The Four Thirds Group announced three new members. Here is the official press text (Source: four-thirds.org):
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We are pleased to announce that three more companies have recently declared their support for the standard and will be introducing products compliant with the Micro Four Thirds System standard.
DJI(SZ DJI Technology CO., Ltd.), the leading company in the drone (multi-copter), JCD(GuangZhou) Optical Co.,,Ltd., a Chinese based optical company designing and producing the optics with the Japanese quality, FLOVEL CO.,LTD., a Japanese company designing the cutting-edge optical equipment, join the Micro Four Thirds System standard group.
DJI (SZ DJI Technology CO., Ltd.)
A Chinese company established in 2006 that designs, produces and sells high performance flying platforms, flight controllers, aerial gimbals for cameras in addition to the most popular ready to fly quadcopters with built-in cameras and handheld gimbals for filmmaking professionals. The headquarters are located in Shenzhen.
DJI’s Website:
http://www.dji.com/
JCD(GuangZhou) Optical Co., Ltd.
A Chinese company established in 1999 that designs and produces cameras and lenses for still cameras and camcorders. The headquarters are located in Guangzhou.
JCD Optic’s Website:
http://www.jcdo.com/
FLOVEL CO.,LTD.
A Japanese company established in 1968 in Tokyo that designs, produces and constructs the system for the super high sensitivity cameras and shooting system in the medical and bio-science field. The headquarters are located in Tokyo.
FLOVEL’s Website:
http://en.flovel.co.jp/
41 Responses
The previous rumor mentioned new M43 company in CP+.
I can’t wait to see the new products that these new M43 members will show. Probably some dedicated to M43 multi-copter and lenses.
surveillance lenses, medical lenses, drones. Not much here for simple photographers.
Good. Chinese lenses are becoming quite competitive quality-wise recently. And price-wise they are good as usual.
I’ve used cheap chinese lenses.
What can I say?
D+ must try harder.
The OEM made in China types are fine owing to japanese quality controls being in place. There’s a clue there.
It’s attention to detail and pride in their work. The best lenses will remain to be made in Japan and Germany.
Good development. Especially with the drone company, MFT will be used in semiprofessional and professional movie making. Hollywood, we will come!
Moreover, several niches as topographic and architectural measurements are done with drones. Niches, but professional niches!
MFT *is* being used for professional and semi-professional movie making, as we speak. GH4 is one of the most popular cameras for that. For example, for the more expensive drone models by DJI you can buy GH4 gimbal.
The trouble with drones is that you pay dearly for each additional gram of weight that you want to carry. DJI’s current comsumer drones with integrated GoPro-like camera cost ~1000 EUR, the full rig to carry and use a GH4 comes close to 10.000.
I am looking forward to tiny MFT remotely controlled cameras, stripped of nearly everything save for the lens mount and sensor box. Mount a tiny Panasonic 14/2.5 or 20/1.7, and you’ve got yourself a pretty capable sensor weighting less than say a Sony RX-100. That would be awesome for doing semi-professional photogrammetry on the cheap (I do not care much for video).
Here’s what you need – http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/05/olympus-air-lens-camera/
Actually Olympus PEN cameras have been most popular among professional Hollywood movies. Because at that time Panasonic GM1 didn’t exist and 30fps isn’t a problem for professionals. A small m4/3 cameras allows to get video cameras to places where you would not get otherwise good quality video cameras. And they are so cheap that you don’t get angry if you trash even couple ones.
And why not GoPro etc? Not possibility change objectives so.
GH4 is great if needing higher quality but even now Panasonic GM1 beats GH4 in many situations. And coming Olympus E-M5 II does throw GH4 away even more because even more easier to get good footage.
The thing is, m4/3 is there. Used by professionals, skilled professionals and famous professionals. It is just the amateurs and enthusiastic or terrible professionals that bash m4/3 (or Olympus).
The PEN cameras do not shoot at cine clock speed, the GH4 does, hence it is the GH4 that is used for Hollywood movies and TV production.
Ollies do shoot nice video in short clips but more than a minute or so and the quality does degrade way below publishable. Ollie admit and warn of this in small print hidden in the manual. I love my little E-PL7 but I’ll use an old Panny G5 as the B-cam to the GH4.
In order to be used for broadcast, a camera must meet broadcast standards, none of the stills/video cameras do at present but it is very likely that the GH4 will soon be accepted/accredited. Not meeting these standards restricts the percentage of the footage that the camera can be used for. These are industry standards which the industry adheres to with a religious fervour.
As I have both GM1 and GH4 I can assure you that the only situation it can beat the GH4 is in being very small and discrete, there is nothing it can do technically that the GH4 can’t cover and there are a lot of things the GH4 can do that the GM1 cannot. The GM1 has a 1/16000 shutter, the GH4 only has a 1/16000 in movie mode; I’ve never needed to shoot stills that ridiculously fast, dunno maybe photograph sunspots? (not)
I can buy a drone from a high street store for a lot less than that which will lift a real camera. Problem at the lower price points is adequate control of the drone, lift motors are cheap.
Good development but I was thinking and hoping for bigger names. Otherwise, they didn’t need to twitter about it.
I don’t know where you are from but DJI IS a big name. Seems you are just a beginning amateur stills shooter.
Wow… DJI is supporting m43. This is big news!
They probably realized the limitation of a GoPro and hence upgrading to m43 sensor. More demand for m43 lenses and bodies!
Actually, they already moved away from the GoPro with their Vision and Vision + models — maybe they decided their working lives would be easier if they didn’t have to develop lenses on their own?
Oohhh does that mean I can buy a drone with build in M43 camera? instant sold!
Admin, it seems the link to each company is not working on my side, something wrong?
after 600$ Samsung Nx-500 4k
we see next falldown in price, 300$ 4k camera-bodies.
Think Sony,Panasonic,Canon… all sllep to long and think in
old slow marketing niches..
Example= wait since 7 Months for Panasonic G7 4k 600,-$
nogo..but a pink selfi cam..and so on…
SONY… the funy show with its to expensive Fullsensor-theathre
now the A7000… if not 4k and not 10-bit on hdmi= 400$-TRASH
an so on…
In same way the Aussis, BMC are overrun a bit.. hm..
you can not make the first and last mistake:
OPEN A MARKET MAKE SHOW AND DONT DELIVER WHAT I WANT!
The 4k SHOW!!
Sony and co startet it, but SAMSUNG is what i buy. simple but blody.
From the other side ( and yes I WANT TO BUY A CAMERABODY and take
onlx the SIGMA 18-35 f1,8 only of few real worth LENSES!!–then i stop and
buy nothing next 6-7 Years….) ( them the 8k trallaa startz agaaaaain…) low
expensive 4k smartphones come in–if first have 1`Sensors and fine f2,8<
Lenses, good stabi, you loose 95% of the market. Okay.
With 3 idiots on a mountain to film the sunset in mornig-you will not make mony.
Think the old Manufactures all will be waya and history till 2020.. maybe 21…
GOOD SENSOR 4k APS-C / 43th / global shutter / no mire/ no artefscts/ 10 bit.
if not = R.i.P.
so waht will you do admin washingmachines-rumors?
skynet-rumors?
W…T…F…?
Could have Samsung again, like they did in the past, paid the professional trolls to troll on the forums?
Though the trolling looks rather unprofessional: I haven’t even bothered to read it.
You should tell your Samsung employee that the NX-500 costs 700$ and Panasonic already has a very good 4K camera at that price, it’s called LX 100.
Illiteracy pretty much sums up your comment~ Please go learn how to spell and proper grammar!
How good are you in german, italian or french?
wow, my eyes hurt..
missedmedication-rumors?
I have never known DJI is a chinese company! Proud I am a Chinese! Great news for M43!
yep, DJI is rocking the drone world. Seemingly great company.
If DJI make a drone with a native m43-mount camera, I know what drone I will definitely purchase.
I was under the impression that most drones in the price range of the phantoms could airbourne a GM1 with a pancake. Am I wrong?
What’s new?
drone with a 4/3 sensor and mount?
With a 4/3 sensor and m4/3 mount, I believe you mean? 😉
yes, oops!
Sure, but get a good stabilization for it by getting camera feed video back to the drone and you have problems. As the drones use camera video to do tracking and estimations of ascend speeds to ground levels etc.
> What’s new?
Not involved, but few things specific to industrial/military designs jump to mind:
Camera module should be directly mount-able, without extra adaptors, into standardized industry-specific racks and cages.
Camera module should be able to withstand industrial stress and shocks: vibrations, heat, very fine dust, high Gs (fast acceleration and deceleration), EM radiation. (For some industries also the reverse is important: the camera module may not produce vibrations, heat or EM.)
Camera module should draw power from the external power source.
Camera module should provide remote control possibilities by the wire, e.g some serial line and protocol. As well as the image acquisition interface. (Wireless adaptors for the wired buses are abundant.)
One can use standard camera body, but they are simply not designed to the industrial/military specs, and have problems being integrated with the rest of the appliance.
I’ve designed military stuff: all the top end mft bodies would meet requirements now. I know Panny drop test their toys from 30-ft and they bounce. WiFi control could/can/is be built into the drone. Extended WiFi is already done; dual operator systems, cameraman plus drone pilot. Drone autopilot is done now.
It is all do able without redesigning the wheel (I hate committee designs, they don’t know what they want, nor what is doable, more importantly they have not a clue what is needed in the field, collectively they’re idiots)
May be this is the way htey are going: http://www.43rumors.com/some-real-world-micro-four-thirds-air-clip-camera-images/#disqus_thread
Most can lift a GH4 with the heaviest mft lens.
It’s not the lift that is the problem in the price range but adequate control.
I just djiszz
Engrish!
Very cool. I’d like to see more drones with MFT optics and sensors instead of GoPro level optics and sensors.
Nice to see more join the group, but I was really hoping Pentax was going to shock the world and join m43’s.
Nah, they’re going full frame at last.
I was watching Adam Savage (of TV’s mythbusters) talk about how in this season, they are moving up from gopro’s to blackmagic’s (micro 4/3rds) in order to get a more cinematic feel with smaller depth of field. I could imagine something made for a copter that was not made as a normal camera, i.e. it would be lens mount, sensor, and memory cards, with video out to radio. It would not have an lcd, buttons, or anything else. Here is the link for Adam’s talk (the camera stuff starts at about 6 minutes 4 seconds): http://www.chud.com/151179/adam-savage-talks-mythbusters-camera-gear/