Olympus E-M5

[nickzou]

Sexxayyy! Definitely more pumped about this announcement than the D800.

 

[Jeremy Z]

(bump)

Olympus has now officially announced it on their website, complete with specs. They're calling it the OM-D E-M5. I wish they would have left off the E-M5. The camera though, sounds awesome. I may have to sell a couple guns to get one of these. I think usayit said that I could even mount my old OM lenses on it too, using adapters.

Much as I love my old Pentax K100d, I may make the switch to Olympus with this new offering. I'll wait to see what Kai at digitalrevcom and dpreview.com have to say about it first.

Among the exciting features (to me):

• predictive focus in all three planes
• fastest autofocus of any SLR (according to Olympus' testing, of course)
• Great art filters - Seems like a gimmick, but I really like them in my XZ-1, esp. the grainy film and dramatic ones.
• Splash-proof design, frame is magnesium/aluminum alloy
• Two full size control dials
• 16 MP, 25,600 max. ISO (even if it is only good up to ISO 6400, that will be useful.)
• 5-axis, (includes rotational) body-integral image stabilization. Body-integral image stabilization is one of the features I really love on my Pentax K100D, since it works with every lens
• 3D AF tracking
• Tilting OLED LCD
• Digital leveler
• 1080p HD video

 

[nickzou]

Damn! It is sexy at every angle! And just when I thought I was gonna get the X-Pro1

 

[Village Idiot]

May trade up my E-P3. It's basically brand new and the viewfinder alone is worth it. It's not much or a price increase either.

 

[jake337]

I don't really follow the logic of a battery grip for mirrorless. Is it supposed to be small and easy to carry or big and easy to hold? If you want to make it bigger then why leave the mirror out?

It would still be quite small and make portrait orientation shooting much easier.

 

[usayit]

I've been holding out with my old Panny G1 and Oly E-PL1 until there was a real jump in the micro 4/3 line. I'm pretty much sold on this.

Don't forget.... micro 4/3 's momentum is really attracting attention from the optics standpoint. Along with the E-M5, they also announced the 75mm f/1.8 and a macro. Not to mention Panny 20mm f/1.7, 25mm PanLeica f/1.4 Summicron, Oly 45mm f/1.8, Oly 12mm f/2, Panny 14mm f/2.5, etc...

 

[Jeremy Z]

May trade up my E-P3. It's basically brand new and the viewfinder alone is worth it. It's not much or a price increase either.

Village Idiot, Lungfish: Keep in mind that this too, is a mirrorless camera. No prism or mirror. The "prism housing" probably just has electronics in it. So one thing worth keeping in mind is that

By the way, what's the difference between 4/3 and micro 4/3? I see this one is micro 4/3. Is 4/3 obsolete, or just a bigger sensor?

 

[Jeremy Z]

Also, did anyone notice that there is a separate category now for 'OM-D System Cameras?' That would suggest that there are more of these beauties coming!

Do you guys reckon this is the low end, high end, or middle of this 'OM-D System?'

I'm betting high end, since it is splash-proof.

I'm also curious what the retail price will be, and how long before it drops the traditional $100.

 

[nickzou]

By the way, what's the difference between 4/3 and micro 4/3? I see this one is micro 4/3. Is 4/3 obsolete, or just a bigger sensor?

Sensor size is the same. The mount is different I believe, so that the flange distance is really small (though not smaller enough for the Industar 69 ).

 

[Crollo]

I believe micro four thirds removes the mirror that exists in four thirds system.

 

[usayit]

May trade up my E-P3. It's basically brand new and the viewfinder alone is worth it. It's not much or a price increase either.

Village Idiot, Lungfish: Keep in mind that this too, is a mirrorless camera. No prism or mirror. The "prism housing" probably just has electronics in it. So one thing worth keeping in mind is that

By the way, what's the difference between 4/3 and micro 4/3? I see this one is micro 4/3. Is 4/3 obsolete, or just a bigger sensor?

E-P3 is also a mirrorless camera so I believe VI knows very well what an upgrade the E-M5 means. The "prism housing" is to house the EVF which has been an added hotshoe accessory in previous Oly PENs and built in for Panasonic G cameras and this new E-M5. 4/3 and micro 4/3 use the same size sensor. The spec's of the "new" sensor is very similar to that of the Panasonic G3. Olympus insists this is a brand new sensor but that is debatable as they have previously sourced sensors from Panasonic AND many doubt their capacity to manufacture their own. Most likely a tweek version of the panasonic sensor.

4/3 cameras were a traditional mirror'd DSLRs from Olympus. They are not "officially" rendered obsolete but there is so much focus on mirrorless cameras that it seems that the old 4/3 may be a dead system. There is an adapter with autofocus support for 4/3 -> micro 4/3 but certain lens autofocus very slowly because they don't work well with contrast AF implemented in these mirrorless cameras. I wish Olympus would solve this problem as there are some phenomenal fast telephotos that many are just itching to use on later cameras.

Also, micro 4/3 lenses between Panasonic and Olympus are interchangeable.... The main difference in design between Panasonic and Olympus is their approach to image stabilization and ergonomics. I chose Olympus because in-body IS means that even my manual adapted old lenses are stabilized. My main complaint.... SLLLLOOOOWWWW autofocus and inability to track moving objects (5 year-old doesn't stay in one place for very long).

Also, did anyone notice that there is a separate category now for 'OM-D System Cameras?' That would suggest that there are more of these beauties coming!
Do you guys reckon this is the low end, high end, or middle of this 'OM-D System?'
I'm betting high end, since it is splash-proof.
I'm also curious what the retail price will be, and how long before it drops the traditional $100.

I sure hope there are more. Given that Olympus already has the E-PM1, E-PL3, and E-P3, I think the E-M5 is going to be slotted at the high end. Its also priced higher than the E-P3 (not much) and competitively against the high end Panasonic bodies. The retail price is suppose to be $1000 for body only. Panasonic is due to release a GH3 soon.... I bet if their price point is close or under the E-M5, Olympus willl need to drop their price. I highly doubt it as the old GH2 is already at the same price range.

 

[cameraland]

I understand your question about the grip, however no mirror means increased speed and better tracking and continuous AF. The micro 4/3 also leads to smaller size lenses with long focal lengths. How awesome is it to have the ability to shoot with the Olympus 75-300 (150-600) when you have a kid playing soccer and you are on the other side of the field. Years ago, or actually with a camera with a mirror that would mean carrying a big lens and using a monopod. Another GREAT benefit of the new Olympus is the multi axis sytabilization. No matter what direction the camera moves the camera will adjust. Cool, real cool.

This is the first in a 2nd line by Olympus. There will be the Pen series and the E-M series going forward

 

[usayit]

Actually, the Olympus and Panasonic folks have admitted that there are weaknesses in the AF system designed around contrast AF when compared to traditional DSLRS that use phase autofocus designs. There are references online that better explain the differences but essentially the CAF system unlike phase based AF cannot tell the difference between back and front focused subjects. It has to hunt thus being slower to achieve focus. The advantage is that the system doesn't have any possibility of calibration errors between lens and camera.

The later bodies from both companies have greatly improved AF speed and in some cases is faster than DSLR but for static objects. This achieved mainly through faster processing of data. They continue to have difficulties tracking objects in motion because once again it cannot tell the difference between a subject moving towards the camera or away. This new E-M5 body is advertised to explicitly have improved on tracking objects in motion. As such I am excited. I will most likely get it assuming even modest improvements over the current EP3. Both my G1 and EPL1 are pretty much useless in continuous AF mode. Both have served me well with adapted legacy lenses but once I lured into native AF lenses once their offerings became very interesting.

 

[usayit]

But you are correct about the sensor. The 2x crop sensor seems to be the sweet spot for sub DSLR alternatives. Cameras with too small of a sensor, such as the Nikon 1, are having trouble convincing consumers who normally would go for cheaper PandS cameras. Others such as the Sony NEX have a larger nicer sensor but his complicates lens design and limits their ability to deliver small compact lenses sized appropriately.

The micro 43 sensor is big enough and performs well enough to rank higher than high end ps plus compete with the lower tier DSLR bodies while allowing for faster, compact, optics of practical design.