Help with Micro 4/3 lens and mounts

Aquaholic wrote:

hindesite, I was under the impression that the Sony camera was also a micro 4/3. Not sure where I got that but just thought it was.

No, Sony are definitely not m4/3 - one small part of the m4/3 standard is the smaller-than-APSC 4/3 sensor size, which dates back to Olympus (and Panasonic) DSLR days.

These guys (along with Kodak) took a huge bet that these small sensors would improve dramatically over the years after their launch, and they sure got that right. Their second bet was that live view would work, and then EVFs really changed the game. Now they are working on AF, which still needs some improvement.

Ironically, in early 35mm film days Olympus developed half frame film cameras (size was important to them, and their main market, even back then). This was actively killed by Kodak vetoing the idea and refusing to make film available.

Guess cause it was mirrorless and not referred to as a DSLR I defaulted to Micro 4/3. Seems like I heard that Sony had fit a full frame sensor into a micro 4/3 camera.

Can't be done. Seems that threads here suggesting such will be locked (at least, the last one I saw was) - though I guess locking is better than disappearing the whole thread.

But now that I say it out loud you are right, why would I think that.

So mirrorless is not necessarily micro 4/3 and visa versa I guess.

Not quite - m4/3 is ALWAYS mirrorless. Canon and Nikon also make mirrorless, but they seem to be deliberately avoiding shaking up their market until it is forced on them - which might be too late for Nikon, I'm sure Canon will be fine once everybody thinks Canon invented it (even though it has been around for 10 years now).

Old fart coming over from DSLR I guess. Still learning.

Well, going back to DSLRs, there is zero compatibility between brands (and in the early days these guys went to extreme lengths to ensure this, even changing the bayonet and focus and zoom rotation direction.

What has really set m4/3 apart is that there are 2 manufacturers (and others) using the same lens mount, the effect on development has been huge. Compare that to the glacial pace of innovation in the DSLR space.

I jumped on m4/3 in the very early days, and still have the first two m.zuiko lenses and the body they came with. I now have a huge collection of very inexpensive (many free) lenses from most manufacturers and going back 60 years which I regularly use with my m4/3 bodies.