No, no that one; that’s the very wonderful E-M1 I picked up for Kevin this morning (lucky boy). For me, I bought this:
It’s the very sexy Raspberry Pi camera with 5 megapixels of throbbing image capture, plus the rather surprising capability to capture HD video. A noticeable lack of on-camera controls, but that is what the Pi is for. With one of these, who need an E-M1 (the answer to that is probably “me” having played with Kevin’s for 5 minutes).
Comments 🔗
2013-10-17| The Heavyweight saysI read about the Sony α7 and α7r - full format sensor in a body probably about the size of an m4/3. I know, Sony isn’t Olympus when it comes to making cameras, but I’m still curious how good that camera is, compared to current m4/3 and FF
2013-10-17| Spike saysSteve Huff had some views yesterday: http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2013/10/15/hands-on-1st-impressions-the-sony-a7-a7r-and-rx10/ In summary the following are better individual features on the E-M1: Better EVF Faster focusing More solid construction Looking at the E-M1 compared to the Sony, the Olympus has many more controls on the body. Overall, the E-M1 is a better camera in ever respect to the Sony, apart from the sensor size. So if you need a full frame for some reason, this might be a camera to consider, But:
As with the NEX when it first came out, the initial lens choice is not very inspiring. It has a way to go as a system. May be a killer offering in 3-4 years if the lenses arrive and Sony can start making bodies that feel like cameras and not electronic gadgets.
Doesn’t interest me, I get IQ I am very happy with from M43. And I have access to all the gorgeous, diminutive lenses. And having played with the E-M1 for an hour or so, what an amazing camera!
2013-10-17| Andrew saysI think part of the attraction of the Sony is the chance to use all your old 35mm film lenses (via adapter ) since they will cover the sensor - yes lenses designed for digital ( as Olympus has done ) usually give better results but some fine film lenses should prove more than adequate and in the older days of film and manual focusing many of those lenses were not bigger than the new m4/3 ones….however spending north of $2000 just to be able to focus manually and have no exif data or profiles could be like buying a Bugatti Veyron just to drive around the farm… fairly decent review at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnvgceTEV3c from the Camera Store…
2013-10-17| Spike saysOr sell that expensive Leica body and use all your Leica lenses with it. Better IQ and more accurate focusing for a fraction of the cost.
2013-10-17| Kevin Moore saysSat at my pc with a towel over the keyboard to soak up the drool which just can’t be helped whilst viewing camera porn. I can’t praise Spike’s Pattaya Days Micro Four Thirds Gear Acquisition Service highly enough. For the price of a few beers and a mere 9 Baht surcharge this is an amazing service. What really surprised me today ( a very pleasent surprise ) was the fact that the shop gave a 10% discount as a launch offer until th eend of the month. This brought the price down to a UK equivalent of £900 and then factor in a VAT refund of around £60 brings the price to around £840. In addition to this price, they’ve thrown in a four thirds adaptor ( which you can claim here in the UK from Olympus after purchase ) along with an 8GB sandisk card and a lens case whatever that is.
Back here in ripoff UK the cheapest pre order price ( camera went on sale from Monday this week ) was £1,299. No free memory card or lens case. That’s a difference of a mere £459 ! ( most suppliers were generously offering free delivery )
Really looking forward to getting to play with it in twelve days time and I’ve just heard from Spike and looks like he’ll be drooloing over his own and not mine by the end of the month.
As for the new Sony, from what little I’ve read so far it does sound like it’s set to be a very good peice of kit but I’m certainly in no rush to swap. Whilst shooting Nikons professionally for the last ten years, I’ve only really upgraded through the newer models when the offered really good advances in say high ISO noise performance going from D2x to D3 which was important to me. When the D4 arrived I had no desire to move on as the D3 was more than enough camera for me to produce the goods.
The one really big issue for me with the E-M5 was the small EVF. Once you’re used to a large viewfinder like the D3 I did find it uncomfortable looking at the world through a much smaller window and this is the main reason for change for me. I’m sure other than the EVF issue my images won’t suddenly become vastly better and the E-M5 was more than capable of accomodating my limited talent with room to spare.
2013-10-17| Spike saysYou are going to delighted when you look through the viewfinder of the E-M1; it’s a revelation compared to the E-M5, which was a revelation compared to the GX1, which was a revelation compared to the GF1, which was a revelation compared to squinting at the rear screen.
Isn’t progress wonderful?
2013-10-17| The Heavyweight saysProgress is wonderful, especially for the manufacturers ;-)
Regarding the Sony, I don’t know what to think. I know the sensor is excellent, the cameras look great on paper, and many reviews highly tout other Sony camera’s wonderful abilities. But many enthusiast photographers seem to avoid the Sony cameras. But I don’t know whether that is for image quality, or other reasons.
I wouldn’t buy one because I’m suspicious WRT image quality. In reviews there always seems to be a small ‘but’ about this aspect. I would only buy one if Spike bought one and said it’s great ;-)
Congrats on the new camera Kevin, and Spike (on the new camera you’re going to get soon) ;)
2013-10-17| Spike saysFrom my brief play with a Sony NEX, it felt like a gadget more than a camera; hard to describe.
Rumours of my acquisition of an E-M1 have been overstated by Kevin, particularly because I haven’t told my wife yet. There is another rumour that my neighbour Nik came round this afternoon to look at the E-M1 and has gone off and ordered one. His E-M5 is on Craigslist.
2013-10-17| Kevin Moore saysPerhaps you could say to your good lady, that it is a business investment. You have officially launched the Pattaya Days Micro Four Thirds Gear Acquisition Service and you think it would give prospective customers confidence in your business.
If they can see you buying the same item for yourself as you would for a customer, they knowing your boundless knowledge of cameras would realise that it would be a good service to use.
Having had the pleasure of meeting your good lady, I’m aware that she’s quite smart and maybe wouldn’t fall for this load od crap unless you say treat her to a nice bottle of wine ( all of the bottle ) first.
2013-10-17| Andrew saysSo when do we see the glorious 5 MP results??? - I have and used ( not now-it broke ) a Canon G5 and thought at the time that 5 MP was really just wow….and now that the “retro” style is about things I remember using I feel older every day…..
2013-10-18| Bob James saysHere’s another one (I think). It’s not the same as you bought, right?
Raspberry Pi Introduces the NoIR Infrared Camera Module for Low Light Photography http://petapixel.com/2013/10/18/raspberry-pi-ditches-infrared-filter-better-low-light-photography/
2013-10-20| Spike saysNo, I bought the standard model. Good that they are bringing out more options though.