Image courtesy: Pekka Potka
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Pekka Potka had the pleasure to test the new Olympus stuff. And there are a lot of interetsing info to read. First he tested the E-M10 (article here). The graph on top shows perfectly the different OMD camera features. And what about the E-M10 vs E-M5 comparison? He writes:
I really don´t see the new E-M10 as a lesser camera than E-M5, because it is just as capable and reaches far beyond anything E-M5 can do. For me as a middle class senior citizen the choice between those two would be obvious. What can be done (and done with better responsitivity) is most of the time more valuable than the ability to do some of it in the rain. Simple as that, even if most of the time images from either camera would be equal.
He also tested the new Olympus 25mm f/1.8 and lens (article here) and says:
The new M.Zuiko standard lens 25mm F1.8 is a solid performer. From my brief experience with this lens I think this is a better performer than the 17mm lens which has the fancier look and construction – and is more expensive.
Image courtesy: Pekka Potka.
As you can see from the image he posted on top the new 14-42mm Olympus lens is the smallest pancake zoom ever made. He writes:
The idea of smallness with E-PM2 has not been fullfilled with any previous Olympus zoom lenses. I front of lens is again the optional, automatic lens cap. At the start Olympus gives the price for the new 14-42mm lens at 399€, which I think is a bit on the high side. The lens seem to be well built and it has a metal bayonet, but still. I guess there will be better campaign prices quite soon.
Pekka also compared the lens with the other bigger Olympus 14-42mm zoom and writes:
I did not do any formal test shooting but noticed that there is no practical difference compared to the standard kit zoom.
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Preorder links for US and Europe:
Special page with all new products at Amazon.
E-M10 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama , GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
E-M10 with 14-42mm lens Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
25mm f/1.8 Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Black at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
14-42mm Silver at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex UK, Amazon Germany.
Olympus SP-100 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus TG-850 iHS at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama.
Olympus ECG-1 Black Camera Grip for E-M10 at Amazon, Adorama.
Olympus 9mm f8.0 Fisheye Body Cap Lens at Adorama, GetOlympus. In EU at Wex Uk.
Olympus V321200BW000 Macro Converter MCON-P02 (Black) at Amazon,
40 Responses
Now just imagine if they could do a pancake superzoom 75-300mm. I would be all over that even if it was a little thicker for the sake of reach , but still!?
It’s not possible to make a pancake telephoto – past a certain focal length (seemingly all lenses that go beyond 100mm), it’s no longer possible to leverage M43’s short flange distance to create shorter lenses. Any lens that covers 300mm will have to physically extend to 30mm… I’m afraid we already have the most compact solution possible from Olympus and Panny.
Broody you are right under shooting conditions. But in the parking position a telezoom (or normal tele lens too) might be much smaller then needed for shooting.
True, m4/3 still retains the advantage of the “crop ratio”, meaning we don’t have to have a 300mm focal length lens to obtain the FoV of a 300mm FL on a FF system, we only need 150mm, making for smaller lenses.
In most cases what matters for a telephoto is not the focal length per se, but the field of view, hence m4/3 retains its advantage over larger formats.
Something is coming for Tele end. And you will all be pleased. It’s conventional but GOOD.
i hope you are right
Are you the same littel bird who perdicted
the 12-40mm f2.8 40-150mm f2.8 last year
any info would be good if you are
just I magine if Pekka Potka could make a diagram that made any sense……
PP’s diagram is pretty easy to figure out. Looks to be a comparison of the different OMD models. What is it you don’t understand?
Perhaps if the OMD bodies were listed up one of the sides..this would illustrate the information more clearly. This is a marketing diagram from Oly ….now I understand the audience…plus there is nothing here that we did not already know. I do not understand the statement by Pekka saying that the “EM10 reaches far beyond ANYTHING the EM5 can do. The two cameras have the same sensor…so I see that as a bit of an overreach, no? (I do not own either camera). Well…the EM10 can’t get wet…now can it? :-).
I don’t think he made that graph himself, looks like a scan from some document, probably from his meeting with Olympus. That’s clearly taken from some brochure explaining the current development areas planned for MFT. This graph is quite interesting in that the Olympus MFT system is clearly laid out, from this we can derive which features are important (and in what order) for Olympus (see how video is not one of them, how unexpected). Sadly though, it seems this is only in reference to the OMD line, as inferred by the way the weather sealing, AP2 and Wifi bars are arranged (i.e. from bottom to top, the absence of a feature coincides with the way the OMD range is individually equipped).
I would love to see a broader graph detailing the hierarchy and arrangement across the whole system by including the PEN line, which IMO has been neglected for what seems a long time. After the disruption of the EM10, whatever the PEN range might offer in the near future is a mystery (design, features hierarchy, IBIS, sensor generation, etc).
Will the new Pens come out after the next EM5 model to benefit from a possible new sensor or will the release them now and have them stuck with the old EM5 sensor for another generation ? How will the IBIS systems be distributed across the PEN models ? 2 axis for EPM, 3 for EPL and 5 for EP ? Will the next PEN flagship finally have an EVF ? will it be a VF4, a VF2 or something new in between ?
Admin, we need PEN rumors ASAP.
PEN with EVF: How many people would buy it? That is a key question. Otherwise The GX7 sales/success will indicate…
There wont be a new Sensor…but i agree!
But there is One question i have:
With a new small OMD, they Cut the PL5 and the P5 down quite a bit. Is Olympus tranig to astablish the Pen lineup where they are surpost to be? Like:
PM3 about 300€ (2-Axis IBIS)
PL7 about 400€ (3-Axis IBIS, tilt-screen, more butten)
P6 about 500€ (5-Axis IBIS, tilt-screen, 2×2 dial Interface)
If they Bild a Rangefinder style P6 with bild in VF-4 EVF it would be alright about 700€
I think they’re trying to position E-M10 below the top PEN. I’d guess (camera only)
E-PM3 €500
E-PL7 €650
E-P6 €800
E-M10 €700
E-M6 €900
E-M1 €1200
I think his comment about the weathersealing makes it sound like a rarely needed option(just for when you want to shoot in the rain),which seems a common opinion from many people when talking about this feature. But sealing protects also against sand and fine dust. The reality is that there are not many mft lenses which are sealed, a few zooms and even less primes. The biggest disappointment being the Nocticron(maybe Leica badged lenses are not allowed to be sealed?lol).
I think weathersealing is far more useful than wifi and color creator. Those seem to be rather girly features, while weathersealing is for real men, shooting in harsh conditions like rain, snow- or sandstorms, minus 40 degrees…
+1
My Cam is a Tool…well…a Tool i like to Look at 😉
+2
When I went to Borneo last year I was very glad of the weathersealing in the rain forest, the humidity and water dripping everywhere would have been a big worry. The people we were staying with have given up buying nicer cameras as they keep failing.
Glad again a month later at a UK music festival where there was constant fine dust blowing everywhere.
(Moses…I think you made a Freudian slip?)
I agree.. .weathersealing trumps wifi and color wheel …
I had no Intention to do so, english is not my nativ language. 😉
WIFI allows remote shooting which opens a lot of possibilities : imagine shooting with the camera linked to an ipad air and its big Retina display : it would be like shooting with a view camera. You could check the focus live, make better framing because composition becones easier to judge. In studio flash situation it becomes really easy to check your lighting. You could also make complicated time lapse videos. And what not ! I don’t care for social photo sharing apps, but remote shooting is something i really want. And we need performant apps and performant transfer to take advantage of it.
Is that still girlish for you ? And by the way, stop using feminine words to express negative feelings. We don’t need no macho here.
You are right, but why do we need slow WIFI for that?!
Why can’t we just use a fast cable?!
Why is this not possible with the E-M5?!
I mean sometimes WIFI comes in handy but it will never beat the performance of a wired connection.
I an’t use a cable with a mobile device, at least not with ipads or iphone (don’t know for Androids, but probably not). And a laptop is too heavy and cumbersome, unless at home or in studio.
Not girlish, rather retarded. Linking a camera to iPad is an useless gimmick. Everything you describe can be done easily with camera alone. iPad ads absolutely nothing to the equation, doesn’t help in composing or anything.
Speak for yourself.
I use the feature a lot. It’s cool to be on the street, take a pic and instantly send it to you pad or phone and post to flickr, facebook, instagram, etc…
and the files look so much better than the camera in the phone anyways.
Also in a shoot, you can send it to your pad to show clients, make comments, adjust in a ipad photo app, email it for approvalapproval if needed.
So for you, maybe you don’t need it, but as many more cameras are adding it, just puts you in the minority.
I’ve used the WiFi in the EM-1 with a 10in tablet. Convenient in the studio for remotely adjusting f-stop, autofocus, and releasing the shutter, but really the low-res of the WiFi-transmitted image would hardly justify sending the image to a good monitor.
It’s kind of absurd to have only iOS/Android platform support for WiFi, while needing yet another system for image editing and firmware upgrades. Why doesn’t Olympus make all their software available on multiple platforms? No reason we could not have WiFi on Windows, Mac, Unix/Linux/BSD platforms.
Indeed it is useful.
I tried out the star trails function on the Ricoh GR over Christmas (which this camera also seems to have) in my back garden. To be able to follow the progress of the shot in the comfort of my armchair with a cup of tea would have been most welcome.
You could have got someone else to take the photograph for you and could have then avoided getting involved in the photographic process completely.
What is color creator? Is that just the term for their JPEG colors?
You can tweak colors in camera just like with the curve tool you can tweak tones.
The 12-32 is smaller in two of the three physical dimensions and also much lighter in weight as compared to the Oly 14-42.
and the 12-32 is sharp! while the m.zuiko 14-42 was never too impressive. if the new 14-42 EZ is “comparable” to the old one, the 12-32 should wipe the floor with it.
Trolololoooooo
Alternatives are good! I’d rather have the 12mm wide than the 42 tele, but the Oly is thinner and the overall depth of the camera is the biggest size concern for me. My pm2 with pancakes can fit easily in a coat pocket, but the standard kit zoom Is a bit awkward.
Honestly, I’d be happy to have either one.
Just a heads up. Amazon UK is now accepting pre-orders for the EM10, 25mm and 14-42mm. The products are not yet showing in their search results, but I have linked to them directly from my website at http://www.olympuslinks.co.uk. Pre-order before the rush to beat the queue!
If you take a look at the sample images at the spanish site http://www.quesabesde.com/noticias/olympus-om-d-e-m10-analisis-fotos-muestras_11353 the 14-42 EZ is much more bad then the 14-42 R, so it’s much to expensive. That’s disappointing.
But they say the contrary about that new zoom: Más pequeño y de mayor calidad (smaller but better quality).
About the new EZ pancake zoom (compared to the old 14-42):
Así, y según hemos podido comprobar, se aprecian mejoras en los resultados, sobre todo en la nitidez de la imagen y el comportamiento en las esquinas del fotograma.
Thus, and as we have seen, improved results are seen, especially in the sharpness of the image and behavior in the corners of the frame.
strange, maybe they made a mistake with the pictures?
I really like Mr. Potka’s reviews. He’s a photographer, rather than a gearhead, and writes about cameras as photographic tools rather than ‘objets d’art.’ Very pragmatic. He’s convinced me to purchase the EM10. Now where can I find one in the US that has the EZ pancake lens as part of the bundled kit?….
Potka mentions Live Composite Mode, which is not the same as Live Bulb Mode.
Is this something that the older M5 and the M1 have also?
Gimme the EM10/EM1 robust videocodec on EM5, Olympus!