the Freshmarketer product, are ready to use almost immediately. Most CRMs can take several weeks to get up and running, while Freshworks can be online in less than 48 hours.

Its customization options are decent, with a growing marketplace of over 650 apps. But CRMs with a larger customization offering, like Salesforce or HubSpot, might be more suitable for companies with high customization needs.

Customer support is present 24/5 by live chat, phone, and email on all product tiers. At the highest pricing tier, Enterprise, users receive a dedicated support person for their account. This means that Freshworks support improves for premium users, but is still highly accessible for free and growth tier users.

Overall, thanks to its broad umbrella of software, Freshworks offers something for everyone. Its products are quick to get up and running, and are easy to use. They cover a wide range of use cases and offer limited but sufficient customization. Moreover, Freshworks is highly scalable and offers a robust free plan for all its products.

For these reasons, we consider it to be the perfect solution for budget-conscious users, or businesses that prioritize a quick launch and ease-of-use over extensive customization.

Freshworks FAQWhat sort of tools can Freshworks integrate with?

Freshworks CRM offers a number of native integrations with popular platforms, including Google Calendar, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp. It also provides an API for custom integrations.

What are Freshworks AI capabilities?

Freshworks' AI functionalities revolve around its AI tool, Freddy. Freshworks' AI assistant Freddy provides smart deal insights and a built-in AI chatbot, as well as email and sales sequences. IT can also score contacts based on historical data and engagement.

What features are not included in the Freshworks basic plan?

They say nothing in this life comes for free and certainly there are some Freshworks features that only become available the higher you move up the pay scale. Some essential features, for example, like custom reports, sales forecasting, and certain AI capabilities may not be included in the entry-level plans. If, say, you want multiple sales pipelines or access to Freddy AI, you'll need the Pro plan. However, it's worth bearing in mind that there is a 21-day free trial if you want to check out a pricing tier without committing.

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