Micro 4/3rds Pen leak

[Harry Lime]

From a Chinese website and already all over the web.

Olympus Micro 4/3rds with 2.8/17mm (35 equivalent = 34mm)

12MP?

Pretty much the same size as a Sigma DP2

[Al Kaplan]

Does it have an optical viewfinder? Looks interesting!

[Al Kaplan]

I hope that it has two built in programs: Tri-X and Kodachrome II.

[Darkhorse]

Looks beautiful. If they come out with a fast lens for it I may be sold.

[Jamie Pillers]

No optical viewfinder. :-(

[Jamie Pillers]

There's another thread here somewhere that points to a website with a couple more photos, including the back... which has the typical LCD screen & button configuration of most little P&S cameras. And apparently the price is going to be in the $1000 range for body and lens!

[hiromu]

Looks interesting...

[ishpop]

The new 21mm Summilux 1.4 becomes a 42mm 1.4, ridiculously sharp one at that. lol. I doubt anyone will make this pairing, but would be interesting to see the result.

[Al Kaplan]

A quick handling camera REQUIRES an optical viewfinder, especially if it has the typical lag time of cameras with LCD screens. At least it has an accessory shoe.

[Avotius]

again with the viewfinder...I guess either people are really hopeful for this to be something it isn't, ie. a digi CL, or they can't be bothered to notice this compact camera concept which the big point of was removing the mirror and prisim array to greatly reduce size while using LCD's for viewing as has become the more and more accepted way of use in the last 10 years. Don't have any delusions that this was going to be the miricle answer of the cheap compact digital rangefinder we wish for.

[Avotius]

Originally Posted by Al Kaplan

A quick handling camera REQUIRES an optical viewfinder, especially if it has the typical lag time of cameras with LCD screens. At least it has an accessory shoe.

It's funny you mention this because of a thought I have had in my head recently as I searched for a new camera to replace my Ricoh GRD. A couple weeks ago I was having dinner with a Magnum photographer and he noticed I had a GRD and mentioned that a lot of people at Magnum used them and there were a few photographer with them that only use GRD's.

GRD's are by no means the fastest cameras around by any measure, in fact in many areas they are the slowest cameras around...kind of makes you think...in the high presure environments they work in, if it's good enough for them.....

[alien8]

Originally Posted by Jamie Pillers

There's another thread here somewhere that points to a website with a couple more photos, including the back... which has the typical LCD screen & button configuration of most little P&S cameras. And apparently the price is going to be in the $1000 range for body and lens!

I've yet come across any photos of the back... do you have a link to that?

[jke]

I'll buy one. What's 17mm in dog years? 34mm? I have a 35mm finder I can stink in that shoe. Turn off the LCD and blast away. I've shot film long enough I don't need the LCD on all the time. Maybe just to check or review, but once I get a sense of what's happening, a finder is all that's needed.

Whadyathink? $550?

[dazedgonebye]

Originally Posted by jke

I'll buy one. What's 17mm in dog years? 34mm? I have a 35mm finder I can stink in that shoe. Turn off the LCD and blast away. I've shot film long enough I don't need the LCD on all the time. Maybe just to check or review, but once I get a sense of what's happening, a finder is all that's needed.

Whadyathink? $550?

I've often thought, that with a reasonably trustworthy AF system, an external finder would be the way to go on a camera like this.
Very fast for street shooting and general snaps.

[ishpop]

Yeah throw on an external finder and configure the AF to hatever fastest setting it has and have fun with your new digi that actually isn't a big chunk of a camera.

[buzzardkid]

Originally Posted by Avotius

again with the viewfinder...I guess either people are really hopeful for this to be something it isn't, ie. a digi CL, or they can't be bothered to notice this compact camera concept which the big point of was removing the mirror and prisim array to greatly reduce size while using LCD's for viewing as has become the more and more accepted way of use in the last 10 years. Don't have any delusions that this was going to be the miricle answer of the cheap compact digital rangefinder we wish for.

You're getting it wrong here, IMHO. I have not seen anybody mention a digital CL on these Oly threads but you.

Seems nobody is looking at this system because it allowns for removing mirror boxes and prism housings either, because we all agree camera's can be made without them.

People are looking for a true descendant of the Olympus Pens from the sixties, and they all had an optical viewfinder. The experience of shooting this new Oly just will not be the same as it was in the sixties, seventies and eighties shooting a Pen. I started photographing as a kid shooting a Pen-EE and if this camera would feel anything like it I would buy it, for that trip down memory lane alone already.

Shooting a Pen means holding to your eye. Not waving it around at arms length.

[digitalintrigue]

Oly should have an external EVF that mounts and electrically connects via the hot shoe.

An optical VF works although the aspect ratio isn't 4:3.

[emraphoto]

Optical finder in the hotshoe, utilize the depth of field and go nutty. Hold it up to your eye, over your head or poke someone in the ear with it.

What will really be a selling point for me (and I am most certainly VERY interested) will be it's ability to handle dynamic range.A larger sensor seems to lean in that direction.

[Al Patterson]

Originally Posted by CLE-RF

You're getting it wrong here, IMHO. I have not seen anybody mention a digital CL on these Oly threads but you.

Seems nobody is looking at this system because it allowns for removing mirror boxes and prism housings either, because we all agree camera's can be made without them.

People are looking for a true descendant of the Olympus Pens from the sixties, and they all had an optical viewfinder. The experience of shooting this new Oly just will not be the same as it was in the sixties, seventies and eighties shooting a Pen. I started photographing as a kid shooting a Pen-EE and if this camera would feel anything like it I would buy it, for that trip down memory lane alone already.

Shooting a Pen means holding to your eye. Not waving it around at arms length.

While I would love to have a digital CL, if this camera could use my Leica glass via an adapter, I would be happy. I don't usually use the LCD to compose my shots, but could learn if I had to.

[Trius]

Originally Posted by Al Kaplan

A quick handling camera REQUIRES an optical viewfinder, especially if it has the typical lag time of cameras with LCD screens. At least it has an accessory shoe.

It won't have the lag time of a P&S. It's a DSL -- no R since there is no mirror. If anything, it will be as responsive as anything else.

With the crop factor, using zone focus/snapshot mode should be a very practical option. So an external optical VF (with correct aspect ratio,) is logical for the serious shooter.

The affluent casual shooter, unhappy with P&S quality and lag time, is already comfortable with using the LCD to compose. That's a huge market.

[Pickett Wilson]

As I pointed out in the other thread, your external finder is 3:2 and the digi Pen will likely be 4:3.

[.ken]

Originally Posted by Pickett Wilson

As I pointed out in the other thread, your external finder is 3:2 and the digi Pen will likely be 4:3.

If you look at the newer Oly SLR's such as E-620... you can now switch between various formats 4:3 - 3:2 etc...

[gavinlg]

Originally Posted by CLE-RF

You're getting it wrong here, IMHO. I have not seen anybody mention a digital CL on these Oly threads but you.

Seems nobody is looking at this system because it allowns for removing mirror boxes and prism housings either, because we all agree camera's can be made without them.

People are looking for a true descendant of the Olympus Pens from the sixties, and they all had an optical viewfinder. The experience of shooting this new Oly just will not be the same as it was in the sixties, seventies and eighties shooting a Pen. I started photographing as a kid shooting a Pen-EE and if this camera would feel anything like it I would buy it, for that trip down memory lane alone already.

Shooting a Pen means holding to your eye. Not waving it around at arms length.

Seriously. Please get over the viewfinder. It's been said like 100 times already. Using the LCD is just as good as using a viewfinder - just a different way of doing it. They physically can't put a viewfinder on this camera because of its physical constraints like NOT HAVING A MIRROR which is why they are able to put the massive sensor in it whilst keeping it so tiny.

[Trius]

Originally Posted by Pickett Wilson

As I pointed out in the other thread, your external finder is 3:2 and the digi Pen will likely be 4:3.

And no one could make a 4:3 finder ...

[JonasYip]

Originally Posted by fdigital

They physically can't put a viewfinder on this camera because of its physical constraints like NOT HAVING A MIRROR which is why they are able to put the massive sensor in it whilst keeping it so tiny.

Several posts have indicated "not having a mirror" as a reason for not having a viewfinder which is rather odd, especially on *Rangefinder* forum. Last I checked many of my cameras are mirrorless yet manage to have a viewfinder ;-)

That said, it doesn't bother me that this new Olympus does not have one.

j