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The [shoplink 56521 ebay]Olympus Pen EED film camera[/shoplink] had a built-in viewfinder. Source: Exacta.
Highly trusted sources confirmed Olympus will launch a new kind of PEN camera in early Spring. The camera is designed to “honour” the [shoplink 56521 ebay]original PEN-F (Click here)[/shoplink]. I am yet not sure about the name of the camera but it could really be named “PEN-F” as the film camera version!
I have no details on the camera specs yet but the integrated EVF is the key highlight of the camera.
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137 Responses
Spent a happy half hour with my E-P3 this evening – very much looking forward to this new Pen as a possible upgrade path. Fingers crossed for a 10mm prime also…
An integrated EVF?!?!?? But this isn’t an OMD!
What will _they_ think of next? 😉
Let’s hope for hardcore weather sealing, the usual awesome IBIS and a new sensor too. (24mp, BSI)
I guess there will he no place for 24MP BSI (this would put this camera far above the EM5II and probably into EM1II territory)
But 20MP are a possibility – since Sony is manufacturing it (and it seems to be 4K capable too! 😉 )
I hope they pull out all the stops and put the best tech available as a harbinger of what’s to come in the E-M1 MkII! Show us what you’re made of Olympus!
Oly should simply use the best sensor they can get for the next camera they will release. This withholding of features isn’t selling them cameras.
I agree. Since the GX8 has an FSI FourThirds chip at 20 megapixels, a 24 megapixel BSI design should be possible with noise and ISO function like the 20 megapixel, whose 3200 and 6400 ISO shots look just like those from 16 megapixel chip, except a bit sharper.
It should likely be an E-M5 Mk II with a different shape.
Hopefully Oly get it right this time .
Maybe this is the real upgrade for my GX7 ,
looking forward to own my first Oly camera .
How, when it’s going to have an older sensor than the one in the GX7?
Just get a Fuji XT10 already, trust me.
Do you have a job?
X Pro 2 is not far from now , buying XT10 is pointless to me .
As for Oly , New Sensor is a must for this new PEN otherwise it will be
another disappointment such as the EM10 2 & EM5 2 .
The EM5 Mark II is great!!!!! 🙂
The sensor is good. It has Hi-Rez mode 1/16,000 sec. Electronic shutter. Focus Stacking and Focus Bracketing. …and it’s small. Lot to love there.
A small correction there, it does have Focus Bracketing but not the Focus Stacking. Only the E-M1 has that with the FW 4.0 update.
Considering your other posts, isn’t everything new for micro Four-Thirds a disappointment?
Interesting that you already know that it’ll have a sensor older than the one in the GX7.
I guess that’s why we should trust someone with a pathological hatred of Olympus. Time to switch to a completely different system with far fewer lens choices. We’re trusting you!
Olympus PEN-F? Nah, too short. I bet Olympus will name it something like
“Olympus PEN DIG-F500a”
The first model and flagship of the new series will of course be named PEN-FD E-PFD1.
C’mon, that name needs waaaay more hyphens!!!! ??
E-P6 is the name.
Sorry.
“The camera is designed to ‘honour’ the original PEN-F”?! Oh, please, no, not yet ANOTHER stupidly retro-styled camera like the existing PENs and the OM-Ds. The E-PL3 was the last not-really-retro-styled camera Olympus built, too bad it had no built-in viewfinder and the bad old 12 MP sensor, otherwise I’d still have mine just because of its design. These days it would probably have to be Panasonic, the GX7 or GX8, if it needn’t be the E-M1 for FT lens compatibility…
Same, same but different.
Function follows form? Really?
That PEN-F looks a bit like the GX8, with it’s high forehead.
You’re right. Same and different are not pals.
Digital PEN has always been about cramming function into stylish, rectangular form, whether retro or not as one may debate. In 2009, PEN was supposed to be the portable version of FourThirds, but that ended with the cancellation of the E-Series D-SLR and the μ4/3 takeover by OM-D. PEN has not done well since.
I’d rather have a more recent retro model–the E-1 but that would replace the E-M1.
I don’t mind the E-M1 much, but it’s uncomfortable for me and the battery is too small.
That had been designed as the E-7 looking similar in shape to the E-1, but they had to make a choice between the E-7 or the E-M1 & only produce one or the other.
http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/jj524/picrumors/picrumors001/facb8113-80d9-454a-aa8f-4f340b8fd788_zps77bd4bf2.jpg
Thank you for the history lesson, but I’ve been using Olympus equipment since the OM-1N.
The E-7 design was horribly flawed, like a melted E-5 more than an E-1 with a better sensor and 5 axis image stabilization. They meant for the body to fail because it was more expensive than using common parts between the E-M5 and E-M1.
It seems I was wasting my time replying to “I’d rather have a more recent retro model–the E-1 but that would replace the E-M1” since you already knew it all.
I’m sure that there were other people who learned something new. 🙂
Another photo of the abandoned E-7
http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/img/dcw/docs/620/844/099_s.jpg
Those were exactly my thoughts after exchanging the E-30 for the E-M1 about a year ago. I actually dropped the E-M1 onto tarmac a few days after I bought it because of the much less safe grip I had on it (while probably subconsciously supposing it was as safe). On the positive side, neither the camera nor the attached 25mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko took any damage except a few scratches…
I can say, though, that today I seem to have gotten used to the E-M1’s smaller grip, and if I get an E-30 into my fingers it now feels awkwardly chunky. Regarding the battery, I simply carry two or three spare batteries with me now instead of just one, like I did in my DSLR days 😉
The GH4 feels like the E-3/E-5 body, slightly smaller with a bigger battery and the GX8 has a good grip, but has a tiny battery, similar to the E-M1.
Glad that the E-M1 is that strong. I would have expected the rear display to be broken or the mechanism bent.
Vertical sensor?
I see what you mean, like in ‘half frame’. I guess that’s not what you are really hoping for?
Next slide please?
I am hoping for a wonderfully retro-styled highly functional new PEN. Love my EPL6 ….It’s definitely my second tier camera for when I want to go really small and understand that I have to give up some of the features of my higher tier cameras because the camera is much smaller and also less expensive (well…not always LOL), so I have to keep my expectations “in-check”. Hopefully it won’t be a giant brick with an ugly grip like the GX8.
I love the texture of the black areas of the PEN F above.
It will be interesting to see what unfolds with a new PEN with an integrated viewfinder.
2016 looks to be an exciting year.
Better late than never I suppose . . . I’m excited to see this camera, but I don’t know if I’ll buy it. I own Panasonic rangefinder style cameras now. Olymup waited way too long!?
I mean, people have been crying out for this for 6 years since the E-P1 launched!!
So, VF.
Please, no PEN-F name. Olympus PEN-F E-P6. Rolls off the tongue. Not. Everybody will forget where to put dashes, like with all those OM-Ds.
Luckily the E model Olympus PEN-E ES-P6, was discarded.
Sounds good, but it will have to be quite special to draw much interest. I am hoping for a simple interface with lots of “analogue” controls. Photographer-friendly features such as DOF indication in the viewfinder and coupling of spot metering with the active AF area would be most welcome. Oh, and a square sensor please.
Let’s see whats coming there: EVF and IBIS in a small body will be quite a challenge – especially if they use a new sensor that is 4K capable!
4k? On an Olympus? Dream on! Maybe in 2020 when others have 6k/8k…
I doubt this will be a video staple. Olympus will probably wait with 4K until autumn. Also, It will not be very small. I’m guessing something akin to the GX8.
Hopefully not as big. GX7 size is a very good target.
Hopefully not as big. EPL7, or even EPL6 size is a very good target.
This camera needs to be pocketable with a pancake lens attached.
I doubt Olympus will put 4K in any model until their flagship gets it, like the E-M1 II.
Chicken and egg.
In order to be a success, it has to have all the modernst technology in it, that is a new BSI stacked sensor in order to offer much better low light capacity and a handheld high resolution mode with of course a cutting edge left corner EVF in a compact form.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!
SOMEONE SHOW AT LEAST TWO PROOFS THAT BSI IMPROVES IMAGE QUALITY!!
ANYONE?
Oh…. that’s right, no one has ever managed to do that, not Samsung, Sony or with any smartphone.
BSI is already dead, Panasonic has S-FSI that beats BSI like by 2 stops!
BSI is most certainly NOT dead. Sony is full steam ahead on BSI, and currently ships Full Frame, One-Inch, and 1:1.7 and 1:2.3 sensors on BSI with APS-C and FourThirds soon to come. Best Full Frame sensor on the planet is BSI. Samsung produces the only current BSI sensor on APS-C format. Panasonic does not have an S-FSI chip, even in prototype at this point. Development stopped. All efforts have been diverted to Fuji Organic sensor collaboration. You misunderstand. BSI is not about improving picture quality, per se. It is only about giving the pixel a larger percentage of the square in which it lives. At the same resolution, CMOS photodiodes are smaller than CCD photodiodes because the necessary CMOS circuitry in the cell takes a good deal more of the space. With BSI, you move as much of the the circuitry as possible to the other side, so that the photodiode can be as large as possible. At the same resolution, ISO sensitivity would go up (noise would go down), but that is not what the makers did. They pushed the resolution instead, so that you end up with about the same size photodiode.
You have no idea what BSI is because you say this: “BSI is not about improving picture quality, per se. It is only about giving the pixel a larger percentage of the square in which it lives.”
That is exactly why BSI is there, to improve the image quality!
It is there to increase the change that photon doesn’t hit circuitry but photoside. And that would increase the image quality when you collect more photos per exposure!
But S-FSI is the thing that does it correctly, by collecting the light instead bleeding out like BSI does, or blocking the light like BSI does!
BSI is just marketing thing, with zero to no-visible benefits!
No one has ever proofen that BSI gives any benefits! And even in theory it works only with small sensors, not with big sensors!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPec2EaBSSM
I know exactly what I am talking about. The benefits of BSI have been broadly proven, so it is crazy for you to assert a marketing trick. Read on.
Here’s the proof: All of the high-resolution chips, be they 42mpxl on full frame, 28mpx on APS-C, or 21mpx on 1-inch would be MUCH noisier, probably by 1.5 stops in ISO, than an equivalent high-resolution FSI fabrication.
In a strange sense, “net” in total, BSI was conceived to “improve” the degraded image quality of new high-resolution CMOS chips with too-small pixels. The marketing trick was the unnecessary increase in resolution for pocket cameras. Resolution sells, noise sucks.
We never saw an actual, same-resolution improvement because BSI chips and their bigger pixels were never produced for the respective formats at previous, medium resolutions. Case in point: there are no BSI examples of 24mpx full frame, 16mpx APS-C, 16mpx FourThirds or 14mpx 1-inch to compare for improvements against the FSI chips of the day. If we had them, the improvements would be obvious.
“pixel a larger percentage of the square” “photodiode can be as large as possible”
That is about better image quality by lowering noise.
Looking forward to it. I’d like to see something really simple, practical and above all energy-wise and weather-sealed. Original Pen was a blast with its optics, compact elegant and solid structure.
Hope they weather proof it and also incorporate Phase Detect Auto Focus for 43s’ lenses, I don’t care about video so I hope they design this for optimum stills photography.
I don’t care about digital so they must design it for film.
The only problem with my pen f is I find it hard to finish 72 shots within 2 months.
lucky you that pen is already designed and put to market a long time ago!
Well, it was just a joke. For film I have a Pentax 67. For my digital needs I make do with a E-M1.
See http://thoregilphoto.com
I don’t care about video either but having it in my GX7 has not made it worse for stills. As long as I can reassign function buttons that default to video to something I find useful video does not get in the way. I used to have a NEX-5N and one of the very few function buttons was dedicated to “record”. You could disable it to avoid accidently taking videos but could not reassign it which I found irritating. Never had that problem with m43.
If Olympus was designing this camera for me it would be like a GM-5 with a better EVF and IBIS. It would have to be larger than a GM-5 to include those features but I would still like a camera smaller than the OMD series.
vertically placed sensor anyone?
Too radical these days, but I certainly hope for a square sensor (if Sony cares to cut the wafer this way).
that will be cool too!
Micro four fourths just doesn’t sound good.
Why? And with all the IBIS mechanics, will just make the camera taller.
Yeah, but SO much thinner…
?
If you drop screen and grip, right? Who needs a screen and a way to hold it, controls, battery, SD card slot…
Id love a vertically placed 3:4 sensor!
I’m hoping for an Olympus a6000 with IBIS, touch-screen and weather sealing. I’m afraid it will be designed as “function follows form” like the first OMD.
Sony, Nikon, Canon – take your pick.
I might just pick Sony, depending on whatever the a6XXX will be. They have the tech to do it. Oly does too but their obsession with old cameras is holding them back.
You should buy a camera that suits your needs, obsessive or not.
I have heard that one before. The wise one, hahahahaha…
1) No rear display. The EVF is there to review the photos, go trough menus.
2) All the common shutter speeds as E-M1 has now (1/8000 mechanica, 1/16000 electronic)
3) Nice video features (like E-M10II)
4) 5-axis IBIS from E-M5II
5) 20Mpix sensor as GX8
6) Tiny like GM5, but with actually good EVF (like E-M10 II) that isn’t cornered but is at center
7) Hot shoe
8) No AP2
9) No pop-up or integrated flash
10) Use same battery as E-M10
11) Comes in black/silver/orange/leather-brown/red/white
12) Uses MicroSD cards.
13) Has a mechanical timer leveler that can be used to time shots
14) New special B/W mode that will render excellent B/W film simulation.
Just call it the Pen D, with no alphabet soup afterwards (E-M10 mark II, anyone?) Give it a model year, like cars or Macs. Just “Pen D” with “Spring 2016” in the firmware or serial number or battery compartment.
An integrated EVF is a must-have. It was a must-have for the E-P5, to be honest. And in the corner please.
Smaller rear screen would be fine. I do like the touch screen for things like the SCP.
For me, it could be an E-M10 (1) in a rangefinder/viewfinder style body. I would like the shutter release from the E-M1. Such sweet action.
The E-M10 II 5-axis IBIS would be fine.
How about integrated memory with an option of removable cards? I’d keep the same size though, and not move to the smaller MicroSD.
For the sensors, I hope the Olympus image wizards can figure out a software solution to diffraction. With the 16M sensors, we’re hitting it at f/7.1 or even larger.
“Tiny like GM5, but with actually good EVF (like E-M10 II) that isn’t cornered but is at center”
If it is in the center, it is OM-D, not PEN.
What you describe is more like OM-D E-M5 III (let the name die though, it is impossible).
Hope this Pen F (as in Flagship) is a high end replacement to the ep5. Class leading built in EVF with weather sealing would be great…
If you get your wish, expect a high end price tag to be attached to it. That would kill it’s market for most hobbyists and I can’t believe any professionals would use it.
To be a market success, this camera has to be affordable and probably needs to be near, or under $1000US
I hope it is not related to the E-P5 in any way. I’d like Olympus to make more money.
I so wish it has an OVF like the XPRO1. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. Olympus, you have no idea. Hybrid viewfinder. Come on……
Sorry, but I want to use it with 7-14mm PRO or with 7-14mm from Panasonic. Or I want to attach a 40-150mm f/4-5.6 II on it when needed. I want to keep 12-40mm PRO on it most of the time. And when I am lazy and I go to out on evening, I want to have just 17mm f/1.8.
The hybrid or OVF would be studipiest choice from Olympus!
Doesn’t work with Fuji so well (X100s user here!) and wouldn’t with PEN either.
Agreed. I tried the Fuji hybrid OVF a bunch of times and just couldn’t see the point.
A high-resolution EVF with full-time live view (Panasonic’s Constant Preview + GX8) is the way to go. Absolutely!!!!
The times when an OVF is nice is when you want to see a user walking into a frame and/or you’ve already nailed your exposure (Manual) and you want to focus on composition.
What’s great about the X100 is if you don’t like it, you can toggle it.
why not just get a M1/M5/M10 instead if it is a M1/M5/M10 you want..?
We always want a new camera, don’t we?
Nah. Why?
Yeah, because.
Tunnel OVF like on X-Pro only works well with fixed lens with fixed focal length. Like X100. Makes no sense otherwise.
You and how many others …? The newer EVF are superb and much more versatile than an OVF.
I am gonna give my vote to the EVF as well. I have a suspicion that the conservatism against the EVF has more to do with manual focus as a hobby, because the style of viewfinder only has to do with things you do before you press the shutter. Once you tell the camera to capture an image, viewfinders are irrelevant. I like to see the white-balance in action before I click.
Everybody. Please read closely. Confirmed insiders are all saying the same thing, a NEW kind of PEN is imminent, in the works as it were. Think about it. The implication is a new kind of camera (for Olympus) with new branding.
If it is PEN, how it is a new branding? It is almost 50 y/o branding.
Sorry to split semantic hairs, hyper-technical in linguistics, my bad, but there is a difference between a new brand (a previously unused trademark), and a new branding. The -ing takes a noun, new or old, and does some work, if different than before, then new. I think Quill (above) was kind of funny as a new trademark. If you mint a new thing and put an old name on it, it is a new branding, new usage of an old term. If you give an old thing a new name, it is a rebranding as in x was rebranded as y. The E-P1 was not a PEN by any previous definition. It was an new branding. Whatever the next PEN may be, it will almost certainly violate the current definition.
I think you are right. ‘New kind of Pen’ is not ‘new Pen’ (because it has a VF).
I do NOT think old PEN + integrated EVF = new PEN.
Well, then I don’t think you are right about the meaning of ‘new kind of Pen’. But this is what I think. A new digital Pen with built in EVF is a new kind of Pen. As simple as that. I would be very surprised if your 7 points comment would turn out to be true. And to be honest, I would also be somewhat disappointed.
I think odds of getting that seven are zero. Since there were a good number of wish lists posted all over this conversation, I wanted to be ridiculous and post mine too. I think the current PEN audience is going to be disappointed. Everyone else is disappointed in the current PEN.
I will still keep on hoping though….
Name will be Quill? Cuz Stylus is taken.
Will the sensor be in portrait position? 🙂
No, you will find it positioned inside the camera just behind the lens!
Hopefully there will be some exciting new surprises that we have not anticipated.
^ That was what I wanted to know.
This retro approach is kind of boring, somehow, I’ll stick to pannies I guess
Yeah, the retro approach is old..
Where it fails is so slavishly copying the old that ergonomics, controls and handling suffer.
Yeah, just look at the E-M1.
This a conversation about RECTANGULAR cameras. The word RETRO has no meaning in a market where everything is retro. The SLR and rangefinder forms are decades old. If you cannot talk about business or technology in a factual way, you should not generalize.
The E-M1 is both retro styled and has very good ergonomics, handling and feel, which disproves the argument I was addressing.
I heard that the sensor can rotate to portrait position with the push of a button…for the record, I was also right about the OM-D.
Highly unlikely.
You dont even have to push a button — the sensor swings into any given orientation simply by tilting the camera — we truly are living in the future!
I personally prefer beefier grips such as those of GH4, GX8 or EM-1
This is not what I expect from this, but great. More choice, the better.
They could always provide a beefier add-on grip. In fact, that would allow you to use it without grip and pancakes etc. as a small package, and with grip for longer lenses.
Yes! Swap lenses AND hand grips!
What a concept! Sign me up! ??
Once you put a lens on the camera, even a pancake like the 20mm, the grip is far less pronounced.
I would appreciate the possibility to leave the grip off. Especially a beefy one.
Why? We use the camera with an attached lens, right? Even the Panny 20mm is almost 3 cm long (as Jeff wrote).
Because I use a handstrap, which is enough with the small ep and epl grips. A big em1 style grip would be abundant, for me.
I use my PEN as a secondary camera. I keep it in a tiny bag with the VF4, the Panny 14mm f/2.8 and the Oly 45mm f/1.8. Great little powerful kit when I am on the go.
Might be cool if they had a optional add-on grip with this new model to make it more versatile. Kind of like the GM5/GM1 has.
+1
The E-P5 (+VF4) is my primary for just this reason. Can take it anywhere with one or two extra lenses and no hassle. Sports a well balanced body with an excellent layout, unlike anything smaller – and a camera’s handling is much more important to me than plain specs. It’s also built like a brick.
Well, if there is something we can count on is shitty video. Mark that F5.
It would be nice if they add on sensor PDAF to this one
I still think there’s a market for a fixed lens full-frame camera in the Olympus line-up. They could pinch sales away from the RX1 and Leica Q without too much trouble, but it all depends on whether it makes sales/marketing sense.
I highly doubt it, in any case it would’nt be called pen which was famous for it’s half 35-mm format
It would be cool if they made a fixed lens camera without ever mentioning the sensor size.
I disagree. If one likes and can afford either of those cameras, go spend the money. To speak of the market as if it were monolithic misses the point. There are vertical (highly specialized) markets where the unit price is high, and horizontal markets (generalized in some optimal way) where the unit price is accessible. Some folk think Olympus to be misguided, and others feel that they have a finger on the pulse of an enthusiast market they know very well, myself of the latter opinion.
Why do you think they know the market? They’re not even profitable, not to mention Japanese companies are notoriously bad at innovation and listening to their customers. I also don’t think there’s much of an argument that they’re pretty rubbish from a software perspective, too. Their UI is like a Frankenstein they keep adding limbs to. Olympus is not beyond criticism or discussion, especially from where I’m sitting as a career product designer.
Really? http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2015/08/06/olympus-quarterly-numbers-show-profits-boosted-by-e-m5-ii-and-high-end-comp
F for finally!
I love when people cry for a newer sensor, more MP and so one. Especially considering the fact that some existing lenses (originally designed for 12 MP sensors) are already suffering with a 16 MP sensor… New sensor, bigger pixel count => new lens lineup, guys…
the first m4/3 lenses were designed to resolve 20-22 MP.
That’s theory/marketing. Try it for yourself, y’oull see they’re not as sharp as expected…
Anonymous non-facts here. To same guys: if you smell the promotion of FUD, you may assume it comes from a partisan who owns not one bit of μ4/3 gear. My meter is pegged.
Ignoring all the comments that have nothing to do with the PEN or PEN concepts, and since there are many wishful and delusional threads going here, my turn, here is a totally new PEN-ish camera I would love.
(1) Keep the small, rectangular shape
(2) Add RX100-type popup EVF at left corner
(3) Use LX100-type twin dial setup
(4) Drop FourThirds sensor, use OneInch instead (very controversial, but I will explain)
(5) Keep the μ4/3 mount
(6) Offer a FAST, 15.9mm image circle, f1.8–2.8 zoom
(7) Offer a .7, SpeedBooster-type converter for 21.7mm image circle μ4/3 lenses.
Obviously, the new zoom would not be of any use on an OM-D, but all of the existing lenses could work in either mode on new camera: (a) directly mounted, but wasting part of larger image circle and inferring a 2.7 crop factor, (b) with converter that narrows the 21.66mm image circle to 15.9mm and intensifies light gathering, to compensate for loss of ISO sensitivity, as if one stop faster. What fun! Useful either as first and only camera or as second camera. A camera like this would give the one-inch laziness at Nikon and Canon a bit of a jolt, make both small sensor strategies irrelevant. Such a camera would not hurt or cannibalize OM-D market in any way.