Four Thirds!

[Drizzt]

Panasonic announced their first digital SLR, the DMC-L1, today and has adopted the Four Thirds standard. This came along with the announcement of Sigma converting 5 new lenses over to the standard and Leica coming out with a fully manual lens with OIS (and an aperture ring) to compliment the DMC-L1, a definitely professional camera. This new camera has a retro shutter dial on the top, the SuperSonic Wave Filter dust reduction system, and a 2.5 inch LCD with LiveView on the back. Looks like that LiveView is the wave of the future!

 

[Clix Pix]

Hm, sounds interesting! So maybe we'll be seeing more and more DSLRs with live preview. Again a lot will depend on how consumers embrace the concept and how well it actually functions in day-to-day photography.

Off to have a look at DPreview's story about this new camera....

 

[simie]

http://www.olympusamerica.com/msg_section/msg_HeadlinesDetails.asp?pressNo=458

 

[kwajo.com]

it looks a lot like the new Panasonic SLR is a re-bodied Olympus E-330. While the new offering looks amazing, it might suffer from the same problems the E-330 does (like a small/dim viewfinder), and its hand grip looks pretty small, I'm not sure how that is going to work out. I'll have to wait and see one in person when they come out. definitely looks sexy though, I'll give it that

 

[bousozoku]

it looks a lot like the new Panasonic SLR is a re-bodied Olympus E-330. While the new offering looks amazing, it might suffer from the same problems the E-330 does (like a small/dim viewfinder), and its hand grip looks pretty small, I'm not sure how that is going to work out. I'll have to wait and see one in person when they come out. definitely looks sexy though, I'll give it that

Utilizing these advanced new devices, Olympus and Panasonic will continue to develop products according to their respective product strategies. Olympus has already utilized these jointly developed components in the recently introduced E-330, which is the first interchangeable-lens-type digital SLR in the world to offer full-time Live View framing via a rear-mounted LCD monitor - a feat that until now was thought to be difficult to achieve. With its Live View capability, the E-330 is an epoch-making product that makes it possible for users to enjoy an entirely new style of digital SLR shooting.

Yes, it's pretty much the same except for the Leica digital lenses with aperture ring.

Sigma also introduced 5 new lenses for the four thirds system including a 30mm (60mm effective) f1.4 prime lens.

 

[d.perel]

Yes, it's pretty much the same except for the Leica digital lenses with aperture ring.

Sigma also introduced 5 new lenses for the four thirds system including a 30mm (60mm effective) f1.4 prime lens.

I wish that 30mm lens would come out already! It has had great reviews on other mounts. Right now I'm using an E-500 with the kit 14-45mm f/3.5-5.3 lens which is okay for med-wide shots, but not really the best choice for fast shooting.

 

[bousozoku]

I wish that 30mm lens would come out already! It has had great reviews on other mounts. Right now I'm using an E-500 with the kit 14-45mm f/3.5-5.3 lens which is okay for med-wide shots, but not really the best choice for fast shooting.

I know. I've had two f2.8-3.5 zoom lenses over the past two years and one f2.0 lens for about a year. I use the flash far too much (especially for someone who so long ago said that he would never use a flash) but at least, it works well.

$400 seems a bit much for the 30mm but if it's really great quality, I'll be satisfied and put off my ring flash purchase.

 

[bousozoku]

As of the 17th, the Sigma 30mm lens is available. Where it's available, I don't know. It's around $400 at Adorama and about $350-$360 at Sigma4less.com depending on mount.

I wasn't surprised to see how long it's been but like most good things, you have to wait, right?

 

[Forced Perfect]

it looks a lot like the new Panasonic SLR is a re-bodied Olympus E-330. While the new offering looks amazing, it might suffer from the same problems the E-330 does (like a small/dim viewfinder), and its hand grip looks pretty small, I'm not sure how that is going to work out. I'll have to wait and see one in person when they come out. definitely looks sexy though, I'll give it that

Yeah, I gotta say that the E-330 (from what I've read) isn't the best camera in the world. Sure it has some interesting ideas stuck in there but has quite a few flaws (quality of the viewfinders, quality of the "live" display among other things.) I just think that basing a lens design on REALLY small sensor is simply a stupid move.

Yes, there are some benefits of it (smaller lenses is the main one) but 2x crop factor? Are you kidding me? I thought the 1.6x one on my Canon was bad.

But that's not the big problem (after all, people like telephoto these days right?) but the density of the pixels. With a forced sensor size that small they're going to have a cut off point to how many megapixels they can cram into that little space (even with their fancy "Live MOS" sensor). Take a look at Nikon, they say they're sticking with a APS-C sensor in all their cameras and the D200 has some pretty bad noise at 1600/3200 ISO (for a dSLR) because they've crammed 10.2 mp compared to the say, Canon 30D.

Yeah, it's CMOS vs. CCD and yes the Canon/Nikon people will probably start to argue but I'm just using it as an example.

With the Canon cameras you can go full frame (the sensor is the size of a piece of 35mm film) on the 1D or 5D and you get practically no noise at even 3200 ISO (I'm aware of the price difference in all of these models ) because you've got a much larger sensor area to stick those little light collectors on.

I guess I just see that sensor size as a limitation because in a few years their newest model could be like, 10.2 mp as well and have as much noise in the photos as a little point and shoot because you're cramming so many pixels into a small area that they don't get much light.

 

[beavo451]

I guess I just see that sensor size as a limitation because in a few years their newest model could be like, 10.2 mp as well and have as much noise in the photos as a little point and shoot because you're cramming so many pixels into a small area that they don't get much light.

There is a little thing called "progress". Today's dSLR noise characteristics are MUCH better than the old 1 MP Kodak monstrosities. At one point in time, CMOS was horrid compared to CCD. What holds true for now may not hold true for the near future.

 

[Forced Perfect]

There is a little thing called "progress". Today's dSLR noise characteristics are MUCH better than the old 1 MP Kodak monstrosities. At one point in time, CMOS was horrid compared to CCD. What holds true for now may not hold true for the near future.

Of course. But in general a smaller sensor of the same number of pixels will pick up more noise than a larger one because the individual sensors are either larger or packed less densly. Then again high ISO isn't everything, I was just giving my two cents on the subject.

 

[bousozoku]

Of course. But in general a smaller sensor of the same number of pixels will pick up more noise than a larger one because the individual sensors are either larger or packed less densly. Then again high ISO isn't everything, I was just giving my two cents on the subject.

In real world use, I've found my E-1 to be quite good but I shoot with flash where possible and never exceed ISO 400, even on sports. This is typical of my film experience, as well.

I don't find the sensor to be as good as Olympus claimed it to be and not as bad as the naysayers would have us believe. The colour seems better than anything similar at the time and the noise in daylight conditions is pretty much non-existant, even in the shadows.

I was recently reading a quick review of Olympus' new 10.x MP point and shoot. I didn't notice but I'm guessing that it has a 2/3 inch sensor and the reviewer had nothing but good to say about the shots.

Obviously, a 4/3 inch sensor is only twice as large, but if Kodak (or Fuji) can apply similar techniques to a full-frame-transfer sensor as can be done with smaller sensors, low light quality show improve drastically.

I'll be interested to see how that Sigma 30mm f1.4 performs on the E-1.

 

[ChrisA]

Of course. But in general a smaller sensor of the same number of pixels will pick up more noise than a larger one because the individual sensors are either larger or packed less densly. Then again high ISO isn't everything, I was just giving my two cents on the subject.

Enginerring will advance over time but basic physics will remain the same. The thing that causes noise is the fact the light come in little packets called phontons. With small pixels and dim light we are dealing with a statistically small number of photons