The web is awash this morning in Olympus Micro 4/3 leakage...check out this page at Xitek.com for a summary. There is surely much unhappiness at Olympus over this, but hey, once it's out there, it's out there....
Mike
(Thanks to many tipsters)
(Thanks to many tipsters)
ADDENDUM: Optical viewfinder for the 17mm pancake.
What I don't get is that this looks like one of the very few compacts that have a truly responsive and natural manual focus system, yet not in a way that you can actually use.
If you are using the screen to compose, then you can not hold it and use the MF at the same time, yet using a plain clip on viewfinder (or a dedicated EVF that does not cost an arm and a leg) will not allow you to see where you are focusing.
Posted by: Mark | Wednesday, 10 June 2009 at 07:51 AM
"If you are using the screen to compose, then you can not hold it and use the MF at the same time, yet using a plain clip on viewfinder (or a dedicated EVF that does not cost an arm and a leg) will not allow you to see where you are focusing."
Sorry, but I just don't understand this. Why can't you focus with the LCD? The lens has a focusing ring so you hold the camera with your right hand and use your left hand to turn the focusing ring while looking at the screen. I don't see where the problem is. I can understand that with a clip on OVF you can't really judge focus, but that shouldn't apply to a clip on EVF where you see the same image that's on the LCD straight from the sensor.
Posted by: Lasse | Wednesday, 10 June 2009 at 10:21 AM
What I don't get is that this looks like one of the very few compacts that have a truly responsive and natural manual focus system, yet not in a way that you can actually use.
If you are using the screen to compose, then you can not hold it and use the MF at the same time, yet using a plain clip on viewfinder (or a dedicated EVF that does not cost an arm and a leg) will not allow you to see where you are focusing.
You can actually focus and compose at the same time while using the LCD. One hand holds the camera, the other focuses. The camera is light enough that this is viable (I can do this with my G1, which is larger and certainly heavier than the E-P1 will be).
It's not as nice as working with the flip-out screen as a waistlevel or with the EVF on the G1, but it is certainly viable.
The biggest downside is that unless there's a focus distance display on the LCD, you simply can't easily prefocus since the focus-by-wire lens's focus ring is not mechanically coupled to the focus system and thus rotates infinitely with no regards to focus distance unless it's actively controlling focus (Camera on and in MF mode) and there's no focus distance display on the lens.
Posted by: Adam Maas | Wednesday, 10 June 2009 at 12:25 PM
Sorry, I should have clarified that, yes it is *possible* but the system as it stands is crippling a great (and natural) way of focusing and one that is much slower and less responsive than holding the camera close and tight in to you. You are also introducing more shake because of this distance.
Some may find it fine...but removing that option for others is seriously limiting.
Posted by: Mark | Wednesday, 10 June 2009 at 02:03 PM
Mr. Crawford, does the term SLR really go back that far? I know the general type of camera is ancient, but I'm talking about the rather misleading terminology. I have only found references to the term from the past 50 years or so. Do you know of a good source for the history of the term?
The idea here was to come up with a name for the E-P1 / GH-1 type of camera that avoids a reference to the term SLR.
Posted by: Luke Smith | Wednesday, 10 June 2009 at 04:03 PM
Ummm.. hasn't a name already been coined.. EVIL. = Electronic Viewfinder Interchangable Lens
Posted by: John | Thursday, 11 June 2009 at 08:18 AM
There's a name among enthusiasts for this type of camera already.
[E]lectronic [V]iewfinder, [I]nterchangeable-[L]ens.
without the EVF part I guess it becomes an:
[I]nterchangeable-[L]ens and [L]CD. :o)
Posted by: Peter | Thursday, 11 June 2009 at 11:07 AM
How do you use an external viewfinder with an autofocus camera? Don't you have to see the auto focus patch on the rear monitor to see what you're focusing on? When you view through the external finder you know longer can see exactly what you're focusin on! Hows that work?
Posted by: Robert Newcomb | Thursday, 11 June 2009 at 12:21 PM
"How do you use an external viewfinder with an autofocus camera? Don't you have to see the auto focus patch on the rear monitor to see what you're focusing on? When you view through the external finder you know longer can see exactly what you're focusin on! Hows that work?"
It depends how well the camera is designed, which I don't think we know yet. But, if it is designed well, then perhaps the camera could be set for aperture priority with the focus manually pre-set to the hyper focal distance for the chosen aperture. That's how I would use it. (Wide angle street photography.)
Posted by: John | Thursday, 11 June 2009 at 04:55 PM
"How do you use an external viewfinder with an autofocus camera?"
More or less the same way you use an external viewfinder with a rangefinder camera, I'd expect.
Posted by: Spiny Norman | Saturday, 13 June 2009 at 01:25 PM
I've had my credit card out to buy this ever since I saw the mock-up last year, and said card has been itching ever since I got the G1 and realizes there were a few things I had a hard time living with on that one (size, principally.)
And I've had umpteenth arguments with a good friend (who only believes in viewfinders) about the great many uses of liveview on an LCD. But it's not all, is it? A viewfinder, whatever its type, is an essential in many cases, I think. So maybe they'll offer some sort of hotshoe-EVF? here's hoping.
And I am really concerned about the possible absence of a rotating wheel. If there is one thing that I use all the time, it's program-shift, or aperture-priority, and, unlike suggested earlier, I don't think any iPhone-like touch screen can be an acceptable substitute (if only because I wonder how I could frame the liveview screen while putting my fingers to change settings on it as well :))
And we need a wideangle, and not a $2,000 one like Pana is offering for the G line. The 17/2.8 is nice, but what's the point if Pana sells a 20/1.7?
One thing looks nicer though, it's the 14-42 which looks to be even smaller than the m43 14-45.
As for silence... I remember trying to find in the G1 manual where I could disable the shutter sound effect, so sure was I it was only a sound effect, and so disappointed was I it wasn't.
And, while I know that's not what should matter first and foremost, but still I can't help it: boy, is this... ugly. It really is downright ugly. The mock-up was a design dream, retro without being tacky, à la Mini. The EP-1 looks like the New Beetle.
Worst bit is, I've been dreaming for a pocketable camera with great IQ for so long I will probably buy it anyway :)
Posted by: Ludovic | Monday, 15 June 2009 at 09:00 AM
(Oh, and - ISO 200? Let's hope *that* one is an error in the leak :))
Posted by: Ludovic | Monday, 15 June 2009 at 09:20 AM
It has a hotshoe OVF.
http://info.xitek.com/news/200906/15-20900.html
Looking good! Personally, I'm still saving for a K-7, though...
Posted by: Spiny Norman | Monday, 15 June 2009 at 12:51 PM