Sp-100 24-1200mm with Red Dot site built in.

This new cam looks very interesting especially at its only $399 price. What I like is seeing a better resolution 900,000 EVF included with such a camera and wish Pany would follow suit with their small cams with EVFs. I would rather the lens focal length be restricted to 800mm with faster end lens speed to keep the camera smaller as anything beyond pretty much needs to be on a tripod or stable object even if it has OIS. This makes a nice alternative to the faster smaller sized Stylus 1. I wonder what the maximum focal length is at F5.6 with better AF speeds. Is this the same lens as the previous model and what of its optical performance?

I applaud Olympus for recognising the benefits of a Red Dot Sight to photographers, and being the first to make a camera with one built-in.

Why I love Red Dot Sights
They are incredibly useful for action photography, they allow photographers to instantly put subjects into the frame/viewfinder, no matter what level of zoom they happen to be at. They have long been used by savvy bird-in-flight photographers, who are oft heard to say "I couldn't have gotten that shot without the RDS". And when they were brought to my attention, it was a key factor in finally discarding my DSLR's in favour of superzooms.

Up until then, although a superzoom had emerged that could match my DSLR's for speed of operation, AF speed, burst/continuous, IS etc... and gave IQ that was "good enough" for my purposes... I still clung to my DSLR's for airshows, due to EVF's being either too low-rez, or too slow to be practical (at that time). A red dot sight was the final piece of the puzzle for me.

The sight has no magnification, and once alignment is set, the red dot in the special see-through mirror... always appears over the spot your camera is pointing at. Even if you bob your head around.

Thus, it freed me from the cycle of "zoom out to hunt/acquire subject" and "zoom back in to take the photo". That's a cycle which is particularly painful for superzooms, due to their huge ranges of focal lengths, and usually a motorised zoom too.

And with a suitable change to my shooting technique, it also let me watch airshows with both eyes and a virtually full "normal" field of view, while still taking photos - much more enjoyable. (I hold the camera out, strap taut against the back of my neck to make a "tension tripod" for stability, track or pan with the planes using the the RDS as my viewfinder, with just glances at the rear screen to check zoom/framing).

I also find it helps my panning technique at airshows, and since I have a full field of view - it makes catching aeroplane "crossovers", and planes passing interesting background scenery, cloud formations, moon etc... so easy it feels like cheating!

The SP-100's Red Dot Sight
As a long-time RDS user, I am not sure about Olympus' implementation. Feeding off the camera's battery would be convenient, as would instant access, easy alignment, and freedom from the problems of mounting a 3rd-party RDS.

But I favour a sight that has a large mirror in a thin frame, for the best possible field of view. Not sure how big the sight mirror is on the SP-100... but I'm definitely not impressed with the amount of "stuff" around it.

I'd also want to know what choice of reticles are available, since preferences vary (I favour "dot in a circle")... whether the reticle brightness can be varied to suit ambient light... whether the reticle colour can be changed... and how well the sight keeps its alignment between uses.

I'm also not sure there's much else to attract people to the SP-100... given they could choose any superzoom they like (that has a flash hotshoe), and add their own RDS instead...

f6.5 on the long end is very slow...wouldn't work for where I shoot birds....

Hi Henry,

I never considered it that way , but the lens cap, evf etc on the Stylus 1, you could be onto something here.

Aaron

Hi Ben,

Olympus is trying to up its sales here , I almost fell over last night was flicking through tv channels and the shopping channel was flogging OMD EM-5 twin lens kits . Wait for it you get a small Samsonite suitcase with it as the bonus prize. It was better than watching a comedy show watching these guys trying to sell the camera."Look the screen on the back is just like your iphone you can touch it"   )

Good news is that you might be able to pick up a 16MP model for the right price soon, there is going to be such a glut on the market. There are still some epl-3 here for around $250 with the 14-42lens.

cheers

Aaron

As sensors get better and better the logic is to use smaller ones as they match the performance of earlier generation larger sensors.

Ben O Connor wrote:

This both announcements today are very irresistable.

Seems like Olympus continues 1/2,3" sensors on its P&S range. I was estimating that 1/1,7" would dominate. Seems like, further the range goes, smaller the sensor gets.

In both product (new OM-D and SP ) there are step downs on IS issues and some video features... Well. its their strategy, time will show will it work or not.

Personally I liked the outlook of this new SP superzoom cam. It looks more serious than new OM-D.

Ben

It looks the business but apart from the red dot sight seems yet another cheap and cheerful high pixel megazoom like the LZ40 which has not exactly set the Panasonic forum alight.

phazelag wrote:

I am surprised no one has mentioned this camera yet. I started a thread in the Panasonic Forum, because there are lots of birders and zoom users over there, but I see these bird shots with the Stylus 1 and thought there maybe an interest in this camera over here as well.

What do you guys think?

http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/new/sp-100.html

Michael Geary wrote:

Hatstand or anyone, can you suggest a red dot sight that fits a hotshoe or can be adapted for one? I looked on B&H and Amazon and saw a lot of them, but they all seem to be designed to be mounted on a rifle, not a camera.

I actually pre-ordered the SP-100 as soon as I saw this feature, but if I can attach an RDS to my E-P5 that would be even better.

Thanks!

The Sight:
Red dot sights are also known as "tactical gunsights", and they are all designed for guns. The one in the Olympus SP-100 is the first and only one I've ever heard of, that was specifically designed for a camera.

They are readily available, you can buy a sight online from places like amazon, as well as airgun or gun shops. They have standard mountings for gun rails.

I recommend one with a large mirror, a thin frame around the mirror, an "open" design (not tube), switchable brightness, and selectable reticles. The one I use came from gadget.brando (ie. Hong Kong), but the same design is available practically anywhere.

eg. >> This << looks just like mine

Panasonic FZ200, with RDS on photosolve Xtend-a-sight mounting, and Canon TC-DC58A teleconverter

I note that on the one I received from gadget.brando - the alignment screws did not work, due to poor assembly. I had to dismantle and reassemble it - after that it was fine.

The Mounting:
The trick is finding a "standard mounting rail" to put the RDS on, that's designed to fit in a camera's hotshoe. There are only two that I know of. One is rubbish (gadget.brando), and the other is Photosolve's "Xtend-a-sight Plus".

Hotshoes are not all exactly the same size, so the Xtend-a-sight is made to fit the biggest possible hotshoe. This means it might be too big for your camera's hotshoe. In which case... for a good, tight, stable, "repeatable" fit... you would need to (carefully and slowly!) grind one edge of its hotshoe plate, until it just barely fits into your particular camera's hotshoe.

Once I've aligned a sight mounted on the Xtend-a-sight (parallel to the lens axis)... I have never had to re-align it, no matter how many times I put it on the camera and remove it.

phazelag wrote:

I will probably order that Xtend a sight to mount my site better. But what handle do you have attached to your extender tube?

Cheap plastic copy of a Canon Ring D tripod mount (lined with furry velcro because it's slightly too big for the FZ200's LA7 tube)... with a cheap pistol grip

phazelag wrote:

Do you find it really useful? I just got the nikon ED15 telecon, I hear its light weight.

Yes, it's very useful...

The Canon TC-DC58A teleconverter is quite heavy compared to a TCON-17 or LT55 (don't know about the Nikons), and the pistol grip is under the balance point of the camera + TC. Given my technique with that setup (I described in an earlier post), it helps a lot with handling and stability.

By the way, I favour the TC-DC58A teleconverter because it's comparable optical quality to the Nikons, but a bit easier to find (therefore cheaper)... and because it allows a lot more wide angle before vignetting, than other TC's. I only need it for airshows, and the improved wide-angle lets me shoot planes taxiing close by, as well as the more distant flying displays.