This is certainly going to be one of the weirdest rumors I have ever worked on. But here is a screenshot taken from the Olympus E-M1 menu showing the 4K video recording settings. Like I told you before many testers of the soon to be launched 2.0 firmware version have not seen that 4K feature. So the possibilities are two:
1) Olympus hiding the feature for most of them or
2) Olympus is testing that feature on a more advanced firmware to be released some time after the 2.0 version.
We will know on September 15 what’s really going on! Fingers crossed for 4k!
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Rumors classification explained (FT= FourThirds):
FT1=1-20% chance the rumor is correct
FT2=21-40% chance the rumor is correct
FT3=41-60% chance the rumor is correct
FT4=61-80% chance the rumor is correct
FT5=81-99% chance the rumor is correct
112 Responses
What’s exciting about this is that hopefully they’ve upped the bitrate on 1080p to make it actually usable. I’ve been using 720p because at 1080p there are too many artifacts.
Wish someone would show those “artifacts” in clear video.
artifacts is overrated issue, unless you need to work for a serious movie production but then you go for other solutions anyway.many people just using it for own stuff as a passionate vidographer, and not all the time with their face close to the screen will accept . I know the artifacts but when i watch on full hd TV its barely visible when you not oversharpen the adjustment settings (which happens alot anyway)
That is the problem, it is something that is blown to couple degrees from proportions that doesn’t really exist.
But hey, PEN and OM-D cameras has been used in couple movies like Secretarian and Mad Max. In many scenes their video is very acceptable.
Just for the sake of it, here’s a bit from the set of Mad Max (taken on an OM-D 😉 ).
[url=http://e-group.uk.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/64097][img]http://e-group.uk.net/gallery/data/507/O9291144-s.jpg[/img][/url]
i didnt know about those movies thx
But that is the point. If the Oly could do better video (let’s face it, it can’t hold a candle to even the GH2), the indie scene would eat it up with it’s terrific 5 axis stabilization. Motion jpeg quality aint gonna cut it, and that’s why the GH4 is selling like hot cakes.
I’d love for this firmware to be for real as it will make the m43 cameras the go to cam for awesome indie film production.
maybe true, lets see how people will make use of the 4k feature on the omd after its available.
If artifacts are an issue only for serious movies, comedies maye have artifacts?
🙂 people here maybe either too critical or tooo funny
Could you please enlighten me on those artifacts in this three videos? I’m definitely new at video as you can see, but would like to understand how a 720p may look better than the 1080p of my E-M1.Thank you.
1) http://youtu.be/S5juuJ6g18Q
2) http://youtu.be/xT6ZUAO_bN8
3) http://youtu.be/0gTwSq1i4lE
Definitely see artifact during panning on the singers faces and movements. It’s actually VERY noticeable. Also your command of the camera sucks and the band is horrifying. Jesus.
Thank you MJFX. The artifacts during panning are clear to me now.
I was with the 35-100 FT on camera totally handheld.But if it sucks, maybe with a monopod it will sucks in a more stable way and in 4K it will suck in UHD.
As I’ve wrote, i’m just an amateur with lot of will to learn.
Did you take a look at the others videos or you stopped at the first? Any serious advice would be very welcome. Thank you again.
btw, hope Jesus is not you real name 😉
I stopped at the first, i couldn’t bare to waste my time watching your garbage…..
Dude BTW i’m really just bustin’ your chops – the quality of the video looks great.
the shake looks very acceptable/minimal considering you used the zd 35-100 handheld, i hope yuo realise this
You want to judge a camera by a YT video??
YT drastically ruins an average 1080p 28Mbs AVCHD.
Yep. That’s why alone oversampling 1080p to 4k is better for YouTube as then YouTube gives higher bitrate to video when streaming a 1080p version from it.
Difference is huge. But even that is recoded dramatically.
You’re right Steve, but that is the platform where i’d share most, if not all of my videos.Is Vimeo a better solution? Anyway, the technicalities/quality are of marginal value even if very welcome.I still prefer focus on the content.Most of those video are just tests i did in various situations just to have some material to use as a workout.I’m just intrigued by videos (shooting,edit).
So only a F and no N for compression? Would this mean it is 24Mbit/s? Or somewhat 50Mbit/s? If would be 100Mbit/s it would be awesome.
And defiantly needs 25fps.
Apparently Oly will use Panasonic codecs.
The codec is H.264 unless Olympus have a another supported than that and MJPEG (what could be 4:2:2 BTW).
well testing would mean that there is the possibility that this feature is never going to be available.
So, they relased the E-M1 before it was fully functional
or
they deliberately crippled the 4K function so they could announce a ‘firmware upgrade’ instead of going to the trouble of releasing a genuine new model and this would keep the serial upgraders (poor lambs that they are)off their backs
or
it is not a ‘real’ 4K but is a 4K-imitator that uses fancy software tricks to interpolate
See my later comment with reference to Mr Terada at Olympus.
http://www.photoreview.com.au/stories/general/olympus-designers-speak
If this analogy was supposed to be correct, then you could also blame Sony for releasing the PS3 six years before time, when the supposed potiential was reached in about 2012.
Shut up. Please. And go away.
Why? Because you can’t handle the truth? [said in an appalling Jack Nicholson imitation]
Are you hoping that if I go away your dreams will remain intact?
No, because you are a troll. You. Go look in the mirror at your trolly self.
Get you!
You could always try and counter my comments instead of just wanting to avoid them.
What is your explanation for them coming out with a software update when on the E-M5 they said that 4K was not just a software update.If, as suspected, the sensor is the same as in the GH4 then it was fully 4K capable at the time of release yet Olympus chose not to implement it. Why?
’cause they were not ready to release it at that time. Is it a real problem? Do you think they should have delayed the release?
Obviously they didn’t, and they probably know why 🙂
Still hard to believe that Olympus, never the innovator when it comes to video, will be the FIRST EVER company to allow 4k video via firmware update. All this coming from a company who wouldn’t give us and still doesn’t give us 24/25p in their current batch of cameras? Inconceivable! I hope this is a sign of change from the company, now realizing that video capabilities is essential for all cameras. But until we can actually realize it, I will hold my applause until the next generation of the O-MDs.
I would gladly take 25fps for most countries in the world.
And as Olympus offers 120fps in 480p and 240fps in 324p in TG-3 that has truepic VII, it makes wonder…
I just hope it doesn’t mean that Olympus is starting to follow Panasonic’s video mania.
I want my camera to take good pictures. I want the video to be an afterthought, and the still quality to be the main criteria.
Whatever happens, it is good to see that Olympus is finally taking video more seriously.
It could be true, or photoshop, or a test that’ll never be released to the public. I’ll believe it when I see it.
But they can’t even do 1080p well, what is the point in having even worse 4k?
another drunk in the house!
Actually Nicholas comment is valid.
The CURRENT video quality at 1080p is not very good.
If they improve the codecs (quality) and add more frame rates and then add 4K capability, then that is a good thing. If there are no improvement and just increase resolution to 4K, then I would agree, a bit of waste of time and resources.
video was never critical before the fhd age came imo the pixelpeeping virus goes from still photography to videography nowadays. But ofcourse..if the standard goes up, we tend to show our never-be-satisfied attitude..
But that is changing with this new firmware.
Or
3)They’re deliberately giving this version to a couple of testers to see who is leaking information
Or 4) The screenshot belongs to a crash test pre production E-M2…? Or E-M1S prototype?
Hmm, not sure. Will wait when FW is released. This could be photoshop
Look further down at the larger image (of the one at the top) I linked to.
It could be just a future FW update or even a test for use in a future, but the hardware is already there & we will find out soon, I guess.
Olympus could always do what Fujifilm are doing & announcing a FW update to come in December. http://www.dpreview.com/articles/1331072850/fujifilm-offers-silver-x-t1-and-firmware-update
That was supposed to be “or even a test for use in a future model”
This is interesting to see which way it will go, but also keep in mind this statement from an interview by PhotoReview, “Mr Terada added that Olympus is seeing increasing demand for expanded video capabilities, including increased frame rates and better sound recording. 4K video is also showing up as a potential demand, although Olympus will not move into this area until there is an agreed technology standard. Most camera buyers, he says, want video included, even though they may only use it occasionally.”
http://www.photoreview.com.au/stories/general/olympus-designers-speak
4K or not 4K is this the problem?
I can wait till monday….
While I rarely shoot video, this is definitely exciting! I can’t wait to see if the rumor is true or not ^^
Does the leaker and tester of this update have anything to say about the actual quality of the 4K?
https://mobile.twitter.com/nabilfathi15
I wouldn’t put any weight on that. Now it looks again so pulled from the hat.
300Mb/s is less than 30MiB/s and it is that UHS speed class 3 does offer.
http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1996/~/difference-between-speed-class,-uhs-speed-class,-and-speed-ratings
https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/speed/
https://www.sdcard.org/developers/overview/bus_speed/
E-M1 supports according Olympus the UHS-I that is “i” and not “1”. Check page 149 on user manual.
UHS Cards are backward compatible but doesn’t offer extra speed unless hardware I/O is fast enough. In this case UHS-I reader can write either a 50MiB/s or 104MiB/s and that is far plenty than required for 100-300Mb/s bitrate. Currently if I remember correctly, E-M1 supported only a UHS-I SDR50/DDR50 that is a 50MiB/s and faster you can’t get unless for some reason the I/O operations would have severely been limited.
We’ll see soon. Anyway, I was referring to the twit that was mentioning Panasonic codecs (patents)
Olympus has licensed the same h.264 codec as Panasonic, unless Olympus will get Panasonic RAW or what proprietary codec they have.
H.264 is very capable codec, question is just encoder settings and there is no patents for that.
Yay! 4K! That’s going to look fantastic at 640×480 on Youtube on your phone!
It is 1080p…. Oh wait, I use Nexus 7… Please continue!
Well, at least it looks great on workstation as background video?
All the 4K samples I’ve seen on YouTube look much crisper than native 1080p, even when displayed at 1080p. That might just be than 99% of cameras have terrible bitrates at 1080p, but regardless of the why, the improvement in quality is noticeable.
I know what you mean. I keep wondering why none of this stuff works on my Hercules monochrome monitor.
“Hercules”
2014 not using CGA
CGA is so yesteryear…I’ve got EGA squarely in my sights for my next upgrade.
I still use matrix printer as my monitor….
I don’t need to see them or anything else, the matrix printer sound is still ringing in my ears. 😉
To be fair you get better horizontal resolution on a Hercules at 720×348 at the expense of vertical resolution and non-square pixels 🙂
I really hope not but that 4k icon looks fake. Why is is so much bigger than the other icons!?
because selected?
The selected icon is larger on the E-M1.
Maybe a bit more of the image can help, as seen here.
http://i.imgur.com/jpUlqAB.jpg
I hope its true.
I hope they are not just testing it out with a few individuals as a proof of concept for some internal project of theirs…
I don’t care about 4K. Just watching the comments and eating popcorn. This is funner than 4K or even 8K!
Third possibility: Olly are using the EM1 as a platform for testing software that they’ll eventually deliver with a future model.
Is this really a screenshot of the E-M1? We’re not that sure. Maybe it’s part of a brand new product. Maybe E-M2? I just don’t know how you can add 4K through firmware, this sounds a bit too confusing. Why would they add 4k when the bitrate is shite and they don’t give you 24, 25, 50, 60 fps? Those are more important features… This shouldn’t be FT4
If it has enough buffer, there isnt reason why not.
Maybe it’s only available on the silver version. It could require some special hardware. Did you check with your sources which version of EM-1 is being tested?
Good question, though I would expect that Olympus would use a slightly different model number if they had changed the hardware. They have been doing that for decades even when they made minor hardware variations.
Haha, the image kind of reminds me of pictures of ufo and alien sightings.
I’m afraid there’s no truth this as well… but hey, I’m open to being proved wrong! Happily convince me!
Look up at the image I linked to.
Looks like it was taken too close with a crappy phone camera.
Probably to hide the build nr or something that could have gotten the leaker into trouble.
But it could as well be fake and the crappy quality is that you cant really tell…
So how about 1080P on the OMD
silent electronic shutter on EM1? Anyone?
Yes please
Awesome! Now we can have hi-res video that falls apart really easily. Their lo-res codecs are crap. I’m pretty sure their 4k codec will be crap also.
I DOUBT you own an EM-1. If you do, don’t download the new firmware. That gives you new features. For free. Then you have no complaints.
What is with all the mentally handicapped people like Wonk who decided to finally show up just to complain and troll?
Either schools are closed or people got serious psychological issues, wanting to keep justifying their purchases/ brands.
And the new firmware is bringing new and better video recording options.
Just asking….but why is the 4K ikon bigger than the other 3 ikons?
Because the ikons are bigger when selected. Seriously some people……….
low quality bait…
more interested in the rumored 24/25/30/60/120/240fps options and a clean 1080p – no question i would get one.
Those options are supposed to be in the new firmware.
I had given up waiting for Olympus to offer PAL 25p and 50p options. Will this be the moment?
Leak the damn GM5 already.
It doesn’t seem all that weird. It looks like it is technically possible, and Olympus wanted to compare feedback. Just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. I would rather see 4k implemented well on the next body than implemented poorly on this one
What about EP5? Nothing!?
Well…I you buy one you get one GREAT camera for stills!
Heat issue.
What does the F and the N mean on Olympus cameras?
They’re image quality / compression and size settings for JPEG images:
Quality:
SF = Super Fine (1/2.7)
F = Fine (1/4)
N = Normal (1/8)
B = Basic (1/12)
Size:
L = Large
M = Medium
S = Small
Or he could mead the Fn function buttons.
I bet on “reason 2”. Olympus testing 4K with the limited testers. it could be prove to check the firmware version’s minor digits or “build number”.
We all know Olympus menus tend to be pretty complicated. Maybe ALL the beta testers had cameras with the 4K feature, but some of them just never discovered it 🙂
On the serious side… I never had been tempted to buy an E-M 1 because it’s a lot of money and the still image quality isn’t any better than what I get with my E-M 5. But the tethered shooting and slow-mo features might be enough to push me over the edge. (Not very interested in 4K because I’ve got no way to edit or distribute it, but I would have a lot of applications for 240fps clips.) This could be a firmware update that actually sells more cameras…
I thought so too, but once i handled both cameras at the same time. e-m1 was just like extension of my hand, while e-m5 felt clunky and all the time wanted to slip out of my hand both with 12-40. Difference with 40-150 will be even bigger. But EVF alone is big benefit of e-m1.
I’m really looking forward to e-m1 firmware update, not because of 4k, but all those rumored improvements for stills.
Agreed – though i do think the still image quality is improved over the E-M5 due to the enhanced ability to use 4/3 lenses. I had a considerable investment in 4/3 lenses (12-60mm, 7-14mm, 50-200mm) so it’s a huge plus to have them be able to focus better than with the E-M5.
120/240 fps clips would be great fun. I’d really like to see that.
CAF tracking is certainly better. If rumors are true, the usage of the 4k enabled EM1 even in beta form is something that is bound to generate interest in the videographer world particularly if it does indeed (as rumors suggest) have similar quality to the GH4.
This poses another thought. Naturally Panasonic wants to keep ahead of any other m43 offering in the video world and this could still be done with the (again) rumored raw video recording enabled to an external recorder. In many ways the enabling of 4k in the EM1 can only assist the m43 product in general so it would be a win win situation. It would be in Oly and m43’s best interest to release this 4k update if it exists.
Maybe you should get then iPhone 6 plus when it comes. OIS + 720p 240fps….
…And comparable iq. Most people will do just that.
Still not convinced Olympus will release this firmware, 4k just seems too generous and out of character considering their video history. But i am willing to believe it exists behind closed doors and is in the hands of some lucky beta testers– i just hope one of them does us all a favour and leaks it anyway, be a shame to see it go to waste.
Olympus OM-D EM-4(K)
Anyone else notice the article countering this one has been pulled? Someone has their knickers in right twist.
I believe the choice of Olympus.
http://oi62.tinypic.com/6icrns.jpg
3) Olympus is testing their new image processor using a modified E-M1 by replacing the current processor with a new one, and therefore it won’t be available as firmware update forever. Logically speaking, you can’t expect to get 4K video support through firmware update. T
And how do you believe now testers have had it via firmware from Olympus to be tested?
This is an epic fail by Olympus and they could have stopped the rumors and didn’t I’m assuming to sell more EM1s. If the rumors were real they could have seized the moment to shake up the market. I have the EP1, EM5 and EM, this may likely be my last Olympus. Heck I even had to buy a GH1 at one point to compensate for the lack of video quality on the EP1. Olympus has to show it is more than a one trick pony and they have failed to show they can fully compete with video next to the competition even with its Pro model, especially when they know that video is lacking next to their direct competitors. Their game changer moment is over and they surely lost some customers. Either the hacking will begin or an exodus from Olympus loyalist prosumers may if it hasn’t already started. @OlympusUSA #FirmwareFail