Chris Noble
Veteran Member
Small things, not one-millionth things...
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Why do most posters say "M43"?
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dmanthree
Forum Pro
...to my list of things I can't give a sh!t about.
Look, even Micro Four Thirds is a bit of an absurd name, if taken literally, for something developed in Japan. Surely it would be Maikuro Yotsu Saazu (if the Romaji translator I just found is to be believed).
Its just a trade name, its not maths and its not about SI units (therefore using mu is not applicable).
Using m43 (which is what I use) is m for Micro (and lowercase m, just to make the point of small), and then the numerals. I leave out the / (so no m4/3) because then it looks more like maths again which tends to put people off (a marketing nightmare), and I'm just being economical with characters to be honest.
Although doing an I'm feeling lucky search for m4/3 in Google give the Wikipedia page for Micro Four Thirds, whereas the same for m43 gives the Wikipedia page for a nebula in the Orion constellation...
Its just a trade name, its not maths and its not about SI units (therefore using mu is not applicable).
Using m43 (which is what I use) is m for Micro (and lowercase m, just to make the point of small), and then the numerals. I leave out the / (so no m4/3) because then it looks more like maths again which tends to put people off (a marketing nightmare), and I'm just being economical with characters to be honest.
Although doing an I'm feeling lucky search for m4/3 in Google give the Wikipedia page for Micro Four Thirds, whereas the same for m43 gives the Wikipedia page for a nebula in the Orion constellation...
Joel Halbert
Leading Member
Spirit of apology accepted, though I didn't actually take offense. I assume you refer to my earlier post (this seems to be a thread where many replies are not posted as actual replies). In my earlier reply to you, I did say that an inference of backwardness would be elitist. Someone else said that was my own inference and not your implication. If so I also apologize, but one must expect inferences to be drawn from language, so "blatant disregard" and "continuing fondness for..." implied resistance to modern practice, i.e. backwardness. Even those that find it "charming" are implying charming backwardness. I also realized that you were "noting" but not necessarily "condemning" the USA practices.
Good, and thanks for that clarification. As an engineer myself, I have pushed hard against mixing systems in our internal specifications, e.g. there is no longer much excuse for specifying chip sizes in mils when they were designed in microns. Mixing leads to confusion and potentially costly mistakes. I remember a failed Mars probe from 1999; it crashed because of an error stemming from imperial vs. metric units. Almost all USA manufacturing and engineering is metric today (not so much the building trades). However, I have never agreed with the urgency of converting daily-life thought and speech to metric.
Yes, MFT is arguably better than M43 because it abbreviates the brand name. But still M4/3 reads easily, and then M43 is a small step away. So they're all understandable and none are wrong.
Again, I don't know if you were referring to my reply. I did not write nor suggest that "m" means "micro". I did write that "M" means "Micro" in the context of the brand Micro Four Thirds, because you specifically started this whole thing by asking why people write "M43". And I did write that "u" doesn't alphabetically correspond to "µ", though I fully agree that the quick-access "um" is way preferable to "mm" which is obviously wrong in the context of unit prefixes.
By the way, since we've been addressing all these details, I'll gently call your attention to your phrase
"a country noted for it's blatant disregard of metric units".
It's "its", it's not "it's".
Note that the rule evolved largely in Britain, well before the sun began to set... Still, an eminently forgivable slip, given the current rainstorm of "loose" instead of "lose", " lense" instead of "lens", "discrete" instead of "discreet" etc.
zkz5
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Most people can't figure out how or don't want to go to the trouble to enter a μ. Do keyboards in the UK typically have a μ?
u43 is just as incorrect as M43. u is as different from μ as M is.
SterlingBjorndahl
Senior Member
The letter μ is a general abbreviation for the word 'micro', used not just in the world of SI measurement. Sort of like the Χ in "Χmas" is not intended to be the Latin letter 'x' but the Greek letter 'χ', the first letter of the word "Christ" in Greek - in both cases, using the first letter of the Greek word to represent the whole word.
I've got pages of college notes where I used μ as a general abbreviation for 'micro', not meaning "millionths". I know I'm not the only one.
Sterling
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Joel Halbert
Leading Member
Well, I inferred it because he implied it, but we aren't exactly fighting about it. For more, see the first part of my response http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52000789 .
Hmm. Being a long-time resident of Tucson, Arizona doesn't qualify me as a Texan, though I hasten to add that I have nothing but respect for Texans, in case anyone from my employer is watching... Before that, I was born and raised in Tennessee, a state that can claim much credit for the establishment and spirit of Texas (though I cannot, as I personally was elsewhere at the time).
M42 is the Messier catalogue designation 
of the Orion nebula, an easy astronomical target visible through humble optics and revealed in telescopes in its full glory- almost. Its full glory requires time exposure. I use an H2 nebula filter at the eyepiece of a good refractor telescope for a good eyeball view of it.
of the Orion nebula, an easy astronomical target visible through humble optics and revealed in telescopes in its full glory- almost. Its full glory requires time exposure. I use an H2 nebula filter at the eyepiece of a good refractor telescope for a good eyeball view of it.
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The "Micro" in Micro Four Thirds just means a "smaller camera based on a 4/3 sensor.'
Like using the term "micromanage" to mean "managing small details" or a "micro brewery" for a very small brewery, or a micro mini skirt being a very short skirt.
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Marty
my blog: http://marty4650.blogspot.com/
Olympus E-30
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Like using the term "micromanage" to mean "managing small details" or a "micro brewery" for a very small brewery, or a micro mini skirt being a very short skirt.
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Marty
Olympus E-30
Olympus E-PL2
Olympus OM-D
Sony SLT-A55
Barry Stewart
Veteran Member
45mm? Surely you meant a 1.77-inch Leica Elmarit, no?
The phrase "My suspicion is that the acronym started right here in the USA, a country noted for it's blatant disregard of metric units" itself shows a blatant disregard for the proper use of the apostrophe.
One presumes the OP intends to use the possessive form of the pronoun it which is correctly spelled "its". The form used is a contraction of the phrase "it is".
Other pedants would be welcome to post their entries. A blue ribbon will be awarded to the most pedantic post.
Lee
One presumes the OP intends to use the possessive form of the pronoun it which is correctly spelled "its". The form used is a contraction of the phrase "it is".
Other pedants would be welcome to post their entries. A blue ribbon will be awarded to the most pedantic post.
Lee
Elemental Photography
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is when I'll start using fancy characters
Tim A2
Senior Member
Tim A2
Senior Member
The metric system will never happen in the US if a 1st and 10 in football has to become a 1st and 9.14 m. That's real football not the soccer variation of the metric using countries.
tim
tim
RedDog Steve
Senior Member
I may have a defective keyboard, but I seem to have a hard time finding the "μ" key.
In place, I use the "u" key instead. u4/3 ?
For those lazy times the slash gets dropped and be comes u43. Not on purpose, though.
I suppose any of the various derivations could be understood while in this forum.
Same goes for when I might be participating in an electronics discussion where uF would be understood as μF.
I wouldn't have been able to properly respond to this thread if you hadn't included the "μ" for me to copy and paste.
The character map is there but takes too much effort to use without interrupting my train of thought ;->
rd
oklaphotog
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I don't think 99% of the people out there even know how to use archaic ascii codes to create something like "µ".
onlooker
Senior Member
Since neither the consortium nor Panasonic/Olympus use an abbreviation or a symbol for the system, people use whatever they want. However, since the consortium and the makers use "Micro Four Thirds" I would say if one needs to abbreviate, "MFT" would be the most natural abbreviation.
oklaphotog
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oklaphotog
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Guy Parsons
Forum Pro
As 35mm frame size seems to be the standard, why didn't Olympus call it a "Quarter Frame" camera. Maybe then "QF" would be the name, and "SQF" for the what we now call Micro version, the S standing for Shorter registration distance.
If only they had asked me to name it then there's be none of this space wasting forum chatter.
Regards..... Guy
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