Olympus Japan issued a warning on the 12-40mm Lens shipment. Because of the unexpected high demand the Lens shipments will be delayed (no date info yet). Also Amazon US has a high demand warning text.
Robin Wong (Click here) posted the Part 5 of the E-M1 review. This time it is comparison between E-M1 and E-M5.
Preorder Links:
Olympus E-M1 body at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto, Amazon DE (via DL), Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL), WexUK, Topshot FI, CameraWorldUK.
Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO Lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, AmazonDE (viaDL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus E-M1 with 12-40mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK and CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus E-M1 with 12-50mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK, CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus EP-13 Eyecup for E-M1 at Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus HLD-7 Battery Grip for E-M1 at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus LC-62D Metal Front Lens Cap for 12-40mm at Adorama and BHphoto.
Olympus LH-66 Lens Hood for 12-40mm at Adorama and BHphoto.
98 Responses
Wow, glad to hear Olympus is struggling to meet demand. Hopefully this changes their financial situation around.
Just because Olympus is over hyping one lens, it won’t get them no where near close of getting out of the red. E-P5 and E-M1 won’t get them any closer either. I don’t even see the E-P5 selling. As a matter of fact, most if not all of their recent cameras, aside from the OMD did not sell well at all!
They are a profitable company and have been for a long time. Unlike Sony and Panasonic.
Their imaging division has been losing money though they said that m43 is now profitable. They are still losing money on imaging due to losses on their compact camera business which is being drastically reduced the same as the Panaonic compact camera business.
“They are a profitable company and have been for a long time. Unlike Sony and Panasonic.
Their imaging division has been losing money though they said that m43 is now profitable”
Olympus themselves posted that sales of their Pen range are down 12% ,there imaging division has been losing money for years.Long before mFT covering up the losses in the camera division was the motivating factor behind the huge financial cover up. Mirrorless sales are significantly down , hopefully getting rid of the low end P&S will help to balance the books.
Olympus did NOT say PEN sales were down 12% only that “they were below expectations”.
Olympus has nearly always been a profitable company with strong cash flow.
The financial cover up was related to something that happened in the 1990’s ie before digital cameras where even widely available.
I also remember the 12% being for PEN series (specifically) mentioned in several places. Of course, it could just have been repetition of the same mis-translation by different sources.
YDDY…I think you owe corkcambell an apopology…..now go on….
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/08/09/olympus-stems-loses-but-pen-sales-disappoint
C’mon YDDY…. apologize…or we will have to ask you to leave the forum.
YDDY…please put your head down as you get into the back of the cruiser.
And as soon as they’re proven wrong…. GHOST TOWN.
Total GHOST TOWN!
(I am an Oly Fantard,too….but I back up my opinions with facts).
YDDY is a foolish Fantard blowhard. It’s annoying.
Hi, hi, you boys get so wound up over nothing. I love my Olympus camera and now also the 12-40mm f/2.8 zoom lens. I don’t care about the financial situation of a company. Just as long as they keep making these wonderful camera systems.
Great! I am happy too. I have so many lenses already 🙂 will wait 🙂
Cheers
Tobias
December 7th. WHAH! 🙂
That is Pearl Harbor day…should I read anything into this???
Isn’t Pearl Harbor day December 6 in Japan?
Lens is to arrive in US December 7th….from Japan with love…BOMBS AWAY!
You must not be American. And if you are, shame on you.
My father was at Pearl that morning – never said anything about it being cowardly (although a sneak attack can’t really be anything else), but always blamed ourselves for getting “caught flat-footed,” as he always described it. He was an engineer whose gun got credit for sinking one of the mini-subs, but he said that everyone was shooting all over the place so he always questioned the certainty of the credit. Later, he had to try to get the men out of one of the overturned ships and then had to be in a detail collecting arms, legs, etc., off the beaches.
He was lucky enough (considering his ships took a couple of sserious kama kazi (sp?) hits later) to witness the surrender from one of nearby ships. Also was invited by President Bush to the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl. The only time that I ever saw him cry was when visiting the Arizona Memorial during that 1991 visit.
Odd thing, though, he never developed a hatred for the Japanese and always wanted to go there to visit. I think that he felt that they got what they deserved (referring to fire bombing of non-military cities like Tokyo, etc.) and paid the price. He was always able to separate disgust with a government from feelings about the people. So, except for a certain hesitancy in buying Japanese products when they first started dominating electronics, he never said much negative. He even remarked that “the Japanese pushed us around a lot at the beginning and had really good navy tactics, but sometime in 1943 it became more like the Gulf War (1991), just a slaughter. They should have quit earlier.” When he made remarks about their naval tactics, he was referring to the engagements around Guadalcanal, when they really blasted us in a couple of night engagements.
Wow…this is certainly a change of topic! Sorry, admin…
Fascinating account thanks for sharing! I definitely prefer Japanese ingenuity applied to cameras than war. I hope other aspiring powers of today in that region (I.e china) get that too. But enough politics! Let’s talk cameras
+100
Somehow that’s not funny. Please don’t say things like that here.
When the Olympus reps were touring UK spending a day at certain dealers to demonstrate the EM1 recently, although the 12-40 had already been announced, they weren’t allowed to show the lens. This was apparently a decision from HQ Japan, as the lens was undergoing further “tweaking”. Are your sources sure this delay is because of demand, or maybe further development of the lens?
On Thursday, I was part of a group that had access to two 12-40mm f/2.8 lenses for around 90 minutes on a sponsored photo walk.
It’s quite good, and I can imagine that they’ve been inundated with orders, especially with people in Asia who switch almost every year.
Actually, the warning seems to be on availability of the combined body / lens kit.
Yeah, that’s the way I read it as well. Admin should amend the headline. Although the low supply of lenses may be the reason for the delay of the kit, the translation I read clearly indicated that the delay involved the kit.
I need the lens end of next April, hope, I will have one until then. And more nice would be to have also the new 40-150 until then 😉
If you don’t have it you can purchase the excellent, and weather resistant, 12-60 4/3 lens and use it with adapter on the E-1. When the 12-40 arrives, you can keep both, or sell the 12-60.
A native M4/3 12-60mm with similar quality of the 4/3 version would have sold like hotcakes!
12-60mm is a far more versatile range than 12-35mm or 12-40mm.
I would not have bought a 12-60mm but the 12-40 mm is for me the perfect zoom . and limiting the zoom range allows to keep the constant aperture and keeping size and weight in check
Harold
You obviously know nothing about the 12-60mm 4/3 lens. It is superb. I have it and have used it extensively with my E-3 and later with my E-5. Even on my E-M5 the sharpness and IQ is excellent (although it is slower to focus due to the CDAF of the E-M5).
Once I receive my E-M1, that 12-60 will see a lot of use on the E-M1. I may later get the 12-40, but in the mean time the 12-60 – and even the 14-54 II – will get the job done – and they are both weather-resistant.
I have used the 12-60 extensively and sold it three months ago. It is a lovely lens, but I sold it on the basis of what was coming. With the convertor it is quite large and heavy, certainly larger than the 12-40 which is superior in build and IQ. The 12-60 had the weakness in its lens hood to camera attachment which cost me dearly in South Sudan where the nearest Olympus repair store is in South Africa.
12-60 is a very nice lens indeed, but that is because of the combination of range and optical quality that ti offers. When looking at the in range slightly more limited 14-54 (either version), it is a bit better over its entire range (and a bit brighter). When looking at the 14-35/2.0 its more then a bit better optically (besides being a stop or more brighter). 3 different compromises, which one is ‘best’ totally depends on your needs.
This m4/3 12-40/2.8 is yet another slightly different compromise, looks like an excellent compromise, but if it is ‘best’ totally depends on your needs.
Its kinda funny how people ignore that all those lenses are compromises, and start ascribing magical qualities to whichever one they happen to have bought.
Shooting with a zoom is already a compromise, so adding in a bit more compromise should only hurt a little bit more, right? 😉
For me, zooms are travel, holiday and social lenses, so when I do use one, I’d rather it have a bit more range than a typical 3x zoom. I dislike the 14-140mm and find the 14-42mm II way too short (but fun to use with decent IQ) and neither quite wide enough, so something in between, like the 12-60mm. would be perfect.
No lens is anywhere near perfect and shooting with a lens is already a compromise, so thats really a silly argument.
The question isn’t if you will be making a compromise (you will) but what compromise you are making. One size fits all? Don’t think so.
I’m pretty sure the 12-40mm will sell like hotcakes too base on the initial impressions and testers who had the opportunity to use it.
It’ll reach the status like 12-60 in a very short time once it’s widely available
No, I don’t want to use the 12-60 with my E-M5, to slow af, to big, to heavy, if I want this I’ve already bought the 12-60 before 😉
Has anyone heard anthing about the shutter shick syndrome on the E-M1??
DPreview “downrated” the E-P5 primarily beacuse of blurry pictures between 1/80 – 1/200.
Or did Olympus manage to dampen the shutter enough, this time? (or the IBIS takes care of it?)
I believe Olympus used more precise shutter for the E-M1. Only the E-P5 has this problem so far.
e-m5 has it, too. I’ve seen/tested it myself. The 1/8 sec “anti-shock” shutter delay is standard for me, if I dont need the instant exposure (the name of that option alone seaks volumes). It seems to be very lens-dependant, however.
see also here: http://cameraergonomics.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/micro-43-shutter-shock-revisited-omd-em.html
The ant-shock options are a carry-over from Olympus dSLRs where it was included to prevent mirror shock. Effectively it was the equivalent of an automated mirror lock up. It was around long before m43 was introduced
what is that supposed to mean? they didn’t keep the mirror but kept the mirror-lock-up feature?
doesn’t make sense. surely they noticed that despite the lack of mirror, there is still potential for shock. As long as there is anything mechanical going on there is a potential for shock to happen.
Since the shutter has to close before opening, it only makes sense to have that feature included for the critical exposures that need it to achieve the sharpest image possible. It just happens that certain lenses with a light body can be affected in the image with that critical shutter speed range & so it is a worthwhile point to remember that the ‘Antishock’ setting of 1/8 sec delay is very effective for those situations.
Maybe I am experiencing shutter shock. I took some photos yesterday with the 75mm and was surprised to see some blurring at 1/160 that I have never experienced before
Yes, the E-M1 has the dreaded shutter shock syndrome! Just came back from a hike and although most images looked sharp on the excellent display, many of the shots were ruined by shutter shock. I’m talking about photos made with the new 12-40mm at f/5.6 and 1/250s. WTF? Back to the shop it goes and until this is fixed I’ll never look at micro four thirds again. I can’t even begin to tell how disappointing this is. Man, I just wasted 1400 dollars on a flawed Japanese toy.
I have an EP5…10 Oly and Panny lenses…I am not experiencing shutter shock. I have put on short telescope and shot between 1/80- 500 and am not experiencing the phenomenon?
^^^^. Above I meant short telephoto lenses (not telescopes)..LOL…sometimes spell check works against you!
find PZ 14-42mm X ,you will know about shutter shock ,(lens reference for test ss)
and many Panny body had shutter shutter shock effect too,
but they use e-shutter to solve this problem
There is no prob with that camera, it’s user error, and yes I own it, it’s as good as any Canikon in iq. There’s something fishy going on over there with that bogus review.
Shutter shock is a very real problem. I’m no fool mister and I’ve used many, many cameras over the years. This new E-M1 and it’s predecessor both exhibit shutter shock. With the E-M5 it was a little less though. I returned my E-M1 because of this. I need a more reliable tool.
I have never experienced any shutter shock or image blur as described, quite the opposite images with the E-M5 are much sharper than with my E-P3 at low to mid range shutter speeds because of the IBIS. I do use the Anti-shock feature as an intervalometer for time lapse works well.
It’s a very serious problem, S.S. That is probably the reason they have delayed the 12-40: it covibrates between 1/77 and 1/117 s.
Worse, the effect is compounded when the marriage hack has a hard on because of the bride: it then resonates with the shutter, and the pictures are kaputt!
amalric – take your medication.
Hell, yeah then go and buy a cam for 1400 grand, that can actually take blurry pictures. Its not a bug, its a feature. You should pay even more.
The oly’s take sharper hand helds than the d600s with similar image quality on prints.
My experience too dude. The marriage of the excellent 12-40mm with the E-M1is not a happy one. I can tell you that much. Even at higher shutter speeds like 1/200s or more I get blurry pictures. This really stinks. The lens is excellent, but the shutter shock renders is useless too me. I’ll return both the camera and the lens and keep my hard earned money in my pocket.
Feels like fake high demand created by the manufacturer, maybe they have a production capacity of 1 lens a day 😛
In The UK camera dealers are ordering in quite large numbers due to how impressed they were and the direction Olympus are now going in.
I think the new “direction” needs a new name, though, “micro” four thirds doesn’t really make sense. Maybe Mega Four Thirds, or Massive Four Thirds?
“”n The UK camera dealers are ordering in quite large numbers due to how impressed they were and the direction Olympus are now going in.””
Any sources for that claim Stu or is just one of the typical plucked out of fresh air numbers you guys love to drop ?
Stupid troll!
Right now at Amazon “Best Sellers in Digital Camera Lens”, this Olympus 12-40mm is ranked no. 21. Quite a high demand there. The Panny 12-35mm on the other hand is not even in the top 100.
The Panny 12-35mm on the other hand is not even in the top 100.
Gee. who would have thought that there would be higher demand for a soon to be released lens than one that came out nearly 18 months ago.
As idiotic as ever…
I don’t want to defend him, but his point was that this shutter shock issue is FUD, or extremely rare, as none exactly could repro it for sure, yet. But still, he has a very colorful way of expressing himself, that is for sure.
LOL, in such tightly packed electronics there is always the off chance of an interference between lens and body. I was always surprised by the banding of the 20mm. However it is well documented.
On the contrary shutter shock always struck me as an assumption which had some ground with the early 14-42 Oly, since it was so flimsy, but a mere invention later for the randomness of the phenomena.
The only way to defeat IBIS is to move the camera too suddenly, and that of course is user error. Is there broken IBIS in a batch of E-P5s? That would be a different concern.
Perhaps I am lucky with the E-M5 but I have had no teething problems whatsoever, and that has been my experience with most Oly cameras.
There were a few E-M5’s in the beginning that had a faulty IBIS, but it was a definite fault & they were being replaced from what I can remember.
I think all the kits are going to US and Europe to make happy the small clients mass,Japanese must wait because they already love Olympus. 🙂
Now serious, have you seen this announce for another country? or only for Japan?
“…all the kits are going to US and Europe…” — Europe maybe, but the U.S. isn’t getting any kits until December (according to previous posts).
Be patient, production will start catching up to demand in the next month or two.
Why delay the lens if it’s just higher demand? First shipment sold out, second shipment takes a bit longer to try to meet demand.
Regarding Robin Wong’s comparison between the EM1 and EM5 –
I don’t see a stop difference in noise at high iso – they look very very similar to me.
The color shifting he talks about seems to be there in all images at all ISOs.
The in-camera processing of the EM1 to correct for sharpness and CA seem to leave artifacts that may not be desirable.
Not that either camera isn’t great, but I just don’t see a big difference in jpg output between them. Perhaps the big difference is found in the RAW files.
I agree, I don’t think there is a big difference in image quality. If I had a EM5 and I did not need the 4/3 lens comparability, I would not upgrade. If I was in the market for a new camera now, I would definitely go for the EM1 over the EM5.
As of now, I am fine with the camera I have. I will probably upgrade cameras next year. Right now my eye is on the 42.5mm f1.2 when it gets released this winter.
It doesn’t seem that there was a lot of difference between the two but it was visible. I wouldn’t use either photo at ISO 6400 or higher, unless it was absolutely necessary.
Yes I agree that the colour noise is not a stop difference, however I do see an increase in IQ between the two at higher ISO, less loss of detail. I think the CA removal is a big benefit for JPEG photographers, the artifacts won’t be seen unless pixel peeking, but the apparent lack of sharpness the CA brings will go away
I don’t see any technical differences between the output from both cameras. No reason to upgrade for image quality. The E-M1, E-M5 and even the Panasonic GX7 have almost the same output. If you own an E-M-5, hold on to it!
Why should high demand delay the shipment of lenses already made?
I mean, had high demand not occurred, the would have shipped sooner?!
Because they have made a batch or two already, I reckon?
So why wait shipping them, then… :/
I don’t think demand is delaying shipment, it just means that the early units are getting spread all over the place (so each vendor just gets a few). Once Olympus starts making progress on the backlog of pre-orders, availability for everybody else will improve.
For comparison’s sake, I ordered an E-M1, 12-40mm lens, and battery grip about an hour after Amazon U.S. started allowing pre-orders last month. Today I received an email with these expected delivery dates:
E-M1 body — 18-22 October
HLD-7 battery grip — 21-25 November
12-40mm lens — 12-16 December
And mind you — these dates are for an *early* pre-order. So if you’re in a hurry, keep calling your local camera shops.
Olympus should divert resources to meeting demand for the new lens! I hope I can get one before April 2014.
It may not be the allocation of resources; we don’t even know who actually makes the lens and what agreements have been made about production. It could also be an issue of some part/glass, just like the rumor that the limited production of Retina screens is holding up the iPad Mini upgrade.
I think any concerns about delays for the 12-40 lens or the E-M1 kit is just quite likely a higher demand than first anticipated as it was with the E-M5 kits (especially the silver one) & it took at least two months to catch up on orders then.
Shutter Shock??
—
All systems, including cameras w/ lenses, exhibit some “impulse” response when exposed to “shocks”/impulses such as the release of a shutter/a mirror/etc. In well damped systems, the response die out fast. Mirror lock-up is a standard trick to minimize this shock by delaying the exposure until the mirror shock has died out.
—
Clearly, active shock damping such as IBIS, OIS, VR, etc may interact with the system and change the response. In continuous shooting, resonanse may show up if the shooting frequency coincides with spikes in the response.
—
Some forum readers reports that the shutter shock is new to E-P5. Others refer to bloggers that claim this is a particular problem for mirrorless cameras, including Panas (and… presumably also Sony, Nikon, Canon, etc).
—
I have never observed this on my E-M5. I have never used the E-P5, but I find it highly unlikely that it is a big problem if no-one of photo reviewers have made a point out of this before dpreview raised the question. I have seen that mirror lock-up gave minor improvement on dslrs, but you had to pixel peep to see it.
—
How serious is this on the E-P5 (and the E-M1)? Or the GX7? Or the NEXes? I find the whole debate kind of absurd… Like headless chicken running around at random. How likely is this to be a big problem? I mean, I have never seen it. Of course, *any* system will have a “shutter shock”, but get real: how big a problem can it be when hardly any user of Olys, Panas, Sonys, Nikons, Canons, etc have made a fuzz about it?
If the problem wasn’t there, dpreview would have hardly downrated the camera? I have seen it with my e-m5. Bloggers have seen it.
I admit: I had to pixel-peep quite a bit to see it, but its there.
Some people say they see no SS. Thats good for them. But they should not deny the clear observations of others. This IS a problem for mirrorless cameras (not only for 4/3).
Of the over 40k pictures I took with E-M5s last year, exactly 2 exhibit clear traces of shutter ‘shock’ induced trouble, all other cases of ‘blur’ can easily be explained by other problems (such as obtaining more then 10mp worth of real detail being nearly impossible handheld to begin with)
Of the over 120k pictures I took with mirrorless cameras over the last few years, there are a few that may have been affected, and even fewer where its almost certain. That is with a mix of 5 m4/3 cameras from both Panasonic and Olympus make, with and without IBIS, with and without lenses with OIS, with and without lenses with internal focus etc.
Objective testing? not at all, just long term experience suggesting to me that while the issue does exist in some very specific situations, but isn’t at all the kinda generic problem that people are suggesting. The situations where I can reproduce always involve inherently instable setups such as camera + 300/6.3 on a very light tripod using the ‘body tripod socket’ or hanging the camera from the back of a long telescope with enough wiggling room due to extenders etc sitting inbetween. I’ve never ever encountered such problems in ‘normal’ situations.
And eh, I think there are millions of pictures on a whole variety of photography forums and sites that strongly suggest almost everyone who uses such cameras shares that experience.
So, the real question is, what makes that some specific people run into this more then others? Is it their specific cameras, or is it something they do?
Again:
If you don’t experience shutter shock at all in your pictures, thats fine for you.
But please do not deny the fact that other photographers clearly experience it (there is enough proof! please do not deny it), and that they feel that this is in fact a severe problem.
As to why you dont see it? I dont know. Maybe you dont shoot at the relevant shutter speeds? maybe you dont own the most susceptible lenses? maybe you dont care about critically sharp pictures (on a pixel-peep level)? I dont know.
I’m not denying that this could be a problem. I am, however, pointing to a few facts:
* I have never seen the problem.
* Now, others state that they have not seen the problem, or that it may have occurred in 2 out of thousands of pictures
* I had never even heard of the problem until this dpreview of the E-P5
* Suddenly, there is a lot of *unqualified* claims of this being new to the E-P5, or maybe it is common in all mirrorless cams (strangely enough, there is mainly reference to Oly cams, with speculation about the IBIS), and weirdo speculations about this is the true reason for the delay of the 12-40 lens
* A lot of these speculations come from well-known Oly trolls
—
So, it may be a problem. It may be:
— a result of a faulty camera and/or lens
— unfortunate circumstances
— misuse of the camera/ poor technique
— a true problem for a few with extreme requirements/pixel peepers
— etc
The *problem* is that seem to address the *degree* of the problem. By not adressing the degree of the problem (what fraction of pictures are affected, is it necessary to pixel peep to see it at all, etc) the discussion becomes speculative and gives the impression of being written by headless chicken.
Yup, that’s the exact definition of FUD 🙂
Wikipedia: “FUD is generally a strategic attempt to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubious or false information” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt
First of all I point out I have a few pictures where this issue is clearly visible, second, I wonder WHY some people experience this while others don’t (or rarely do). Neither statement makes sense as ‘denying the issue’, so maybe you either need to work a bit on your comprehension of the English language, or learn that ‘not screaming in agreement’ isn’t the same as denying.
Stop crying and work with what you have. Set the camera to 1/8 delay and you never have to worry.
+100
I have an em-5 and i did-not observed shuttle shake problem
But… My NIKON d800e have some problems with the 50mm 1.4. If I take a picture at 1/170 with out a stand i found shake 🙁
Shutter shake …. 🙂 Apple docet
i wanna buy it for my GX7 next year 😉
“Like headless chicken running around at random”
Couldn’t say better. Does the demographic include both the Panny mongoloids and the Oly owners who take their camera for a field experiment in high energy physics, instead of simply taking pictures with it?
This kind of experiment has destroyed more than a forum, and produced no piccies at all 🙂
Don’t you yourself suffer from Down’s Syndrome? I thought I saw that in your chart.
AS USUAL, Olympus is surprised by demand. Don’t they realize that when they make exciting products that people will buy them? Reminds me of how they didn’t make barely any spare batteries for the EM-5 when it first came out because they didn’t think that anybody would buy the camera or want to actually have a battery for it. WTF! 🙂
So the EM-1’s JPEG quality is better than that of the EM-5’s. That’s nice to have, but isn’t the EM-1 supposed to be the “pro” version? I would assume that most users would be shooting RAW.
Shooting RAW then applying the exact same batch filter routine to every file isn’t necessary if it can be done 99% “on the fly” by the camera (effects, color creator, NR, optical correction, etc…) … and for that 1%, you can still save RAW+JPEG on the card…
See, some “pro” even ask for automatic HDR, Panorama, and so on… There’s probably a reason 😉
For ‘pros’ dealing with news and event photography, turn-around times are key, and there generally isn’t time for converting raws.
Hey, I’ve seen review where the OMD E M1 and the pro lens are splashed with water with no harm done. So, it’s obvious one can take pics in heavy rain without any worry. But what about zooming, does the weather sealing cover this as well? What I mean is, when you zoom out a part of the lens gets inside the other part, the shell. Is there a risk that water will be forced inside the lens as well or can one zoom as one pleases without worry even in heavy rain?
Maybe (probably) a silly question but I haven’t found anything on this subject.
Thanks for your help in advance!
+1 for this