Jump over at GetOlympus (Click here) to learn more about the new Olympus “virtual photography class”. Lesson one is about Landscape photography!
Jump over at GetOlympus (Click here) to learn more about the new Olympus “virtual photography class”. Lesson one is about Landscape photography!
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33 Responses
It is just an advert.
Yep. Just an advert, but not a very good one at that. How does that teach anyone how to take a good landscape photograph? It’s a good idea to make tutorials that have a sub-theme of brand reinforcement, but the tutorials have to be really good. You have to engage the viewer properly and gain authority by giving high quality content. This just wastes people’s time.
Oh come on. Didn’t you hear the part where he said you need to compose the shot to make it interesting?
You mean you shouldn’t just randomly shoot and then crop to make photos “interesting”?
Obviously this video is so dense with valuable information it requires watching several times to get the full benefit, I should have made notes!
yep, just an advert, but the fact that a lot of the shots are done with the huge 50-200 (not too mention poor cdaf) shows how much the system needs a new telephoto.
I am using E-M1 with 50-200 and with firmware v1.4 the autofocus is working fast ans accurate, is huge but what you get from this lens is real quality. Pure cdaf? What this means?
I mean that only the em1 that can make proper use of the 50-200. The 50-200 doesn’t work well without pdaf (Phase detection auto focus as opposed to contrast detection autofocus cdaf)
Relatively speaking the 50-200mm looks big on the E-M1, but for a lens with a 100-400mm FoV and max aperture of f/2.8-f/3.5 it’s not that big of a lens. I use it all the time and have no problems with the size. I have a Lowepro 150 bag, and I can fit the E-M1 with battery grip, the 12-40mm, the 50-200mm and a prime lens of my choice in there, plus all the usual accessories.
After firmware 1.4 on the E-M1, the focus performance is really good. I highly recommend this lens to anybody with the E-M1 especially if you have an MMF adapter already. The SWD version is the way to go, you can find them second hand around $700-$800.
Kudos to Olympus for trying to provide lessons, but there’s really not much education in this video. Hopefully they improve a lot in the future. Duration should be around the 15 minute mark and then provide additional reading material to go with it.
Yeah, I know the quality of the 50-200 and of the em1, but again, it is pretty unconvincing to sell a system by showing an example of a lens which is not really part of the system and which can be properly adapted with only one body.
“Join m4/3 so that you can be forced to buy the most expensive body and adapt a lens designed for an older system !” : not the best marketing I’ve seen.
I’m sure if they had the 40-150 f2.8 ready (and if it is good enough), things would have looked different.
Well, basically, all 4/3 lenses ARE part of the system. The E-M1 was named the E5 successor by Olympus, after all. Sure, the lenses may not be optimal for m4/3, but the performance is still as good as ever. Definitely a big plus that these lenses can be used on the E-M1. No other m4/3 body would be well suited for these lenses anyway, from an ergonomics point of view.
Why is he not using a lens hood all the time? Don’t Olympus make a pretty penny off of their hoods? 🙂
Do they explain how to properly calculate apertures?
Someone should give Olympus a couple of lessons – about how to sensibly structure a product palette and how to design better lenses, so they could re-earn the good reputation for MFT they once had with FT.
I’ve noticed your enthusiasm for how Olympus did things with four thirds. Given that four thirds ended up being a failure because they designed better but much bigger and too expensive (for the target market) lenses do you think it is wise to encourage them to repeat the same mistake with micro four thirds ?
Do you think that all over the world micro four thirds owners are crying out for F2 zoom lenses that cost $2000 or do you think that is just a few number obsessed pixel peepers on internet forums that desperately want to score points over similarly obsessed APSC and FF pixel peepers ?
Just wondering…
It failed also due to rather bad sensor tech used for 4/3. Currently difference between aps-c and m43 is tiny, but was rather big before.
You misunderstand. I said better, not bigger, and neither did I say faster or more expensive.
I know several people personally who already switched from MFT to Fuji and even to Sony because the 17/1.8 and 12/2 lenses were lacking too much in image quality. And there are no decent telephoto lenses beyond 150mm, either, at least until Olympus will ship the 300/4. Or until you buy an E-M1 (instead of the much more sensibly priced E-M5 or E-M10) and resort to FT lenses, which by the way is what I’m still planning to do, because I like all the other options on the market even less.
Sorry for my sarcasm. I was grumpy.
Better though is inevitably more expensive and usually larger unless you can charge Leica prices with very exotic glass and very expensive assembly and quality control. It also means newer and better designs and that takes time.
Olympus (and Panasonic to a lesser extent) were right to concentrate on lower end lenses initially to as they will always sell more.
Now they have started to produce higher quality lenses like the Nocticron, Panasonic F2.8 zooms and Olympus 12-40mm.
And all the forthcoming Olympus lenses are going to be high quality (allegedly).
So you’ll get them eventually but as the cheaper lenses probably outsell the better ones by a very large factor and you need to achieve a certain level of sales to make them financially feasible, Olympus and Panasonic (sensibly in my view), waited until the system gained enough users.
It’s interesting reading Thom Hogan’s comments about the level of Fuji’s sales. By going the high end route they will be losing substantial sums of money (far more than Panalympus).
Perhaps the gamble will pay off as the low end of the photography market disappears but Fuji parent company will have to subsidise them (and the prices in the shops ? ) for many more years. Of course they have very deep pockets so may decide this is worthwhile.
12/2 and 17/1.8 are neither priced nor marketed as “low end”, they just do not offer the image quality one could expect for the money, especially in comparison with other brands and systems. It would not bode well for MFT if Olympus had lost the capability to design good lenses for such prices.
The teaching content in this class is very small. That’s really bad since this initiative of virtual classes is an opportunity for Olympus to increase its position in photography. I hope the next installments are considerably better.
It’s poorly executed, even as an AD.
What I want to know is, where did he get those gloves with the open thumb and forefinger?
Try eBay search for “fingerless gloves” you can add for photography
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Easy-Off-Gloves-Fingerless-Neoprene-Fold-Back-Finger-Tip-Gloves-Photography-/221469551095?pt=UK_Gloves&var=&hash=item33909d29f7
Or just send me your gloves and I’ll cut them open for you for 20$…
Landscape pictures at f2.8? Must be a paid actor.
This was a not particularly well done advertisement. Shame, because there really is a lot of good to be said about the m4/3 system as a landscape set-up.
Yea more an advertisement than an instructional video.
What happened to Olympus? Their “class” is just marketing fluff, their cameras seem to be all about “special edition” pretty dresses on entry level retro styling exercises, their quality control is in the toilet. Just a couple years ago they were actually innovating. I’m very disappointed!
Just as well the classes are virtual as otherwise we’d have to use Olympus’s blotchy Mini 4 Thirds with their slow overpriced lenses (I’d only bring a real camera, thanks).
Murican Landscape shooting for the Becky’s, Jay’s, Chad’s and Kimberley’s of this world. Everytime you push a button @ 2.8 something AWESOME happens 😛
itˊs not a class, but 100% an ads. Shame you Olympus!
Just wanna add every serious landscape photographer would choose / take a d810 with 14-24 with wonderpana filter system from fotodiox….resolution matters even if he or she has to caryy more weigth and bulk………why adams and bresson were shooting mf and large format cams……???
And if olympus were serious about landscape photograpghers they would include a filter thread in their new upcoming 7-14 2.8 pro lens……missed chance/outstanding feature….huge bummer….telephoto pro lens is missing too….
Live composite feature is missing or not possible in the em1 via firmware update due to different sensor (hybrid pdaf/cdaf vs cdaf) allegedly….so the entry omd cam has a feature what the flagship is not capable lacking……..how pathetic!
the needed too too too much time to develop and release the wide angle and teelphoto pro lens 2015…..3 years after release of em5 and 2 years after em1….the industry and competitors have moved on…and much quicker…esp. fuji…..ibis patent were sold or exchanged /traded in with sony for sensors ….so may we see a sony ibis fe moiunt cam a8 or flagship a9??? In the Sonay amount system the a99 and probably a99 II having ibis already…..
let alone…. missing lens pouch and hoods if your buying olympus prime lens….
everythinbg else was already mentioned…………….;)
totally agree….lost too much time and money for r&d due to the fraud scandals….all corrupt…..;)
but olympus try and test programme and playground campaigns in different cities within europe was a nice innovative marketing and advertisement idea……better than those superfificial and educational videos from olympus us…..
Money matters….;)