The japanese blog Egami just discovered a new Olympus patent that could referr to the lens used for the new High-end compact camera shown by Olympus at Photokina. As you know the compact camera will not feature a classic FourThirds sensor but it could share the same Panasonic LX5
Those are the specs (google translated)
- Patent Publication No.2010-217478
- published 2010/09/30
- filled 2009/03/17
- Embodiment1
- focus distance f=6.06-18.76
- Fno=1.85-2.39
- angle of view 78.41-27.50°
- back focus 7.33-9.19mm
- length 60.49-62.17mm
- zoom 3.88x
- 4 groups of +-++
- get zoom magnification
- compact
- optimize 3rd group
- It is effective
- optimize 3rd group
- adopt a plastic lens
- cost down
P.S: I would love to see such a bright zoom lens for MicroFourThirds!
42 Responses
they did say it will have a bright and fast lens. it should have since LX5 and S95 already have them. why bother if its gonna be f3.5 or higher
Sounds interesting. I own an LX3 and an S95 and I love both of them. The Olympus looks like it has the form factor of the S95 even though it has a hot shoe. Personally, I think a 43 sensor would make the thing too big to replace a decent compact.
i read somewhere that the sensor will be bigger than P&S sensors but smaller than 4/3. such tweener sensor size has never been used in DC before (or in recent memory at least). i am guessing it’ll be the same sensor the nikon evil will use which is rumored to be 2.5x crop, and that sensor will probably be made by sony and it’ll beat the IQ of 4/3 panasonic sensor. if my theory about the sensor size is correct, then the actual focal length of the lens should be:
26 / 2.5 = 10.4mm wide-angle end
100 / 2.5 = 40mm telephoto end
let’s hope it is not 26mm. a centered hot shoe allow the use of OVF as it should be on so-called high end expert compacts but a 26mm is useless as there is no external OVF for that focal length
let’s hope it’s 24mm
Harold
The hotshoe looks like it has an electrical connector built in as well. Maybe this will be compatible with the E-P2 EVF? If so, an OVF won’t be necessary, and the external finder can be used throughout the zoom range.
26mm/6,06mm = 4.29
So, it has a 4.29x crop factor sensor. Bigger than a sensor from a ordinary compact but with not too much.
This is just one more boring product from Olympus.
“focus distance f=6.06-18.76”
this is not the actual focal length of the lens, the zoom is 3.88x according to 43rumors’ specs above. and obviously 18.76/6.06 is not equal to 3.88. focus distance is about far or close you can be to your subject in order for the lens to be able to focus.
would be very disappointing, if this cam is just another small sensor compact.
missed word typo:
focus distance is about ***how*** far or close…………………
I read somewhere that it would be a sensor similar to the one in S95 and LX5. It seems likely too as a bigger sensor would mean a larger lens. If the 26-100mm (35mm equiv.) f/1.8-2.4 specifiction is correct then then it would be difficult to make a pocketable camera with a larger sensor.
Anyway, it will probably include the infamous Olympus digicam menu system and the horrible noise reduction all Olympus digicams struggle with.
missed word typo:
focus distance is about ***how*** far or close
This is going to be a game-changer only if it comes with Foveon sensor, or else it is just a camera which use the brand name “Zuiko” for marketing purpose
I think it’s all correct, LX5 sensor and that F/1.8-2.4 lens. The question is if they will use the same JPEG engine as with the m4/3 cameras or the one in their digicams. If they want to compete in the high end, they better use their m4/3 JPEG engine.
I agree with Zonkie, the Oly m4/3 JPEG engine with the LX5 sensor and this lens could be somewhat better than the LX5 and S95
Judging by the size of the front element this should be pretty fast compared to the competition. However, did anyone else notice the last section?
“optimize 3rd group
adopt a plastic lens
cost down
..oops… (continued)
I don’t know if plastic lenses are commonly used in this camera category… I assume this could only affect IQ for the worse?
The Olympus C5050 of 2003 had a 35-105mm-equivalent f/1.8-2.6 zoom lens, so this isn’t exactly unprecedented territory for Olympus.
I don’t know, these numbers regarding focal length and field of view do not match correctly.
If the focal length is 6.06-18.76mm, how is that a zoom ratio of 3.88? According to my calculator this is a zoom ratio of a bit less than 3.1.
Also, going by the figures that Nikon provide for their primes, an angle of view of 78.41° would indeed correspond to a 26mm FX lens. But 27.50° would correspond to an FX lens of about 89mm, not 100mm.
A zoom range equivalent to 26-89mm would mean a zoom ratio of about 3.4, yet another different figure.
So… I would take all of that with a huge grain of salt…
maybe just maybe, the discrepancy (89 vs 100) is due to differences between 3:2 & 4:3 aspects or due to a confusion because 27.50 might mean either 27 and a half degrees or 27 and 50/60 minutes (in the latter case the notation should be 27° 50′, while the former should be 27.5°).
I don’t know whether various aspect ratios might me involved. But shouldn’t such figures refer to a given sensor field, which ever it may be?
Regarding the long end, Nikon say their 85mm f1.4 has an angle of view of 28°30′ (=28.5°). The 105mm f2 has 23°20′ (=23,33°).
So no matter whether it’s 27.5° or 27’50’, it’s definitely much closer to 85mm than to 105mm.
i would love to have that camera if the spec is true… my crappy canon ixus 5megapix is dying lol…
Anyway, if it’s just a 28-90mm equivalent, that sounds very interesting if it’s a Zuiko f1.8-2.4. I makes me think again about the LX5 order I was almost decided to make. After all, f2.4 is almost twice as fast as f3.3.
and in my exp. with 26mm it has less distortion… with the 12-60mm SWD or 35mm = 24-120mmm
when i see that body design, the camera starts to fall off my hand
it seems to be designed to attract rich buyers by its elegant style (rich newbie buyers care about how the camera looks more than its features or IQ).
some prefer the S95 over the LX5 just because it’s slimmer. for more practical uses you can put it in your pocket. that is more important to some than having continous AF in video (1 feature that LX5 has over the S95)
It definitely needs a hand grip like the LX5 otherwise you go from holding (with a grip) and minimal effort to pinching-squeezing with your thumb and middle finger (really sucks).
I use every day my G11. half of the shots I take using OVF. I only use the lcd for low level shots and careful framing (the picture of my electricity bill). I would like this olympus supercalifragilisticexpialidocious lens camera but only with a proper OVF.
one more thing that bothers me is in camera lens correction.
Someone mentioned Foevon sensor. Is there any business link with Olympus and Sigma/Foevon?
The newest press releases of the group was that they were developing technology on their own and not in any kind of relation with other camera manufacturers. Well except Sigma for the lens technology, but here I mean about Foevon and camera manufacturing.
Oly using Foevon is just a fantasy. i dont thing they’d have the resources to invest in that sensor. let’s be realistic, they couldn’t even afford a newer sensor on their flagship. they just put in on their money on their TruePic tech (which resulted quite good, in all fairness)
It would be nice to see it with a f/1.8 maximum aperture, however, I really doubt it will be much better than the benchmark LX5. That said, an extra stop of light and a more compact design would be nice. However, a Leica lens and 24mm wide angle make the LX5 still the one to beat as of right now….
depends if they’re gonna make use of their TruePic tech, if not it will totally be disappointing. their m4/3 cams have one of the best jpegs in the business it’s a shame that they cant do it on their compacts
the sensors in the current oly 4/3 & m4/3 cameras are large Live-MOS ones made by Panasonic and are all fairly similar. the sensors in their P&S’s –and probably in this Zuiko compact– are CCD’s & CMOS’s made by Sony (AFAIK oly don’t use Pana compact sensors), so the output from the Panasonic vs Sony; large vs tiny; CCD vs CMOS vs Live MOS, make the processing needs for each category different, the huge difference in format size in particular means that in compacts True Pic. we all know the images from tiny sensors aren’t really true pix (:
some of their older compacts did have a TruePic Turbo engine. I’m hoping they’d have an updated TruePic engine for this camera
I think I’ll buy it. Reasons are:
1. Faster and longer than LX5
2. Zuiko-branded lens
3. It will likely adopt E-5 structure menu
4. It is SLIM
5. It will have TruePic 5+ -> Good detail and good NR
6. It will be compatible with VF-2: woo-hoo!
7. It will likely have 3inch 920k screen
Seems Oly will have a winner with this one if they do it right.
I wouldn’t get too excited by this.
The original patent (as translated by the patent database) doesn’t mention most of the numbers given via Egami. And it is fairly clear that it is talking about collapsing zoom lenses of the style found in compact cameras — there is even a drawing (# 24) of a “working example” that is probably a Stylus 410.
To quote from the Detailed Description:
[Description of Embodiments]
[0091]
Below, working example of the zoom lens and imaging device concerning this invention is described in detail based on Drawings. This invention is not limited by this working example.
It is suitable for slimming down at the time of collapsing of a body tube, and an F value is as bright as about 1.8 at a wide angle end, the field angle in a wide angle end is as large as about 75 degrees, a zoom ratio has about 4 times, and any working example serves as a zoom lens with high image formation performance, though it is compact. It is easy to keep away an exit pupil from the image surface, and has become a cheap zoom lens suitable for image sensors, such as CCD and CMOS.
To view the patent goto http://www4.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/Tokujitu/tjsogodben.ipdl?N0000=115 then enter “a” into field 1 and “2010-217478” into field 2.
It seems that the camera might have similar specs as the Samsung EX1: Fast lens (Samsung EX1 24-72 mm f1.8-2.4; the Samsung EX1 has an articulated AMOLED screen though), sensor size of that of the LX5/S95…
Not interested, but I’d like to see 26-100mm F1.8-2.4 lens for m4/3. Or at least 26mm F1.8 and 100mm F2.4 primes :).
Im very interested in this camera but as someone as said, lets hope it has a decent menu systm! Thats very important to me!
Anything that isn’t some humdrum f3.5-f5.6 piece of junk is nice, even on a compact.
Since one can assume that Olympus actually knows this, I wonder how they can explain the total lack of F2 glass for micro four thirds.
It’s like they get that compact interchangeable lenses have always been popular, but they forgot that rangefinders also used to be equipped with some extremely fast glass, and that made it possible to take then anywhere. Even the ones that didn’t have interchangeable lenses had some serious glass. My little Canonet GIII QL17 has a 40mm F1.7, and photos with it are significantly different in appearance to photos taken with my Olympus. I miss it.
Please, Olympus, take advantage of your short register distance and make some fast primes. F2.8 is not a fast lens. A 20mm F1.4 would make me very happy.
This will most likely be a 28-90 equivalent lens with the same 10MP 1/1.7″ sensor found in the LX5/G11/EX1/etc.
If this camera is pocketable like the S95 (unlike my current LX3) and has a true 16:9 shooting mode like the LX3/5 (unlike the S95) I’d buy it on announcement day.
If this “new 26-100mm(35mm equiv.) f/1.8-2.4 ZUIKO lens” won’t fit a decent lens hood, I’m not interested.
I know, a lens shade makes the camera/lens-combo less compact.
But it is essential for serious quality photography.
[And it prevents the front lens against fingerprints… ]
Why didn’t Olympus produce a decent lens shade for their mFT 14-42mm lens?
lichtloper
I have enough struggle with m43 and ISO 800 noise so anything smaller than m43 is a no-sale for me.