Hi all, this started off at a tangent to my Canon EOS-M thread, but maybe it should have its own. There is a fair bit of discussion on the net, and here, about the advent of serious Four Thirds and the new Micro Four Thirds camera systems coming out recently from not only Olympus but other manufacturers such as Sony, Panasonic and Fuji.They are maturing at a fantastic rate and are now edging up to (and in some areas exceeding) capabilities of the likes of the top prosumer models from Nikon and Canon. The OM-D is weather sealed too: ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmdo_K1XIE0 ) This is great when you sit there worrying unnecessarily about heavy due affecting your new camera. The body is made from magnesium alloy, so it is as tough as any pro Canon or Nikon body. It's a very solid little thing.
I hope to try it out soon on the back of my Tak Sky90, and also with the wonderful new Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens for astro. Hopefully it will give results that will work for this, although I stress that I did not buy it for astro work. I have a CCD for this. Might be interesting. One thing to its advantage is that the slowest exposure you can achieve without going to Bulb (or "LiveTime" - more is a sec) is a full 60 seconds. That's 30 seconds more than any Nikon or Canon I've owned - and you don't need a remote. I really like this for static Milky Way photography from a tripod. You can take a lot of ultra-wide field goodness in 60 seconds at moderate ISO. "LiveTime" is an interesting extension on the Bulb setting. You can set you camera to expose, and watch the image form on the screen as it "develops". Great thing I'm thinking about here is being able to gauge just when an exposure has had enough. Very nice.
I'll provide some technical detail shortly, and how I've found adjusting to the OM-D coming from a Canon 5D Mark-II and the use of several L-Series lenses.
Looks like a fantastic camera! I've just recently upgraded to a Canon 5D II with a few L lenses. Absolutely love the image quality but must admit it was tiresome to lug around at times on my holiday The Canon S100 was a gem in those moments. I look forward to reading your report. This camera is starting to slowly grow on me. There's something about the Olympus IQ (like the Fuji) which grabs me
Hey there Mo Yes, that was the precise reason I chose to go this way and lose the 5D-II. Not that it wasn't a great camera - it was, absolutely. It is just too heavy to lug around with an L-Series or two as well. For studio or landscape work - they, and others like them (the D800/E), are unbeatable - short of going medium or full format of course.
This little guy is great in low light situations where there are lot of contrasty things in your FOV for its AF to latch on to. It's lightning fast in that department - way, way faster than the 5D and more accurate to boot.
the other thing I like about the OM is that you can operate it as a waist-level camera, keeping you in "stealth" mode. Leave the camera at your waist on the strap, flip up the rear screen and point in the direction you want to shoot. Tap the focus point on the screen (someone walking past for instance) and the camera instantly focuses and fires. All without the subject seeing or knowing a thing. Should be very handy - and it all is in principle. Looking forward to putting it into action.
Very interesting Chris. I only found this little camera on the web the other day and have been meaning the check it out.
I did notice you can get a 4/3 to m4/3 adapter which I think allows full auto connect to a 4/3 lens. Very nice for those of us with 4/3 glass.
I would love to upgrade the E510 for a 4/3 camera with less noise, so I'm interested to hear what you think of it, but realistically think it'll be a while yet before the 4/3 format drops noise significantly.
Yes, There is a current offer on that sees you get an Olympus FT to MFT adapter when you buy an OM-D. They mail it out to you on proof of purchase.
From what I'm reading, MFT is now going to have more development pumped into it than FT. The sensor in the OM-D is pretty clean to 3200 ISO, but it's still aways behind the big sensors. Not as far as you'd think though...
Moh - The in-body 5-axis image stabiliser essentially, plus the AF speed. The IS system is incredible - making hand-held low-light photography eminently possible with any lens. It almost makes hand-held movies look as though they've been captured by a stedicam. It's brilliant. I also think that the lens selection is way larger than Sony's, and that's if you only stay within the MFT Olympus range. The other thing that I prefer, in all honesty, is the handling. The conventional body style (especially with the grip fitted) is far more natural for me hold than either NEX. The other handing attributes, such as the menu system, are also more logically laid out. It is highly customisable too - you can make any button do almost anything. Very nice.
FT is dead, the OM-d proves that, I doubt OLY will release another body, I have stuck by Olympus & finally they have something to rival the full slr's
The light weight of the bodies is really good when walking around, the only lens gals left a a 150/2.8 & 300/4
No amp glow at all Greg - well, not that I've detected so far. I can't wait to piggy back it this weekend on the G11 and do a good 10 or 20 minute exposure. Darn moon!!!!!
The 5-axis image stabiliser at work. This image was taken HAND HELD by me, leaning against the side of my house. I set the IS logic to alert the camera that there was a 1,000mm lens attached (closest to the actual). I'm impressed.
At the 2x mag factor MFT gives you, this combination was effectively 1,200mm in focal length.
This image is straight out of the camera and sampled down to load here. It is a 100% crop. A great FOV for lunar/solar. Not bad for a 35 year old lens and teleconverter.
Moh - The in-body 5-axis image stabiliser essentially, plus the AF speed. The IS system is incredible - making hand-held low-light photography eminently possible with any lens. It almost makes hand-held movies look as though they've been captured by a stedicam. It's brilliant. I also think that the lens selection is way larger than Sony's, and that's if you only stay within the MFT Olympus range. The other thing that I prefer, in all honesty, is the handling. The conventional body style (especially with the grip fitted) is far more natural for me hold than either NEX. The other handing attributes, such as the menu system, are also more logically laid out. It is highly customisable too - you can make any button do almost anything. Very nice.
Thanks for the summary Chris. Sounds very very nice. Will you be bringing it to stargard next time ?
Looking forward to the images from the scopes Chris, the lunar/Nikkor looks great, nice and steady, against what most would have expected too.
Gary
Yep, me too Gary, although I have absolutely no intention to use this camera for that, nor judge its worthiness based on its astronomical performance. If it works well, then bonus!
No amp glow at all Greg - well, not that I've detected so far. I can't wait to piggy back it this weekend on the G11 and do a good 10 or 20 minute exposure. Darn moon!!!!!