if a high-end compact existed with...

[Barry Margolius]

PS: I forgot to say that for me to be interested in any compact camera, it would have to have an EVF (or OVF).

-barry

 

[badvok]

the olympus 14-150 (28-300 equiv) is the closest, single m43 lens to the focal range i was imagining.

I would buy a camera with a lens similar to that, a micro four thirds sized sensor, a large built in viewfinder and good manual controls. I know it would not be small but it would be small and light enough for me. It would give me the range of a dslr with two kit lenses in a smaller package without the hassle of having to carry and change extra lenses. I know image quality would be compromised by a 10x lens in front of a largish sensor but it would still be much better than the pin head sensor mega zoom cameras on offer at the moment.

 

[mattmtl]

OK, I agree that the 10X+ Olympus 14-150 is technically a super-zoom (although I personally think of, say, 24-240 as a more traditional super-zoom),

Are you thinking in 35mm equiv. for your "traditional" superzoom? If so, note that the Oly is 28-300 equiv. I'd say it's a true superzoom.

but it is still pretty heavy, .62 pounds, and pretty big, 2.5" x 3.27", and that's just a lens. Additionally, it's an F4-5.6 lens, so making it "fast" would take more size and weight.

Yup.

I would like the camera you propose, but I think it is very unlikely to exist.

Here's an interesting way of looking at the problem in reverse: Suppose I want a camera approximately the same size/weight as a Panasonic FZ35 (4.65x2.99x3.5" at 14 oz.): If that camera had a m43 sensor, what kind of zoom range and aperture is possible? If they could squeeze a 3x F2.8 in there, I would love it. Or a 5x F4?

At that size, my wild guess would be a 3x with similar range as current kit lenses (14-42). Maybe a little less range if a larger aperture is a priority.

 

[Michael Meissner]

a fast, ultra-wide (e.g. 22mm equivalent), superzoom fixed lens, good manual controls, m43 sensor for $600-ish, and otherwise features competitive with current high-end compacts would you still use/purchase a m43 IL camera? i imagine such a camera will exist within a few years.

Well I already have the m43rds camera, and I will continue to use it, just like I still use my 9 year old Olympus C-2100UZ from time to time. I don't worry about cameras that aren't even announced yet. Heck, there are several cameras I might want to buy now, but it will probably be some time before I buy another camera. When I have the money and/or need, I will look around at that point.

My normal setup for the camera is with the 14-150mm attached, which gives me a 28-300mm, and it is my new superzoom.

 

[Ednaz]

There are only so many things that can be done with small sensors and large zoom ranges. I think that end of the market is eventually going to be replaced by more sophisticated camera phones, other than super zooms, but at some point pixel counts in small form factors will make superzooms less interesting.

The way the technology seems to have gone, as compact cameras improve, so will m4/3 and DSLRs. I think the interchangeable lens cameras are going to be less at risk from camera phones, and the current segments - small light amateur cameras, heavier prosumer and journalism/normal photography, and medium format for high end work - will still be there.

 

[mcshan]

I too have never liked super zooms. Even the LX3 and it's very limited reach never bothered me. I'll take a fast better quality lens anytime.

 

[RoyGBiv]

a fast, ultra-wide (e.g. 22mm equivalent), superzoom fixed lens, good manual controls, m43 sensor for $600-ish, and otherwise features competitive with current high-end compacts would you still use/purchase a m43 IL camera? i imagine such a camera will exist within a few years.

Panasonic's LC1 was the camera you were thinking of.

http://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/compacts/panasonic_dmclc1



It was pretty sexy.

--
'I have no responsibilities here whatsoever'

 

[Barry Margolius]

No Text.

 

[Rob Zwissler]

a fast, ultra-wide (e.g. 22mm equivalent), superzoom fixed lens, good manual controls, m43 sensor for $600-ish, and otherwise features competitive with current high-end compacts would you still use/purchase a m43 IL camera? i imagine such a camera will exist within a few years.

A long super zoom would be pretty big for a sensor the size of m43, look at the 14-140mm. What I think would be cool, would be an m43 or similar sensor sized camera, with something like a fixed, collapsible 12-45mm lens, with a leaf shutter and some of the design considerations used by the X100 to achieve such a small size.

Then a matching bayonet mount 4x "teleconverter", electronically coupled and supported by the cameras software to extend the cameras range to 180mm.

No idea how feasible that would be, but it'd be cool!

Rob

 

[ennemkay]

i guess it was unnecessary for me to require the lens be fixed. if collapsible lenses existed for m43 cameras i guess that would pretty much achieve what i was proposing. esp with the small dimensions of cameras like the gf3. are there such lenses for IL cameras?

edit: nevermind, just saw james pilcher's post.

A long super zoom would be pretty big for a sensor the size of m43, look at the 14-140mm. What I think would be cool, would be an m43 or similar sensor sized camera, with something like a fixed, collapsible 12-45mm lens, with a leaf shutter and some of the design considerations used by the X100 to achieve such a small size.

Then a matching bayonet mount 4x "teleconverter", electronically coupled and supported by the cameras software to extend the cameras range to 180mm.

No idea how feasible that would be, but it'd be cool!

Rob

 

[GodSpeaks]

a fast, ultra-wide (e.g. 22mm equivalent), superzoom fixed lens, good manual controls, m43 sensor for $600-ish, and otherwise features competitive with current high-end compacts would you still use/purchase a m43 IL camera? i imagine such a camera will exist within a few years.

As others have already stated, a superzoom with a large sensor would no longer be compact. Making it a fast superzoom, only goes to make it even larger.

Personally, I have ZERO interest in a superzoom. What I would like to see are some small, but reasonably fast, pancake primes of very high optical quality.

Something like the LC1 with a 4/3 or APS sensor would be more to my liking. But with interchangeable lenses and micro43 (or NEX) lens mount.

--

The greatest of mankind's criminals are those who delude themselves into thinking they have done 'the right thing.'

• Rayna Butler

 

[ennemkay]

i guess it depends on how many dimensions along which current lenses have reached their physical size minimization limits. if you can find at least one dimension that can be greatly reduced then it seems possible to achieve. i mean if you let your mind wander there are really a very large number of ways you can imagine a lens retracting to a "not in use" position.

a fast, ultra-wide (e.g. 22mm equivalent), superzoom fixed lens, good manual controls, m43 sensor for $600-ish, and otherwise features competitive with current high-end compacts would you still use/purchase a m43 IL camera? i imagine such a camera will exist within a few years.

Correct me if I'm wrong (since I might be, I don't mean to use that transition into saying what I think is right), but wouldn't that be physically impossible? Superzoom lenses have to be large in themselves, and if you add a large aperture to that, wouldn't that make it even bigger? Pocket travelzooms like the ZS7 can hardly be made around 1 inch thick. Add a bigger sensor to that and I don't think you'll be able to downsize it very much

 

[Mike Fewster]

PS: I forgot to say that for me to be interested in any compact camera, it would have to have an EVF (or OVF).

-barry

What about a camera that had a high quality tilting screen so it could be used either at waist or eyelevel and had the sort of shaded, magnified viewing arrangement used by Hasselblad and Rollei?
--
Mike Fewster
Adelaide Australia

 

[noirdesir]

a fast, ultra-wide (e.g. 22mm equivalent), superzoom fixed lens, good manual controls, m43 sensor for $600-ish

Does my subject line summarises what you want from the lens department?

 

[noirdesir]

the olympus 14-150 (28-300 equiv) is the closest, single m43 lens to the focal range i was imagining.

I would buy a camera with a lens similar to that, a micro four thirds sized sensor, a large built in viewfinder and good manual controls. I know it would not be small but it would be small and light enough for me.

So, what stops you from getting a Panasonic G3 with that lens (or the 14-140 mm)?

One could argue about the manual controls of a G3 but they a certainly useable, thus all your conditions are fulfilled by that combo.

 

[badvok]

The G3 is not available yet and I do not like Panasonic's colours. The Olympus lens does not have image stabilsation and the Panasonic lens is too expensive for my budge at the moment. If the G3's jpeg colours are less green than the G2's are and if the price comes down I may consider it.

 

[mfbernstein]

a fast, ultra-wide (e.g. 22mm equivalent), superzoom fixed lens, good manual controls, m43 sensor for $600-ish, and otherwise features competitive with current high-end compacts would you still use/purchase a m43 IL camera? i imagine such a camera will exist within a few years.

Panasonic's LC1 was the camera you were thinking of.

It was pretty sexy.

It looks nice but it's larger than a G3 14-45 kit. Hardly a 'compact' in any meaningful sense of the word.

--
MFBernstein

'Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.' - Ed Abbey

 

[Barry Margolius]

Looking at things from my personal point of view: High quality screens are nice but don't address my issues. A tilting screen is of no particular use to me.

I don't know what you mean by a "shaded, magnified viewing arrangement used by Hasselblad and Rollei", but unless it allows me to hold the camera up to my eye and take pictures, it's unlikely to be useful to me. If you are referring to those stick-on devices that allow you to use the LCD at eye level, I think they make the camera too big for a compact.

-barry