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"Olympus E system mirrorless in two years. Probably."

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Brent Gair said:
I'm actually snickering at the folks who are claiming in this thread that they will likely switch to Nikon or Canon. How odd to see people willing to march into oblivion for the sake of their mechanical shutters and flapping mirrors. Seriously...do people ACTUALLY BELIEVE that the current 50+ year old SLR layout has a future?
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Why the snickering? For me, I'm all for EVF's, I've owned several cameras with them, and they're great, I love the advantages you get with them. I also love flippy screens, so live view and getting rid of the mirror is great.

What isn't great is Oly's reputation for CDAF auto-focus, and that's even for lens' build ground up for CDAF...

Olympus has 2 things going for it for me, lens' and color. If my HG lens' don't AF properly... that's going to ruin my investment as well as my ability to keep up with other Pros in my market.

perhaps some day electronic shutters and CDAF (or PDAF technologies in sensor) will suave my concerns, but Oly doesn't have a good track record yet in this regard. Actually, they're quite behind Panasonic in most all these regards. not to mention they're reliance on Panasonic for sensors, and seemingly Panasonics unwillingness to share their other advanced tech (understandable).

So, I don't see why it's giggle worthy that some of us are questioning our investments.

Luckily, now that the smoke has cleared some, it seems that the "entire" line may not be switched over in two years, maybe we'll see a model or two, which isn't so troublesome.

As others have pointed out, Pros require certain advances in live view technologies (like shortend blackout time, C-AF, fast AF, etc...)

Without them, I'll stick with my mirror, thank you very much.

--
Cloverdale, B.C., Canada
Olympus e-510 L1
http://www.joesiv.com
 
Interesting piece. I think they should design atleast one body on which the SHG glass works fine, whatever autofocus is used. If they don't, what do they say to current owners: sorry for your 35-100/2.0, 150/2.0 and 300/2.8 your EC's and 12-60/ 2.8-4.0. We just redesigned them to work properly on our new bodies and you have to buy new lenses....

Right...

How hard can it be to take the E3 body and put the E-P2 sensor in it and some other small tweaks in electronics...
Edward Rauschkolb said:
Whether the words spoken today are true or not, damage has been done until such a theoretical body is released.

Consider the Panasonic 7-14 for micro 4/3 vs. the Oly 7-14 for 4/3. Both lenses are the same speed, similarly priced, and cover the same range yet the Pan is 1/3 the size & weight of the Oly..

Granted the Oly is corrected optically whereas the Panny is corrected by soft/firm ware.

The point is, if a mirrorless body is your only option, which would you rather carry? While the lenses will likely be usable (in some fashion) on the new bodies, I would predict re-design of all lenses for a smaller flange distance and different AF

With this thought, unless there was a massive price adjustment in the SHG & HG lenses, who will buy them? . . . and to put on what body?? Oly's representative today made a classic Business school error in describing a revolutionary direction change before the "improved" product is available. This phenomenon is referred to as the Osborne Effect. Just as the legendary computer company went out of business (as a result of the CEO's premature announcement) before it had the capital to make the change, this will virtually stop the sale of high end lenses.. . . as it should.

I have been an E series supporter and defender since the E1 was first announced (and I still own it) and similarly the E3. I have owned & used both the D300 & D700 and previously most of Canon's line and much preferred the E3/E1 with HG lenses for travel and my other SLR needs. I fully understand (and have stated here) that my cameras and lenses will continue to work. However, I have no intention of extending my investment in Oly products until the dust settles, even if that means buying N or C (when I need additional equipment) if only to protect my investment.

In this sense, the product manager's statement is extremely helpful to consumers, but will be harmful to the higher end lens division at least in the short term, as I have to believe that that the continuation of the "extensive 4/3 lens system" is simply wishful thinking on his part (in an unthinking market place, as it is obvious that all lenses will be redesigned for the new flange distance and focusing system)

As for OVF vs. EVF, while I have no doubt that more things can be done with an EVF, the question remains do we (here meaning me) need more? Personally I feel that for many. a good simple E1 style camera with decent sensor, decent vfnder, decent metering is all I could ask for. I do not need another 3-400 page manual to confuse me. (It still will come down (for stills anyway (and my video is just boring) to focusing, picking and ISO, F stop and shutter speed) But what do I know, my other camera system is an "obsolete" M system (MP/M9) which I use in addition to my E1/E3.

I may buy into trhis new world of Olympus, but not now.

just my 0.02.

Edward Rauschkolb
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I agree 100% - I am NOT going to buy ANYTHING from Olympus untill they clearly stay UPP! - and define the way ahead.

Also agree with your points around the E1. Why on earth doesn't they build on former gold. The ultrasilence shutter, the perfect layout and the building-quality?

ALL we need - is an updated sensor with high IQ iso 3200, 5-8 fps, an AF that FUNCTION (included C-AF) and an anno 2010 LCD.

I've had Olympus since the Trip-35, via OM2 and OM4-ti - and E1. I would be sorry to change that route - but if "E5" is a failure - the decision has to be taken.
 
Cheers
 
Hi,

My point exactly,

But the damage is already done. Those likely to buy the high end glass will have seen or will see this "announcement" from a high level Olympus employee . . . and will think twice about buying further items (the core aspect of the Osborne Effect).

Ironically I am just such a user. To me an E3 does everything I need in a weatherproof body at half to 2/3 the weight of the nearest competition and the lenses are better, faster and smaller. At one point or another I have owned every lens in the system (with the exception of the 300) but I banked on selling them when I no longer needed them. Now, I will look elsewhere for special needs, unless Olympus shows some REAL evidence of supporting the high end (perhaps a new E4/5) I will be suspicious of even new lenses that may have been in the pipeline until I am confidant of Oly's commitment to the high end segment of the market. . . . and without a high end segment, Oly's growth is eventually ultimately limited.

Hell, many have not yet gotten over the demise of the OM sysgtem.

Ed
 
Carsten Simonsen said:
I agree 100% - I am NOT going to buy ANYTHING from Olympus untill they clearly stay UPP! - and define the way ahead.
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Me too.
Carsten Simonsen said:
ALL we need - is an updated sensor with high IQ iso 3200, 5-8 fps, an AF that FUNCTION (included C-AF) and an anno 2010 LCD.
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A better DR, AF lenses fine tuning, two memory cards (faster than xd) working at the same time, an HDMI output.
 
illy said:
as someone who shoots things that travel very quickly i don't see this as good news, I'm not making any real judgements until this is more than marketing claptrap and something actually exists, but my initial reaction is not a positive.
--
http://illy.smugmug.com
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And you do really well, which takes considerable practice, patience and ability - and a little more of each - with the options now available to us

Without needing - or being as capable of using - the E-3's superb VF for action as much as you do, I nevertheless really enjoy using it and am not at all pleased by the idea of spending more time starring at yet another ellectronic surrogate for reality.

--
erichK
saskatoon, canada

http://erichk.zenfolio.com/
 
I still do not think the EVF will appear in the E- x line in the near future. What would be the point of having 4/3 and m4/3? Olympus would be better off producing a pro-sumer/enthusiast m4/3 body and leaving 4/3 to...... well hopefully grow. Given all of the support Olympus has show 4/3 over the last year I am wondering.

Maybe there is a reason no fast primes have been introduced....... Maybe Olympus has no interest in continuing to support 4/3. The E-620 ended up being the test body for the EP-1 in a lot of ways including the new smaller in-body IS. The E-630 could easily be replaced with a m4/3 version.

Maybe the reason Sigma did not announce 4/3 mounts for the new lenses is they know it is a dead platform and Olympus has moved to m4/3.

Panasonic has already erected a 4/3 tombstone on their side of the house.
 
Juergen Hahn said:
DickyUK said:
it,s going to be obsolite in the same way as the dodo is !!! if olympus dont make E-series 4/3rds cameras SLR's theni might aswell get a m4/3 rds camera and a converter!!!! or more likly a NIKON
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I do not agree with you there. The way I read this is that m4/3 will be the small and cheap entry level system while you have to buy 4/3 (regardless of those having a mirror or not) if you want faster lenses or weather-sealing.
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There's no reason to segment the market. You can put IBIS in a m4/3 body. You could weather seal m4/3 bodies and lenses if you wanted to. The only reason for 4/3 to exist in that environment is the fact that it has a number of very good lenses available for it that don't exist elsewhere, which will frustrate a lot of buyers (not just of Oly products).

If OVFs really will be obsolete soon, every maker will need to get into EVILs in a big way in order to continue being relevant. The first maker to get a complete lens catalog out there in their EVIL format will have a HUGE advantage, the same way Canon and Nikon did when dSLRs became popular. Having two formats ultimately is not going to cut it - most buyers are going to want to use any of their lenses on any of their bodies, without adapters.

If this report is to be believed, it is in Oly's best interest to get all their glass migrated to m4/3 ASAP. They'll move the SHG glass last in order to keep 4/3 sales up. There might be a few 4/3 system EVIL bodies released - that's cheap and easy to do - to keep the faithful from completely bailing on Olympus during the transition. When you see f2.0 SHG zooms coming out for m4/3 - and you will - that's when the torch will be passed.

The one problem would be if there is a technical reason why weathersealing or f2.0 (or faster) lenses are not possible or practicable as a m4/3 native lens. Does anyone know how fast a m4/3 lens can realistically go?

--
STFU and do it.
 
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