The Digital Pen Leak
Everyone I know right now is digging for the latest rumors on what Apple might or might not announce on Monday. I have to admit, I’ve been tracking those rumors closely. But, today I was more interested in a leak on the camera front. Photos of the retro-styled Olympus Pen E-P1 turned up on Japanese forum, along with some specs. Who knows of course if they are true or not, but I’m certainly excited and hoping for the best. And, there’s obviously something coming at the climax of the Olympus PEN 50th Anniversary build up.
A pocketable 12 Megapixel Micro Four Thirds camera with a 17mm 2.8 lens (which should work out to a 35mm equivalent) would definitely be a welcome addition. Decent sized sensor. Fast lens. What’s not to like, at least on paper? Tho, I gotta say, I really liked the look of the prototype that Olympus showed off at Photokina last year. This one doesn't look quite as scrumptious so far. We’ll hopefully see soon enough, however.
15 Comments
Indeed, this is an exciting proposition. It's so thin! And to think it might have a decent sensor? Wow! I'm definitely more excited about replacing my original iPhone, but don't think for a second that I'm not paying close attention to the Olympus site as well.
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The Olympus looks very interesting, but the Panasonic LX3 is already on the market, and has an excellent 24mm (35mm equiv) f2.0 lens with image stabilization. It's not interchangeable, but personally I don't think a pocket camera needs that, if the fixed lens is versatile enough. The major advantage the Olympus might have, of course, is a larger, less noisy sensor - and that's compelling.
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The larger sensor (much, much, much larger than most cameras this size including the LX3) is the bit that's interesting to me. The potential for lower noise as well as the DOF opportunities with a larger sensor are what have me interested. As well as the potential for much higher quality glass. We shall see!
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I think you're a little confused about the LX3. It has a 5.1-12.8mm f/2-2.8 lens and a 1/1.63" sensor giving it a 35mm FOV equivalent of 24-60mm.
The new Olympus has a 17mm f/2.8 that has a 35mm FOV equivalent of 35mm.
There is a very big difference between a 5.1mm f/2 lens and a 17mm f/2.8 lens and there are more aspects to versatility than the ability to change focal length by zooming.
I am very, very excited by companies finally taking compact digital cameras seriously; although I don't think I can realistically spend 900USD (or 900 Euro, probably) on a camera like this given that I spent less on my DSLR when I bought it new. Hopefully by the time Panasonic's promised 20mm f/1.7 prime comes out the m4/3 market will have matured enough to offer a reasonably priced compact body to go with a fast normal prime.
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I'd love to have something this small to throw in my bag and take with me during the day. But I saw a $900-ish price-tag somewhere... and that seems (to me) a little steep. I wanna check out the real specs and some samples, but I am definitely interested.
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The pricing info I've seen so far is a bit confusing. From the forum leak, it almost sounded like the camera + 17m + 14-24 zoom were part of the kit price. Another detail to wait and see on I guess. On the other hand, the price doesn't bother me as long as the results come in as good as they should.
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Looks great.
Alas, no viewfinder. I hate putting glasses on to take photos.
Men over 43 need not apply :(
Rob
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Rob, notice that the hotshoe is centred over the lens. You can use an optical finder with this camera (like the GRD and the Sigma). The price of second hand Leica finders is probably going to rise:)
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A micro 4/3rds system would make an ideal replacement for a rangefinder system. Give me a Leica M8 equivalent with better image quality already! Come on Olympus, Nikon, Canon, Sony or whoever... I'll pay for one on those times I can't/don't want to haul around a full size SLR.
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BW, yah. That's exactly how I'm looking at this and hoping it can be. I would have pulled the trigger on the M8 a while ago except for it's various quirks that have left me waiting for either a real rev (not the M8.2) or something else to come along. Part of the allure is the Leica glass, which will be hard to meet by anybody else. But, really, most of the allure is simply to be able to choose to shoot with something that's not a point and shoot, but which is smaller than my SLR gear.
Maybe this will be it. Fingers crossed!
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Zeiss glass is pretty sweet (customer service sucks though) and honestly... Canon or Nikon glass is plenty good enough if the optical path and sensor is good enough. I shot with an M6 for a while and there is something almost magical about that system (the way it feels, sounds handles, etc...), but ideally, an autofocus with multiple lens choices, better sensor (Leica's is not even close to as good as Nikon/Canon), and a lower price point could very well be a runaway hit for whoever manages to pull it off. I know if the build quality and image quality were there, I'd drop up to $3k or so on a good system that would be as small or smaller than the M8 config.
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Brian, the few times I've used some Zeiss glass, I've loved the results. But you're right. There's a lot of good Canon and Nikon glass out there. The Canon 135/2L is one of my all time favs. As are my 14-24 and 300 Nikon lenses.
I think, I hope at least, that we're just at the edge of seeing more cameras that are in that inbetween P/S and SLR territory. If Oly can include a sensor that turns in a nice ISO 1600 on 8X10 prints, I'll be ecstatic. If not, maybe one of the others.
Somehow, I don't see Nikon or Canon jumping into this part of the game. They _should_. But it doesn't seem like they're looking this direction right now.
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According to the DXO benchmark the micro four thirds cameras from Panasonic have dramatically better low light performance than all existing compacts. So it would be reasonable to expect the same or better performance from the Pen.
There are quite a few adapters which let you use non micro four thirds lenses (Leica M is the latest mount supported). In fact the DMC-L10 is becoming something of a cult camera for manual focus lens fans (people are making their own adapters). Some older lenses (like the Canon FDs) can't be focussed on infinity with DSLRs because the rear of the lens protrudes too far. This makes these designs very attractive.
I wonder how long it will be before Nikon and Cannon have to offer their own offerings in this class.
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The LX3 is nowhere near equivalent to the rumored E-P1. I tried a Leica D-Lux 4 (the posh equivalent, the one you can actually find in stores unlike the constantly out of stock LX3). At ISO 320 it exhibits massive amounts of noise, so bad in fact they are clearly visible even in thumbnails. Even at ISO 1600 a Four-thirds camera or a Sigma DP2 will not produce such poor results. I returned it within a week and got a DP2 instead.
This is a very positive development, and I hope it gives complacent Canon and Nikon a much-needed kick in the backside so they come up with compacts in the same class as the old Nikon 35Ti, not the garbage they currently offer with their horrid tiny sensors. Samsung's upcoming APS-C compact system should make this segment even more competitive, which is good for consumers.
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Oh, and Panasonic has a vaporware-ish 20mm f/1.7 m43 lens that would be a perfect match for this camera, if it ever comes out.
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