Olympus new killer feature for sports...

amalric · Feb 10, 2012

I hadn't noticed at first, but the E-M5 has this 3D tracking feature, coupled with a doubling of the sampling rate.

I think that the EVF should follow with little or no black out.

That might also be the reason for even faster AF.

It would mean that m4/3 can do fast sports relatively easy. Did any of you notice?

I am not sure that the sensor is the star here but the enabling of a new range of applications.

OTH for static things there is WYSIWYG bulb, another amazing thing...

Am.
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Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amalric

s_grins · Feb 10, 2012

I've noticed this feature too. Once they've doubled refresh frequency of sensor and EVF, miracles are possible.
What I want is to wait for a production sample and review.
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wolfie · Feb 10, 2012

Although the fly in the ointment is that the VF resolution drops when the refresh is at 240 fps - but until we can see what that actually looks like it may not be a big deal set against the improvement in C-AF tracking.

And by all accounts compared to a DSLR the OM-D will be far quieter without a clackety mirror and less image blackout.

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Shoot the Light fantastic

inlawbiker · Feb 10, 2012

I've been wondering what that means exactly - "3D tracking" Well, according to the press release it means it tracks in three axes. It sounds like marketing-speak to me since there's only one optical source coming into the sensor. But it also sounds like the newer zoom lens has a design that will improve focus speed. So I agree, maybe Olympus will have some "sports zooms" in the near future, which would be pretty cool.

"A new 3D tracking AF system can follow the subject through the X-, Y- and Z-axes to dramatically improve focus on moving subjects. Paired with the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-50-mm f3.5-6.3 electronic zoom lens for optimum focusing speed, fast camera start-up times and operational speeds enable the photographer to keep up with the most challenging shooting situations, while dual control dials and dedicated function buttons help them adjust settings on-the-fly."

AV Janus · Feb 10, 2012

I thing I've seen a video demonstration of 9fps shooting and during the shooting the image on the display remained frozen.

But I must say I am not sure this will be like that. The subject that was shot was a person sitting down so the could have been just sitting still.

We'll know soon enough.

But I don't expect miracle in sports. 9Fps only works in single AF. When you use continuous it is 4+fps.
--
Rick Halle wrote:

" Keep in mind that tall buildings sway back and forth so they require faster shutter speeds."

windsprite · Feb 10, 2012

1) I'll believe it when I see it.

2) A 12-50-mm f3.5-6.3 is not my idea of a sports lens.

Julie

inlawbiker said:
I've been wondering what that means exactly - "3D tracking" Well, according to the press release it means it tracks in three axes. It sounds like marketing-speak to me since there's only one optical source coming into the sensor. But it also sounds like the newer zoom lens has a design that will improve focus speed. So I agree, maybe Olympus will have some "sports zooms" in the near future, which would be pretty cool.

"A new 3D tracking AF system can follow the subject through the X-, Y- and Z-axes to dramatically improve focus on moving subjects. Paired with the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-50-mm f3.5-6.3 electronic zoom lens for optimum focusing speed, fast camera start-up times and operational speeds enable the photographer to keep up with the most challenging shooting situations, while dual control dials and dedicated function buttons help them adjust settings on-the-fly."

safaridon · Feb 10, 2012

wolfie said:
Although the fly in the ointment is that the VF resolution drops when the refresh is at 240 fps - but until we can see what that actually looks like it may not be a big deal set against the improvement in C-AF tracking.

And by all accounts compared to a DSLR the OM-D will be far quieter without a clackety mirror and less image blackout.

--I also think the fast tracking ability and AF will be the best new features of this camera. For video the drop in resolution would not matter as only 2mp and reportedly no more jello effects. The question of loss of resolution when refreshing at 240 fps might be another matter but the resolution from the G3/GX1 sensor was already pretty high at over 2400 lines.

The biggest advantage I can see with this camera is when used with smaller legacy teles which will now be stabilized when viewing and not jerking around. Furthermore with m4/3 2X I will no longer have to rely on large bazookas on either APS-C or FF for sports photgraphy or wildlife. Perhaps the scene of all those huge bazookas mounted on mopods used by sports photographers might be a thing of the past hopefully?

In regard to the shutter I have not heard anything about a new quieter shutter with different spec? Only speculation that the magnesium body does a lot better job in noise suppression?

amalric · Feb 10, 2012

I take 3D means that it can also track objects coming towards you, a thing that was considered challenging before. It might also be coupled with AF refresh, as DPR's preview wonders.

We'll see but it might be quite a blow to the dSLR superiority assumption. Oly is taking a heavy bet there. That might open the way to mirrorless dominance more than anything, especially on the American market which is sports hungry.

And by proxy it might work in video too. Even if it is not perfect the will is there.

Am.
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Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amalric

msusic · Feb 10, 2012

Don't expect Olympus to be making "sports" lens/cameras.

That area is pretty much under CaNikon duopoly and there's little point in trying to compete there.

They tried this once before, didn't work out well

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Cheers,
Marin

453C · Feb 10, 2012

windsprite said:
1) I'll believe it when I see it.

Agreed. I believe that's why no one has made a huge noise about "3D tracking AF" yet.

windsprite said:
2) A 12-50-mm f3.5-6.3 is not my idea of a sports lens.

True, but there are other, non-WS options, and as MFT continues to move up in quality, we may see more specialized lenses.
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http://453c.smugmug.com/

windsprite · Feb 10, 2012

Not too likely. Those bazookas take in a lot of light.

Julie

safaridon said:
The biggest advantage I can see with this camera is when used with smaller legacy teles which will now be stabilized when viewing and not jerking around. Furthermore with m4/3 2X I will no longer have to rely on large bazookas on either APS-C or FF for sports photgraphy or wildlife. Perhaps the scene of all those huge bazookas mounted on mopods used by sports photographers might be a thing of the past hopefully?

453C · Feb 10, 2012

msusic said:
Don't expect Olympus to be making "sports" lens/cameras.

That area is pretty much under CaNikon duopoly and there's little point in trying to compete there.

They tried this once before, didn't work out well

As MFT matures, don't be surprised if they try again. 4/3 tried to push from the top down, and never had the base of support that's growing with MFT. In time, we may have all kinds of specialized lenses in MFT mount, only this time, there'll be a market for them.
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http://453c.smugmug.com/

exdeejjjaaaa · Feb 10, 2012

amalric said:
We'll see but it might be quite a blow to the dSLR superiority assumption.

Nikon already has tracking for a long time using RGB WB sensor and it is getting better (now they have face recognition for example)...

Vlad S · Feb 10, 2012

inlawbiker said:
I've been wondering what that means exactly - "3D tracking" Well, according to the press release it means it tracks in three axes. It sounds like marketing-speak to me since there's only one optical source coming into the sensor.

Somewhere in the presentations they said that they do pattern recognition, and deduct the forward/backward motion from the pattern getting larger/smaller. It sounds at least plausible, if not obvious, that if the processing speed and contrast allow, this method could be used for predicting in which direction to adjust the focus, even if it's not predictive to the degree that PDAF is.

Vlad

amalric · Feb 10, 2012

Never say never. 240 refresh rate is quite a hint, not only for the tracking device but also for the EVF, and AF.

Despite it is 120 on my E.PL3, tracking I believe, copes with a car at 50 km/h.

Am.
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Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amalric

Vlad S · Feb 10, 2012

They mentioned that the shot image processing and the preview is performed by separate cores in the CPU, and that the preview returns within 29 ms (1/3 second). There was a a video of the camera taking a burst shot of a twilring woman. I wonder if someone could find a link for it to see what the refresh rate looks like.

Vlad

AV Janus said:
I thing I've seen a video demonstration of 9fps shooting and during the shooting the image on the display remained frozen.

But I must say I am not sure this will be like that. The subject that was shot was a person sitting down so the could have been just sitting still.

We'll know soon enough.

But I don't expect miracle in sports. 9Fps only works in single AF. When you use continuous it is 4+fps.
--
Rick Halle wrote:

" Keep in mind that tall buildings sway back and forth so they require faster shutter speeds."

Kevdog · Feb 10, 2012

Real-time image processing has taken huge leaps in the last 5 years. Even P&S cameras have face recognition, newer cameras can detect eyes to focus on and can even pick which eye to focus on.

It's not a huge stretch to do velocity calculations based on changing sizes of a moving object. Readout speed combined with processing power make it possible now.

It's hard to believe that my phone has more processing power (both CPU and graphics) than my super-duper home computer of 1998.

Joesiv · Feb 10, 2012

amalric said:
Never say never. 240 refresh rate is quite a hint, not only for the tracking device but also for the EVF, and AF.

Despite it is 120 on my E.PL3, tracking I believe, copes with a car at 50 km/h.

Focus tracking matters more about subject speed relative to the camera not relative to the ground.

Your E-PL3 could also track a jet plane going the speed of sound if it was a kilometer away.

But once you start getting the subject closer to you like a child nearly filling your frame, even 15km/h will likely be a problem for your E-PL3.

--
Cloverdale, B.C., Canada
Currently shooting: Nikon D3S, D700
http://www.joesiv.com

safaridon · Feb 10, 2012

windsprite said:
Not too likely. Those bazookas take in a lot of light.

--Yes but with 4/3 then lens with same speed will be 1/2 to 1/3 the size and much lighter to cart around! With the high good high ISO performance of these cameras and even the more recent Pany ones the very fast lens speed is much less necessary than it used to be. I can see future super teles for m4/3rds being much smaller and potentially less expensive with equal IQ. My hopes at least.

amalric · Feb 10, 2012

For my PL3, but not for the E-M5 if 3D tracking and double refresh rate keeps its promise. That's the whole point of the thread.

Am.

--
Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amalric

Olympus new killer feature for sports...

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