e-p2 coming 5th -EVF

[emraphoto]

Yeah I think mainstream camera companies seem to have forgotten how to design fast lenses and optical viewfinders....

i don't think they have forgotten. i think they have learnt that consumers don't want to spend the dough on fast lenses. specifically when you can run that iso up with little concern. consumers want "walk around" lenses like nikons hot selling 28-200 (or whatever it is).

i suppose it's the old "target audience" thing.

i have watched the micro 4/3 cameras with keen interest but indeed they lack reasonably fast WIDE prime options and i remain uncommitted until they start working on that dynamic range.

 

[dws21uk]

I have a D300, D-Lux4 and R2A. I was looking at the EP-2 as a poor man's M8 that I could use my R2A's lenses on, but I really don't like the EVF design they came up with. So now it's going to have to be a used M8, but for that money I could easily upgrade the evil D300 to a new D700 that would last me for many years. I guess my 'digital RF' is going to have to wait a while longer... 🙁

 

[Paul T.]

Presumably, the Olympus EVF uses a different connection to the Panasonic?

Whichever one prefers - and the Olympus is indeed clunky - they would be a lot more attractive if we knew they could be used on other models.

 

[emraphoto]

I was really looking forward to this announcement, and I am thoroughly disappointed by it. When I heard that the EP2 was going to have an EVF, I (apparently unreasonably) assumed it would be built in to the camera. I love the concept of an EVF digital camera, I see them as potentially the modern equivalent of the original philosophy behind the Leica. Unfortunately, the execution is quite lacking on this camera. Basically, my (hopefully not incredibly unreasonable) go/no go checklist on purchasing a camera in the same vein as the EP2 is as follows- built in evf, slr style controls instead of point and shoot style controls, small form factor, and decent construction I would prefer APS-C, but in a camera that size, I would be willing to live with M43 if the rest of the camera had been right. The EP2 hits one and a half of those points, so I shall wait longer still. I waited 6 years before buying a digital point and shoot, and nearly a decade to buy a DSLR, so I am willing to be patient, but I really don't want to. Here is hoping Ricoh, Nikon, or Samsung hit more of the marks.

i think they are all hitting the marks they set out to hit. olympus included. it is no coincidence that we are seeing hot shoe evf's in most of the offerings. i would expect to see that routine continue.

i love a good finder as much as the next fella but it is just not on the consumers radar and these cameras are built for the consumer.

i don't pretend to understand all the points companies like olympus need to meet when designing cameras. i assume the consumer market is the largest determining factor. where i DO think an improvement could be made, with little effort, is in the manual focus interface. if the EP1 had a scale focus function a la the dp1 or g10 i would be a touch more interested.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I think the "focus-by-wire" technology makes it difficult to include a scale focus function--I don't think the actual physical position of the focus wheel is fixed to any particular distance. But surely this can be overcome? What I've been doing with the 20/1.7 is focusing on something a particular distance away and leaving it there for hyperfocal work. Not elegant exactly but it works.

 

[M4streetshooter]

I think the "focus-by-wire" technology makes it difficult to include a scale focus function--I don't think the actual physical position of the focus wheel is fixed to any particular distance. But surely this can be overcome? What I've been doing with the 20/1.7 is focusing on something a particular distance away and leaving it there for hyperfocal work. Not elegant exactly but it works.

The focus scale is about a dead issue. I pushed for that but to no avail.
I was told that the Pen is basically a consumer grade camera and that what I was looking for was out of that realm.

Bulldinky!
What consumer would shoot RAW? What consumer would use an external EVF?
I think it's about oversight or even undersight. It's about rushing a product to the marketplace to get a foothold there.
The Pen 2 seems to be just that. I love the Pen 1 but will wait to see what other offerings come about in the future.
Shooter

 

[morgan]

I have a D300, D-Lux4 and R2A. I was looking at the EP-2 as a poor man's M8 that I could use my R2A's lenses on, but I really don't like the EVF design they came up with. So now it's going to have to be a used M8, but for that money I could easily upgrade the evil D300 to a new D700 that would last me for many years. I guess my 'digital RF' is going to have to wait a while longer... 🙁

What about an R-D1? They're going for super cheap around here these days.

 

[dws21uk]

What about an R-D1? They're going for super cheap around here these days.

I'm very tempted, but can't help thinking that I'd rather save up, wait a while and then a m8 will become affordable. If RD-1's were going for around £500-£600 in the UK I'd get one without a doubt.

 

[amateriat]

The E-P2/EVF combination gives off an uncomfortable Contarex ("Cyclops") vibe to me, throwing the whole package way off balance.

Well, there is Ricoh and Nikon to wait for...


- Barrett

 

[Tom Diaz]

I have a D300, D-Lux4 and R2A. I was looking at the EP-2 as a poor man's M8 that I could use my R2A's lenses on, but I really don't like the EVF design they came up with. So now it's going to have to be a used M8, but for that money I could easily upgrade the evil D300 to a new D700 that would last me for many years. I guess my 'digital RF' is going to have to wait a while longer... 🙁

I'm sad that, if it's like the EP-1, then the new machine is still not the "poor man's M8." Here's the thing. With an M camera, you're out walking through the world, and you see something, and you point your M at it andclick there it is, for better or worse. With an EP-1, you point and...click and there is something that existed about a second after you tried to shoot. Maybe they have improved the EP-2 by a factor of two and you only have a half-second lag between what you see and what you get.

I do think an eye-level finder, one way or the other, is an essential step in the right direction. So, Olympus is to be commended for that whether or not you think the result is ugly. Is it uglier than an SLR? Whether you say yes or no, that begs the question: why would you rather have an EP-2 than a Panasonic G1? The G1 fits in my glove compartment, and it is not a big glove compartment.

I think I might possibly want a GF-1 as a kind of second m4/3 body, because without the EVF and with a small lens like the 20mm f/1.7 it could be even smaller. My G1 focuses MUCH faster than the EP-1 i owned, and so I assume the GF-1 would also. But, a second G1 body might be just as good an idea. They're really small and excellent.

These cameras are great both in and of themselves and for making us think about what really might facilitate better photographs--which, in my case, means having a camera at hand all the time.

 

[gavinlg]

I just spent my e-p1/2 money on a new canon 35mm f1.4L. I love the e-p1/2 in most areas, but i'm not interested until they introduce some fast primes.

The 35L is absolutely superb, by the way.

 

[aizan]

whenever i entertain the dreaded thought that the camera companies will never make what we want, i try to come up with something that wouldn't be half bad.

a tilting EVF built into the body would appeal to the rolleiflex and hasselblad lover in me. if the format is not square, there would have to be some way to rotate the EVF or the sensor to stay in waist-level orientation, if so desired. maybe it would have two grips, like the pro level canons and nikons.

in any case, it would not be a DMD.

 

[Paul T.]

There's a video interview with more information about the e-p2 here.

Strikes me that you could halve the size of the EVF if you lost the tilting mode. I can see what they've done it, but it's like the final product has been hit with an ugly stick:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1257404452.html