Imo, Olympus camera noise issues can be separated into 3 categories, (I don't have E-M1 btw, just E-P5, I tested EM1 with Spidey89 back last Sept)
1. Typical usage less than 1 sec (hi iso),
2. Long exposure with Low iso for <1min,
3. long exposure > 1min.
(There's probably more but I won't go that far)
As what myself and spidey89 had tested in our E-M1 review, the EM1 hi ISO (cat 1) noise are better than EM5, but about a stop or so, no doubt about this.
The longest I tested with E-M1 was about 40s with ISO Low setting (which can be seen on
ed9119 E-M1 review thread), it actually looks cleaner than ISO200 of EM5, and hot pixels are none existent.
We weren't able to test E-M1 for long exposure >1min (Cat 3)due to crossing bridges event then, though looking at several reviews online, EM1 seems to have issues with hot pixels for extended period >1min.
In any case, in my experience of shooting long exposure shots with Oly cameras, hot pixels has always been an issue even with EM5 or earlier models, the question is when does it come in? Depends: Using live bulb/time, using on a hot day, shooting continuously, based on what I've seen online on several diff sites, and it does seem EM1 gets it faster (shorter) than EM5. I would think the design of heat dissipation (rather than sensor) plays more of a role. I'm not technical enough to conclude, or even from most threads I've read in other sources.
Some E-M1 online reviews and this
one particular stands out for me, for Wrotniak had been a very long time user for Olympus and written many useful articles.
And a 20page discussion on
EM1 long exposure noise here,if you have time can read.
Certainly E-M1 is one fine camera, just as with most cameras these days regardless of sensor. Just know it's limitation for long exposure >1min (which I do think not many shoot it that long even).
For what is worth here's a LE shot (73sec) with E-M10 which was tested when me and Spidey89 had for 2.5 days. Schedule was tight so didn't shoot night LE shot. There's a new Live Composite function that may help in reducing hot pixels, which we hope to test when we ever get the pre production set again.
E-M10+12-40, 73secs @F11, ISO200, Noise Filter OFF, Long exposure noise reduction ON (some call this "dark frame subtraction"). I used 2 ND filter (10+3 stops) to achieve that slow speed, hence some IQ may drop as well.
Cropped 100% (darker part of the picture to show shadow noise)
Again, some may not like IS200 noise shown, I can accept it, though using ISO100 would surely yield even cleaner results (but the highlights maybe blown more easily). It's always the hot pixels that bothers me with oly cameras, but in this case, E-M10 hasn't shown any, but this is certainly not a stress test...and for the pixel peepers, this is the
large reso file link
Hope that helps