The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

New gig, four thirds micro

Riley

New member
Olympus and Panasonic launched Micro Four Thirds today



http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/index.html

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0808/08080501microfourthirds.asp

Micro Four Thirds facts and features

* Same Four Thirds sensor size (18 x 13.5 mm)
* Flange back distance half that of Four Thirds (20 versus 40 mm)
* Lens mount diameter 6 mm smaller (44 versus 50 mm)
* Contrast Detect AF is implied (passive would require an external sensor)
* Lens to body electrical contact points up to 11 from 9
* Lenses of same focal length and maximum aperture considerably smaller than Four Thirds
* Enables slim and compact lens-interchangeable digital cameras
* Lack of mirror well necessitate a high quality EVF (or an EVF/Viewfinder-less design)
* Current Four Thirds lenses can be used with an adapter
* Enables seamless switching between still and movie shooting
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Let's see what they do with the lenses, that is where they could make or break this thing. If they make slightly smaller kit lens zooms then it won't be that interesting, if they make tiny pancakes then I'm first in line! Could really put the new 12 megapixel P&S's into shade, take a 420, make it half the width and lop off the viewfinder, that's a very small package with a sensor that will kill P&S's!
 

Riley

New member
yes
IQ wise, potentially the death of small sensor compacts
i wonder if they will hit on superzooms too
 

jonoslack

Active member
Hi There
Thanks for the link Riley
Ben - this won't kill point and shoots - if the viewfinder is good enough, then it'll clean up on rangefinders and small slr cameras as well, but it will certainly destroy the 'bridge camera' market as it stands.

They've already proved that 4/3 is the business with respect to lens quality (it's still my major grouch with the D700, that decent lenses are huge, and small lenses aren't decent).

To be honest, I don't think this is really competition for p&s cameras - most of the target audience don't care a great deal about image quality (or more and more MP counts on smaller sensors wouldn't be happening). Last time I looked, the equivalent pixel density on a 4/3 sensor of the last crop of p&s equated to something like 48mp.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Jono, wasn't me who said that it would kill p&s's, that would be silly as that market belongs to the p&s crowd who couldn't care less. If the lenses are small enough it might well be serious competition to the 13 megapixel 'pro' p&s bodies and of course kill the bridge cameras if any still exist these days.
 

Terry

New member
On the point and shoot side it is direct competition to a DP1. On the bridge side there are a lot of birders who love the long reach superzooms so it will be all about lens design ((I'm talking FZ50, Vlux, Fuji models off of "bigger" small sensors. The 15x and 18x designs would be hard to replicate). Give me a couple of Voigtlander size lenses with a tilt and swivel LCD and I'm a happy camper!
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Given that this will have less in it than the E-420 which sells pretty cheaply anyway (~$450)and we will assume that Oly will make money on the lenses - The Sigma DP1 is as good as dead. Especially at that price.
 
Last edited:

jonoslack

Active member
Jono, wasn't me who said that it would kill p&s's, that would be silly as that market belongs to the p&s crowd who couldn't care less. If the lenses are small enough it might well be serious competition to the 13 megapixel 'pro' p&s bodies and of course kill the bridge cameras if any still exist these days.
Sorry Ben
Quite agree - it's the bridge cameras that should worry.
Terry - I've just been discussing the 'birder' issue - there really is no reason why they can't make very long zoom lenses in very small packages (image circle is easier to deal with on longer lenses). On the other hand I would question how they'll manage with wide angle.

The other thing that springs to mind is Leica - we've always been assured of a big surprise in photokina - what price a nice metal body with a couple of panaleica lenses to go with it?
You are effectively talking a digilux 2, with interchangeable lenses and a sensor twice the size . . . .. . .
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Some tiny pancake panoleica lenses for a oly mini 4/3 camera with a swivel screen at around G9 size - I think I've died and gone to heaven!
 

Terry

New member
Sorry Ben
Quite agree - it's the bridge cameras that should worry.
Terry - I've just been discussing the 'birder' issue - there really is no reason why they can't make very long zoom lenses in very small packages (image circle is easier to deal with on longer lenses). On the other hand I would question how they'll manage with wide angle.

The other thing that springs to mind is Leica - we've always been assured of a big surprise in photokina - what price a nice metal body with a couple of panaleica lenses to go with it?
You are effectively talking a digilux 2, with interchangeable lenses and a sensor twice the size . . . .. . .
Jono,
If you read the Panny forum at DPReview, the birders don't care about wide angle. The longer the teleconverters the better!

For me this is great news. The Digilux2 was my enter back into photography!
 

jonoslack

Active member
Some tiny pancake panoleica lenses for a oly mini 4/3 camera with a swivel screen at around G9 size - I think I've died and gone to heaven!
Clearly it's the new Leica 'CL' - panaleica lenses (we know how good they can be), nice metal body, as you say, around G9 sized, with a pocketable telephoto zoom as well.

I'm in the queue!
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
This is very interesting news, and while I'm less than impressed by electronic viewfinders in general, I can't wait to try one of these out, particularly for travel. Hopefully, there will be weather sealed bodies and lenses as well.

I wonder if it would be possible for Leica to use this lens mount for a camera with an optical viewfinder and an electronic rangefinder? In any case, I hope that Leica will grab this opportunity to modify some of their existing M-mount lenses to the new mount. That would really give this system a flying start.
 

jonoslack

Active member
Jono,
If you read the Panny forum at DPReview, the birders don't care about wide angle. The longer the teleconverters the better!

For me this is great news. The Digilux2 was my enter back into photography!
Okay, but I care about wide angle (and so do you!)

More I think about it, the more I'm sure that this is going to be the core of the new Leica announcement - they would have to be completely mad not to be on the bandwagon for this.
 

Terry

New member
Okay, but I care about wide angle (and so do you!)

More I think about it, the more I'm sure that this is going to be the core of the new Leica announcement - they would have to be completely mad not to be on the bandwagon for this.
I agree! But I still think there will be a cheaper rangefinder that uses current M lenses
 

Terry

New member
Better have a darn good LCD as it will be the only way to focus and to do it on an EVF seems hard. Not sure how the D700 focus confirm actually works but if you got arrows/dots might be OK.
 

jonoslack

Active member
Better have a darn good LCD as it will be the only way to focus and to do it on an EVF seems hard. Not sure how the D700 focus confirm actually works but if you got arrows/dots might be OK.
Well, maybe a little lateral thinking would manage an answer - but focus confirmation would be the obvious thing. I must say, focusing in live view on the D700 seems to work pretty easily. (and of course, you can zoom in when it's critical). I don't see why you couldn't have a couple optical viewfinder either - after all, for most lenses the information will be being passed back to the camera (and could be with coded leica lenses too).
 

Terry

New member
Well, maybe a little lateral thinking would manage an answer - but focus confirmation would be the obvious thing. I must say, focusing in live view on the D700 seems to work pretty easily. (and of course, you can zoom in when it's critical). I don't see why you couldn't have a couple optical viewfinder either - after all, for most lenses the information will be being passed back to the camera (and could be with coded leica lenses too).
You are very correct. My post was not meant to be negative but sounded that way.
 
Top