Tedolph can save Olympus!

tedolf wrote:

Now that the dust has settled with the Olympus spin off Tedolph freely gives his plan to Olympus. The plebeians here correctly asses that m4/3 is just not competitive with other larger formats unless it takes advantage of its reduced size potential. Right now this plays out in wildlife photography mostly. Others have noted that Fuji has carved out a niche even without any real advantage in the APS world probably due to the control layout. Leica (and now Nikon) play the retro card and that seems to succeed.

So, here is the plan: Olympus uses the old E-p5 body, takes out the flash and drops in the optical rangefinder from the Voigtlander Bessa rangefinders and makes three lenses with rangefinder cams on the back, the 17mm f/2.8, the 20mm f1.7 and a 42.5mm f1.7. In every other regard it is just the old e-p5 with the EVF accessory port.

Checks all the boxes: Retro, Rangefinder, Compact but still can use all the m4/3 lenses.

Done.

Tedolph

Maybe just stick an evf on the ep5.

tedolf wrote:

victorav wrote:

tedolf wrote:

Now that the dust has settled with the Olympus spin off Tedolph freely gives his plan to Olympus. The plebeians here correctly asses that m4/3 is just not competitive with other larger formats unless it takes advantage of its reduced size potential. Right now this plays out in wildlife photography mostly. Others have noted that Fuji has carved out a niche even without any real advantage in the APS world probably due to the control layout. Leica (and now Nikon) play the retro card and that seems to succeed.

So, here is the plan: Olympus uses the old E-p5 body, takes out the flash and drops in the optical rangefinder from the Voigtlander Bessa rangefinders and makes three lenses with rangefinder cams on the back, the 17mm f/2.8, the 20mm f1.7 and a 42.5mm f1.7. In every other regard it is just the old e-p5 with the EVF accessory port.

Checks all the boxes: Retro, Rangefinder, Compact but still can use all the m4/3 lenses.

Done.

Tedolph

Maybe just stick an evf on the ep5.

They did. It was called the Pen F.

Then they stopped selling it.

Tedolph

So why would an ep5 with a rangefinder do better? Ep5 is a little smaller then the pen f I think.

An updated em5 mkiii with a magnesium alloy body probably would do much better.

tedolf wrote:

Now that the dust has settled with the Olympus spin off Tedolph freely gives his plan to Olympus. The plebeians here correctly asses that m4/3 is just not competitive with other larger formats unless it takes advantage of its reduced size potential. Right now this plays out in wildlife photography mostly. Others have noted that Fuji has carved out a niche even without any real advantage in the APS world probably due to the control layout.

Buzz! Mistake statement :-). Fuji has several advantages in the APSC world.

Leica (and now Nikon) play the retro card and that seems to succeed.

So, here is the plan: Olympus uses the old E-p5 body, takes out the flash and drops in the optical rangefinder from the Voigtlander Bessa rangefinders and makes three lenses with rangefinder cams on the back, the 17mm f/2.8, the 20mm f1.7 and a 42.5mm f1.7. In every other regard it is just the old e-p5 with the EVF accessory port.

That's not going to cut it. You need a better EP5 body specced.

Checks all the boxes: Retro, Rangefinder, Compact but still can use all the m4/3 lenses.

Done.

Tedolph

My idea of something above EP7 here:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/65369440

tedolf wrote:

Harold66 wrote:

Having an updated EP5 with built in EVF and no built in flash could be interesting

Ever hear of the Pen F?

So why not say PenF MKII? Anyway, I vote for building on top of the EP7 because it's small (and grips better than a PenF, ironically).

but everything else just seem outdated thinking and most of your intake on the other brands a very broad analysis

Harold

Thanks for your insight.

Tedolph

tedolf wrote:

Now that the dust has settled with the Olympus spin off Tedolph freely gives his plan to Olympus. The plebeians here correctly asses that m4/3 is just not competitive with other larger formats unless it takes advantage of its reduced size potential. Right now this plays out in wildlife photography mostly. Others have noted that Fuji has carved out a niche even without any real advantage in the APS world probably due to the control layout. Leica (and now Nikon) play the retro card and that seems to succeed.

So, here is the plan: Olympus uses the old E-p5 body, takes out the flash and drops in the optical rangefinder from the Voigtlander Bessa rangefinders and makes three lenses with rangefinder cams on the back, the 17mm f/2.8, the 20mm f1.7 and a 42.5mm f1.7. In every other regard it is just the old e-p5 with the EVF accessory port.

Checks all the boxes: Retro, Rangefinder, Compact but still can use all the m4/3 lenses.

I have a variant. Use a retro rangefinder, but make it electronic. That's much cheaper than the optical mechanical version. Behind the rangefinder window you put a small phone style camera. Now the processor compares the image from that with the image from the main sensor and uses the differences to work out the range. It can be AF or presented as a split image range finder box in the EVF. Most of the advantages of on sensor PDAF without the special sensor. Plus, it can be presented as a faux, old style RF.

The real problem though is most of the retro stuff is playing with the manufacturers' own heritage. Olympus has already played the game with the OM and Pen F SLRs, but it didn't ever make interchangeable lens RF cameras.

bobn2 wrote:

tedolf wrote:

Now that the dust has settled with the Olympus spin off Tedolph freely gives his plan to Olympus. The plebeians here correctly asses that m4/3 is just not competitive with other larger formats unless it takes advantage of its reduced size potential. Right now this plays out in wildlife photography mostly. Others have noted that Fuji has carved out a niche even without any real advantage in the APS world probably due to the control layout. Leica (and now Nikon) play the retro card and that seems to succeed.

So, here is the plan: Olympus uses the old E-p5 body, takes out the flash and drops in the optical rangefinder from the Voigtlander Bessa rangefinders and makes three lenses with rangefinder cams on the back, the 17mm f/2.8, the 20mm f1.7 and a 42.5mm f1.7. In every other regard it is just the old e-p5 with the EVF accessory port.

Checks all the boxes: Retro, Rangefinder, Compact but still can use all the m4/3 lenses.

I have a variant. Use a retro rangefinder, but make it electronic. That's much cheaper than the optical mechanical version. Behind the rangefinder window you put a small phone style camera. Now the processor compares the image from that with the image from the main sensor and uses the differences to work out the range. It can be AF or presented as a split image range finder box in the EVF. Most of the advantages of on sensor PDAF without the special sensor. Plus, it can be presented as a faux, old style RF.

That would be cool. If only

The real problem though is most of the retro stuff is playing with the manufacturers' own heritage. Olympus has already played the game with the OM and Pen F SLRs, but it didn't ever make interchangeable lens RF cameras.

Right the penf was actually an slr right?

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victorav wrote:

bobn2 wrote:

tedolf wrote:

Now that the dust has settled with the Olympus spin off Tedolph freely gives his plan to Olympus. The plebeians here correctly asses that m4/3 is just not competitive with other larger formats unless it takes advantage of its reduced size potential. Right now this plays out in wildlife photography mostly. Others have noted that Fuji has carved out a niche even without any real advantage in the APS world probably due to the control layout. Leica (and now Nikon) play the retro card and that seems to succeed.

So, here is the plan: Olympus uses the old E-p5 body, takes out the flash and drops in the optical rangefinder from the Voigtlander Bessa rangefinders and makes three lenses with rangefinder cams on the back, the 17mm f/2.8, the 20mm f1.7 and a 42.5mm f1.7. In every other regard it is just the old e-p5 with the EVF accessory port.

Checks all the boxes: Retro, Rangefinder, Compact but still can use all the m4/3 lenses.

I have a variant. Use a retro rangefinder, but make it electronic. That's much cheaper than the optical mechanical version. Behind the rangefinder window you put a small phone style camera. Now the processor compares the image from that with the image from the main sensor and uses the differences to work out the range. It can be AF or presented as a split image range finder box in the EVF. Most of the advantages of on sensor PDAF without the special sensor. Plus, it can be presented as a faux, old style RF.

That would be cool. If only

The real problem though is most of the retro stuff is playing with the manufacturers' own heritage. Olympus has already played the game with the OM and Pen F SLRs, but it didn't ever make interchangeable lens RF cameras.

Right the penf was actually an slr right?

Yes, a half-frame SLR.

By Ashley Pomeroy, used underCC-BY-SA 3.0

It was the second time Olympus has done a faux Pen-F. The first time was the E-3, which had a side flipping mirror and porro-prisms like the original Pen F. It was about twice the size, though. The original F had a rotary FP shutter, which didn't cause shake.

acfo wrote:

tedolf wrote:

victorav wrote:

tedolf wrote:

Now that the dust has settled with the Olympus spin off Tedolph freely gives his plan to Olympus. The plebeians here correctly asses that m4/3 is just not competitive with other larger formats unless it takes advantage of its reduced size potential. Right now this plays out in wildlife photography mostly. Others have noted that Fuji has carved out a niche even without any real advantage in the APS world probably due to the control layout. Leica (and now Nikon) play the retro card and that seems to succeed.

So, here is the plan: Olympus uses the old E-p5 body, takes out the flash and drops in the optical rangefinder from the Voigtlander Bessa rangefinders and makes three lenses with rangefinder cams on the back, the 17mm f/2.8, the 20mm f1.7 and a 42.5mm f1.7. In every other regard it is just the old e-p5 with the EVF accessory port.

Checks all the boxes: Retro, Rangefinder, Compact but still can use all the m4/3 lenses.

Done.

Tedolph

Maybe just stick an evf on the ep5.

They did. It was called the Pen F.

Then they stopped selling it.

Tedolph

Actually, that is a debunked rumor that Olympus stopped selling the Pen F. Olympus never stopped selling the Pen F.

It's not being promoted on OMDS marketing materials, so that's 'stopped selling' after a fashion. I suspect none have been manufactured for a good while, but there are still some in the distribution chain.

It wouldn't save OMDS, but I think a 1" sensor TOUGH cam would be nice, even if they needed to have a fixed focal length lens for compactness.