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OM-D is Camera of the Year 2012 on DPR

bradhusick

Active member
DP Review names Olympus OM-D Camera of the Year 2012, beating D800 and 5D Mark III. Having had one for about 6 months I have to agree - it's a breakthrough in offering very few compromises over the full size SLRs while being substantially smaller for travel. It has replaced my Canon 1D Mark IV and library of big L and white lenses, especially with the excellent Panasonic 12-35 and 35-100 f/2.8 lenses (28-70 and 70-200).

While I had hoped the Leica Monochrom would get top honors (it's the real breakthrough) that camera is not really the market for DP Review readers.

Best Camera of 2012: And the Winner is...: Digital Photography Review
 
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Vivek

Guest
While I had hoped the Leica Monochrom would get top honors (it's the real breakthrough) that camera is not really the market for DP Review readers.
That camera is not in the market, period. To be able sell (let alone be judged for being the "best camera of the year"), it has to be available for purchase, first! :D

I am happy to see Olympus EM-5 taking the honors with their first camera with an integrated EVF. :)
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Well deserved victory. The OM-D seems to make a real stir in the market. In many way, it is what digital exchangeable lens cameras should have been from the outset, instead of replacing film with a digital sensor in a traditional SLR body.
 

dhsimmonds

New member
Whilst I normally don't give much credit to these sorts of awards, I do believe that this is a well deserved "gong" for the OM-D.

It is a groundbreaking camera in many different ways but the fact that photographers who in the past have shunned 4/3rds (usually for very valid reasons) are now taking to mFT and the OM-D in particular. Many others who were more comfortable with full frame and APS-c DSLR's are changing systems, is also really quite something.

I include myself as a relatively recent convert, and I have watched as more and more of my photographer friends have also changed complete systems or using the OM-D as an alternative or back up system.

Well done Olympus. :thumbs:
 

jonoslack

Active member
I think it was a well deserved victory as well. I've had mine since April, and it's been a great companion.
It handles nicely and takes good pictures.
Olympus have finally sorted out getting a decent sensor just when there are enough good lenses about.
It's been good enough to get me to drop my dSLR kit completely.
 

Tesselator

New member
I laughed when I read this part:

"Although a very different camera to the D800, the OM-5 EM-5 is a seriously impressive product."

hehe, Nooooo, say it isn't so.... :D

BTW that "Camera Of The Year Award" seems to be only a popularity poll from reading it. Bummer! :(

Thanks for the link BTW. It's kinda interesting to see what's popular with those photogs who take on-line polls.
 

Knorp

Well-known member
You really can't take this kind of polls all too seriously IMO. It's good fun though, but nothing more nothing less.
Let's face it: everyone likes to choose his own camera (read the comments).
And if I had bought a D800 instead of the OMD, I'd have voted for the D800 !
:ROTFL: :rolleyes: :eek:

All the best.
 

Craftysnapper

New member
Whilst I normally don't give much credit to these sorts of awards, I do believe that this is a well deserved "gong" for the OM-D.

It is a groundbreaking camera in many different ways but the fact that photographers who in the past have shunned 4/3rds (usually for very valid reasons) are now taking to mFT and the OM-D in particular. Many others who were more comfortable with full frame and APS-c DSLR's are changing systems, is also really quite something.

I include myself as a relatively recent convert, and I have watched as more and more of my photographer friends have also changed complete systems or using the OM-D as an alternative or back up system.

Well done Olympus. :thumbs:
I heartily agree with the above, but what I find really amusing is that the usual big two fanboys complacent smugness that fourthirds is not for serious photographers has now been replaced by vitriol comments.

I put this down to seeds of self doubt that are planted in their one dimensional my choice is the only right choice world and shouting louder helps ease their self doubt that their world is not the whole world.

I seem to remember something similar by die hard film users when digital came on the scene.;)
 
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Tesselator

New member
You really can't take this kind of polls all too seriously IMO. It's good fun though, but nothing more nothing less.
Let's face it: everyone likes to choose his own camera (read the comments).
And if I had bought a D800 instead of the OMD, I'd have voted for the D800 !
:ROTFL: :rolleyes: :eek:

All the best.
Sure, I don't take almost anything from DPR seriously. Their information is too inaccurate and some of the opinions and advice I read from the staffers and authors are often wrong and/or don't make much sense.

This poll is of course no big deal (to me) and I actually dig the idea of Olympus catching a break over that evil consumer electronics mass producer who makes µ4/3 cameras! But thinking about it clear mindedly it's a bit unconscionable. I'm pretty sure I would vote for whatever camera showed the best technological increase this year balanced by the best images. And if I wasn't sure at least to some degree of accuracy, I guess I wouldn't vote. In polls here where the results aren't published in the same light I might vote differently but probably not by much. My camera is the GH2 and I certainly wouldn't vote it nor the GH3, best camera of the year. :facesmack:

So basically it's just poll spamming then. Heh! Have a can: :SPAM:

Hehehe... :ROTFL:



But you good folks here who think the OM-D deserved this might I ask why you think so? Get specific. Just calling it "groundbreaking" doesn't work for me. What about it is groundbreaking ENOUGH to win Camera Of The Year? I wanna know... teach me teach me... :)
 
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Vivek

Guest
You really can't take this kind of polls all too seriously IMO. It's good fun though, but nothing more nothing less.
Let's face it: everyone likes to choose his own camera (read the comments).
And if I had bought a D800 instead of the OMD, I'd have voted for the D800 !
:ROTFL: :rolleyes: :eek:

All the best.
I would have voted for the "Lunar" if I were a dpreview voter. The reason is simple, none are available and everything has been shipped to the moon. :ROTFL:
 

Brian Mosley

New member
I voted for the OM-D, with my wallet last week :D

Killer features for me: the Sony 4/3rds sensor + Olympus image processing, super stabilisation and weathersealed body.

The range of lenses now available for m4/3rds makes this an outstanding small camera system - the current optimum balance of flexibility, performance and image quality.

The XE-1 was only held back by autofocus speed and raw converter support.

The RX-1 was only held back by autofocus speed.

I don't know why the D800 was even in the running? who wants a dinocam? :deadhorse: :ROTFL:

Obviously, a traffic generator for dpreview - but if it gives an indicator that m4/3rds is recognised as a mainstream leading edge system... it's all good for future products and developments.

Only superficially interesting to me. :)

I'm just glad to be inspired by a new camera in my hands :thumbs:

Cheers

Brian
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
But you good folks here who think the OM-D deserved this might I ask why you think so? Get specific. Just calling it "groundbreaking" doesn't work for me. What about it is groundbreaking ENOUGH to win Camera Of The Year? I wanna know... teach me teach me... :)
Because Olympus has made a fully electronic, exchangeable lens camera with good ergonomics, weather sealing and a superb image stabilisation in-body that produces images comparable to it's larger, more traditional counterparts, but made it as small as most of us would be comfortable with for enthusiast or professional use.

I think it's fair to say that they've transplanted the concept of the original OM into the digital world. The only other manufacturer that has so far succeeded with something similar is Leica with the M series, which is probably even more true to the original concept while at the same time grasping the progress of digital cameras.

But while the Leica is a manual focus niche product costing many times as much as a mainstream camera, the OM-D is priced and designed for any photo enthusiast or professional user to buy and use.

Sometimes, I get a feeling that the most important contributing factor to the OM-D is: Olympus listen to their customers. Nikon or Pentax could have built this camera. They didn't. Olympus did.
 

Jonas

Active member
Well, nearly 900 comments on the result at DPR. Several forum discussions thread asking users to vote. Name calling. I wish the **** could have stayed at DPR. But OK, it is amusing.

DP Review names Olympus OM-D Camera of the Year 2012, beating D800 and 5D Mark III
DPR don't take stand. The E-M5 got more votes than the other cameras did. DPR registered fanboys around the globe named the E-M5 the Camera of The Year, and that by a very small margin.

Well deserved victory. (...) instead of replacing film with a digital sensor in a traditional SLR body.
? The hump? The viewfinder centrally placed making our noses hit the LCD (again). I actually think Olympus worked pretty hard making the E-M5 look like an SLR camera introducing some OM nostalghia.

Sure, I don't take almost anything from DPR seriously. (...)
But you good folks here who think the OM-D deserved this might I ask why you think so? Get specific. Just calling it "groundbreaking" doesn't work for me. What about it is groundbreaking ENOUGH to win Camera Of The Year? I wanna know... teach me teach me... :)
I could say the same about many Internet places. But I think DPR and the DPR forums are among the worst.
No, the E-M5 isn't groundbraking enough, it has enough buyers and fans to win the poll. It's actually interesting to see the FF cameras getting so many votes. I didn't find the numbers when just checking DPR but recall the FF cameras in the top five group getting a lot of votes.

(...)
Sometimes, I get a feeling that the most important contributing factor to the OM-D is: Olympus listen to their customers. Nikon or Pentax could have built this camera. They didn't. Olympus did.
Every single week passing by without announcements from Olympus telling us they have fixed all the firmware bugs tells me they don't listen to their customers.

OK. I'll turn the grumpy mode off.
 

David Schneider

New member
Don't mean to be skeptical, but a "user poll" is like a popularity contest. It well be the best camera since the Brownie, but it might also be purchasers justifying their ownership.
 

Brian Mosley

New member
Don't mean to be naive, but if a "popularity contest" is good enough to determine the best available government, why wouldn't it be good enough to identify a decent camera? or a least worst camera? :ROTFL:

I agree with Jonas, this is a worthy DPR discussion. :rolleyes:

Cheers

Brian
 

jonoslack

Active member
But you good folks here who think the OM-D deserved this might I ask why you think so? Get specific. Just calling it "groundbreaking" doesn't work for me. What about it is groundbreaking ENOUGH to win Camera Of The Year? I wanna know... teach me teach me... :)
Well, although Brian and Jorgen have described it so well, I'll bite too. Several things come to mind.

1. third party lenses
For many people the point of mirrorless (at least partly) is to be able to use legacy and third party lenses. The OMD really nailed this with the Image stabilisation working so well on a half press of the shutter - meaning that one can easily manually focus a 300mm lens from the Olympus glory days (or leica or whoever). You can't do this as well with any other mirrorless camera.

2. Sensor Quality
µ43 has been plagued with the mediocre Panasonic sensors - the Sony unit in the OMD has transcended the problem, producing fantastic image quality, even at high ISO. If it has an AA filter it's very light, and the images are sharp and sparkly

3. Auto Focus
It's incredibly fast - the continuous is not good, but the one shot AF is just incredible - I've used it for surfing shots with a 600mm equivalent lens and nailed pretty much every shot. The touch focus/shoot together with this incredible focusing speed is really good for both tripod mounted macro shooting, and unobtrusive street shooting.

4. Body, ergonomics and size
It's a camera - and it feels like one. Sure there's infinite depths of menus if you want them. But it works extremely well as a PASM camera, without ever going in to the menus - it handles really well, added to which it's small and easy to carry - if you want it bigger then put on the grip . . .yes - it's part of a system

As for the poll in dpreview - there sure were a lot of people who voted - nobody would suggest that the OMD is the best selling camera of the lot, so it's not just people supporting the camera they bought. If it were just going to be fanboys boosting their own purchasing decisions then the OMD is not the winner you'd expect (and the D800 certainly not the runner up). I tend to trust thousands of users more than a reviewer!

From a personal point of view, and having watched the poll develop (and thus seeing the also rans and their votes) I would have said that it was a pretty good summary of the year's releases (close runners included the Fuji cameras etc.) It's a pity they don't seem to publish the whole list.

all the best
 

jonoslack

Active member
Don't mean to be skeptical, but a "user poll" is like a popularity contest. It well be the best camera since the Brownie, but it might also be purchasers justifying their ownership.
If that were the case then the best selling camera would have one, and the OMD is surely not that.
 

ustein

Contributing Editor
Mine would be by segment:

1. D800 highres
2. E-M5 for m43 stills
3. GH3 for m43 and video
4. RX100 compact
5. X-Pro1/X-E1 as rangefinder style and low light

Except of the E-M5 (which I used for two months) I own all of them and use them. Most of the time now XP1 and GH3.
 

k-hawinkler

Well-known member
Question:
What's the typical cycle for Olympus for the next model to be released!
So, when will the E-M6 show up? Any guesses?
 
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