Back at Photokina Olympus displayed their “squarish” Lens-Camera prototypes. But at the recent Engadget Fes 2014 held at Arts Chiyoda 3331 in Tokyo they displayed a more advanced rounded and very Sony QX alike version. Our reader Alvin (Thanks!) shared those pictures and added some info:
Don’t know much about the specs but it has:
Open SDK for development
Shutter Button on top
Three tripod mounting locations (custom accessories?)
it’s part of the new Olympus Hack & Make program.
The specs are listed ont he Olympus site and are:
– Android ios
– 16 megapixel sensor. No info if it’s E-M1 (with PDAF) or E-M5 (without PDAF) alike.
– Connected by WiFi
– takes both stills and videos
– Optical / digital zoom, configurable for various shooting parameters
– Save Allowed still images in RAW or JPEG format
– Micro Four Thirds mount
There is no info when Olympus will bring those prototypes to the mass market.
And here are the more “official” Olympus images:
36 Responses
Open SDK is great news!
If it really has a proper SDK that could allow for full control over the camera (and I mean stuff like custom region readout from the sensor, etc.), than I’m on board. Would be even cooler if the device itself could be hacked to include active cooling system. That would be a killer for astrophotography. But I suspect this open SDK is nothing more than some tools for accessing a public API for high level functions (basically what you’d find in remote control app for the smartphone).
Anyway, that’s probably the right direction to go.
I think you’re burying the lead here… Is that guy’s hat a prototype or will it be for sale somewhere??
not only the hat but he s also promoting a new type of inflatable selfie “stick”…
The real question is does that job pay “the most” or “the least”, “It is those questions that we have to answer if we want to win”, like that guy did.
Boy, is he happy.
Crop him and send his Photo to meme dot com …
We know who would dress like that and take a selfie, that guy !
Not my kind of stuff .
If I really have to pick , the LUMIX CM1 looks more practical than this one .
Come on … Olympus .
not m43 related Yun lol
i thought you prefer on topic stuff
No choice
gotcha
With a proper HDMI out for a recorder and good video quality, these thing would sell like hotcakes to aerial shooters. It is amazing how Sony and Olympus did not see this oportunity.
hmmm…no.
It was crap when Sony did and it is still crap now.
This is not the future.
Unlike Sony, Olympus does not have the R&D and marketing budget to spend on stuff like this. Take this money and focus on improving E-M1, E-M5 and E-M10 (m2s). This is their future.
Exactly .
But I see this move as effort to secure something back from the collapsed compact camera market due to smartphones phenomena .
Could be, but that is a long shot.
No smartphone user would ever use this camera. Its ridiculous.
That said, it does look interesting for a lot of other uses. For example, I could place this in a hide far closer to animals than I could ever get myself.
Unlike Sony, Olympus seems to be going after the homebrew/dyi/hacker community. Which is a good move, since there’s not much use for such a camera as general purpose device. The idea of attaching this to a smartphone is still silly. However, open up the hardware to tinkerers and you’re gonna see that used in some unique ways.
One of the obvious uses I imagine is mounting that on a drone, but I’m sure people will find some awesome uses that neither Sony nor Olympus could ever think of. Of course, for that to happen, the SDK would really need to be powerful enough. And frankly, I’m not hoping for that. Corporations don’t like sharing or giving away control. And if so, this will be no different than Sony and their apps (not sure how they call them).
For a drone, a GM1 is small and light enough, no need of this thing. The only interresting news is the open SDK.
This looks awesome. I’d love to get my hands on one of those to play around with it. I hope it comes with a decent SDK and I can code for it in C++.
Ah, a camera that looks vaguely like a handgun – I can see a few Americans getting shot for waving one of those around!
Wonder if the shutter will be fast enough to catch the bullet in flight?
The mere fact that they are doing a “hacker/maker” product makes me feel good about Olympus. I follow various maker sites and see a lot of great art and performance projects that involve cameras for sensing, guidance, image processing, etc. Many of these are big-budget installations, but have to get by with cheap webcams, the Raspberry Pi camera module, etc., because they’re accessible to open-source software. This will never be a high-volume product line, but getting creative minds aligned with Olympus has to be good.
And maybe some of the ideas and solutions created by the community might be useful enough for general usage and might find their way into “regular” products.
I just hope the SDK is capable enough. Those kind of things tend not to be open at all. The Raspberry Pi camera module is one such example, there’s a proprietary piece of software controlling it and you can’t do anything other than that piece of software allows for, and it didn’t allow for all that much (at least that was the case last time I checked).
Hmmm… yes. This is exactly what I need for my microscope!
Just imagine, building your own startracker or gigapixel pano cam with it or hooking it up to a microscope or telescope. I hope it has some kind of I/O or an USB-Port that I can connect some I/O hardware to, to control some stepper motors.
The wifi and all that stuff would already be in the camera module.
Just awesome. The potential is practically limitless!
Olympus, GOOO!
EDIT from earlier post.
Incredible. Joseph Tame, the crazy lad in the photos, is a mate of mine. We met at an Apple event in Ginza where he photographed for Antelope Audio (based in Bulgaria) which did a live music event.
He runs for a living, doing crazy run designs all over Tokyo via GPS mapping, and is famous, so any new technology gets intro’d on him as he’s a running advert.
Staring at my screen in a state of confusion and silence.
I want this as a Project Ara module natively
ehmm does that olympus thing have a connector for rotating blades?
Whoa. Doesn’t OLYMPUS know that the demographics are much higher if they adapted these phantasmagorical “offerings” to iOS first? Or are they just blowing smoke with this spec as well?
The coders, hackers and inventors are on Android. On iOS are the lazy bums that consume media and play Angry Birds. So of course they’re aiming at android first. 🙂
If you look at the top line in the diagram, it’s got both iOS *and* Android. Makes sense, they’ve got the most mobile market share.
This whole develpment.. I bet is in part a due to apertus open source cinema. Competition towards it and offering a another option so that moneys wont flow towards new players.
Like other comments, I’m still waiting for more details on “OpenSDK”. Low level API? Like manual sensor shift, manual focus control, windowed sensor reading…
This guy has a huge johnson
I am trying hard but I can see only one use I would have for this and for that it is more than a few years to late to make me famous… A will it blend episode on Youtube.
It’s suitable for DIY colonoscopies.
Fine? This is the first and last stand against the 4k-smartphone-Wave that we hear for
2015 ( if a customer gets all for his live-daliy-adventure film/foto and the smartphone costs
only 0,- in a low pirced monthley usage sg. 14,90,- and all 12 months he gest his new next
shine 4k-smartphone..)so, to do something for me as willing-tu-by-customers ( not NOW
2014 is in final line and 2015 CES is running-so fine 4k aps-c and 4k 4/3 Camera-BODIES
are coming, all will fight faster in between 400-600,-$, if not there you will be nowhere…)
and SELL a CAMERA ( omd-e-10) with a good f1,8 Lense ( and kill the rubbish starterlense)
and make for me a GOOD PRICE..you should not think, hope you get me…NO!
Not the rumors, not this mass of idiotic tests and the goods of y-tube who tell this bla bal nonsense, so chickken-customers run round in the market like..chikkken. gag gagaaak..
If they would do this real so build us fine LENSES ( f1,8 45mm ) with best sensors and all
costs 299,-$–then maybee this can be something–other would be only a show for gopro..
and more 4k-smartphones…… all Cameramanufacturers make the same wrong thing..
NOT TO BRING ME WHAT I WANT
NOT NOW
BUT SOMEDAYS
and this you can wait in the rumors… NOT WITH ME!
idiots…