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Re: [OM] Does anyone read the links? [was OM-D E-M1]

Subject: Re: [OM] Does anyone read the links? [was OM-D E-M1]
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 18:41:15 -0700
On 8/14/2013 4:05 PM, DZDub wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 3:33 PM, Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> "This camera will replace the Olympus E-5 Four Thirds camera and will be
>> the first MFT camera having 100% support of FT lenses."
>>
>> Obviously, I don't know if this is true. If it is, then it means this
>> camera answers at least four of the major issues
>> raised by 4/3 people here about the E-M5.
> I really don't have a lot of money tied up in FT glass, but I like what I
> have and don't want to start over, so -- yes, this is quite good news.  I
> had thought about getting an E-5, but it is bracing now to have a real,
> significant update.  However, I suspect it is a mismatch to the old lenses
> as size goes.  I already find the older, bigger DZs a bit of a mismatch to
> a body the size of the E-400.

I think this is in part simply an adjustment. For those, like me, who have 
always tended to hold the lens in the left 
hand, for MF focus and for zooming, it's just a shift of support %s toward the 
left hand. Left hand supports, right hand 
operates.

> The E-620 marries up well, so long as I am using it with the battery grip.
>
> 1. They have changed the sensor or otherwise managed to add phase detect AF. 
> I believe that is the only way to fully support all the older 4/3 lenses. If 
> they have come up with another, cool
> magic! The otherwise confusing new name, E-M1, could then make sense, as a 
> combination of "E" and "M", a camera that is both 4/3 and µ4/3 - "1" because 
> it is the first to combine formats.
>
> 2. Will they ever update the 4/3 camera line? is the plaintive cry heard
> here, less often recently, perhaps, but still
> echoing on the list like the pliant of the ghost of format past. The
> answer, to my surprise, appears to be yes, in an
> unexpected way.
>
> Thanks for that fruitful analysis.

My reading is eminently logical - and I hope it's right!

> I hadn't really processed more than that it comes with a free adapter.

More like an E-M5a with adapter price included, at $1,500.

> But I have no experience with the
> shortcomings of using FT lenses on the current crop of mFT bodies with
> adapters, so I don't really know what has been lacking.

Focus speed. Phase detect can tell the lens exactly how far to move in which 
direction. Contrast detect can only say 
which way to go, wait for overshoot, then move back and forth until contrast is 
maximized. A few hybrid systems use PD 
sensors on the chip to make one jump close, then rock back and forth to finish.

Lenses designed for PD, could have large, heavy focusing groups, with a 
matching motor. This turns out to be a terrible 
design for CD, with issues of inertia and power. The first kit lens for the 
E-P1 was famously slow focusing. All the 
later µ4/3 lenses, labeled 'MSC', including the 14-42 II, use small, light 
focusing elements and a different kind of motor.

All users of 4/3 lenses on Pens reported slow focusing, some finding it 
tolerable, some interminable. Probably a mix of 
personality, style of photography and specific lenses.

If Oly has truly fond a solution, it should be a big move for them. Not leave 
4/3 users hanging in limbo, and getting 
disillusioned, but as customers for a new camera, and possibly new lenses, of 
whichever variety. The better high ISO and 
IBIS should be attractive for the long 4/3 zooms. And it gives Oly the 
possibility of selling their backlog of 4/3 
lenses, especially the high end ones, languishing in warehouses.

>
>> ...
>> I wonder how much better I would find this camera than an E-5 (or even my
>> E-620 or E-400),  The E-620 is not clean at 3200, but it cleans up good.

The E-M5 sensor is definitely better in clarity and definition at the pixel 
level and in dynamic range than the Pens, 
which I think are much like the later 4/3 bodies. High ISO performance is also 
cleaner, but really, noise is lower 
across the whole range.

>> I've just recently brought home some shots with the DZ 50-200 handheld at
>> 1/15 sec.  I felt the shots would be beyond hope, but they were
>> surprisingly sharp with the E-620's amazing IS.

I find the five axis IBIS to be better than the older, two axis design. 
Especially for someone, guess who, who has a 
tendency to jerk the camera in rotation when pressing the shutter button in 
certain situations. :-)

I use both regularly, and can see a difference.

>> ...
>>
>> Thanks for 1 and 2 above.

Mon Plaisir Moose

-- 
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
-- 
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