Some Simple 4/3 Questions

ClaremontPhoto

ClaremontPhoto

Jon Claremont
Local time
7:28 PM
Joined
Oct 15, 2005
Messages
5,214
I am intrigued by this format.

Is it mini DSLR? The Olympus seems to be, but the Panasonic seems not to be SLR.

I assume the Olympus uses a mirror, but not hinged.

Does the Panasonic have a viewfinder?

One of them (I forget which) has an optional 25mm lens. What would that be in familiar 35mm terms?

Sorry that the questions are so basic, but there is no camera store here and no photo magazines either.

Are any other manufacturers making 4/3 cameras?
 
You have to distinguish between 4/3rds and micro 4/3rds.

The original 4/3rds is a conventional SLR format, so with a moving mirror. Micro 4/3rds does not have a mirror, so cameras and lenses can be smaller. The only micro 4/3rds camera on the market at the moment is the Panasonic G1. It has an (electronic) viewfinder, and an excellent one at that. More models from Olympus and Panasonic are rumoured to follow.

Standard 4/3rds lenses will work on micro with an adapter, but not the other way round.

For both formats the crop factor is 2, so a 25mm lens will become a 50mm lens

Hope this helps.


Btw, lots of discussions and articles are dedicated to the Panasonic G1 / micro 4/3rds. Google a bit and you'll find lots of info. Although it is not perfect, and slightly pricey, it IS a very nice camera in its own right. But for many people the possibility to use M glass (or Canon FD, or Nikon F or whatever) with adapters is very intruiging. Manual focus is extremely well implemented too, so everything will work, albeit with a crop factor of 2.
 
Last edited:
Thank you both, this now looks simpler that there is only one camera.

The marketing stuff at Olympus led me to believe that they have one too.

I'll look into it some more.
 
The pricey part is mitigated a bit....

The pricey part is mitigated a bit....

Ronald_H said:
Btw, lots of discussions and articles are dedicated to the Panasonic G1 / micro 4/3rds. Google a bit and you'll find lots of info. Although it is not perfect, and slightly pricey.
Click to expand...

I have been watching a Canadian seller on eBay for over a month now. The user ID is prodigital2000. In the month of December they have sold the one lens kit on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 for auction prices between $495 and 600. Interestingly, they also sell as many as they put up on Buy It Now for $599 and $649.

However they have sold over 40 in December at auction, as low as $495. They list about 4 to 6 a day and none go unsold.

The cameras they sell have international warranty. They have over 70,000 feedbacks at 99% positive.

I know where I'm going for mine. I am not affiliated with them in any way.

There are a few 4/3rds user groups. One is fourthirds-user.com and another is forum.fourthirdsphoto.com

I am waiting on the Olympus compact with the m4/3 format, the 4/3 sensor and the interchangeable lenses. My impatience has me looking strongly at the Panny G1. I have been shooting Olympus 4/3 since the e300 originally came out.

It's a great format if you're not heavily invested in the Full Frame digital myth and don't want to carry those big honking cameras.

The panasonic is opening many doors as a bridge camera to reasonably priced and sized interchangable lens bigger sensor options. Many have been pleasantly surprised by the EVF and how it gains up in brightness in low light situations.

I certainly hope the Olympus makes it to market soon.
 
Contax 645, Pentax 645, Mamiya 645, Bronica's MF rangefinder, etc., they're all 4/3 format. (4*1.5=6, 3*1.5=4.5).

What was once old is yet again new.
 
I have been interested too in the new M43 format. The Pani G1 reviews well at lower ISOs, but falls off over ISO 400 re noise. I am sure this will be addressed in later models to perform more similar to standard 4/3 cameras as they use the same sensors. The fast optional lens coming in 2009 is a small 20/1.7 which will perform as a fast 40mm. The Pani has an EVF, the Oly prototype has no viewfinder, though speculation says that the final camera may have one, or even a RF like direct viewfinder. It has been said before I believe here at RFF. The G1 with that 20mm lens will be like a digital Canonet.....maybe, something to look forward to I think.
 
Thanks, even more interesting now.

And check the second link, the photo taken with the CV75. Just another reason to get the G1 and/or the CV75!!! Much to much GAS potential here.
 
kuzano said:
It's a great format if you're not heavily invested in the Full Frame digital myth and don't want to carry those big honking cameras.
Click to expand...

And what myth would that be? That bigger sensors have advantages that smaller ones do not?

I'm fascinated and interested in the four-thirds standard. I'm not turned off or frightened by APS-C sized sensors, Foveon, or even full-frame (35mm film-sized) sensors. I was unaware that four-thirds was going to be a new religion.
 
g1novo40.jpg
 
If the G2 comes out (with HD video) I'll buy one. And an M adapter too.

No matter how much I like my fleet of old manual cameras, and the results I get from them, you have to embrace the future as well. So much integrated into a small, really capable camera, fantastic!

Sure, build quality isn't Leica, or even high-end Nikon. Sensor isn't up to FF standards (noise, DR) but it's still very good and waaaayyyy better than any compact. I'm going to like it.
 
compared to the G10, thank you.

I have a canon g7, which is the camera a G1 (or an M43) would replace in my house.
 
Absolutely.....

Absolutely.....

bmattock said:
And what myth would that be? That bigger sensors have advantages that smaller ones do not?
Click to expand...

And it might no be a myth if they would develop the ISO and Dynamic range, instead of packing more pixels on the sensors, not to mention we are years away from a pleasing camera dimension with a full frame sensor.

Mo Pixels is Betta... Sorry, that story is getting old.
 
But high ISO and dynamic range are irrelevant to the intended users of these cameras. Panasonic wants to sell millions of these things at the lowest possible price to average consumers of compact cameras. They are not going to spend money on the wants of at most a few thousand people who want to stick expensive glass on them.
 
rover said:
...The Pani has an EVF, the Oly prototype has no viewfinder, though speculation says that the final camera may have one, or even a RF like direct viewfinder. It has been said before I believe here at RFF. The G1 with that 20mm lens will be like a digital Canonet.....maybe, something to look forward to I think.
Click to expand...

The way that I read the details of the u4/3 format from the consortium's website, the intent of the format is smaller cameras via smaller lensmount, and dispensing with optical viewfinders alltogether, instead using live-view EVF.

The "crux of the biscuit" (to quote Frank Zappa) is how the first Olympus offering is engineered. Panasonic, to their credit, chose the route of using the highest resolution, cutting-edge EVF they could find (from their Pro HD camcorder line); the problem is that Olympus has no such pro video line from which to borrow. So they may choose to farm out their EVF from Panasonic, or use an EVF of less quality.

What I'm alluding to is that the quality of the G1's EVF is NOT intrinsic to the format, rather the result of good engineering decisions on Panasonic's part. This is in no way guaranteed in an Olympus offering, although they're smart enough to see how high the bar has been raised with the G1; I wouldn't be surprised if their initial model is delayed due to these concerns.

~Joe
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom