New 5.1 MP Olympus!!!!!!!!

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John Mason

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For those who live in the forum and never venture to the home page:

Theres a new post about a 5.1 MP Olympus coming out in Feb 2002!

With interchangable lenses!

OM2 days again!--John Mason - Lafayette, Indiana, USA
 
It'll probably be more money - or not - competition for a 5.1 by then could be stiff.

4 to 5.1 with 5 lenses - and a noiseless kodak sensor -lets call it about an E13.

The nice thing is Olympus had a wonderful competitive oppourunity with the OM series years ago, but never added autofocus, etc.

As an old time Olympus fan (I had a Pen F 1/2 frame and an OM1 and OM2 over the years) it looks like Olympus is heading in the direction of a pro type digital camera (the E10 is a big big step in that direction). I just always liked their innovative clean slate design approach. You see a lot of that philosophy in the E10, no mirror, etc.

So, I'm kinda excited to see what more vaporware descriptions we get of this camera. Well their be an actual Olympus lens line than we can keep as we gradually upgrade the bodies over time. (thats one of the reasons I haven't gotten any of the Aux lenses for the E10. They seemed like a dead end for future cameras.)

Anyway - the E10 will always be a milestone camera - but I've been tempted to move to a more pro digital - maybe now I'll just wait and see what's coming from my underdog favorite camera brand.
 
For those who live in the forum and never venture to the home page:

Theres a new post about a 5.1 MP Olympus coming out in Feb 2002!

With interchangable lenses!

OM2 days again!
--
John Mason - Lafayette, Indiana, USA
Yeah, but I bet I can't use my OM2 lenses...!!! Ok so it will have megapixels but will no doubt be mega dollars. Still, this time last year if someone had told me I would buy an E-10 I would have called them stupid...you just never know. If the price is right...??
John W.
 
I just order my E-10...FedEx tracking says it's in the air right now...still happy I ordered it. From Phil's speculation I suspect the 5.1 mp camera(s) would be priced higher than the E-10. When Oly releases a new 5.1mp I will still have gotten a year's use from the E-10. Also, with the E-10's 4mp resolution it would be hard for me to justify buying a new camera to gain 1.1 mp's. If the new camera(s) are priced at or near $2000.00 well...I might pull out the credit card a year from now. Not being a professional photographer that is about my limit, but maybe Olympus is again expanding to target another tier of photographer...a camera geared totally for the professional...not a cross-over like the E-10.
 
I think it's going to be great to see this new camera when it comes out. I was glad to see that Koday and Oly finally hooked up. I think by end of next year 2002 that we will have available to us some very good cameras. It makes me think even more that the E-10 is the best purchase right now. Ok, why do I think that? Well, now if you buy a cheaper-but-nice point-n-shoot for about $800 by next year it will be trash and if you spend $3500 on let's say a D30 + Lens(s) then it will probably be outdated by then as well so for ~$1700 you get great quality camera that is 95% of a D30 for half the price and your E-10 will probably have a great re-sale value too next year. I'm not one to go along with everyone but hey I think that I still made a good decision when I purchased an E-10. There is one thing though and that is that if Oly does not release at least one updated version of the E-10 where all of the current owners of the proprietary accessories can use them, then there is going to be some ticked off folks.

JP
For those who live in the forum and never venture to the home page:

Theres a new post about a 5.1 MP Olympus coming out in Feb 2002!

With interchangable lenses!

OM2 days again!
--
John Mason - Lafayette, Indiana, USA
Yeah, but I bet I can't use my OM2 lenses...!!! Ok so it will
have megapixels but will no doubt be mega dollars. Still, this
time last year if someone had told me I would buy an E-10 I would
have called them stupid...you just never know. If the price is
right...??
John W.
 
John, "Underdog brand"? Naw, not from my perspective. I've had mine since November and use it commercially in my business and have never had an inkling of thinking either Olympus or the E10 was an underdog in any respect. In fact, I am still giggling a lot to myself because I think the E10 is one of the best kept secrets on the market today and it tickles me so... Underdog, naw... Regards, Jim N AZ.
It'll probably be more money - or not - competition for a 5.1 by
then could be stiff.

4 to 5.1 with 5 lenses - and a noiseless kodak sensor -lets call
it about an E13.

The nice thing is Olympus had a wonderful competitive oppourunity
with the OM series years ago, but never added autofocus, etc.

As an old time Olympus fan (I had a Pen F 1/2 frame and an OM1 and
OM2 over the years) it looks like Olympus is heading in the
direction of a pro type digital camera (the E10 is a big big step
in that direction). I just always liked their innovative clean
slate design approach. You see a lot of that philosophy in the
E10, no mirror, etc.

So, I'm kinda excited to see what more vaporware descriptions we
get of this camera. Well their be an actual Olympus lens line than
we can keep as we gradually upgrade the bodies over time. (thats
one of the reasons I haven't gotten any of the Aux lenses for the
E10. They seemed like a dead end for future cameras.)

Anyway - the E10 will always be a milestone camera - but I've been
tempted to move to a more pro digital - maybe now I'll just wait
and see what's coming from my underdog favorite camera brand.
 
Hello John,

Thanks for the news ...
I think we will be surprised with what Olympus has in mind.

The E-10 is already a 'legendary' camera, unique in it's class (there's no other one :-).

The new one will be on my whishlist (just started saving :-) but meanwhile my E-10 gives me tremendous satisfaction and the opportunity to shoot the images the way I want them to be.
So, good news from Olympus, bad news for my bankaccount ...

Jaja
http://www.belgiumdigital.com
For those who live in the forum and never venture to the home page:

Theres a new post about a 5.1 MP Olympus coming out in Feb 2002!

With interchangable lenses!

OM2 days again!
--
John Mason - Lafayette, Indiana, USA
 
Hi John,

Yes, this is an interesting time.
I am very curious about how integrated it will become.

I am, of course, dreaming that our current lenses will be compatible, but at least I can dream!

I think the 5.1mp will become more upgradable by the consumer, instead of at the factory. 5mp cameras are going to be really cheap by 2002, so this price is definitely starting to sell in that area. Now the real question is, what is it going to look like. I really like the feel of the E-10 and it will be very hard to beat. My E-10 is going to be with me for a while. If anything, many years from now, it will be in a glass case. I think it's a great camera than many people have overlooked in ability. All of those suckers who have pre-paid for their DCS 760's are going to suddenly get wet in their pants, when they discover that the new generation of the Olympus "E", is giving them a run for their $6000!
P.S. Maybe Olympus can finally release the ENTIRE Tech Manual for the E-10.

Jason Busch
 
How much is 200,000 yen?

Well that translates directly in today’s money as £1,400 Irish where I paid £1,800 for the E10. Looks like I am starting my saving now.

I said it ages ago when the E10 was first announced – I think I saw my next digital camera. Well, gentlemen, and ladies, I think I’ve just head about my next digital camera, can I pre-order now?
For those who live in the forum and never venture to the home page:

Theres a new post about a 5.1 MP Olympus coming out in Feb 2002!

With interchangable lenses!

OM2 days again!
--
John Mason - Lafayette, Indiana, USA
 
Hi Ger

Isn't Photokina in the summer? - doesn't that mean that it won't be released until summer 2002.

The price sounds attractive for an interchangeable lense camera - but you can bet your bottom dollar that it won't be built like the E-10 at that price range.

In 14 months time the 5.1Mp sensor is going to be old hat.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 4/3" sounds to me like 35 mm, and there will be 6Mb cameras around long before then with full 36/24 sensors.

Sounds to me like they're heading for a middle of the road hobbyists SLR camera, not a pro, or even semi-pro camera.

Seems to me that the only thing it has going for it is the bigger sensor and the interchangeable lenses, and if that's what you want, there's going to be better around long before then.

call me a cynic

kind regards
jono slack
(who still loves his E-10)
Well that translates directly in today’s money as £1,400
Irish where I paid £1,800 for the E10. Looks like I am starting my
saving now.

I said it ages ago when the E10 was first announced – I think
I saw my next digital camera. Well, gentlemen, and ladies, I think
I’ve just head about my next digital camera, can I pre-order
now?
For those who live in the forum and never venture to the home page:

Theres a new post about a 5.1 MP Olympus coming out in Feb 2002!

With interchangable lenses!

OM2 days again!
--
John Mason - Lafayette, Indiana, USA
 
In 14 months time the 5.1Mp sensor is going to be old hat.
That doesn't mean that it won't match the needs of the majority of the people. In other words: not everyone is chasing behind the latest resolution!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but 4/3" sounds to me like 35 mm...
You're wrong. It's definitively smaller!
and
there will be 6Mb cameras around long before then with full 36/24
sensors.
What is the benefit of having 6-MP-cameras with 35mm-size-sensors, if the current 35mm-interchangeable lenses are - in terms of optical resolution - way behind digital camera lenses. Mounting a 35mm-lens on a digicam is like mounting bike wheels on a car. I would prefer to have a lens system specially designed for the appropriate CCD-sensor. It will allow not only to have high-resolution lenses, but also to build them smaller and faster (in terms of max. aperture).
 
George,

Look about 2 inches south of the "Preview" button. :-)

Jason Busch
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but 4/3" sounds to me like 35 mm...
You're wrong. It's definitively smaller!
Not by a whole lot though... 4/3" = 33.9mm
What is the benefit of having 6-MP-cameras with 35mm-size-sensors,
if the current 35mm-interchangeable lenses are - in terms of
optical resolution - way behind digital camera lenses.
I don't think this is true for a lens of decent quality. Assuming 1800 vertical pixels across 24mm on the above 4/3" sensor, that's only 37.5 lp/inch. It is not unusual for SLR lenses to have a higher resolving power than that. There is no doubt in my mind that a full-frame 6MP sensor will give you "real" data on each pixel, and not have reached the physical limits of the lens in front of it. I believe this will hold true at least up to about 12MP (e.g., 4000x3000) for 35mm. Of course, at that end of the spectrum, it is usually not the lens or the CCD that limits image sharpness and quality. You'll need an absolutely stable, vibration-free camera and virtually perfect focus to achieve tha resolution.
 
Summer, that's about right but with this lead-time I’d bet the camera will be actually on sale before it is officially launched.

What Olympus are doing is what Nikon used to do with all their leaks - stir up interest and when customers know something is arriving they can better make a judgment on their current camera replacement and budget accordingly. It throws a wobbly in Nikon's plans for a similar instrument expected this fall - I am one who will not rush out to buy this, even though it is what I want now, if Oly are actually making something similar, I’ll want to compare so I’ll wait until that time – if I bought the Nikon for instance – which I would have immediately without this announcement from Kodak/Olympus.

With that in mind I’d imagine they are seriously looking at the vast semi-pro, working pro and serious amateur market and I’d definitely expect the quality to be on a par with the E10. There are signs and post which suggest that Olympus are actually listening to us, if so then they will not produce anything less than the E10. As I said in another post weeks/months ago the E10 is so made that I’d not be surprised if Olympus were the first to bring out interchangeable lens on this class of machine with no x-factor multiplication.

It sure looks as if this is happening.
 
Theres a new post about a 5.1 MP Olympus coming out in Feb 2002!
Well, they will be announcing it in Feb 2002... it won't start shipping until summer 2002, and if the E-10 is any indication, give them a couple of months before availability ramps up. I'm guessing 16 to 18 months before a lot of us will have the chance to play with one. Hang on to those E-10's in the meantime. :)

5.1 megapixels isn't really a big deal over 4.0 megapixels, even today. By next summer, there will likely be several 5MP cameras in the sub-US$2000 range. The big news is the size of the imager: almost 35mm in size, which is unheard of today at the projected price point of US$1620 including lens. There may only be a 1.1x focal length multiplier vs. the Canon D30's 1.6x, the next closest camera in terms of price (and that's 2x the cost).

Even though there is only a 25% increase in pixels, I hope the sensor size (and thus the sensor element size) means that we get very high quality pixels. With the E-10, shrinking a 2240x1680 photo down to 1120x840 or smaller makes it look a lot "nicer". Noise is removed, minor focus imperfections are removed, etc. I'd love to have that kind of quality across all 5 million pixels, and not have to reduce it to 1.25 million pixels to eliminate imperfections. High ISO (ISO3200, please!) pictures should look cleaner than what the E-10 can produce too.
With interchangable lenses!
I'm still debating the merits of this... Olympus has nowhere near the lens selection or third-party support that Canon and Nikon enjoy. If I want an interchangeable lens SLR, would it not make sense that I select a mount that offers the widest availability? Olympus certainly isn't in the running in that respect.

I planned to hang on to my E-10 for two years (Nov 2000 to Nov 2002). We'll see A) what's out on the market at that time, and B) if I can even hold out that long. ;-)
 
Not by a whole lot though... 4/3" = 33.9mm
Too bad for you that 4/3" is NOT the diagonal of the CCD-sensor. It's only a reference value which has nothing to do with the real diagonal size of the CCD. The 4/3" sensor from Kodak KAF-5100CE ( http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/ccd/kaf5100ce.shtml ) has a chip size of 19.8 to 14.6 mm which gives a diagonal of Sqrt((19.8^2)+(14.6^2)) = 24.6 mm.

But that's the total chip size and NOT the effective pixel area. The effective pixel area measures 17.8 x 13.4 mm which gives a diagonal of 22.28 mm.
 
5.1 megapixels isn't really a big deal over 4.0 megapixels, even
today.
...but IMHO still enough for the amateur and semi-professional use. With 5 MP resolution you can have prints up to 12 x 16 inches without noticing any difference with a traditional photograph. That's what really counts; not the pixel count! And I know very few people who need print above this size.
There may only be a 1.1x
focal length multiplier vs. the Canon D30's 1.6x, the next closest
camera in terms of price (and that's 2x the cost).
There will be no focal multiplier as the lens will be exclusively designed for the camera resp. the CCD. There's only a focal multiplier when you adapt a 35mm lens on a digital camera with smaller sensor.
I'm still debating the merits of this... Olympus has nowhere near
the lens selection or third-party support that Canon and Nikon
enjoy. If I want an interchangeable lens SLR, would it not make
sense that I select a mount that offers the widest availability?
I personally don't care about the availability of a lens system. What really counts for me is that this lens system offers the focal ranges I need.
 

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