(FT1) UPDATED -> Crazy rumor: E-5 with new mount
Please allow me to post one of the crazy rumors we are receiving in this days. Really don’t take it to much seriousely ok?
That’s what one source told me:
“E-system Fans will be no intersted in New camera
I Guess new camera may change mount
I Believe it is true about 70%
I’m not sure Olympus New camera sitll use 43 mount.”
UPDATE:
Just receivend a new mail from an anonymous source. he says “I can’t say much, but do not be too dismissive of a new lens mount for the E5. Expect something new.“,
Hmmm… maybe the rumor is not that crazy ?
P.S.: Thanks for contacting us!
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Marky
4 years ago |Changing the mount would only make sense if Olympus stopped it’s silly policy of having two different mounts for FT and MFT and adopted only one. A company cannot maintain two different systems indefienetly and as as MFT is considered to be their future the FT system must certainly wither away.
Mike
4 years ago |I know it is FT1 rumor, but new mount means to abandon current Four Thirds lenses. Otherwise I would like to see full frame Olympus DSLR camera with LiveMOS sensor (the OM reborn?), but since they have micro FT cameras and developing another system is unrealistic. Modern 4/3 sensors are equal to APS-C ones (however with lower resolution) and mFT success hugely helps Panasonic to focus on their LiveMOS sensor development likewise classic Four Thirds users will have state-of-the-art sensors in their new cameras.
nugat
4 years ago |Actually it’s not so crazy a prediction.
It would be totally logical to have the next generation pro Olympus a mirorless/EVF m43 model.
With a sturdy adapter it could take all legacy Zuiko lenses, without the adapter all m43 glass AND plenty of other mount glass (eg Leica M) via respective adapters.
The sensor should be multiaspect back-illuminated for better performance in high ISO and with wide angle legacy lenses like M-mount. Then we get the most universal camera in the world.
reverse stream swimmer
4 years ago |Yes, it is possible for a new “Mini Four Thirds” mount.
I’ve seen it mentioned on another site, with an analogy to Canons both EF and EF-S mounts.
As I understand this, by givning up the compatibility of the sideswing mirror models, the E-3×0 cameras and Leica/Panasonic siblings, this new lens mount can have a less distance to the sensor. That would make wideangle lenses and brighter lenses possible, and also pancakes with shorter focal lengths.
The brilliant thing about a new Mini Four Thirds mount is that 100% compatibility is achieved with an electrical adapter to the old Four thirds mount.
Most importantly, the critical voices of the large E-3 size will be silenced with an E-5 having a new Mini Four Thirds mount.
Remembering that the E-3 did silence the complaints about a small viewfinder with the E-1.
Edgaras Anisimenko
4 years ago |Hmmm… That post made me think. I think that Olympus will try to combine the old school with the modern one. Now you can use 4/3 lenses with adapter for PEN. Why not make a m4/3 adapter for 4/3? Then you can make more lenses for the new m4/3 serias but not leave the old users who have standart 4/3 users. But if Olympus will try to make a new PRO version with a full frame sensor and new mount that will need new lenses I would be happy because using old lenses you could have the same 2x crop – you get the point that we will need alot of adapters
junk
4 years ago |new mount??? maybe Full Frame
Radis.Rut
4 years ago |HA HA HA, it’s very crazy indeed
It would be very interesting if that becomes real, cheers.
Javi V
4 years ago |@Edgaras
You can always make the distance between lens and sensor longer (Exactly what you do with m4/3 adapters), but you cannot make it shorter…
Loke
4 years ago |Edgaras Anisimenko, that would be much harder to do. M4/3 is essentially the same as 4/3. What makes it special is that it is designed to have the nearest lens element much closer to the sensor than 4/3. The adapter is simply an extension that moves the lens out away from the sensor so that it is located at the correct distance.
Doing the opposite would obviously much more complicated. Now you need optics to compensate for the longer distance, and frankly I have no idea how big such an adapter would be.
Loke
4 years ago |I find this rumour to be very unlikely. Such a move would make very little sense. Most of the people waiting to buy the E-5 are people who has already invested in the 4/3 system. By changing lens mount they would alienate all their high-end customers (the ones who spend a lot of money buying lenses).
It’s not like these customers would come running to whatever new system they introduce. It’s likely that many would turn away from Olympus because they feel that they have been ignored.
Now, I have obviously based this on my own feelings, but I do think that I’m in the majority among the people who have invested in 4/3 lenses.
Mark
4 years ago |Does the new decade welcome a new format for Olympus D-SLRs?
Although the rumor has not been substantiated with specifications of the new lens mount and accompanying image sensor, it could be more truth than fiction.
Here are some of my reasons why:
1/ Olympus will continue to offer professional grade equipment. Amongst many working professionals the benchmark for D-SLR is the lower noise yeilding Image Sensors from the 36mmx24mm Format.
2/ Some other recent rumours regarding the Olympus E-3 successor have hinted at a new image sensor design.
3/ The concept of a 4/3rds interchangeable system have been around for about ten years. With the first working model (Olympus E-1) released in March 2003. Most of the Super Pro lenses were also released around the same time and are over due for an upgrade. In particular the telephoto zooms need SWD motors for faster auto-focusing.
4/ There has not been much activity or mention from other manufacturers in the 4/3rds consortium regarding the future of this standard.
(i) Leica has dropped the format in favour of the APS-C and 35mm image sensor formats with the M1 and the M-9.
(ii) Panasonic is focusing their efforts on the micro 4/3rds standard and the G2/GH2.
(iii) Kodak no longer makes image sensors for Olympus D-SLRs and have not produced a 4/3rds mount D-SLR.
(iv) Sigma have not announced any new lenses with a 4/3rds mount.
(v) And despite showing interest in the 4/3rds format Fujifilm is yet to produce an image sensor or D-SLR.
5/ Although the MOS Image Sensor technology has improved noise control in 4/3rds image sensors over the past 2 years since the E-3 was released. Those same improvements have also found themselves into larger format APS-C and 35mm image sensors. This is why a 4/3rds image sensor will always be 1-2 stops behind in terms of noise control when compared. If 4/3rds image sensors go beyond 12 MP, there will be too many pixels in the smaller imaging space to meet the ever increasing demands of professional image quality.
6/ Even the 10MP image sensor in the E-3 is very demanding of lens performance and it’s not uncommon to reach diffraction point at an aperture as low as f/6.3.
7/ The current lenses from the 4/3 standard will continue to be used by a line of semi-professional D-SLRs such as the E-620 replacement and the micro 4/3rds models (via adapters).
8/ Adding some of the innovations from the E-3 into a larger sensor format system with a body approximately the same size as the E-3 is possible and would provide a competitive edge on a level image sensor plane.
What I find most exciting about the idea of a new lens mount is that it most likely indicates new image sensor technology.
I wonder if Olympus would maintain the native 4:3 image ratio in a larger sensor design?
BTW: A new mount would also be required if they went for a 4/3rds multi-layered RGB image sensor design. So it may not be an entirely new format.
achiinto
4 years ago |I think this is realistic. I have always envisioned that the E-5 will naturally take m43 lens and it will come along with a new amazing adapter to 43 lens that make 43 lens AF fast on this m43 mount body.
Mike
4 years ago |Thanks Mark for your reasonable and optimistic post. I think many OM film users (or fans) would welcome Olympus professional 35mm SLR segment back. If they keep compactness of original OM system (camera bodies and lenses) and high-end capabilities with nowadays digital technology I can tell this will take DSLR market by storm. Maybe Olympus in future will offer one or two DSLR models with full frame and 4/3 sensors leave to Micro Four Thirds models. And if they keep 4:3 aspect ratio, that is a question
.
martin
4 years ago |I can’t believe they would drop 4/3rds compatibility. The main thing
Olympus needs is a mount that enables to put both m4/3rds and 4/3rds lenses. Such mount would have to collapse into the body (very tricky) for m4/3 lenses – but what about mirror? Is it feasible at all? Or maybe it will only have CDAF? But 4/3rds lenses are not designed for smooth motion that is needed for CDAF…
Mark
4 years ago |Hi Mike.
You make a good point that Olympus would have to maintain a compact body design to keep OM users happy.
The Olympus design philosophy has always been to build high quality, compact cameras with matching lenses.
Even if a new Lens Mount and larger Image Sensor is employed the body should maintain these characterists.
And yes I think that 4/3 sizes sensors will continue to be used in Olympus products including cheaper D-SLRs and of course the m4/3 PENs.
BTW: I would prefer if Olympus maintained the squarer 4:3 image aspect ratio as the native one for the Image Sensor.
This is one of the reasons I chose an Olympus D-SLR (E-3).
In my opinion 3:2 is too long and skinny for most shots.
Even older medium formats landscape cameras used a 4 x 5″ film which fits standard photo paper sizes like 8×10″ and 16 x20.”
4:3 ratio is a closer fit to these prints with only 0.08 crop (6.25%) compared to 0.25 (16.7%) for 3:2.
Assuming the largest sized 4/3rds image sensor is 18 x 13.5mm.
Then Olympus could produce a larger format image sensor with a 2x multipler and achieve a 36 x 27mm (972mm diagonal)!
If they go with this larger image sensor design my guess is it would still be a Live MOS type manufactured by Panasonic.
As I don’t think Kodak or Fuji CCDs are capable of supporting cleaner High ISO, 6 or more fps, Live View and Video functions.
Mark
4 years ago |Achiinto and Martin.
I doubt Olympus will drop the D-SLR system.
Micro 4/3 is more likely to make the compact / fixed lens digital camera market obsolete.
EVFs are nowhere near the viewing experience or performance of mirrored systems.
And there would be no point in adding an adapter for the cheaper / slower zooms currently provided by m4/3rds.
IMO that m4/3 needs alot of faster primes and a few good zooms to succeed and deliver on it’s promise.
No doubt models like the E-3 and E-30 helped to develop the m4/3 standard.
Although the only benefit I see m4/3 currently offering an E-3 replacement is CAF Live View and a Video Record function.
CR102
4 years ago |Change is welcome.
If there is truth in the rumor at all, I would expect a larger m4/3 body with a design close to the OM system. This camera would have a nice, weathersealed 4/3-to-m4/3 adapter and would be able to focus 4/3 lenses by PDAF using focusing areas on the sensor itself. It would have a built-in EVF, vast video capabilities and perhaps some sort of pixel binning option a-la-Fuji for enhanced DR. Of course, this is all wishful thinking.
Olympus have to be out of their minds to create a brand new, larger mount. I think this possibility is extremely unlikely.
Torstein
4 years ago |This is one of the more stupid rumors I ever seen on the web.
All the investment in Oly glass would be wasted if you can’t use it on a new camera. I would 100 % sure leave Olympus for ever if they made such a decision. There is no reason for others to stay with Olympus when they want to buy into a improved camera in the future, if they drop their maine advantage. And you cant expect Oly to leapfrog the big names like Canon and iikon on they own turf, with their long experience and rich assortment of lenses. (Hey, do you want a new camera system you can use with 3 differnet lenses…..)
Some facts to consider:
1. Less noice and better DR are possible on todays sensor size.
2. A smaller sensor makes for better lenses at the same price.
3. Even if you start to find difraction at f/11 does not mean that higher res do not give more information. Difraction is not a brick wall you run into, but a phenomena that gradually increase with higher resolution
4. The DOF advantage of smaller sensors. In 90 % of the cases you want more DOF, not less! Blurred portraits can be fine but its easy to blur out the background.
Agent00soul
4 years ago |IMHO the only possibility for a new mount is if Olympus adopts some form of the m4/3 mount for the E-5. Maybe it could be a sturdier version of the mount, that would still accept m4/3 lenses? Then you could adapt the heavy high grade 4/3 lenses with a special heavy duty adapter.
spam
4 years ago |It’s not the mount that will change, but they will add the two extra contacts from mFT to allow faster contrast detact AF.
quin
4 years ago |Can I say some words? If really Olympus will adopt a new mount that cut off,or only limit the use of, the expensive 4/3 TopPro lenses from the new standard, well this would mean the end of the brand! Who, after a double
betrayal will have faith in this firm?
Never mind if some lenses were born some yesrs ago, people Who spent a lot of money thinking to buy a serious system has the right to’ be’ followed not only for two years after the E3 launch!!!!!
Chris Polis
4 years ago |What spam said. Most likely change is an update to the mount to add the two extra contacts from MFT so that 4/3 lenses are fully cross compatible with 4/3. Should be able to be done without breaking forward or backward compatibility.
The length and diameter is not likely to change, unless they want to respring the mount to allow for lenses faster than F1.4 which are currently physically limited by the mount.
YeahYeah
4 years ago |Olympus would definitively loose all credibility if they did it!
- They switched from Pen F to OM
- They switched from OM to OM AF
- They switched form OM to 4/3
- They add µ4/3
While Nikon or Leica are keeping their mount for more than fifty years…
I could understand a switch to µ4/3 but not a way back to FF…
@ Chris Polis : mount diameter doesn’t limit aperture, you can optically correct the lack of space
Walter
4 years ago |A new MOUNT seems to me to be very unlikely as it would imply new lenses and as we are talking E-5 it means Pro/Top Pro lenses and the official Olympus Roadmap published November 2009 makes no significant mention of new lenes except MFT and none of these are Pro or Top Pro Grade and the ones not specfically identified as to thier Grade, are not due till 2011.
OK I hear you saying they would not “roadmap” new format lenses before the new camera mount was ready, but my real point here is that any new lens development has always been much slower than new body releases so getting a full set of “Pro/Top Pro” lenes out to match a new mount seems to be fanciful.
SPAM says “……..they will add the two extra contacts from mFT to allow faster contrast detact AF” that seesm reasonable.
My take is that we may see the often rumored 3CCD configuration which would require some interesting geometry inside the camera body and maybe the “Mount” would sit further out from the body but retain the same FT format, thus allowing the E-5 to accommodate the full compliment of FT lenses and maybe that is what is meant
The first rumor is somewhat disjoint and “crazy” the second rumor says (as I interpret it) “don’t dismiss this thread, you can expect something new”. Well a repositioned mount (same format) to accommodate a 3CCD would be someting new
ROADMAP
(http://www.olympus-europa.com/consumer/downloads/D-SLR-PEN_Lens_Roadmap_09_en.pd
George
4 years ago |E-5 with mFT mount would be awesome if…
-They include a large high resolution EVF which that would make it easy to do manual focusing (without blowing up any part of the image) and shooting in low light. I miss my OM-1 viewfinder.
-The EVF has a fast refresh rate. If not maybe electronic shutter and pre-capture to mitigate lag
- CDAF is at least as fast as the GH1 if not faster.
The rest of the stuff like E-3body (swivel LCD, weatherproof) and video I think are all given. Also, please be the first to include a headphone jack and adjustable audio input control.
This could be a game changer if they play their cards right. Go Oly!
Adrian Lewis
4 years ago |I agree with spam and Chris. Going 9>11 contacts would make the mount “new” but still compatible with legacy 4/3 lenses, and old bodies compatible with the new lenses (i.e. with all the old funcionality but not the enhanced functions such as fast CDAF).
(Well, a new mount could be incompatible, but that would be so suicidally stupid its a pretty safe bet to ignore that possibility.)
BTW this has been discussed for at least half-a-year — e.g: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1022&message=28909604
@ YeahYeah: Enhancing the 4/3 mount in a way that enables interoperability would, IMHO, add to Olympus’ credibility, not detract from it.
Chris Polis
4 years ago |Generally, I can’t see them changing the mount in any way that leaves them without a full catalog of lenses.
@Adrian Lewis: I wonder how that thread got past without me commenting on it or seeing it. But yes, the move to 11 pin is a good idea, and marketing would call it a new or upgraded mount. The beauty of it is that it should be able to fail gracefully…
@YeahYeah: Yes you can limit the maximum f ratio physically, once you are past the last optical element. Once past the last element, the light must be at the resulting focal length, and given you have a limiting circle of 28mm diameter, approximately 40mm out from the sensor, the maximum f/ratio is f/1.4 (ie 40/28) for the 4/3 mount. It can be slightly higher for adapted lenses, but the square recess the sensor sits it still limits the maximum to about f/1.3. Anything wider than that gets cut off.
BangkokDan
4 years ago |I hope I sold my E-3 gear including beautiful glass at the right time last year!
I’d be all in if we get the best of the m4/3 world.
Olympus would be again a step ahead.
But if so good prime glass would be a precondition. So far Olympus neglects prime glass.
Marq
4 years ago |On reading this, I have to think its suicidal on Olympus’ side to move to a totally new mount without ensuring backwards compatibility.
At the same time, I think they are smarter than that. I don’t recall which one, but I believe from interviews with Olympus it was readily implied often that they plan to stick with their 4/3 mount for at least some more time – suggesting the small sensor technology is more than capable of standing up to the 1.5/6 and full frames.
Before knowing about the 9 – 11 pin mount discussion my first thought was that Olympus would design a weather sealed mount around the m4/3 mount, then release a m4/3 to 4/3 adaptor to ensure compatibility with all lens – crucial given that they need to cater towards current E1 / E3 users which should be the main focus of their design. In this manner, they may come up with a brilliant new EVIL camera that can go very slim with pancakes and lens under the m4/3 or booster size with the big guns they are famous for.
I really need better AF performance as I need to get better pics of my toddler moving, and being toddlers, that’s getting no easier with time!!
Having read the 9 – 11 pin mount discussion, I think its fair to believe Olympus wants people to think an upgrade IS a new mount…whatever.
In the meantime, I have still to lament about the AF speed of my lovely EP1…I sold my canon kit to move to Olympus, and whilst still not having any regrets – CANON IS SOOO YELLOW – I am beginning to ponder if I might have had other alternatives. Fingers crossed for an early E5 announcement from Olympus so I can put my concerns to lay!!
AT
4 years ago |Though it seems crazy, but I think it is also possible for Olympus to survive in the market. Because of the success of M4/3 for compact-sized camera with the quality of 4/3 sensor, it is wise for Olympus to develop a new mount with larger sensor to compete with other brands, especially with the quality of 35mm Full Frame D-SLR. It is a wise decision from both marketing or professional point of view to quit 4/3 and to launch a new mount which can still be compatible with the old 4/3 standard with an adapter, while enlarging the rooms for future development.
Go ahead, Olympus!!!
Alex
4 years ago |What about new mount by adding some new contact points for future new functions in lenses – it would count as new mount and would be compatible with all (old) 4/3 lenses – I’m sure there is a way to do it.
Then new “full” 4/3 lenses would be usable with all functions on m4/3 (which has more contacts via new adapter)
meaning – video functions in 4/3 dslr or maybe new IS functions (with motion sensors in lenses – i should patent it .
I would be followed by new updated lenses (SHG first)
(FT4) The E-3 successor definitely has a FourThirds mount! And new FourThirds lenses are coming?
4 years ago |[...] of my best sources told me the E-3 successor will have the normal FourThirds mount. The crazy rumor we posted yesterday is really [...]
Charles
4 years ago |Marky (first post) clearly doesn’t understand anything about lens mounts. It’s not possible to use a m4/3s mount in a SLR because of the mirror. Not enough space. Using the 4/3s mount in a m4/3s camera negates all the benefits that m4/3s is supposed to bring. (size/weight) Any other brand that comes out with a mirrorless camera will have a new mount. Carrying over their DSLR mount would be crazy.
@Edgaras I don’t think it’s possible to put a m4/3s lens on a 4/3s camera and get it to focus. The focus distance is set to about 2cm, vs about 4cm in 4/3s. Lens adapters can only mount lenses from a system with a longer flange distance than the system you are adapting to. This is why you haven’t been able to use M-mount lenses on another system until now. Something might be possible, but the fact it hasn’t been done yet means it’s too expensive/unacceptable quality or just not possible.