I just found an old Ken Rockwell prediction (http://www.kenrockwell.com/olympus/e1.htm) he wrote back in the year 2004:
He wrote:
“My intellect says 4/3 is a fantastic idea, and my crystal ball derived from over 30 years of experience watching trends come and go says 4/3 will be passed over and forgotten. I will not be surprised if this format goes away by 2007. It’s a minority format, like APS and Elcassette.”
Now we are in year 2009 and the camera is selling very well, the is the best hybrid-camera for videos (The Canon 5d is wonderful for stills but gives you less setup choices and no dedicated video-lenses)
What does it mean? Nothing! Only that Ken Rockwell isn’t on the same level as Chuck Norris 😉
12 Responses
yeah, chuck norris is the only one who has the perfect m4/3 cam. he took the E-P1 & the GH1, stuck it in an blender & got the perfect blend. an cam the size of the E-P1 with body IS & fullHD recording, the lens is of course as small as the E-P1 zoom lens, but as the GH1 kit lens 14-140 & optimized for video. he also made the lens a bit faster (f2 over all the range :-))
… now if i could only find a way to beat chuck norris to get that cam…
no, i’d say that ken rockwell was only half wrong. 4/3 is not widely supported as a consumer camera format compared to APS-C from Nikon and Canon and m4/3 is really a developmental offshoot. I’d consider 4/3 almost dead and m4/3 what 4/3 should have been in the first place. i was always luke-warm on 4/3 but have an ep-1 and am loving it.
hey man, don’t be SO SERIOUS about that prediction and actually he was saying the “4/3” format but not the “M4/3” format.
It’s obvious that M4/3 has much more potential than the “heavy”, “thick” and “big” 4/3.
People will love the M4/3 and buy them but will they “upgrade” their M4/3 to 4/3 in the great future? The answer is obvious, too.
Afterall, 4/3 is just something one is reluctant to give up though it is both tasteless and meaningless, compared to M4/3. The Miracle E-1 should be in M4/3, but not the 4/3 format.
I’m glad that Olympus and his friends(who?) are now changing their course to the far shore, finally.
Although Olympus is now saying that they will not give up the grandpa’s 4/3, it’s just words only and they must say so at this point in time. If Olympus give up his 4/3 so easily just because of the changing trend, everyone will have no confidence on the M4/3, they aren’t THE OLYMPUS anymore and goodwill will be lost.
In real world, producer is not the one who decide “what to produce”, but the consumers.
If you face little or no demand, dream is just bull sh*t.
4/3 is kind of like those difficult inbetween products that don’t have enough clear air between them and the incumbant technology.
For Example:
Tape/CD -> Minidisc -> MP3/iPod
VHS -> LaserDisc/DVHS/VCD -> DVD
SNES/MegaDrive -> CD32/CDi/3DO/Jaguar -> Saturn/PSX/N64
m4/3 benefits from being clearly distinct from it’s revivals. People can easily ‘get’ why you would want it. However only time will tell if it is a Minidisc niche or iPod mainstream.
FYI I live in the UK so MD was popular here.
Yes, Chuck Norris is a right wing nut.
Wow, a lot of people here still predicting the demise of the 4/3rds system.
The difference between 4/3rds and APS is non existent for any semi-professional usage when one takes into consideration the performance of 4/3rds lenses and range. And the image quality on the GH1, EP1 and 620 show stunning quality in the smaller sensor. It may be a slow moving process but I do believe it will probably become a larger market segment, users are not in decline, they are increasing in number, all you have to do is look at flickers simple stats, or look at DP’s reviews to see how the GH1, EP1 and 620 compare for image quality.
Doomsayers have been around through all the ages crying the end is nigh, if Olympus chooses to leave the format, I may get some stunning lenses for a steal 🙂
Ab
If Chuck Norris listened to music, he’d listen to it on Elcassette. That format was bad ass, the last format from Sony that was actually worth a damn.
Rich and Laender you obviously have no experience with the 4/3rds system. Let me enlighten you. It crushes micro 4/3rds, micro 4/3rds was developed for women, who cannot carry the full weight of the men’s version. The 4/3rds cameras are for men. Micro 4/3rds is for women.
Haha then obviously Jason, APS-C, H and 35mm sized sensors were designed for Atomic Supermen from Mars. I’d hate to think how big you’d have to be to use a H3D or Leica S2!
Olympus does not have the market share of Nikon/Canon but they do continue to produce quality lenses and cameras. IMHO they are in a similar position to Sony, Pentax, etc. but Olympus really seems to be making new advancements (live view, in body IS, legacy lens support, art filters) at a very fast rate.
Olympus has a full assortment of four thirds lenses and a range of four thirds cameras (E-3, E-30, E-620, E-450 etc.). I take them at their word that four thirds development will continue. It makes no sense to abandon a system that they’ve put so much work into.
The commenters (except for Jason) here may have little or no investment in four thirds lenses, but some people do. I don’t think Olympus is a company that will leave their customers high and dry :-). I like my E-P1 and I like my wife’s E-620, and I love the fact that we can use the same lenses (w/adapter).
A famous website had once made the mistake of comparing Chuck Norris to a human
Needless to say that the site’s server was roundhouse kicked to Jupiter by Chuck Norris.
43rumors, beware!
Looks like he was right up to this point. Its starting to look like a neither a Four Thirds lens or camera will ever be released again. Sure we have M43. And a degree of backward compatibility, but no updates to 43 in a looooong time. I know people who have jumped ship from fear of their gear becomin worthless. I wish he were wrong, the 43 cameras were nice.