Back about a year ago, Olympus produced a lame PowerPoint slide that talked
about parallelism of the light rays as a big issue in their digital camera
design; and one of the primary reasons that the OM line couldn't be
retrofitted to their digital cameras. We know that that argument doesn't
hold water by itself. The introduction of digital cameras from Kodak, Fuji,
Nikon, and Canon that take film-designed lenses is testement that it CAN be
done, if you accept the proper compromises.
I've done a lot of reading on this subject and here's my 10 cents and a
fabulous technical article on the subject. You really need to read this one
for a good explanation of the limits of digital capture and the design
decisions that go into the making of lenses for digital cameras.
http://www.imx.nl/photosite/Topics/topic14.html
My take on the big issues why Olympus can't/won't retrofit the OM lenses to
the Camedia line:
1. Money: more $$ from new produts instead of selling long-out-of-production
OM Zuikos
2. Autofocus: OM lenses = no autofocus = Olympus looks archaic against Nikon
and Canon
3. Lens design - OM lenses designed for film capture and not optimal for
digital capture, although they'd certainly work
4. Compromises - If they let the OM lenses fit, they'd probably have to
introduce other limitations into the system that newer lenses wouldn't have
to be restricted by.
So the end result is again: the OM line is dead and we should all use them
in peace and enjoy the images we get. If you want interchangable lens
digital -- you'll need to buy into another system.
Skip
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From: "Olympus" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [OM] Digital Camera that takes OM lenses
Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2001 03:26:22 -0800
errr.. no, that's a question, not a statement! Is there any rumors
(founded
or otherwise) that Olympus might make a digital camera that takes OM
lenses?
I sure hope so...
If that is the case, my system would extend pretty well... My friend spent
the majority of his money on lenses (he as a C*non system) and he is buying
a digital camera for it, but it's great since he has 7 lenses...
Albert
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