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Olympus / Panasonic announce new lens mount (Micro Four Thirds)

This is an interesting development: On the one hand very good, as it will pave the way (finally!) for high-quality compact cameras with interchangeable lenses. The down side is further confusion, yet another lens mount to 'dilute' the market, etc.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0808/08080501microfourthirds.asp

Right, so here is what I want to know (and I welcome all speculation): What, oh what, are the two extra electronic pins in the lens mount for? As somebody who eats and sleeps software, I know that using even a couple of pins, you can already convey vast amounts of information, especially considering that (to my understanding) the four-thirds mount uses a digital (network-like) protocol to communicate between camera and lens, making possible the interesting current features such as firmware updates for lenses applied via the camera body, or things such as being able to reverse the rotational direction of the focusing ring via settings.

Now, I am really not a fan of any electronic viewfinder camera I have yet touched, but this new mount paves the way (especially with the short flange-to-sensor distance) to a great new range-finder platform. Current rangefinders (like Leica M-series) use a precise mechanical coupling between the lens and the body to effect rangefinder focusing on the body: Is it possible that the extra two pins may be used to convey accurate, real-time focusing information to a (motorised) optical rangefinder in the body?

This would be rangefinder- camera heaven: Calibration could be easy (since it'd all be in software, no need to be a swiss watch-maker to do this), it could be even smaller than any Leica M, and (best of all, assuming you don;t need wide-angle lenses) the flange-to-sensor distance is a mere 20mm, much shorter than Leica M's 27.8 mm.

So, if you are actually comfortable with an EVIL (no-optical-path-to-your-eye) camera, there is no need to even construct such an elaborate rangefinder camera: It will be trivial to construct an adaptor to put the amazing M lenses on a smaller and (heck, it'd be near impossible for it not to be) better (in the electronics department) body than an M8. Use the amazing Oly lenses for wide-angle, and imagine a Summilux 35mm f/1.4 for a top-quality 70mm f/1.4, downright amazing lens on your small digital camera. Or a Summilix 50mm f/1.4 for a great, small portrait lens.

I really am in two minds about this: It's either not a great move (in the long term) or, it'll make wonderful photographic experiences possible in ways not foreseen yesterday. I cant wait to see this pan out.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Dawid,

You're a genius for thinking about a mini rangefinder mount. I hate the dependance on the reflex mirror. Frankly, it's archaic. This camera will be silent. Also the market would be a great new niche for Olympus. Ha Ha! I love it! Fancy, a compact super high quality camera wit a 4x3 sensor.

An issue I see is the increase angle that light has to be refracted to in order to place the image on the periphery of the image circle. That means that the rays of light are going through more of any filter in front of the 4/3 sensor. This would cause color shifts. I have no doubt Olympus can correct that in camera.

Thanks for sharing your puzzlement on the extra pins.

Asher
 
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Frankly, if you look at what they have achieved with the 7-14mm lens (which, before Nikon came with the [huge] 14-24mm, is certainly the best WA zoom yet made) I have no doubt that they will be able to solve that problem optically (and not through an in-camera hack).

If I understand correctly, you can in anyway put the 7-14mm on any Micro Four Thirds camera with the adapter they claim which will be available, which means you will already have a perfect ultra-wide angle lens available on the camera, no further issues, no crop factor.

There has never been any lens for any rangefinder equivalent to what the 7-14mm gives Four Thirds users today. I think this is because the 7-14mm is a retrofocus lens? (and the issue with WA angle lenses on traditional rangefinders is because they were not?)

I think that Olympus and Nikon have proven that they can make retrofocus ultra-wide angle lenses which put all that came before them to shame. The only downside is that the lenses are large.

P.S. If Olympus is NOT thinking of using this for a rangefinder, I hereby claim prior art for the idea! :)
 

Ken Tanaka

pro member
Well, yes, you would think that Oly and Pana have some objective in mind for extending the investment in the "four-thirds" system. But I have to say that, after having taken my first dabble into four-thirds with an Oly E420 and a few lenses...I'm not overly impressed. I bought the E420 with a specific application in mind, and as a potential gap-filler between my G9 and M8. While it has some nice features and a good "feel" its imaging is not really better than my G9.

So I digressed to make the point that I think Oly has mis-timed and squandered its four-thirds investments to-date. There's no reason to be particularly optimistic about the new version. (No, David, I seriously doubt that Oly/Pana plan to introduce a new rangefinder system.)
 
Micro Four Thirds !

This could be the most exiting announcement of the year and a very logical move on the side of two interesting players: Olympus and Panasonic
micro-four-thirds-in-hand.jpg


This means that there is going to be a new family of cameras that are going to be as small as the very large population of point and shoots and at the same time the qualities of a higher end system.

I have always been bothered by the universal lens design of compact digital cameras for this reasons> lack of filter thread > non-manual zoom > need to turn on-off when image opportunity comes etc. etc.

Also the fact that you have to buy the compact camera with one lens and can't change...

The good side of compacts is ... they are compact.

The good thing of Four Thirds is that is larger sensor is larger than that one in many compacts, so better IQ

This is going to be like having an affordable digital Leica sytem !
 
Micro Four Thirds !

http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/05/olympus-and-panasonic-launch-micro-four-thirds-dslrs-enter-a-ne/
micro-four-thirds-in-hand.jpg


This is really, really big for popular photography.

Same sensor size. Drop the mirror. Make a standard mount -- ready for future development like movie etc...

This is a big stake for Olympus and Panasonic.

Nikon/Canon should do the same with DX and FX mirror-free-non-retro-focus optic systems.

Imagine a FX Nikon with a 28mm and 16MP 16 bits the size of a ... Leica ....

Wow
 
I kept posting and could not find my entries... here they seam to be, strange. Probably I did't nottice that there was a thread about this before.

Anyway, this is an important development and it could happen in any other digital format.

We could see a Micro DX, a Micro FX or even a Micro medium format !
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
In the "Breaking News Forum, posts are moderated or else we'd have adverts from spammers etc. Usually, post are approved within a very short period of time.

Asher
 
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