Oh My Goodness (digital OM)

keytarjunkie said:
I think all the othe companies saw the X100's success and are going to go back to "retro" design...hey why mess with a good thing.
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Olympus was doing retro with the E-P1 long before the X100. everyone, including Fuji, copied them. 😛


this is the full image of the back page of Amateur Photography Magazine... http://minus.com/mxvrbfbS1#1

am i the only one who thinks it's cute that they made it in the design of the manuals for the original film OMs? 😀
 
Hahahaha, you couldn't make it up could you.

Self confessed Olympus lover extraordinaire (well not in terms of gear owned, but in terms of love for the small camera, fantastic finder, great lenses) goes and buys a Nikon D90 this week and starts building a digital Nikon system, and then it turns out Olympus might have some OM inspired soon!

Oh well. If it turns out it's 4/3rds I won't be that bummed, and it will clearly be more expensive than my £350 near mint D90, but even so, looking forward to seeing what this looks like. I doubt very much it'll look like an OM2n but with digital heart, probably a bit like their digital Pens, in the vein of the Olympus PEN of old, but different.

Vicky
 
shadowfox said:
I'll take an m4/3rd camera that looks like an OM-1.
No mirror, who cares.
BIG viewfinder, be it an EVF, now that counts.

Olympus, don't let us and Mr. Maitani down.
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Yep I'm going to go ahead an say this is what it will be - hopefully manual controls or at least the shutter speed dial around the lens mount, and big viewfinder.

Should be interesting....

nighstar said:
Olympus was doing retro with the E-P1 long before the X100. everyone, including Fuji, copied them. 😛

am i the only one who thinks it's cute that they made it in the design of the manuals for the original film OMs? 😀
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Yes! and the e-p1 is a lovely camera, and still one of the best looking digitals ever IMO. Also, great spotting on the design mimicking the manual of the OM - quite brilliant on their behalf!
 
I would love to to see Olympus release a camera that knocked our socks off. There's a lot of people out there who carry a torch for the old OMs.
 
An OM styled m43 body with a high quality (a la nex-7) EVF, good controls, solid build, IBIS, and a G3/GX1 sensor could be a real winner.

The main things keeping me from an EP-3 are the ancient sensor and the price of the external VF.
 
Hang on, let me get this straight.

The whole OM design was based around a mirrorbox, which was there because it contained a mirror. If you have an EVF it means that you dont need a mirror, because you grab the image straight from the sensor and project it to the EVF. That was the whole point of the EVF to begin with, to do away with the mirror. Putting a mirrorbox and/or a mirror on a camera that doesnt need it, just for nostalgic styling purposes, sounds as stupid as wearing a ski suit in the desert. Whats next, an artificial mirror sound?

The main attractions of the OM system were a) the bright and massive optical viewfinder, the biggest one ever built. And b) a selection of about 70 lenses that covered everything from 8mm fisheye to 50mm/1.2 to 1200mm/f14, and an incredible amount of useful accessories to customise your camera as suited your needs. And of course it was full frame, which didnt say much at the time because everything was full frame, but little did we know.

If instead of all that you guys are happy with anything, no matter how oddball, as long as it looks like an OM and has analog controls, then what can I say... I must have missed something very important that happened to the collective photography subconscious over the last decade or so.
 
Spyro said:
The whole OM design was based around a mirrorbox, which was there because it contained a mirror. If you have an EVF it means that you dont need a mirror, because you grab the image straight from the sensor and project it to the EVF. That was the whole point of the EVF to begin with, to do away with the mirror. Putting a mirrorbox and/or a mirror on a camera that doesnt need it, just for nostalgic styling purposes, sounds as stupid as wearing a ski suit in the desert. Whats next, an artificial mirror sound?

The main attractions of the OM system were a) the bright and massive optical viewfinder, the biggest one ever built. And b) a selection of about 70 lenses that covered everything from 8mm fisheye to 50mm/1.2 to 1200mm/f14, and an incredible amount of useful accessories to customise your camera as suited your needs. And of course it was full frame, which didnt say much at the time because everything was full frame, but little did we know.

If instead of all that you guys are happy with anything, no matter how oddball, as long as it looks like an OM and has analog controls, then what can I say... I must have missed something very important that happened to the collective photography subconscious over the last decade or so.
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It can look like an OM without having the actual mirror remember. No one has said anything about it having a mirror so I'm not sure where you got that from... and a big enough EVF will need space as to fill out a prism housing so that could be a functional thing.

Personally I'm just interested - because of exactly what you said - it won't have the same OM ideals (well it will probably be compact, light, with good ergonomics and pretty) like the full frame sensor. With the advent of the fujifilm mirrorless cameras like my x100, I no longer have any desire or need to drop to a smaller sensor size than aps-c. Even then, i'd prefer it was 35mm.
 
Spyro said:
Hang on, let me get this straight.

The whole OM design was based around a mirrorbox, which was there because it contained a mirror. If you have an EVF it means that you dont need a mirror, because you grab the image straight from the sensor and project it to the EVF. That was the whole point of the EVF to begin with, to do away with the mirror. Putting a mirrorbox and/or a mirror on a camera that doesnt need it, just for nostalgic styling purposes, sounds as stupid as wearing a ski suit in the desert. Whats next, an artificial mirror sound?

The main attractions of the OM system were a) the bright and massive optical viewfinder, the biggest one ever built. And b) a selection of about 70 lenses that covered everything from 8mm fisheye to 50mm/1.2 to 1200mm/f14, and an incredible amount of useful accessories to customise your camera as suited your needs. And of course it was full frame, which didnt say much at the time because everything was full frame, but little did we know.
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.....who said this camera would have a mirror/mirrorbox or be an SLR at all? did the digital PENs need be exactly like their film counterparts to be named as they were?

as far as i know (and correct me if i'm wrong), the m3/4 system is already ahead of the rest in terms of lens selection. if you feel that that is a requirement of an OM Olympus has already got that in the bag, provided the new camera is m4/3 compatible. all the more so if it's also 4/3 compatible.
 
gavinlg said:
Personally I'm just interested - because of exactly what you said - it won't have the same OM ideals (well it will probably be compact, light, with good ergonomics and pretty) like the full frame sensor.
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Yes thats what I mean, if it ever eventuates it will probably be yet another m4:3 with a better EVF. Whoopdee.

nighstar said:
.....who said this camera would have a mirror/mirrorbox or be an SLR at all? did the digital PENs need be exactly like their film counterparts to be named as they were?
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The original pens didnt have a mirror either (maybe only the F did I cant remember exactly) and it was half frame, so the digipens actually had a fair bit in common. But forget the original pens, they were just a stylistic exercise for a niche market to begin with. But the OM? Thats a whole different ballgame, we're talking one of the best and most complete systems ever made with some very unique features on top of it like the gargantuan OVF. To name after it a camera that will most likely share next to zero with it just because it might look like it, sorry but I cant begin to describe how lame it would sound.

Anyway that's Oly's problem, they can do what they like with whatever credibility they have left.
 
It has already been disclosed that it will be an m43 camera, so no need to debate that. As mentioned before, this "rumor" is already a couple weeks old and "leaks" (the oly marketing department) have confirmed a lot of what you guys are debating.
 
So, it looks like my doubt that this was just a rumour is dead wrong; gulp! However, I don't understand why Olympus would design an OM body and make it m4/3, rather than just 4/3. If it had an updated sensor and updated UI/control set, then I would think it would be a great successor to E System bodies and that E System DSLR users would have new life for their stable of lenses, especially the high end series of lenses.

If it truly has the OM form-factor, going m4/3 seems to be irrelevant. What am I missing?
 
Trius said:
If it truly has the OM form-factor, going m4/3 seems to be irrelevant. What am I missing?
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Size? Have you seen how huge the 4/3 lenses are. Add in the lack of primes, and real speed, how about approachable cost for the average guy... Oly went astray with 4/3.
 
Good points, but they still tout the E-5 as a pro-level camera -- there is an E-5 splash screen slide on their website even now. While they have cast their lot with m4/3 for volume sales, they still seem to want a pro presence for various reasons. And there's nothing stopping them from making small, fast (and affordable) primes for the E Series DSLRs.

And an OM-D made affordable would sell like hotcakes.

All this shows that I am not the director of product marketing at Olympus! 😀
 
Trius said:
Good points, but they still tout the E-5 as a pro-level camera -- there is an E-5 splash screen slide on their website even now. While they have cast their lot with m4/3 for volume sales, they still seem to want a pro presence for various reasons. And there's nothing stopping them from making small, fast (and affordable) primes for the E Series DSLRs.

And an OM-D made affordable would sell like hotcakes.

All this shows that I am not the director of product marketing at Olympus! 😀
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I agree that they want to compete at the pro level, but pitting the 4/3 sensor against a Canon or Nikon with a ff sensor is sorta like sending Tebow out against Brady. They need to be realistic and compete where they have a chance to win.
 
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