Micro 4/3 rangefinder by olympus?

[dazedgonebye]

Why is this such a big deal to people? With the 2x crop most of your favourite M lenses aren't going to be terribly useful unless you're happy shooting telephoto most of the time. You'll need a 24mm lens just to get a normal FOV and for a decent wide angle you'd need a 15mm or wider which would limit you to a very small selection of lenses.

Matthew

I'm kinda counting on Oly to make lenses for it...though my 40mm Nokton would make a nice portrait lens.

 

[flessas]

Why is this such a big deal to people?
Matthew

I was thinking of a CV Nokton 40/1.4 or a Planar 50/2 or a Summarit 50/2.5

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Why is this such a big deal to people? With the 2x crop most of your favourite M lenses aren't going to be terribly useful unless you're happy shooting telephoto most of the time. You'll need a 24mm lens just to get a normal FOV and for a decent wide angle you'd need a 15mm or wider which would limit you to a very small selection of lenses.

Matthew

Because we already have those lenses and would like a compact digital body to use them on. And focal length isn't the only measure of usability...it's the particular character of those lenses.

I'm pretty satisfied with the R-D1, but the 15mm Heliar on that thing would be an amazingly compact, high-quality setup.

 

[Matthew Allen]

Because we already have those lenses and would like a compact digital body to use them on. And focal length isn't the only measure of usability...it's the particular character of those lenses.

I'm pretty satisfied with the R-D1, but the 15mm Heliar on that thing would be an amazingly compact, high-quality setup.

Fair enough, but it's lenses like the 35 and 50 Summicrons and Summiluxes that make Leica special and no matter how much you love them they would inevitably (at least for me) be 'demoted' to occasionally used portrait/tele glass on this new body.

The 15mm might well be a nice partner for the little Olympus but I think f4.5 might start to feel rather slow with the not-terribly-wide FOV.

This is all IMHO of course. It's just I feel that the usefulness of M compatibility is over emphasized when it comes to these significantly less than FF sized sensors.

Matthew

 

[angeloks]

I got the E420 and the 25mm Pancake and I loved them ! This new camera is even more exciting. This new Micro 4/3 with the 12mm, 15mm from CV or the 18mm from Zeiss along with an external VF, that would be perfect !

 

[morgan]

This looks awesome to me as another camera in the arsenal kind of thing. Give me that and a few fast primes, and it'd be what i wanted the DP1 to be. I love the styling and would love an external VF with it.

 

[dazedgonebye]

I'm convinced something m4/3rds could take the place of my Bessa RF and lenses...depending on implimentation and available lenses.
Heck, it could take the place of my Hexar AF, except that I still want to shoot some film.

 

[allen_a_george]

There ARE dials and knobs enough for everyone.

Take a look HERE.

I posit that the top-mounted dial is only a mode dial (i.e. A, S, M, scene modes). There is no front or rear control dial to quickly shift through apertures or shutter speeds.

I certainly don't expect design studies to be functional, but I do expect basic ergonomics to be thought out and included - and that appears to be the case here. It looks to me like a compact camera for the everyman - someone who wants good image quality, but doesn't want to fiddle with camera controls. This model is not going to be the rangefinder alternative that many want.

 

[Henrik]

Imagine that thing with the 21/1,4 Summilux 😎 😀

 

[dazedgonebye]

I posit that the top-mounted dial is only a mode dial (i.e. A, S, M, scene modes). There is no front or rear control dial to quickly shift through apertures or shutter speeds.

I certainly don't expect design studies to be functional, but I do expect basic ergonomics to be thought out and included - and that appears to be the case here. It looks to me like a compact camera for the everyman - someone who wants good image quality, but doesn't want to fiddle with camera controls. This model is not going to be the rangefinder alternative that many want.

First, from this stage to final product, pretty much anything goes...though I do agree with you as to where they seem to be headed.
Second, from my perspective, it requires only aperture priority AE and relatively easy access to aperture and iso settings. That should be easily done with few buttons.

This may not be an alternative to a full function rangefinder camera, but it'll do as a digital Hexar AF...except with interchangeable lenses.
😎

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Crop factor? Maybe not?

Crop factor? Maybe not?

Does anyone here yet understand how the micro 4/3 system affects the idea of crop factor?

Given that Olympus is building smaller diameter lenses designed to be much closer to the sensor (which I'm assuming is something like the size of a APS-C size sensor), will there be a "crop factor" involved? In other words, will their 28mm f2 lens (I'm hoping here 😛) actually be a 28/2 lens, or will have to face the annoying 28 x 1.5 = 42mm calculation that turns my once fast wide prime lens into an average normal lens?

 

[dazedgonebye]

Does anyone here yet understand how the micro 4/3 system affects the idea of crop factor?

Given that Olympus is building smaller diameter lenses designed to be much closer to the sensor (which I'm assuming is something like the size of a APS-C size sensor), will there be a "crop factor" involved? In other words, will their 28mm f2 lens (I'm hoping here 😛) actually be a 28/2 lens, or will have to face the annoying 28 x 1.5 = 42mm calculation that turns my once fast wide prime lens into an average normal lens?

2x crop. If you want 28mm, you'll need to look for 14mm.

 

[Spyderman]

Jamie: The u4/3 has the same sensor size as 4/3 and the size is something like 18x14mm. In other words, anylens of X mm focal length will have field of view similar to a lens with focal length 2X on 35mm film.


I don't quite understand why some people here want to stick M lenses on it. I'm sure Olympus, Panasonic and maybe also Leica will produce some good glass designed specifically for this new standard, so the lenses will have better coating, autofocus, appropriate focal length... etc.

Just think about manual focussing it on the LCD 😱

PS: and if Leica indeed does make a lens for u4/3, maybe they will put a proper aperture ring on it...

 

[shadowfox]

I don't want to stick M-lenses on it, I want to use those high quality cinema/movie camera lenses with focal length like 12.5mm 😀

I wonder if these lenses will cover 18x13 sensor?

 

[Solinar]

Does anyone here yet understand how the micro 4/3 system affects the idea of crop factor?

A 20mm lens in front of a 4/3rd sensor has roughly the same FOV as a 40mm on a full frame 35mm camera.

Let's see Pana / Oly & Samsung have plans for either an APS-C or 4/3 Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens cameras. The Sigma DP-1 may have a rough time selling once these EVIL digitals hit the stores.

 

[dazedgonebye]

A 20mm lens in front of a 4/3rd sensor has roughly the same FOV as a 40mm on a full frame 35mm camera.

Let's see Pana / Oly & Samsung have plans for either an APS-C or 4/3 Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens cameras. The Sigma DP-1 may have a rough time selling once these EVIL digitals hit the stores.

Too bad Oly is not putting something like this out right away. I'm ready for this type of camera, but not ready enough to buy Panasonic's version. On the other hand, by the time Oly has thiers out, I should have an additional choice from Samsung.

 

[Solinar]

I'd say wait for the Oly micro 4/3rds to come out and hopefully with fingers crossed, bless us with a couple of compact primes just for this mount. On the second part I know that I'm not being realistic, mainly because the mass market isn't primes, it is zooms.

 

[Solinar]

Specifically designed lenses for this format like a 17mm f1.4 would be the way to go IMO.
Manual focus with repect to distance or zone is good with me as an option. Set to 1m or 2m etc. At 35mm focal length I rarely use the viewfinder anyway. 😛

I was thinking the same, anywhere between a 14 and 18 - but anything faster than f/2.8 in a short focal length is going to cost big bucks.

 

[like2fiddle]

If any of you receive Rangefinder Magazine, there is a short write-up about the camera in the current issue. I was reading it late last night, so I may be remembering wrong, but I think the jist of the article was that this will be a mirrorless/prismless DSLR that will be able to take advantage of the more compact, high quality rangefinder lenses. Their take seemed to be that a camera like this will be appealing to those who prefer the smaller rangefinder type of camera.

 

[ElrodCod]

Obviously, it only becomes a throwaway camera if one literally throws it away.

There are plenty of older digital cameras still in use. Plenty.

And for what it is worth, there have been lots of cheap, plastic, throwawy film cameras made too. It all depends on the quality of the camera being made, regardless if it is a film or digital camera.

Your statement is ludicrous.

Older? Ten years older? Fifteen? Digital cameras have only been mainstream consumer goods that long. Do you think that this camera will still be around 50 years from now. If so, will it still work? Will anyone even remember it? I think not, it'll be in the landfill with all the rest of the detritus of the "digital" age.