The big question of the day is, “Is Olympus using an own designed sensor?”. The official pree release didn’t mention anything about that but we know got a confirmation from Asian websites.
TvSmith interviewed “Mr Yasuo Asakura, the General Manager of SLR R & D, (he said) the E-P3 features a new Panasonic MOS sensor fabricated exclusively for Olympus”
And Clubsnap posted the full Olympus press release power point presentation. It contains the info about the new sensor, new shutter and a lot more interesting news!
UPDATE: Clubsnap now removed the presentation!
Links to preorders
Olympus E-P3 preorders at Adorama (Click here). Price $899 with kit lens!
E-P3 presentation page on Amazon (Click here). No preorders yet.
Olympus 12mm f/2.0 lens preorder at Adorama (Click here). Price $799.
Olympus 45mm f/1.8 preorder at Adorama (Click here). Price $399.
93 Responses
first!
You won a free E-P3…Joke 🙂
It’s just too bad whatever it is…….it isn’t showing blow your socks off…. spit your coffee out improvement. Very similar result in image quality as previous models
Yes. Just cheap fake gimmicks, but no real technology, performance progress anywhere.
Btw… Dudes, do you think, it is a good idea to pay SO MUCH money for a plastic glass 45/1.8 lens, when you can get a great REAL GLASS 50/1.4 Zuiko or Pentax or whatewer for far more LESS?
I seriously don’t think, AF is worth that much…
Pablo – do you troll on every camera forum, or just this one?
Pablo would troll at a toddler’s funeral if he had the opportunity.
Yes but they were never designed to be used on 4/3 cameras so don’t give great performance wide open and under some lighting conditions are unusable wide open. They can have ghosting and colour fringing and this colour fringing can’t always be got rid of with software. With the ghosting nothing can be done. This is where the 45mm f1.8 could have quite a large advantage.
As for ‘no real technology’ what about the AF system? Read the Olympus patent for that and you will see it is very much new technology.
Don’t tell teacher you are posting during lessons.
Pablum…did someone say Pablum?
Yes. Just cheap fake comments, but no real depth, insight or quality anywhere.
Btw… Pablo, do you think, it is a good idea to troll SO MUCH for a little camera like the E-P3, when you get a great REAL response trolling on more popular brands or whatever for far more LESS effort?
I seriously don’t think your comments are worth that much…
yeah…he is kind of like tasteless children’s cereal….we have no need for that here.
I may be wrong, but the sample images so far show a considerable improvement in noise levels at low sensitivity. Hence the lack of fear in the implementation of SAT:
http://gallery.clubsnap.com/data/752/12127.jpg
They also demonstrate a better colour rendition and smoother tonal gradations.
The G3 sensor is on par..but its 16mp
Heavy HEAVY noise reduction. Do you not see the lack of any detail in textured and shadowed areas ? Definitely not a improvement in my book.
Yeah, because cameras need such improvements every year these days.
Your current camera takes great photos – otherwise you wouldn’t have bought it, right? -, so stick with it. I’m waiting for sensor and RAW performance before I make my decision.
Me too. I hope the Raw is good at ISO3200. I’m a little disappointed the detail in the Jpegs didn’t quite match up to the G3, but with everything in consideration I still think Olympus have produced an amazing little camera and new lenses! An E-P3 will be finding a home with me.
Doesn’t look like it. 1600 seems to be about the max.
WHY do camera companies put in these ridiculous, unusable ISOs?
looking for a review of the 45mm 1.8 , if you see one … thx
That’s now the main item I’m still interested in as well…
@Admin
Any info on how the new PENs focus 4/3 lenses? Faster?
I wonder how fast the new lenses will focus with old bodies (Oly’s & Pana’s).
I expect them to be at least as fast as current lenses, but would like to be sure before I pre-order the 45mm…
One blog said basically no change.
DON’T BET ON IT; Trust me.
Admin, those are full-size photos, not thumbnails, and the site is getting hammered right now… Might not be a bad idea to take these down for now.
The link is enough. The photos are like 3-4 MB to download, and you’re leeching ClubSnap’s bandwidth.
Exactly right. Shouldn’t be leeching this way in the first place, even if they were smaller files.
Well, now they’re gone from ClubSnap… As expected.
Yep.. pulled from clubsnap. oly must have complained.
Full metal body E-P3!
Japanese will have E-P3 on stock at July 22nd. Amazon Japan preorders have… 14-42mm kit with 17mm?! I wounder when there will have double kit like 14-42mm with 40-150mm
Interesting is where it says epl3 with equal or better features than ep3. Overall a very impressive comeback for Oly.
I was wondering this too. Twin lens kit is the 14-42 and pancake. But there is no change to the pancake is there?
In terms of Auto Focus improvement with the new lenses. There was speculation in the last few days that it wouldnt work with old Micro 43 lenses and there were theories about coatings etc.
But I am sure I saw on Dpreview that there will be a lens firmware update which will ensure that all the ‘old’ Micro 43 lenses will focus as quick as the new ones on the new bodies. DPreview:
“however older MSC lenses will be upgradable to the same standard”
Thats interesting. still no word on whether 43 lenses AF has improved?
No improvement for 4/3 lenses was confirmed on one blog.
I saw this too. Can it really be true? If so there is no reason to buy the new kit lens and such, is there?
Correct. Thats my take on it that the ‘old’ MSC lenses will work just as well with some new firmware. If thats true thats good news.
I think olympus is gonna rock!
Hell yeah! I’ve been waiting for a FULL METAL body camera.
The 12mm looks really good, it’s not half as tempting to me though as the 45mm. I just wish the 45mm had the same manual focus mechanism, I like it really a lot!
And still i have to wait, maybe for the E-P4 or maybe for the E-PV1, the worldwide first Pen with build in wievfinder and flashlight. 🙁
Ore, much better, the E-50!
I know what you mean Peter. Every time one of these releases comes I keep hoping for a built-in EVF and/or a really improved sensor. But having said that the E-P3 still looks nice and takes a nice picture – to be honest I dont really need ISO3200 at all so maybe I should just get one.
Seeing the bulky VF2 atop the E-P3 I start to wonder how much larger a PEN with built-in EVF would be. Can they integrate it without anything sticking out on the camera back (like the VF2 and Panasonic G-series EVF does)? If not, I prefer to leave the EVF external.
What’s that about an e-pv1?? When is it coming out?
Yoruneko
I think that Peter is speculating about a possible model with built-in EVF and he suggested it could be called an E-PV1. There has been no news that this is definetely happenning. We are just hoping that one comes out 🙂
Bummer.. I just wished they would shove the innards of the gh2 into a slender metallic body. Guess I’ll keep wishing.
The binning is a very good news — I never understood why that was not used in dslr.
It means a higher quality in the view finder with low light, but also a higher sensibility in video (at leas 4x) and nearly no aliasing!
There might be expensive patents which limit its adoption.
Panasonic definitely does some amount of binning in the GH’s.
See Robin Wong’s user review of the EP3 and judge the camera for yourself.
http://robinwong.blogspot.com/?m=1
Thanks for the link! The dynamic range looks impressive.
Well, real world pictures say the new sensor is totally OK – pictures look … real. I guess the combo E-P3+12mm plays really really nice together.
It seems that E-P3 has stronger AA filter than E-5 (what to me is a plus) yet with 12mm captures details really well.
I guess the two would sell well together.
Woah wait a min..
Pixel binning? That’s the first time I’ve seen this being done on a large-ish sized sensor. The only other cameras that do that would be fujifilm’s compacts.
That might be a good indication of extremely low noise performance in video mode and on the live view display.
EDIT: Ah looks like somebody posted about the same thing while I was reading about it ^_^
Phase One has pixel binning on some of the backs – stills only, though. I would say those count as large-ish sensors 😛
Could the 4/3 high grade lens such like 12-60、50-200 be used with fast AF on these new cameras?
No, they will work even slower than old m4/3 lenses. Some 4/3 lenses take 2-3 seconds to focus.
Can someone explain how is it an olympus sensor if to quote olympus “the E-P3 features a new Panasonic MOS sensor”
ha ? 🙂
It’s designed by Olympus and made by Panasonic.
Hi Admin
Thanks for all your work today. Its been great reading through all the reviews and press releases. What are your thoughts on the sensor performance and IQ? I remember you saying that your sources had said that there was a Pen Pro coming with a new Oly sensor would have the best dynamic range and IQ of any micro 43 sensor. We all assumed that the same sensor would be in these 3 models announced today. I just wonder some of those rumors related to a Pen Pro/EVF model which may be coming later with a different sensor. Of course once the E-P3 is tested it may show an improvement in DR etc – it is a bit early to speculate but hey thats what we all do here:)
Even if one were coming, personally I don’t think we would see it this side of Christmas. Why steal the thunder of all the new PEN cameras with another camera? And would Olympus really have had the resources and development to produce another completely different camera design (with built in EVF and brand new sensor even better than the one on the news PENs) alongside these 3? It’s seems so unlikely to me. E-P4 or PEN PRO will be at least a year off. That’s what makes sense to me anyway! :/
Michael, You could be right. Admin did originally say that there was another announcement coming in September but it might just be lenses etc. Who knows how Olympus resources work. Remember these 3 cameras are in fact two body lines (as the E-PM1 and E-PL3 share the same basic body construction) and the E-P3 is really only a re-design of an existing E-P1/2 construction with some great improvements. Its the same sensor unit in all so its not like they have had to engineer three completely different cameras. Anyway you could be right it might be next year. Some of the rumors last month talked about Pen Pro with new Oly sensor with best DR etc and I just wasnt sure if it was the same sensor as the E-P3.
Could be. Of course I wouldn’t say no to such a camera! 🙂 I just think waiting and waiting probably isn’t the best idea. As for the announcement in September, could that be the 45 f1.8 lens? It goes on sale then…
What are you thoughts Michael? Are you going to fall for the ep3 or not?
I already have :p. Even though the jpegs (and presumably raws) don’t beat the G3 at higher ISOs, there are too many good features in the Olympus model that best the competition. Super fast AF is very compelling for me – a sharp, casual portrait picture with slightly lower image quality is better than a missed or blurred picture with slightly better image quality – E-P3 vs G3, for example.
The only possible thing that could beat this camera right now is an updated GF-1, but unless Panasonic have a super fast AF system, IBIS and gorgeous colours in their new model I don’t think it will. I’m also a sucker for Olympus’s retro look :p. I reckon the next GF camera will have better image quality than the E-P3 though. Can’t have it all I guess!
Thanks for your opinion, I see we are likely minded! Can’t wait to get my hands on it. Love your blog btw!
Where is the reference to that? did i miss something?
All it says is that its made by panasonic exclusively for olympus, even if oly did re-designed some of the sensor aspects, it seems that it is much based on the earlier e-p2 sensor
“It’s designed by Olympus and made by Panasonic”
Could mean nothing more than relocated circuitry to accommadate New Olympus dual core processing and Tru pic VI on same old 12mp sensor. The results so far would indicate that scenario.
As I said previously…..I see no blow my socks off. Spit my coffee out improvement in IQ. AF speed is welcomed and well done catching up Oly
Dearest admin, i have to disagree with you on that one…
“Panasonic MOS sensor fabricated exclusively for Olympus” actually means “panasonic sensor that is made for Olympus”
What are you talking about? My company manufactures products within our industry, that are nearly completely specified by our customers. Custom, OEM products. That doesn’t mean that they are our products made for [customer]. It means [customer]’s product, manufactured by [us].
does that suggest that the design might also be used by panasonic in the future on their gh2 sensor. might be a good boost.
Hmmm… interesting.
E–P3: “With the 14 – 42 mm kit lens, expect focus times between 0.1 and 0.3 at wide-angle, and 0.5 – 1.0 seconds at telephoto (this one really seemed to depend on the available light). Low light focusing was hit-or-miss. Sometimes the camera focused quickly (in a second or less), while other times it hunted back and forth for two seconds before (usually) locking focus.”
G3: “Expect the camera to lock focus in 0.1 – 0.3 seconds at wide-angle, and it’ll take roughly twice as long at the telephoto end of the lens. Low light focusing is very good, with focus times of one second or less.”
Well, is the so much quoted “huge difference” as big as Olympus does claim?
(Though not sure about Jeff’s measurements’ accuracy…)
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/olympus/e_p3-review/using
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_g3-review/using
Video I saw on Youtube with the f2 12mm lens was lightning fast. No need for figures – just see it for yourself! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww-hNbK91Z4&feature=player_embedded
I wonder if the new kit lens is slower though. Anyone seen a video with the kit lens focussing?
It’s not so hard to focus a wide lens fast.
Here ya go: with the kit lens: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLfoyiYexmA
I am keeping my Pany GF1…(and waiting on the new Pany Pro body…), but that 12mm lens AND hood looks sweet!
Image quality appears to be really good. I am impressed with this Olympus offering!!!!!
VERY tempting!!!!!! hmmmmmm. 🙂
Its a shame that 90% of the new features are things Panasonic’s G3 introduced, or things the GH2/GF2 already had.
Hm, ultra-fast AF, OLED, programmable buttons, interchangable grips and Remote Flash Support are something I would like on my (just ordered) GF2. Together with the already existing IBIS and Dramatic Tone Artfilter (this one is nice) a very interesting package.
But at least I would also choose the GF2 because of the smaller size (compared to E-P3) and the flash (compared to E-PM1). But most important: it’s half the price
Re: dcresource’s measurement of focus speed compared to the G3 and GH2…
Olympus’s AF speed claim would only apply to currently available cameras of course, not things that might be available in the future. And maybe they just figured G3’s or GH2’s don’t count since Panasonic is known for not bothering to ship such things ;-).
I had no trouble getting a GH2….put it in the cart it arrived in four days. Now one expects popular cameras to run short of stock when there is high demand for a quality product. I suspect if other models are always in stock it might indicate a lack of demand for that product.
By the looks of G3 IQ over the competition,not to mention built in EVF and tilt swivel touch screen I would suspect that there will be a big demand for this camera and possible stocking problems
I am so incredibly conflicted now…
I was mere moments away from pulling the trigger on the purchase of an Olympus XZ-1 when I started following this site shortly after the first leaked photo of the EPM1. I am slightly let down by the fact that a lot of the great ergonomics from the XZ-1 and EPL3 don’t seem to have made it to the EPM1. I am most impressed with the EP3, which of course has to be the most expensive of the bunch…
Does anyone else think that the EP3s new tech and kit are good enough to command double the price I would have to pay for the XZ-1 as a solid all around camera for travel and all occasions (Only looking to own one camera, not a super photography enthusiast, but want that ONE to be nice and flexible… )
Not advice as much as an observation… for reliable indoor shots I think you need a larger sensor (m43) and a faster lens than the kit lens (20mm?). While both the PEN w/ kit and the XZ-1 will give you good shots, for real indoor or sub-optimal lighting (without flash) I’d plan on a PEN along with a faster lens($$$).
You mention price, but you don’t mention size and IQ (image quality).
If size does matter for you much more than IQ, XZ-1 wins hands down. If size doesn’t matter and you want IQ, a Nikon entry-level DSLR wins hands down. If both size and IQ matter equally, one of these 3 PENs is your choice (like it is for me). Among them, you only know if ergonomics is worth the price. E-PM1 is rumored to be priced around $500. If so, the E-P3 is not worth is price *for me*. Only you can know what matters for you
G3 does seem to have the bases covered. The EP3 has served to show what a great package the G3 is. Having said that, none of these cameras are sufficient to make me want to upgrade my GH1. I think I need to wait for the pro PEN/ pro GF1/ GH3. I can see the 45mmf1.8 opening up some great new possibilities for candid photography and I am relieved that there doesn’t seem to be any barriers (remember all that infra red talk yesterday!) to using it on Panny cameras. I predict this lens will be the new mft hero following in the footsteps of the 20mm.
Interesting slides… however links to last images of presentation leak to error.
No new sensor? and…… no improvement for AF 4/3 lenses?
where are the news?
continue to expect for a new E-50 4/3 with real new sensor.
My congratulations to the Japanese girls for the new toy’s.
I agree with other guys here: we NEED to know if our (expensive) MSC lenses can (will) be upgraded to be as fast as the new ones! This is really CRUCIAL to protect out investments. An answer from Admin would be an incredible service to us readers.
I have also another question but it’s too early to receive an answer yet: I am wandering if the new oled will allow manual focus with legacy lenses without magnification, maybe some XZ-1 users have an idea on this…
Slightly offtopic: All of you guys who think they read that Admin wrote, there will be a Pen Pro announcement later this year: you are confusing that with the (high) possibility of Panasonic announcing their GF Pro model.
I bet it’s the “special” camera Pana said would mark the Birthday of the L1.
Yes, Pana, give us the GL1. The sooner, the better. 18Mp Multi-Aspect-Sensor, EVF, built in flash, all the goodies …
After intensive check of the “Jpeg Studio comparison” of Dpreview I got the impression that up to ISO800 the image quality is AMAZING. Maybe a tad too much saturation on red/magenta for my taste, but very good IQ.
For ISO 1600+ noise reduction kicks in too much, making details look too “JPEG-ish” in a bad way.
Of course, comparison with APS-C (NEX-5 and X100) is tough for a 4/3 sensor…
Well done Olympus! The Contax G2 ist finally back 🙂
I have a black E-PL2, will there be matching black versions of the 45 and 12mm?
At the end of the day, I don’t see any improvements that make MY pictures look better (less noise at high ISO, lower selectable ISO, less blown highlights). I think that I will spend my money on some lens upgrades rather than bodies. I’m still waiting for a sensor that compares favorably with this generation’s sensor tech (Canon, Fuji, Nikon, Sony, even Samsung appear to be using technically superior sensors.)
That being said, I really like everything else about the new PENs and believe they are good photographic tools… just not enough different to make me upgrade from my first generation PEN.
Unfortunatly, that is exactly my opinion.
Many things of the new E-P3 are great. But are they really relevant for shooting.
It has a very fast AF now. So for what do you need fast AF? You need it for fast objects like sports or kids. So if you shoot sports, the new AF is a good thing for you. But wait, what else do you need for sports photography – good high isos and many fps. A pitty, the E-P3 has no improvement in high Iso and only 3 fps.
Nevertheless, I will consider buying the P3. Gave up the dream of the perfect camera. Lets see what the street price will be. For 899$, it would directly compete with the Sony SLTs, adding the price of the VF it will be in the pricerange of a Nikon D7000…
“In a briefing, Toshi Terada, Manager of Digital SLR Product Planning for Olympus Corporation (Japan), noted that the company’s speed claims do not extend to low light and continuous focus of moving subjects.”
From Rob Galbraith’s site… so, in other words, if you are on the surface of the sun, and you are shooting something equally as bright, you have the worlds fastest AF.
How anyone could think the Pen AF could go from “worst to first” in this category is beyond me. It is pure marketing folks.
Thanks to Admin and 43 rumors for stoking the fire, awesome work these last few weeks, the best photo site online!
I’m kinda disappointed in the new flash…one color until months away. They should have kept the original FL-14 design and just make it so it can bounce. And can be used with FL-36R.
Strange that if the sensor is really a different one it has roughly the same performance as the old one. I bet that the raw output matches almost identically the one of the old sensor (DxOmark will measure it soon, I hope, and I guess the graphs will be the same).
Its interesting how in the film photography days that quality gear and companies were evaluated on the basis of good lenses, great user controls and design (as well as lens availability in a system etc). The film companies like Kodak and Fuji looked after the rest of the IQ:) Whereas now in the digital era its all electronic in terms of which company is the best at sensor tech and noise handling etc. It seems that Sony are the best at the moment on the sensor side.
Wouldnt it be interesting if a couple of companies not invested in ILC systems like a Kodak etc were the leaders in sensor development (like they used to be) and if they freely sold sensors to all the camera makers so that the camera companies could compete just on all the other factors. It seems that whoever has a deal with Sony has a big advantage at the moment.
Olympus today have displayed some good improvement in focus speed and generally I like what they done with the models – still a little confusing about the E-PM1 and E-PL3 design directions but we will see how they sell. But after all this time since the E-P1 first came out it would be great to see some real improvement in sensor performance and IQ. Initial tests from the different review sites dont look that promising but I guess time and more detailed reviews with Raw will hopefully give a clearer story. Thats the one area that I was hoping Oly was really going to deliver today.
This is interesting , sensor news .
Fabricated sensor from Pana ?
Where is the revolutionary sensor that appear in a patent submitted ?
If there still no big improvement in M4/3 sensor department , very likely Pana will not longer can defend it’s mirrorless icon title .
Really need no only new but big performance sensor badly to back the system to stay relevant .