(FT4) CORRECTED-> Olympus to go completely mirrorless!
Amateur Photographer drops the BOMB!
“The Olympus E system of Four Thirds cameras is likely to be completely mirrorless in two years time, according to Olympus America’s DSLR product manager.”
and
“Soon the AF system in the Pen cameras will be as fast as that in the E system DSLRs so there it will be possible to get just as good AF performance without the mirror system.”
We did receive similar rumors during the past weeks but we thought it would be better to not post it until we have something more concrete in our hands. Now the Olympus US product manager says that the E-System will become mirrorless. I guess that confirms the rumors we received!
KEY POINTS:
1) The E-System will be completely mirrorless in two years time.
2) Fully electronic shutter could be introduced that would make extremely high frames rates such as 20fps possible
3) AF system in the Pen cameras will be as fast as that in the E system DSLRs
4) The FourThirds lenses will be used on smaller and lighter more modern bodies
5) 14 million pixels are more than enough
UPDATE: And now Olympus says “that 14 million pixels are more than enough for a consumer level camera” -> That confirms that the next sensor will have 14MPX. Anyway strange… one year ago they said 12MPX would be enough…now 14 MPX is enough…
[Thanks Jean-Pierre]
P.S.: The Olympus E-PL1 is in Stock at BHphoto!
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Agent00soul
February 22, 2010 |M says: And i’m not sure if i would like to go out with a PEN sized Camera and a 50-200 4/3 Lens, that can’t be comfortable.
I did just that and it worked surprisingly well. With such a large lens you hold the combo by the lens (with left hand) anyway, so the size and weight of the camera doesn’t matter that much.
AT
February 22, 2010 |Wise move to mirrorless, but hopefully Olympus can increase the electronic processing speed to be on par with Panasonic, then it can compensate for the difference between optical and electronic focusing systems.
Luis
February 22, 2010 |I think this guy is speaking nonsense:
First, for mirrorless they already have m43! And m43 is designed from the ground up to work that way. Mirrorless E system would be a joke compared to m43.
Second, many people actually like optical viewfinders! For those who don’t, then there is m43.
Third, how will autofocus work on this mirrorless E systems? Phase detect without mirror? Well, they will have to invent that first. Contrast detect? No way with current lenses (and the lenses are E system’s main value).
Fourth, size matters, but in both ways. Sometimes it’s better small (go m43), sometimes it’s better big (go E System).
jeff
February 22, 2010 |How hard is it for olympus to just keep two product lines ?
micro four thirds is for light compact mirrorless cameras , and 4/3 is for photographers who need the optical viewfinder and the wide range of lenses
honestly if they drop the optical viewfinder out of the e system im saying goodbye to olympus.
All they need to do with the E system is get the iso quality increased at higher levels and people would start adopting 4/3 left and right. Thats the only real problem with olympus cameras at the moment is the low light performance
Steve
February 22, 2010 |Olympus was very clear that they would eventually remove the Optical viewfinder as well. Within 2 years I don’t think this will be an issue due to the average quality of the E Series optical viewfinder.
“there seems to be no reason to maintain mirrors, ground glass screens, prisms and viewfinder lenses in even the traditionally styled E system SLR cameras.”
Jim
February 22, 2010 |4/3 with no mirror = m43
read between the lines… 4/3 is being abandoned.
kesztió
February 22, 2010 |I Don’t think so, Jeff. Even the viewfinder of the E-3 seems to be a “tunnel” when comparing to the bright, huge LVF from G(H)1!
Moreover, a HD resolution LVF (1920×1080 pixels) with 3 × 120 Hz is not a dream anymore, you’ll see even better viewfinders in prosumer digicams very soon.
So, the mirror system is about to die. Just wait 15-20 years and you’ll find mirrors just in very specialised studio photographers’ equipments!
Alfons
February 22, 2010 |Jeff, the 4/3 optical viewfinders are poor anyway. It’s like looking through a tunnel.
Maybe we have EVFs with 100% coverage and 1.4x magnifying ratio with HD quality after couple of years. That could beat even FF optical viewfinders in liow light situations.
Newsed1
February 22, 2010 |Funny, last Friday I was telling our magazine’s photographer that the new Canon 1d4 would be the company’s last pro camera with a mirror.
Aside from the fact that the EVF in the Panasonic GH1 is already very good, I have read another rumor (posted in the Nikon thread at DPR) that the future will see focus information for the lens being taken straight off the sensor face. I’m not sure how it works, but it may be something similar to the way face detection works.
Anyway, a mirrorless design would allow full AF when videoing, an eye-point view finder when videoing and would also offer super-fast frame rates because the mirror isn’t in the way…
I suppose this is the logical merging of the video and still camera. It does, though, make me wonder if the E-5 is worth waiting for. On a two year cycle, I suppose the Olympus E-650 will be the first full size 4/3 camera with an EVF..
newsed1
February 22, 2010 |Actually, I have just read the AP article….
‘I would say that within 24 months the E system will not have a mirror box at all.’ Pelkowski said,
That means that it will take 24 months for all the current 4/3 cameras to be replaced with models using EVFs.
Does that mean that the E-5 will be first EVF 4/3s model?
I think we can be certain that Nikon and Canon will go down this route by 2013 with their pro models, so why shouldn’t Olympus get there first?
Pelkowski also makes the point that current digital cameras are ‘traditional film cameras’ with a digital sensor.
Perhaps the pitch for the E-5 (or whatever the first EVF model is) will be the first ‘real’ digital camera, designed from the ground up to make the best of digital sensor technology?
napalm
February 22, 2010 |hmm if I understand correctly, when they said the future of the E-system will be mirrorless… they’re not talking about the same tech that the current mFT have. I expect newer technology than current mFT to be introduced in their cams like high-speed electronic shutters and hi-res EVF.
Shenanval
February 23, 2010 |Actually, two years ago Olympus said that 12MPX was enough… and now they are saying apparently that 14MPX is more than enough. Not a contradiction.