Micro Four-Thirds

[Jaq]

For many of you this might not be terribly exciting, but I'm getting pretty excited for the Micro Four-Thirds System. The G1 was nothing more than a "look what we can do!", I expect much more to come of this in the next year or so.

For those of you who haven't heard, the Micro Four-Thirds is a new system developed by Olympus and Panasonic that removes the mirrors in the dSLR, making it considerably less thick and slightly less tall, at the lost of an optical viewfinder.

Here's a look at some specs for those of you who haven't given this much thought or looked at all. The final camera is the numbers of the Olympus E-420 subtracting the reduction in height and thickness of the Micro system.

Length Height Width
Canon G10 109mm 78mm 46mm
Olympus E-420* 130mm 91mm 53mm
Olympus SP-560UZ 116mm 78.5mm 78mm
E-420 Micro* 130mm 85mm 33mm
*No lens

Note that their is no lens on either dSLR. Also note that new lenses on the Micro system are going to be smaller, so it is possible that a new Micro pancake lens could be smaller than the 24mm width of the current E-420 pancake kit lens.

Thoughts, opinions?

I'm looking forward to a dSLR that can fit in a cargo pocket comfortably!!!

 

[PhilGarber]

Meh, I personally enjoy the big B.A camera, makes me feel special :mrgreen:.

 

[PhilGarber]

Also, lens will be slow to come. 3rd party stuff will take a while to appear also.

 

[skieur]

On the plus side, the image quality that I have seen from Olympus is as good as from any other DSLR. On the negative side, the autofocus is slower and low light is not handled as well as with other DSLRs.

On the other hand, I can see that smaller processors, smaller cameras, no mirroir, and smaller lenses is the direction of the technology assuming that the same or better image quality can be maintained and/or improved.

skieur

 

[Jaq]

It will be a few years before we see a good amount of lenses and accessories, but Panasonic alone plans to have 5 Micro lenses out by the end of next year. Add another 3-4 for Olympus, not to mention the fact you can use Four-Thirds lenses with an adapter, and you already have a decent amount of lenses. Granted, the adapter defeats the purpose, but regardless you still have access to older tried and true lenses.

skieur- Panasonic has already created an auto focus system for the G1 that is just as good as any other dSLR, it was reviewed by dpreview and they found it to be good. The lack of an optical viewfinder might be a turn off for some but Panasonic has already proved that they are up to the task of providing the best digital view finders possible to even the field.

Phil: Some people still shoot film, too :razz:

 

[usayit]

The micro 4/3rds mount is (to me) the most exciting thing in digital cameras in recent years.... Most DLSRs are built on age old film camera design and modified for digital. The whole ISO and Mpixel race is BORING. The micro 4/3rds was built ground up as a digital format. So to me... I am excited about it. There is lots of potential there....

I got to play with the G1 at the local camera shop and I must say the camera feels good all around. I was impressed .. of course this is at first glance and I didn't examine the pictures. It felt comfortably slotted between the superzooms P&S and low end consumer DSLRs. The compact size (plus the features) was a real attraction.

For me, I'm interested in what is down the pipeline for 4/3rds. New lenses... especially. As much as I like the G1, I think it could still be even more compact. I am in the market for a pocketable P&S but I want high end. I am hoping for something similar to the quality and features of the Panasonic LX3 (or Canon G9, G10) BUT I'm hoping to wait and see what olympus does with this prototype:

Olympus develops Micro Four Thirds camera: Digital Photography Review

Now that's would be the ideal P&S for me... assuming high end features are included.

 

[PhilGarber]

It will be a few years before we see a good amount of lenses and accessories, but Panasonic alone plans to have 5 Micro lenses out by the end of next year. Add another 3-4 for Olympus, not to mention the fact you can use Four-Thirds lenses with an adapter, and you already have a decent amount of lenses. Granted, the adapter defeats the purpose, but regardless you still have access to older tried and true lenses.

skieur- Panasonic has already created an auto focus system for the G1 that is just as good as any other dSLR, it was reviewed by dpreview and they found it to be good. The lack of an optical viewfinder might be a turn off for some but Panasonic has already proved that they are up to the task of providing the best digital view finders possible to even the field.

Phil: Some people still shoot film, too :razz:

Ah Jaq, there you have a point. Maybe I am just not warming up to this anorexic camera. Seriously though, Everyone seems to want smaller these days. Maybe I'm about to miss the train on something big. (Oh!-Sorry, SMALL)

 

[Jaq]

Don't get me wrong Phil, I love the heft of a dSLR and the attention it attracts from those non-photographer and photographer types alike. I just don't like lugging around my dSLR everywhere because of its size; I love its controls and image quality but I have to be photography focused when I take it somewhere or else its just a pain. If I could have the same control and quality, but slip it into my cargo or jacket pocket, then I would be happy. I could photos and still manage to do other things!