And now let’s recap the full list of CES products coming from Olympus and Panasonic:
- Panasonic announcement on January 5th at around 5-6am London time:
– DMC-TZ100 (colors black and silver)
– DMC-TZ80 (colors black and silver)
– LEICA DG VARIO-ELMAR 100-400mm F4-6.3
– HC-VXF990 (camcorder)
– HC-VX980 (camcorder) - Olympus announcement on January 6th at 6am London time:
– Olympus Zuiko 300mm f/4.0 PRO lens with Dual IS
Important: PEN-F is not coming at CES but shortly after the event!!!
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Fun Stuff!
no EM1 mk2 ?
Better pray for no at this moment otherwise I afraid you’ll get the 5 years old sensor
again . Wait for the new PEN to make it’s debut first .
Oly still have plenty number of 16MP sensors in hand that need cameras to install .
Sit down. Nobody is betting on new sensor in Pen-F.
Not betting, but somehow really curious….
Who told you that Oly still has “plenty” of the 16MPx sensors?
It depends of what Sony presents with the a7000 (IBIS, APSC, SLOG, low ISO performance with BSI sensor), but Olympus might be late to the party if they take more time to present the EM1II.
They won’t be late the party. The Penf-F will be coming with 3 completely new features & will be the test bed before they are used in the E-M1 much later in the year.
And these 3 features are … ? not to mention that Sony could have these too.
Intetesting question, what are the 3 features that we want? Is anything still missing? Not really. Could things (af capability, menu, battery life, iq, anything) be improved? Yes, always. Could new features be added that make a camera more enjoyable, even though without those features it would still be a great camera? Sure. Like: don’t know, like what? Internet access? Gaming mode? An alarm button in case you get stuck in a cave? Anything photographically that has not yet been invented? An art filter that turns your raw files into holograms?
For one, the new F1.2 prime(s) will focus 30% faster on the new PEN-F than the present E-M1 & E-M5 Mk II.
Simon left us guessing. He didn’t want to be a total spoiler, just giving us enough details to keep us interested. 😉
I really hope you’re right!
Sony is great if you like collecting bodies, but Sony is no longer committed to apsc lenses so you either end up with larger ff lenses or even worse missing focal lengths.
I know, that’s why I haven’t moved to Sony yet and I don’t want to unless I’m forced, but everybody I know is leaving Canikon for them. I’m a mixed photographer, videographer. For me the e-m5 II is godsend, I would leave in home sliders and all the crap. Two bodies, two lenses in a small backpack, couple of mics, couple of flashes or a small torchlight and I’m set. I just need better low light and a little more resolution in video.
“I just need better low light and a little more resolution in video.”
Sorry, you won’t be getting that with any Olympus body, maaaaybe a GH7, maybe…
M43 weakness is low light and resolution, simply because of the size of the sensor.
Maybe the weaknesses will be over soon, as there was a rumor here saying Olympus may use a Sony sensor. That could mean BSI and slightly better ISO performance. Or maybe organics from Panafuji are finally coming. I don’t need 409000 ISO. A clean 6400 will do. And for resolution I meant the way they subsample the sensor readout for video. They could do a different method and it would look totally fine.
The only thing that could challenge Olympus it would be a GH5 with IBIS. That would make the m43 fight much more interesting. But Oly’s IBIS will be difficult to match and even more to beat.
That weakness will always exist over time, smaller sensors trades som PQ for smaller size, thats just the way it is. mFT has good enough quality for me however, and I use my camera much more than my friends with bigger sensor-systems.
My speculative guess is that Sony was working on the A7000, and they decided to take what they worked on for the A7000, and shoehorn in their old A7 full frame sensor. I think the time is now for Sony to increase their full frame market by creating a sub $1,000, responsive full frame camera that will eat up the APS-C market. It will also allow them to focus on creating lenses only for their full frame mount.
A7000? Oh, please. We hear rumors about it for more than a year now, including all the rumors which indicate the much delayed (or cancelled altogether?) launch.
Oly late to the party? Get real! Oly has an up-to-date flagship. Sony – only the A7000 vaporware. NEX-7 long laundry list of the problems also never got addressed – in contrast to theOly’s E-M1 constant firmware upgrades.
I do not doubt the Sony’s ability. But they keep their APS-C users in the dark for way too long. Even ardent NEX users now are openly pessimistic about the destiny of the NEX.
The announcement will probably happen around CP+ with availability in late September.
TZ100 looks interesting – 1″ sensor with 25-250mm eq lens.
http://photorumors.com/2015/12/29/new-panasonic-tz100-compact-camera-with-1-sensor-coming-soon/
It looks similar to the Sony RX100 line, but instead of going for brighter lens, Panasonic went for extra reach in the zoom while maintaining a compact size… a fair trade-off, though it depends on the price and on the output quality…
The lenses on similar Pana cameras are nothing exciting.
But that sensor would surely give 1-2 stops advantage over the previous cameras with the smaller sensors.
And since it is a Pana TZ series, there are hopes that the price would be reasonable. But since there is nothing comparable on the market right now, they can hike the price up just as Sony does with the RX100 and RX10 series at the launch.
Seems like with these 1 inch sensors, the smaller cameras tend to sacrifice a little in IQ if you want more reach and/or speed. Canon was lauded for its G7X and 24-100mm equiv f/1.8-2.8 lens, but seems like most people say the IQ slightly lags behind the 24-70 equiv of the RX100 III. Even if the TX100’s IQ lagged slightly behind even the G7X, it’ll still be great for a compact with that kind of reach.
Happy New Year everyone! It’s less to two hours before 2016 in my time zone. See you next year and wish everyone would stop bitching too much.
Happy New Year, some wishes will never come true.
Still using the E-PM2, I really hope the new PEN model rocks! Hopefully it will also be cheaper than E-M10 m2, which would be my main choice right now for an upgrade.
This TZ-80 looks like a joke… Small (1 / 2.3 inches !) sensor, oddly placed flash (Oops, I flashed my finger !), small EVF for people used to the rear screen… And coming on a dying market… Strange move from Panasonic…Well, we’ll see what’s in the beast 😀
It’s just a refresh of the SZ50/TZ70 :
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/2015-roundup-long-zoom-compacts/11
But the TZ70 looks much much nicer! I don´t know, why they had to change the sleek design…
It’s just plain ugly, especially with that nasty looking grip scabbed onto the front.
You’re right, that’s one of the dumbest flash placements ever!
I’ll be honest, I’m most excited about the TZ100 than any rumored camera so far (not just Panasonic), because it fulfills something I personally have wanted a long time. Those Sony (assuming it’s Sony) 1 inch sensors are a wonder, I still love using my original RX-100. But right now there is a jump in the lineup for these compacts, from pocketable and fairly small that top out at 100mm, and then there’s a jump to 200mm+, but then the cameras almost become as large as small DSLRs. I’ve been surprised nobody has tried to mend that gap, and I’m glad Panasonic has done so. Still need to see reviews and price, but this could be the camera that finally replaces the small SLR (Canon SL1) I keep around for travel.
The TZ100 is the RX10 in a smaller form factor but with a slower lens. If the autofocus is accurate but faster than the RX10’s, I’d be interested in it. It would be great if the TZ100 had an autofocus as accurate and as fast as the Nikon 1’s, but I don’t think it’s in the cards.
It will likely have DFD to help with the AF, just as the FZ1000 does. So likely better AF than the RX10, but I think competing with the Nikon 1s isn’t possible…those cameras AF and burst better than anything this side of a 1Dx or D4S…
I’m getting impatient, waiting for this “PEN-F”. Not sure where it will fit in a market crowded with Sony RX, Canon GX, Panasonic LX100, Ricoh GR, Fuji and now TZ100. I might be interested if it’s a “baby RX1”, size and price-wise.
Think an flat-top E-M5 Mkii. The Pen F has the larger battery and the new Epson EVF is on the large size. So it will not be a small camera.
Waiting for that Pen F, my imagination says it will be great.
Lots of people liked the E-P5, however strange that might seem. I think PEN-F would be a continuation of the same idea. Hopefully with the EVF this time.
C’mon, the EP5 was DOA.
The trend at the time (and NOW) was for cameras with built-in EVFs. Olympus blew it.
It’s still very much alive right here in my hands. I can’t see where they’ve been blowing on it.
E-P5 WAS GREAT and it IS GREAT even today, with or without EVF.
The reason why Olympus blowed the E-P5 was the price. Really, the E-P5 is better than E-M5. Like E-P5 has 2×2 switch, it has capability for peaking and timelapse.
But Olympus priced the E-P5 way too high, to almost same level as E-M5 so that there were little to no sense to buy E-P5 when E-M5 offered better build and dials.
It was cheaper to buy E-M5 than E-P5, and E-P5 was almost as expensive as E-M1 but 200€ less, that would have been for VF-4 (2013 price situation) so it was like brainer to buy!
If E-P5 would have been available from the start as 499€ as body and 599€ with great 14-42mm EZ, it would have been big hit. Throw there bonus as 150€ more (total 749€) for VF-4 kit, it would have been very serious consideration.
Yes, the integrated EVF would have made E-P5 seriously considerable street photographers camera, BUT THAT IS THE POINT OF VF-4!
And E-P5 would have cut to E-M5 sales with integrated EVF, so no good.
Yet, I’ve seen too many forum threads with too many people defending the lack of EVF on the E-P5.
But let’s look on the positive side: when the GX7 came out, I didn’t hesitated even a moment to order mine. 😉
Now, after the GX8, the Pen-F has to be really really something special.
The e-p5 is still a very good camera. IMO its better than the EM5 MKi in many ways and was a testing ground for tech that later went in the EM10 and EM5 MKii. Pair it with the EF4 and the 17mm F1.8, it made for an amazing kit.
I assume Oly will blow it, so that I am not disappointed when they do (which they wil).
Whatever the 3 new features will be that Simon has mentioned, they will be implemented (& hopefully improved on) for the E-M1 MK II as well.
will the 300mm lens be compatible with the MC14 Converter, which came with the 40-150 Pro Zoom?