New Products for M43 in 2021


Pitachu

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Sep 18, 2019
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As there seems to be a number of M43 Products released or going to be released this year, I started a thread to
 

Not sure when is this lens released, but it looks interesting.

The laowa 10mm (20mm equivalent) is a wide angle zero distortion lens, ideal for architecture photos.
As usual, it is small enough to throw inside your tour camera bag if you are on a tour with lots of indoors and buildings etc to shoot.
It's also only a couple of hundred dollars, which is affordable to most users :)

 

Unfortunately, I am not able to see the niche for the Olympus 8-25 F4.0.

For photographers like me who loves Ultrawide, I already have the Panasonic 8-18mm F2.8-4.
This is a much better setup as when I need the extra 1 stop, I just need to shoot at 8mm and crop later.
I usually also carry my 25mm F1.4. So I am quite covered for wide angle large aperture shots.

For photographers who are doing professional indoor videos, there is already a Panasonic 10--25mm F1.7

So I am really not sure how OMD is positioning the Olympus 8-25 F4.0

 

The Olympus F4 pro lenses are just smaller versions of the wide aperture pro series, they are keeping to their original premise of a smaller camera system.

While there are 3rd. party manufactures especially the chinese lenses, owners of olympus and Panasonic cameras must know by now or if it has not sunk in that although the m43 lens mount is compatible it is not compatible function or interoperability wise. The important thing to note is an olympus lens works perfectly on an olympus camera body and same goes for Panasonic. This is critically important when it comes to super telephoto lenses such as Panasonic Leica 100 - 400mm which is the pro version for panasonic lens line vs limix g. The pana leica 100 -400 was the only m43 super telephoto available then and many bird and nature photo used it with mixed results. The 1st. batch had lens mount tightness to the point of not fitting on olympus lens mount due to manufacturing tolerances and weather sealing as it is a pro lens.

Next was the interoperability of pana leica 100-400 on em1 mk2 and mk3 bodies. It is common knowledge that long lenses with in- lens stabilisation is more effective than ibis so turning on lens ois ( pana optical image stabilisation) resulted in more in focus photos than using ibis ALTHOUGH em1 mk2 has dual IS or Sync IS the pana leica 100 -400 is not able to use sync IS.
Same goes for olympus 100 -400mm on panasonic bodies that have dual IS. What's more it is not able to do in camera photo stacking on em1 mk2/3.

Now that olympus 100 -400 is available, owners of both respective brands have to consider carefully which lens works best for them.
 

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It is sad that Olympus and Panasonic did not agree to work together on their Sync IS after they have agreed to use a common M43 mount.
But I have seen very sharp photos of a photographer using Olympus body with the Pana 100-400.
He shared that it is the initial part of not sure which to use, IBIS or OIS or both that causes not so sharp images.
After he decided that OIS is the best (with IBIS turned off), everything works fine. However this also depends on the skill of the photographer as using only OIS means that there is some loss in stops, and more care must be taken to stabilize the camera while shooting.

Beyond 400mm (800mm), it is still better to match the Body and Lenses using the same brand. After all, body is not as important as the lenses.
 

Wait and see. A reviewer said on Youtube as long ago as September 2020 that in or after 2021, Panasonic is predicted to make GH6 as the last MFT camera and the Panasonic camera division will be sold. (If they cannot make it in the Full frame L mount range). Panasonic clearly cannot support both Full frame and MFT. One will be shut down in the long run.
The branding transition from Olympus to OMDS may fail. Potential customers may reject the new brand.
 

I heard that Rumor that GH6 may be the last MFT camera too, but that was way back in August 2020 where everything is Gloomy during the pandamic.
Moving forward, camera manufacturers have firm up their plans and announce them during CP+

Behind the scene, it is already quite well leaked that Olympus, Panasonic and Sharp and are working on the 32mp sensor by Sony for M43.
Panasonic has also announced plans that they are considering merging the GH6 and G9 as one camera and maybe that is why the GH6 could be their last camera.
Their new lens map includes several new lenses for M43, so I don't think they are gong to dump M43 so quickly.

You can go thru the following video to see what one Lumix Ambassador say about Panasonic plans on M43.
 

Whether GH6 is going to be last m43 or not , it will be a game changer if Panasonic play it right. They are aware of auto focus issues so they will incorporate the laser focus used in smart phones but currently limited to short distances called time of flight auto focus. An affordable camera catering for stills and video with different tier models. The rumored specifications are in the video below.

 

If OMDS fails to follow the principle of Small, Light, Cheap then the new company will die a quick death.
 

Small & Light, Yes, I agree is essential.

But cheap? Depends.

M43 lenses are generally already much cheaper than FF lenses, especially when you compare their PRO lenses.
For Camera body, OMD has a budget model EM10 series to the PRO series EM1 series.

Quick Depth? I don't think so....

If OMDS fails to follow the principle of Small, Light, Cheap then the new company will die a quick death.
 

There is no way OMDS can compete with Leica, Canon, Nikon, Sony at the top end.
They are too far ahead in technology.
Just look at the latest rumor of Nikon Z9.
After Olympus Camera Division terrible financial collapse and crash in sales.
OMDS is now in the much lower ranked category/league and it should compete (and win) within that arena.
There are still buyers for small, light and cheap cameras.
Not everyone needs top end products.
Just like not every driver needs a Rolls Royce or Ferrari.
In the past Olympus made a stupid mistake trying to trade punches with the big hitters - thus the ridiculous OM-D E-M1X.
Maybe the previous CEO of Olympus Camera Division was on a Vanity Ego Trip.
And his Olympus employees were too afraid to tell the Emperor that he had no clothes on.
In the past, big heavy MFT lenses put in front of a miniscule camera body - was an awful mismatch, which by the way was criticised by the Chief Technology Officer of OMDS.
 

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Ricohflex, I think you totally misunderstood Olympus.
I attended several Olympus workshops after I got the EM5 Mkiii and at a few of the workshops, even Olympus Staff acknowledge Sony and Canon strengths (sorr, Nikon and Leica and Fujifilm was never mentioned).

Olympus has never positioned itself to be of the same level as Sony A7Riii or Riv, or the Canon R5, even with their top the line EM1x or EM1 iii. Anyone who compares are definitely too naive..... just look at the price, the whole bundle with lenses from Sony or Canon is easily 2 or 3 times more and much heavier.

I used to own a company that shoot events and food products and we do have Sony and Canon. At that time, we do not look at Olympus equipment. But as I start to retire and shoot photos as a hobby. After my trip to Japan with my EOS 5D and L-Lenses, I realized I could not walk 8 hours with such gear and start to look at Olympus. That's how I got started with the EM5 Mk3. I was surprised that I could now easily carry 3 to 4 lenses with camera body and flash in a waist pouch and walk around the whole day.

When I showed my photos to my friends (a couple are professionals), none of them said the images are low res or poor quality. In fact, some of them thought it was shot with my Canon or Sony gear. My output are usually Photobooks up to A3 size.

Olympus is smaller and lighter. Cheap is actually lower price in comparison, but not cheap quality. My Olympus 40-150 F2.8 Pro easily beat the Sony 70-300 (at about the same price). Yes, the Sony 70-300 is not a Pro series lenses, but Sony FF lenses are too bulky for me and much more expensive.

In short, Olympus is targeting a niche different from the Red Ocean which Nikon is struggling very hard with Sony and Canon there. Go and google Nikon Financial troubles if you dont believe. Of course Olympus like all other camera manufacturers are facing the 80% drop in camera demand, but it is definitely not due to the fetish of some CEO which you keep claiming.
 

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One thing to keep in mind is that beyond a certain high price point say $X, consumers will begin to question the MFT sensor size format and its viability / longevity in present and future camera systems. An analogy is when buying PCs, consumers ask themselves whether they should still buy a PC with a very old tech CPU, when the world in 2021 has progressed past that ancient stage of technology. The manufacturer insist that the ancient technology from more than 1 decade ago, is all that you would ever need. Let the buyer beware.
 

Ricohflex are you like the youtubers who bash m43 and try to create anxiety in camera buyers or sincerely wanting to help buyers make a sensible purchase? No one here is saying fullframe is bad but the photographic technology has evolved to the state that it's no longer about format but the quality of the image that normal people especially the younger generation use in social media. In short smartphones are getting better via powerful processors and AI.

Here is podcast with Olympus visionary Joe Edelman who used Nikon for 42 years take on the state of the photographic industry. Young people thoughts at 18:10 and his ideal camera 17:20. Podcast 40 minutes.

The myth of fullframe.





 

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How do you justify such statements? Old tech? What old tech? Old CPU? It's a twin processor in a EM1X. Unlike Canon with it's heat overload shutdown, there is no report of any of such happening with the EM1X.

I wouldn't be buying a camera body that keeps changing it's mount every 2 years. How to keep up with that sort of changes? The sensor did change. It may have remained the same size as increasing is not beneficial. Go check out the price of the new "fast" large memory chips. Even those FF nikon on days gone by, those memory chips cost a fortune.

Wonder who is really behind times.

One thing to keep in mind is that beyond a certain high price point say $X, consumers will begin to question the MFT sensor size format and its viability / longevity in present and future camera systems. An analogy is when buying PCs, consumers ask themselves whether they should still buy a PC with a very old tech CPU, when the world in 2021 has progressed past that ancient stage of technology. The manufacturer insist that the ancient technology from more than 1 decade ago, is all that you would ever need. Let the buyer beware.
 

Ricohflex, where did you get the idea that Olympus is using 1 decade ago processor on its latest cameras?

Olympus processor is now 9th Gen already (Truepix IX), almost being upgraded every year. The latest even have AI do person certain functions.

I have used the EM1x, EM1 and EM5 and none of the processor felt sluggish. In fact, even on the EM5, I can even merge multiple exposures of raw files on the camera itself.

Not sure why you keep attacking Olympus blindly without checking the facts and spreading false rumors?
Please google and check before you post statements like this.

The manufacturer insist that the ancient technology from more than 1 decade ago, is all that you would ever need. Let the buyer beware.
 

Ricohflex, just in case you think Nikon Z-series (Mirrorless) is a big deal, it's sales is even lower than Olympus!
Frankly, if I am in the market for a high speed Mirrorless Dslr with $5-$10K to throw, I would go for a Sony or Canon.
(not because of the sales figure below but because they are more committed in R&D. Nikon seems to pause and start
developing their products! And of course I hope OMD is now committed to keep developing new products for Olympus).


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There is no way OMDS can compete with Leica, Canon, Nikon, Sony at the top end.
They are too far ahead in technology.
Just look at the latest rumor of Nikon Z9.
 

Relax and keep cool. Take 3 steps back and don't get carried away by paid flatterers who sing praises on YouTube videos (as per their contract).
Ignore the false claims based on dubious "internal survey" that includes B2B delivery of products from manufacturer to retailer ware house counted as "sold".
Use your common sense and reject the hype. Spend your money wisely.