I wrote, at the beginning of this piece, that the E-M10 is essentially a less expensive version of one of my favourite cameras - the E-M5. But that's not quite the full story - yes, there are a few feature omissions and a couple of hardware upgrades, but there are also more subtle improvements in the way the camera behaves. It's the little things, such as adjusting the brightness of the viewfinder to match the scene, and shutting off the eye sensor when the rear screen is flipped out that show the kind of attention-to-detail that Olympus is putting into its cameras.
The downside of Olympus constantly adding little features and modifications is that its cameras have become unbelievably complicated and the E-M10 is no exception. While I think it's great that Olympus doesn't restrict the software on its less expensive cameras, just to create a reason to make you buy the more expensive one, I do worry that the target audience will struggle to get the most out of this camera, as a result of its complexity.
Equally, given all the fine-tuning that's been done, it's hugely disappointing to have to write, yet again, about Super Control Panel being switched-off and hidden by default. I prefer it because it shows me more settings, without me having to scroll or click onto a separate page, but it's also quicker to use, because it works in tandem with the camera's touchscreen. So why should people who aren't familiar with Olympus's cameras have to struggle to engage it?
The other aspect of the camera that's showing its age is an interface that is based around separate screens: you can choose to see the histogram or you can choose to see levels - you can't have both. And this is a shame, since one of its screen modes is 'Highlight and Shadows' - which gives tunable highlight and shadow warnings, as you shoot, which is excellent for shooting outdoors or getting an immediate exposure warning.