E-P2 out

[Robert Campbell]

http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=870668

Two new lenses also.

http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=870667

 

[Brian Mosley]

That 9-18mm f4-5.6 looks promising!

Cheers

Brian

 

[Zara]

That 9-18mm f4-5.6 looks promising!

I was thinking the same thing! I've been planning to add the 14/2.8 when it's released, despite really wanting something at least 12mm wide. But looking at the size of the Oly I may reconsider if price and performance are reasonable.

 

[Vivek]

Yes, the 9-18 is the interesting thing in that. Should be good.:thumbs:

The VF2 looks good. Should be very comfortable from the looks of it (after all these years of camera making experience, Olympus is bound to get that right).:thumbs:

E-P2....still no swivel TFT screen.:thumbdown:

 

[Streetshooter]

GASP! What the heck is that thing growing on top of that poor camera...?
What have they done to the beautiful, simple, sexi design......?

I will pray for you Pen 2....but will indeed keep my Pen 1 far and away from you....
Shocked Shooter

 

[kevinparis]

hmmm ... very underwhelming..

big clunky external VF... lenses we already have... why wasn't all this in the e-p1?


was hoping for something a little more exciting ... at least a 14/2.8 or a 25/2

K

 

[Will]

Now that really is a beautiful camera. Not so keen on the EVF though I would use it.

 

[kevinparis]

will

so its all about the black then... because it is the same as the e-p1 ... which is a beautiful looking camera... ergonomically it kinda sucks unless you turn off all the buttons

K

 

[trisberg]

I don't want the EVF so I should just wait for one of you to put their E-P1 and 17mm f/2.8 up for sale for a good price as you get ready to upgrade

Didn't see any mention of improved auto-focus speed which I wouldn't mind.

Has anyone tried the GF1 with the Olympus 17mm? If so, how is the auto-focus speed?

-Thomas

 

[Will]

will

so its all about the black then... because it is the same as the e-p1 ... which is a beautiful looking camera... ergonomically it kinda sucks unless you turn off all the buttons

K

That's about right K
This is the nearest looking one yet to my old OM4

 

[monza]

VF looks big, but on the other hand, it is probably a big view, too.

 

[Streetshooter]

I'll tell ya....heads should roll....I mean....

Here's some guys sitting back looking at their great design of the EP1 and even the EP2.
Then as they smile at each other and sip on some nice Merlot......well maybe Saki.....

the head guy, the top shelf engineer, the money man comes in....puts that THING on top of that elegant camera and says......

This here be the stuff that ... well........I'm not allowed to go further......

It's obvious, he actually is on Panasonic's payroll....

If Moses saw that, there would be another Commandment....

nuff said....shooter

 

[Brian Mosley]

E-P2....still no swivel TFT screen.:thumbdown:

Well, the EVF socket is being used for peripherals (the first of which are EVF and microphone interface)... could it be possible - an articulating lcd to attach to that socket?

Cheers

Brian

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Seems too be most of what I hoped for; high-res EVF, black colour and video. Tilting LCD would have been nice, but probably not realistic on this body. Olympus probably save a lot on tooling costs using the same as on EP-1. It's a pity that external mike and EVF can't be connected at the same time, but I can live with that.

This might be what I've been waiting for to use with my OM lenses

Any word about price yet?

 

[Vivek]

Well, the EVF socket is being used for peripherals (the first of which are EVF and microphone interface)... could it be possible - an articulating lcd to attach to that socket?

Cheers

Brian

Nice thoughts, Brian.

The mechanical/handling aspects would be a bother, I think.

I think the VF2 of Oly is going to be much better than the corresponding one from Pana (functionally that is).

They should have done this with the E-P1 itself...

 

[ecsh]

950.00 euros = $1406.00= OUCH
I wonder if that projected price included the viewfinder. Probably not.

 

[Linh]

wow, the VF looks massive. I don't know if I like that. I do dig it in the new black.

though, onboard flash proved quite valuable for my GF1. Managed to snag a pretty basic point and shoot shot, but w/o flash, it would not have come out (handed camera to someone else, had met singer of a band).

A solid bump to pull in some on the fence, but not worth getting rid of the E-P1... what's the ship date on this thing even?

 

[RonSmith]

I'm not kicking myself for getting the GF1 last month.

 

[Linh]

I'm not kicking myself for getting the GF1 last month.

nor I, my main goal was the 20/1.7 to be honest. Either system would have been fine I think, but from a value perspective, the GF1/20 kit was a no brainer for me.

 

[Jonathon Delacour]

hmmm ... very underwhelming..

big clunky external VF... lenses we already have... why wasn't all this in the e-p1?

was hoping for something a little more exciting ... at least a 14/2.8 or a 25/2

K

Lenses we already have, indeed. In a DPreview post a couple of days ago, Thom Hogan wrote:

Actually, the odds that Panasonic and Olympus end up almost exactly duplicating lenses is going to be near 100%. I understand Olympus' next lenses are a wide zoom, a closer to normal pancake, and a telephoto macro. Sound familiar?

Sad to see. If we get two companies duplicating lenses what we don't get is a system broadened so fast that the competition can't catch them. Right now, Samsung, Ricoh, and Sony (all known to be doing competitive designs) only have to do a wide zoom, normal zoom, tele zoom, and two or three primes to appear to match m4/3. Lenses that should be coming next for m4/3 and would give m4/3 the ability to point at what their first-to-market advantage really means just aren't there. A 12mm prime. A 40mm fast portrait lens (not macro). A wider to telephotier zoom lens (12-60mm). A 180 degree diagonal fisheye. A 25-75mm f/2. Things like that...
​

Thom turned out to be wrong on both counts: unfair to Panasonic and wildly optimistic about Olympus' next lenses being a zoom and two primes. That was never going to happen, given Olympus' bias towards zoom lenses (there are 15 zooms and only 6 primes in the Olympus Standard Four-Thirds range).

So if you want a 14/2.8 or a 25/2, that will mean another zoom as well. If you want both primes, they will come at the cost of another two zooms. I don't understand why Olympus is so anti-prime. Happily, Panasonic doesn't suffer from this bias (currently 3 zooms and 2 primes, with 1 zoom and 2 primes promised for next year -- which would yield a 50:50 split).

Hopefully, Mr Kobayashi at Cosina-Voigtlander can see an opportunity to which Olympus seems either hostile or oblivious.