Visiting the past in Virginia (Olympus/Panasonic m4/3 gear)

[bakubo]

Olympus camera business returns to profit

http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/20 ... h-end-comp

Olympus’ numbers for this quarter have been released, and after a few years of red, the Japanese company is finally seeing green.

Olympus’ camera devision amassed an operating profit of 1.1 billion yen (approximately US$8.8 million) this past quarter, a massive improvement considering a year ago the numbers showed a 1.9 billion yen (approximately US$15.2 million) loss.

This impressive profit is helped thanks to a 26% increase in mirrorless camera sales year-over-year. Compact camera sales have dropped 11%, but sales revenue has remained the same thanks to consumers opting for the company’s more high-end compact camera models.

Well, I guess Olympus is not dead yet.

[bakubo]

I thought maybe I would wait for a few months, but the first day the new E-M10II was available here in Japan on 9/4 I was able to wrangle such a fantastic deal that I went ahead and bought it right then and there. Almost surely 6 months from now I would have to actually pay more, not less for one. Same thing happened with my E-M5 in 2012. They had a special promotion when it first came out and I bought one. After that promotion ended the price went higher and stayed at the higher price for almost 2 years. People who skipped it early on hoping to get a better price a few months later were very disappointed to have waited and then had to pay a higher price.

I was able to get the best price with the E-10II + 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ pancake lens kit. I added the ECG-3 grip and only paid $545 (plus 8% sales tax). Boy, what a deal I was able to get! Looks like the U.S. price for all of that is $860. I think $860 is actually a very good price for the bundle I got, but $545 is unbelievable. I had already thought I might get the pancake zoom lens one of these days, but new they are something like $300-350 if bought separately. Wasn't going to pay that much for it though. With this kit the price was trivial.

Anyway, there have been several changes since the E-M10 (I will keep my E-M10 and E-M5), but here are the ones I cared about. There are others too, also video changes, but they are not important to me.

• - Better IBIS
  
  - Electronic shutter (unlike the Panasonic 10-bits electronic shutter the Olympus one is 12-bits and seems there is no, or almost no, dynamic range or noise hit with it)
  
  - Better, higher resolution, bigger EVF
  
  - Better high ISO
  
  - New slightly more powerful battery, but same size and is forward/backward compatible with the E-M10 battery (got 3 of them) -- same charger for both
  
  - Design and ergonomics have some small changes. I am sort of neutral on this since both are okay with the caveat that these are small cameras so the ergonomics are not as good as a larger camera such as an Olympus E-M1, Panasonic GH4, A77II, A7RII, etc. I have the inexpensive ECG-3 grip that really makes a big, positive difference though. Also have the ECG-1 grip for the E-M10. These 2 grips are almost the same, but Olympus changed the E-M10II body just enough to require a different grip. I think this was pretty clearly done just to sell us another grip. That's the bad news. The good news is both grips are inexpensive.

I have been using the E-M10II for the last 8 days and it has been problem free. I am happy with it.

[bakubo]

The first time I skimmed the E-M10II review I sort of went right past a rather surprising section. It looks like the E-M10II has the best high ISO of all the m4/3 bodies.

Looking at the Raw files, we were quite (pleasantly) surprised: the E-M10 II appears to have less noise than the E-M5 II, significantly less noise than its predecessor, and even catches up in performance to the Canon Rebel T6S. That is, the E-M10 II appears to be punching above its weight with respect to low light performance, catching up to larger APS-C sensors. This is an intriguing result, and we verified rigorously via quantitative signal:noise ratio analyses, which confirmed the results you see in our linked studio scene comparisons against the E-M10, E-M5 II, and Canon T6S. We'll be investigating this further to rule out things like noise reduction at play, but color us impressed for now.

To expound on this low light Raw performance, the pattern we saw in JPEG noise performance is largely mirrored here: the Nikon 1 J5's sensor size means it has more noise to deal with, while the larger sensor of the Fuji X-T10 and its built-in color noise reduction gives it a slight edge. The Nikon D5500 does show a slight noise advantage, but the fact that the E-M10 II is holding up this well to a class-leading APS-C is interesting. The E-M10 II fairs remarkably well against the Sony a6000, which we find to be a bit of an under-performer with respect to low light image quality.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/488739 ... i-review/8

[bakubo]

The Olympus E-M10II has the new S-OVF option which tries to give the best of both worlds by allowing you to choose how the EVF behaves:

Selecting S-OVF makes the details in shadows easier to see. The display is not adjusted for settings such as white balance, exposure compensation, and picture mode.

As I have mentioned before, with my E-M5 and E-M10 I usually shoot raw so I don't care much about the jpeg settings. Therefore, in order to get a good display in the EVF (since it is showing the jpeg) I use the portrait profile, set contrast to minimum, and use the automatic adjustment (like Sony DRO+) to help open up shadows and prevent highlight blowout. These settings don't affect the raw, but give an EVF view that shows more of the scene in contrasty light. This new S-OVF setting may be even better. I haven't tried it yet though.

[bakubo]

I posted this list in February 2015 which was almost 33 months after I started using m4/3 in April 2012. The list of m4/3 gear below was what had come out after I had started using m4/3. I have made updates interspersed below in bold for what has come out since then in the last 11 months. As you can see, m4/3 is a dynamic mount with the great advantage of 2 companies supporting it with bodies and lenses. Then on top of that lots of 3rd parties make stuff for it too. I guess not dead yet. And, of course, there was already tons of m4/3 gear before April 2012.

I know that 3 years ago when I bought my Olympus E-M5 and a bunch of lenses there were some here who expected that Olympus would be gone by now and m4/3 would be pretty much dead. It may still happen, but so far things for us customers are looking pretty good. Here is a list of m4/3 bodies that have come out since I bought my E-M5:

Olympus PEN E-PM2
Olympus PEN E-PL5
Olympus PEN E-PL6
Olympus PEN E-PL7
Olympus PEN E-P5
Olympus OM-D E-M1
Olympus OM-D E-M10
Olympus OM-D E-M5 II

Olympus OM-D E-M10 II
Olympus PEN-F
Olympus Air A01

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF5
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G5
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G6
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G6
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GM1
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GM5
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF7

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G7
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8

Kodak Pixpro S-1

And the lenses that have come out since then:

Olympus 12-40mm f2.8
Olympus 40-150mm f2.8
Olympus 17mm f1.8
Olympus 25mm f1.8
Olympus 75mm f1.8
Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro
Olympus 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ power zoom pancake
Olympus 14-150mm f4-5.6 II
Olympus 9mm f8 fisheye bodycap
Olympus 15mm f8 bodycap

Olympus 7-14mm f2.8
Olympus 8mm f1.8 fisheye
Olympus 300mm f4
Olympus EC-14 1.4x teleconverter
Olympus 75-300mm f4.8-6.7 II

Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8
Panasonic 35-100mm f2.8
Panasonic 15mm f1.7
Panasonic 42.5 f1.2
Panasonic 12-32mm f3.5-5.6 pancake
Panasonic 14-140mm f3.5-5.6 II
Panasonic 45-150mm f4-5.6
Panasonic 45-175mm f4-5.6 power zoom

Panasonic 14mm f2.5 II pancake
Panasonic 20mm f1.7 II pancake
Panasonic 35-100mm f4-5.6
Panasonic 30mm f2.8 macro
Panasonic 25mm f1.7
Panasonic 42.5mm f1.7
Panasonic 100-400mm f4-6.3

Sigma 19mm f2.8
Sigma 30mm f2.8
Sigma 60mm f2.8
Tamron 14-150mm f3.5-5.8
Kowa 8.5mm f2.8
Kowa 12mm 1.8
Kowa 25mm f1.8
Voigtländer 10.5mm f0.95
Voigtländer 17.5mm f0.95
Voigtländer 25mm f0.95
Voigtländer 42.5 f0.95
Samyang 7.5mm f3.5 fisheye
Samyang 10mm t3.1 cine
Samyang 12mm t2.2 cine
Samyang 16mm t2.2 cine
Samyang 24mm t1.5 cine
Samyang 35mm t1.5 cine
Samyang 50mm t1.5 cine
Samyang 85mm t1.5 cine
Samyang 8mm t3.8 fisheye cine
Samyang 300mm f6.3 mirror
Tokina 300mm f6.3 mirror
Kodak 14-42mm f3.5-5.6
Kodak 42.5-160mm f/3.9-5.9
Kodak 400mm f6.7

There are lots more 3rd party lenses from various companies and I am not even going to continue trying to keep track of them.

Still pretty dynamic, it seems.

[bakubo]

I know that people aren't that interested in m4/3 here, but just to keep things up to date here are 3 more recent additions:

Body:

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX80 (GX85, GX7II) -- name depends on region

Lens:

Panasonic 12-60mm f3.5-5.6
Sigma 30mm f1.4

[bakubo]

Hey hauhsweah99, Viagra Pushers are generally not all that welcome around here, I think.

Waiting for some relief in Okachimachi, Tokyo. Somebody please, please take the Viagra away from this guy.

[sury]

LOL. That's a good one. Henry. Apt reply.

Sury

[bakubo]

LOL. That's a good one. Henry. Apt reply.

It looks like David has now deleted the Viagra spam post in this thread that I replied to.

[bakubo]

This is just an update of more new m4/3 stuff. I have lost track of all the m4/3 mount manual focus lenses being introduced by various companies so I won't even bother updating them.

Bodies:

Olympus OM-D E-M1II
Olympus PEN E-PL8

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH5
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G85 (G80) -- name depends on region

Lenses:

Olympus 12-100mm f4
Olympus 25mm f1.2
Olympus 30mm f3.5 macro

Panasonic 12mm f1.4

[Birma]

I agree; there is a lot of interesting new stuff coming for all of the 'chasers'. I think the Nikon and Canon releases are still just following their established ranges. Perhaps that is just the way it works when you have so much of the market.

If I was starting from scratch I think I might be tempted by the Oly EM1, or the new Pentax FF. Basically there is a lot of great kit out there and we are all spoiled for choice!

[bakubo]

I heard this recently about the difference between Americans and British:

"Americans think 100 years is a long time and British think 100 miles is a long way."

I like it.

[Birma]

That's a good one Henry!

[bakubo]

Here is a related m4/3 thread so I will link it here. That way in the future someone searching will likely be able to find both.

DxO: Sony A900 vs Olympus E-M10II

http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/vie ... =32&t=8925

[bakubo]

If I was starting from scratch I think I might be tempted by the Oly EM1, or the new Pentax FF. Basically there is a lot of great kit out there and we are all spoiled for choice!

For the last year or so I haven't thought about buying anything new since I am pretty satisfied with what I have now. I would like the Olympus cameras to wake up a bit faster from sleep mode though. My current one is a little faster than the E-M5 I bought in 2012, but still slightly slow for street work. My Panasonic G3 was just enough faster that it was good enough though. If the E-M10III improves this then that might be enough to get me to upgrade, but I haven't heard any rumors about an E-M10III yet.

Well, there is one thing I have been sort of hankering for off and on for the last few months. I have been jonesing for the PEN-F. Several times I almost decided to buy one, but each time I changed my mind. The price is rather high and, truth be told, there is nothing it has that is better for me than my E-M10II. There are some changes that some people care about: new 20mp sensor, 80mp High-res Shot mode, etc., but they aren't important to me. When it comes right down to it the body style is what I like so much and at the high price they still go for that isn't enough. Also, it uses a different battery and charger than my E-M10II and E-M10 so that is a negative.