Aside from the numerous advantages associated purely with live view (and could technically be realized with a traditional DSLR – it’s just that forcing live view only is likely to spur much more rapid development), the one key advantage to Micro Four Thirds (and upcoming systems like it, such as Samsung’s NX system) is that the removal of the mirror assembly allows lenses to sit much closer to the image plane, making for much smaller camera bodies and lenses.

The first few of these cameras – the Panasonic G and GH1 – failed completely to live up to the small form factor potential – they were shaped much like traditional SLRs, albeit slightly smaller.

The Panasonic GH1 - one of the first Micro Four Thirds cameras which didn't quite realize the potential of the formfactor

Next, Olympus released a Micro Four Thirds of its own: the E-P1 “Pen” which harked back to Olympus’ historical line of compact film cameras. Unlike the G1, the E-P1 actually began to approach what some would call “compact” – it was just 1.4in thick, though that’s not taking into account the attached lens.

Now Panasonic is jumping in on the bandwagon with their E-P1-esque GF1, which sports a slim compact-like body. The specs are nothing to get excited about, though it does have the a built-in flash that was notably missing from the E-P1. In a puzzling decision though, Panasonic decided not to implement any sensor-based image stabilization, relying on lens-based IS to counter camera shake. Unless they were denied a sensor IS license by Olympus (a possibility), I’d say this is a rather bone-headed decision, since any stabilized lenses will add weight unnecessarily (or in the case of pancake lenses that are pretty much made for this kind of camera, impossible to add in), defeating the entire purpose of Micro Four-Thirds.

The two kit lenses offered with the GF1 are a bit more appealing than the E-P1 package: a standard 14-45mm OIS kit lens and a 20mm f/1.7 pancake prime. The prime still isn’t quite there to portrait range and gets even further away from all-around wide angle utility than Oly’s 17mm f/2.8 pancake, but it does offer a much larger f/1.7 aperture.

A comparison of the new landscape in premium compacts:

Panasonic GF1 size comparison

As expected, the added IS to the Panasonic kit lens makes it much larger (22.6% longer) than the E-P1 setup. Panasonic’s pancake, however, is about the same size as Oly’s 17mm and with its f/1.7 aperture is by far the best in terms of large aperture performance (35mm equivalent of f/3.4)

If you’re in the market for this kind of camera though, the most sensible thing seems to be taking the E-P1 to get yourself sensor-based IS, and combining that with Panny’s 17mm pancake prime. Though you will be losing out on the built-in flash, which is somewhat of a must-have for a camera like this (since again, needing to carry around a huge external flash defeats the size advantage).

Good product photography - sure looks dainty doesn't it?

For those of you not already in the know, Micro Four-Thirds is a new interchangeable lens system developed by Olympus and Panasonic which is the first mirror-less digital camera system to feature interchangeable lenses.  The removal of the mirror (and associated prism and optical viewfinder) and the exclusive usage of live view for image preview enables a drastic size reduction for both cameras and lenses, and as you can see here, the new Olympus E-P1 is tiny tiny tiny.

How tiny?  The exact specs on the E-P1 are 121 x 70 x 35mm (4.7 x 2.8 x 1.4 in) and 335 g (11.8 oz) – body only, with no batteries – which firmly plants it in compact camera category.  Of course, you’ll need to attach a lens at some point before shooting, which will add some bulk, but as of now the E-P1 indisputably offers the most compact interchangeable lens solution.

The following is a run-down of things you might have already picked up from other news sources or blogs. The real interesting stuff is the size and equivalent aperture/focal length comparison, at Size Comparison.

A rundown of some other specs (and be sure to check more in-depth reviews at imaging-resource and dcresource)

• 12.3MP Four-Thirds sensor, which appears to be based off the same sensor used in the E-620 and E-30.  If that’s the case, I wouldn’t hold out for any revolutionary leaps forward (and Olympus isn’t advertising any either), though the E-30 sensor’s a solid performer given it has 1/4 the area to work with compared to Nikon’s and Canon’s best, and still thoroughly trounces anything coming out of Sony’s factory.
• A standard 3fps continuous shooting, as if you’ll be doing any serious sports shooting with it.
• Sensor-shift image stabilization.  Panasonic left this out of their first G(H)1 Micro Four-Thirds cameras in lieu of lens-based stabilization.  This was more or less a no-brainer for Olympus, which doesn’t have strong development in lens-based IS and lens IS would have completely defeated the purpose of Micro Four-Thirds with its added size, weight, and cost.
• SD format.  How many out there breathing a sigh of relief (or perhaps shedding a tear?) that it isn’t xD exclusive?
• MF-2 adapter for Olympus OM mount lenses.  An interesting option, particularly since the range of Micro Four-Thirds lenses is fairly slim at the moment.
• 1280×720, 30fps video (720p).  As one would expect, video is definitely a feature of the E-P1.  There’s nothing very extraordinary about it – the resolution is middle of the road, though you will get aperture-priority control and stereo sound.  Unfortunately, maximum recording time is limited to 2GB files and/or 7 minutes at 720p resolution.
• Lack of a built-in flash.  Though it’s not quite a dealbreaker given that its high-ISO capabilities will be far superior to that of a normal compact camera, the E-P1 does noticeably omit a built-in flash of any sort.  Olympus wants to sell you their FL-14 flash attachment that essentially does the same thing, and while it is custom-designed to match very well with the E-P1, having to carry another attachment for full-functionality somewhat defeats the purpose of a making a camera as compact as the E-P1.

The E-P1 and ridiculous flash attachment they want you to buy for basic direct flash functionality.

Oly seems to have gone all-out with the retro design, which does look different and not quite as Spartan or industrial as something like the Sigma DP1.

With the E-P1 announcement comes a couple of new lenses designed for the E-P1 in mind: a compact 14-42mm kit lens and a 17mm pancake.

M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6

The new M.Zuiko isn’t so much of a special lens – it’ll provide the equivalent of a pretty much standard 28-84mm equivalent view.  What’s interesting about the Micro Four-Thirds kit lens is that it uses a drastic retractive design that makes it really compact – 43.5mm (1.7in) to be exact.  This compared to the 61mm length of Olympus’ regular Four-Thirds 14-42mm and the 70mm length of a lens like Canon’s 18-55 kit.

M.Zuiko 17mm f/2.8

The 17mm f/2.8 pancake is probably the most interesting Micro Four-Thirds lens to come around yet.  The lens is thin – a depth of just 22mm (0.87in), and results in a camera thickness of just 2.3in when attached.  It’s also an f/2.8, which will help with low-light, though I wouldn’t hold out for amazingly shallow depth of field capabilities at this focal length on a 2x crop sensor.  As a first and only Micro Four-Thirds pancake lens, though, I find the 17mm focal to be a bit conservative – it gives a 34mm equivalent in that no-man’s range: it’s not a 50mm equivalent portrait lens, and it isn’t as versatile as a 28mm wide-angle either.  Hopefully Oly or Panasonic remedy this soon.

Amazon has the E-P1 listed at $750 for the body only, $800 for the 14-42 kit, and $900 for the 17mm kit.

Size comparison

Retro-styling aside, the name of the E-P1 game is size.  It is undoubtedly the key point of interest for many consumers, who up to this point have not really had quite a solution like the E-P1 for a high image quality camera which has almost the portability of a compact camera.  We’ll take compare the E-P1 in its two lens kits to several other high-quality compact cameras.

• Canon G10: Not a very compact camera, and it doesn’t produce very high-quality images either, but it’s included for reference’s sake since it seems to be the most popular camera in this class.
• Fujifilm F200EXR: The only true ultracompact in the bunch, the F200EXR and its SuperCCD EXR sensor is about as good as it gets, though it has a variety of tradeoffs and achieves high resolution, noise performance, and dynamic range in different modes.
• Panasonic LX3: The current king of premium compact cameras, due to both an excellent sensor and a superb lens.
• Sigma DP1: A now-aging but still unique large sensor, fixed lens camera using Foveon’s innovative X3 sensor.
• Sigma DP2: A variant on the DP1 which uses the same sensor but features a more mid-range lens.

The following table displays the size of the various cameras, along with 35mm equivalent focal lengths and apertures (for purposes of depth of field).  These equivalent specifications normalize high ISO performance (based on sensor size – this doesn’t take into account differing sensor technologies).

Olympus E-P1 size comparison

We can see here how clearly inferior cameras like the Canon G10 and Fuji F200 are, though to Fuji’s credit, its superior sensor will give it much more of a leg up on the G10 than the simple sensor size implies, and to both their credit, they pack significantly more versatile zoom ranges than any of the other setups on this list.

Panasonic’s LX3 is an interesting camera – while its sensor isn’t that much larger than other compacts such as the G10 or F200, it makes up for it with an impressive lens which packs an f/2-2.8 aperture in real terms.  While the f/9.4-13 range isn’t going to turn any heads, it really isn’t so far off from the f/7-11 range of the E-P1 (or any other Four-Thirds camera) paired with the 14-42 lens, and carries with it the advantage of a much, much more compact size (half the thickness of the E-P1 setup).

The Sigma DP1 and DP2 is where the competition gets a bit more interesting.  Ignoring the intricacies of the Foveon sensor for the moment, we can see that when paired with the 17mm pancake, the E-P1′s 34mm f/5.6 equivalent is sandwiched right between the wider-angle, smaller aperture DP1 and the narrower-angle, larger aperture DP2.  The 17mm pancake really is in a no-man’s land – not really wide enough for landscapes and not really narrow enough for portraits.  Size-wise the E-P1 is nearly the same as the DP1/DP2, though a fair bit larger area-wise.

Of course, the Foveon sensor throws a bit of a wrench into the image quality equation.  Say what you will about the Foveon vs. Bayer debate, but in its present (or more precisely, now three-year old form), the 4.6MP DP1/DP2 sensor simply doesn’t stack up with the 12MP E-P1, from a resolution standpoint and definitely from a noise standpoint.

On top of this, the E-P1 has a number of other advantages over the Sigmas, namely a video mode and the ability to switch lenses (though this somewhat throws the portability comparison out the window).

Of course, there’s really nothing like the E-P1 and 14-42mm, which provides a camera with a full 28-84mm standard range, and weighs in at 3.1 inches thick.  At this size, it’s far beyond the pocketability threshold, though it’s still far smaller than any of the regular DSLR kits out there.

So what’s the verdict on the E-P1?  Olympus and Panasonic have struck on a really innovative system here, but they’ve got a narrow window to capitalize on building the premier high-quality compact system, before Samsung’s NV system rolls around and before Canon/Nikon finally bite the bullet and buy into the mirror-less EVIL system.  The 17mm pancake is a step in the right direction, and really plays to the strength of the Micro Four Thirds format – small bodies with small lenses that bring large sensor image quality just to the very edge of portability.

There’s little to no point in trying to turn a camera like the E-P1 into a full-fledged SLR-like platform – even with the most compact kit lens they could make, the camera is far beyond pocket portability, and at this point if you’ll have to carry a camera bag around it may as well be something full-fledged like a Panasonic G1 or Olympus E-620.

Depending on the market segment you were interested in, this year’s PMA could have offered a healthy bounty, or simply have been a dud.

DSLRS

If you were in the DSLR market, there was barely anything new emerging on the landscape.  Neither of the big two – Canon and Nikon – released any new DSLRs, with just two specialty tilt-shift lenses from Canon and a “normal” APS-C prime in the new 35mm f/1.8 AF-S DX from Nikon making headlines.  Pentax, in what seems to be an ongoing niche market they’re targeting, came out with a 15mm f/4 pancake.  And Sony, surprisingly, produced nothing of note.

Nikon 35mm f/1.8 AF-S DX

Nikon 35mm f/1.8 AF-S

For the Nikonians out there, the new prime is an encouraging sign that Nikon is finally getting with the program and pumping out AF-S lenses for its entire range.  For one, this gives a modern and fast-focusing midrange prime for APS-C crop users, which will finally provide an alternative and offer some competition to Sigma’s 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM which was previously the only lens in this market segment.  Canon still lacks a real solution for this range, forcing users into the bigger and much more expensive 35 f/1.4 L.

Secondly, this, along with Nikon’s release last year of the 50mm f/1.4 AF-S, shores up the set of lenses available for its D40/D60 users, who previously had no midrange large-aperture prime solutions that were capable of autofocus.  I’ve long borne a grudge against Nikon and its ridiculous limitations on its entry-level cameras (or perhaps more fairly, the clueless consumer who would buy into Nikon’s marketing without properly examining the specifications and capabilities of these particular cameras), but even I’ll admit now that, with relatively affordable 35 and 50 primes in tow, the fatal lack-of-primes flaw with the D40/D60 can effectively be buried.

Olympus E-620

Olympus E-620

Press Release

Olympus released a new midrange DSLR in the E-620, which essentially updates the E-420/E-520 to current technology.  There’s nothing particularly notable with this release, feature-wise (though we’ll see how actual image quality and noise performance stack up), although it’s a little puzzling that Olympus, originator of DSLR live view as well as sensor-shift stabilization, dust shaker, and a number of other DSLR firsts, has gotten beat to the DSLR video punch badly by Canon and Nikon, and still hasn’t implemented a video recording feature yet, even though this should be a somewhat trivial software hack, at the very most.

Panasonic GH1

Panasonic GH1

Press Release

Cavalry for Four-Thirds (or should I say, Micro Four-Thirds) arrived in the form of Panasonic’s GH1, however. Panasonic’s G1 that came out just a few months ago was already an eye-popping camera, becoming the first interchangeable lens, large sensor camera to forego a mirror and optical viewfinder in favor of using a live-preview feed to the camera’s rear LCD or electronic viewfinder full-time, thereby opening up an enormous potential in body and lens size scaling, as well as image capture.

The GH1 is a somewhat minor update to the G1, essentially adding the ability to record video.  It was a noticeable hole in the featureset of the G1, and DPreview’s Photokina interview with Panasonic back in October tried to shed some light on this issue.  If it wasn’t apparent then, it should be readily apparent now with the GH1 that Panasonic really wanted to do DSLR video right, rather than just tack it on as a half-baked feature.

Nikon rushed out video for the D90 badly, and the result was pretty much a joke – no controls whatsoever over the exposure parameters used (it basically functions in full-automatic), mono sound, and worst of all no ability to autofocus.  It basically served to satisfy any video geek’s curiosity of producing video using sensors much larger than commercially-available video cameras, but worthless for actually producing usable video.

Canon’s 5D Mark II was a little better thought out, providing actual autofocus, but still leaving out the manual exposure controls and providing a weak mono mic.

So in comes Panasonic’s GH1, which on paper seems to be the first DSLR (or EVIL, I should say) which does video right.  The featurelist is extensive:

• 1920x1080i recording (captured at 24fps?). Sadly this is interlaced rather than progressive-scan, but this still gives far higher quality than Nikon’s 1280×720 video.  The perhaps more interesting (and odd) feature is that the sensor actually captures at 24fps, but gets upconverted to 60 interlaced fps.  This plays back better on NTSC televisions, but I know that I’ve been clamoring for a 24fps mode to give motion a more “cinematic” look.  Not knowing nearly enough about video, I suppose with 60fps interlaced that’s upconverted from 24fps, there should be a way to downconvert back to 24fps.  Or perhaps a capture rate of 24fps is all that’s really needed.  We’ll see.
• Full-frame angle of view.  Most DSLR sensors use a 3:2 aspect ratio for their sensors, and this inherently runs into a problem when recording video, because the most common HD video resolutions (1920×1080 or 1280×720) have a 16:9 aspect ratio.  The obvious solution to me is to simply record the video in a 3:2 aspect ratio (1920×1280 video), and give the user the option of using this or cropping it afterwards (most HDTVs automatically adjust for different aspect ratios anyhow).  Of course, Nikon and Canon, being stupid and wasteful, simply lop off the top and bottom hundred pixels and give you a 16:9 ratio crop from the 3:2 sensor, which effectively gives a 1.05 crop factor.  I know, not the end of the world, but why needlessly limit the full capabilities of your system?Panasonic’s GH1 goes a bit overboard in my opinion and implements a full hardware solution. The sensor is now slightly oversized, and allows for both full-frame stills recording in 3:2, as well as full-frame video recording in 16:9 (they’re just using slightly different parts of the sensor).
• Articulating/rotating screen, which allows for live previewing from a vantage point other than directly behind the camera. One of the most frustrating aspects of shooting video with a DSLR (or any digital camera, realy) is that the videographer must compose based off of the rear LCD, which necessitates that they remain in a position some a foot or two behind the camera.  This is limiting in some instances where it’s just not practical or physically possible to place oneself in that position, and restrains composition somewhat when one can’t view the LCD.  Given, Nikon’s D90 and Canon’s 5D are still cameras with video added on, and this is a change that adapts the camera better to video use, which is not necessarily a cost other companies were willing to take in light of the target market.  But in terms of videography, this one feature makes Panasonic’s GH1 infinitely more usable.
• Onboard stereo sound. We’ll have to wait until some more samples start floating in, but Panasonic’s GH1 at least appears to have a much more capable stereo microphone than the junky mono one found on other cameras.  The mic is also placed at the top of the flash head (near the hotshoe), which will likely help keep it further from noisy things like the lens.
• Lenses optimized for video. Perhaps the most exciting announcement of all is Panasonic’s new 14-140mm f/4-5.8 lens that is specially optimized for video.  Auto-focus is claimed to be “silent”, and the lens also features a “seamless” aperture, rather than the harsh 1/3 stop jumps most lenses are restricted to. Reading between the lines, I’d expect the lens to autofocus a bit slower than others, and billing seamless aperture as a feature seems to imply the ability to adjust aperture while recording, though it says nothing for manual control of this.
• Selectable aperture/shutter speed? This one is still a big question mark, as this isn’t ever explicitly mentioned in the official press releases.  However a number of previews indicate that there is some form of user control in this mode.  LetsGoDigital.com’s preview of the GH1 mentions that “Shutter speeds and apertures can be set to preference…” which is a positive indication.  We’ll see how this actually gets implemented, but any form of control would be fantastic over the mostly automatic control seen on other cameras so far.

Sigma Lenses

Sigma, however, was busy this year, announcing an array of interesting lenses at PMA.

Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 HSM

Press release

First up is an update to Sigma’s popular 10-20mm f/4-5.6 ultrawide for crop sensors.  Coming in significantly cheaper than Canon’s 10-22mm, and significantly wider than other options like Nikon’s 12-24, or Tokina’s 12-24 or 11-16, the Sigma was somewhat of a go-to choice to get the ultrawide angle of view on crop.  Like a lot of lenses, however, the 10-20 was plagued by allegations of quality control issues, specifically lens decentering which left one side sharp but the other somewhat blurry. The new update features the same 10-20mm focal length, but this time with a constant f/3.5 aperture.

While any updates are welcome, I’m not so sure an update for the 10-20mm was the highest on everyone’s wishlist.  Sigma certainly has had some of its thunder stolen when Tokina launched their 11-16 f/2.8.  I haven’t used this lens myself but it’s reportedly tack sharp and boasts an f/2.8 aperture and the usual solid Tokina heft and build quality, and a lot of photographers have flocked to this when looking for a more premium-grade ultrawide for crop.  While the new design and constant f/3.5 certainly gives hope that the optics will be sharper, I almost never found sharpness to be a huge issue when I had the original lens, and I think most issues that folks complained about were more quality control issues, rather than a fundamental flaw in the lens design.  And while the new f/3.5 aperture is larger, it’s only by a 1/3 stop over the f/4 of the old lens at 10mm, which is what photographers are using these types of lenses at the vast majority of the time.

It’s shaped up to be a good midrange ultrawide, and assuming a similar price to the f/4-5.6 it’d still be the lens to get, value-wise.  However with optics that I can’t imagine being improved by much, and a barely larger aperture, I can’t imagine the appeal in this lens for anyone who already owns an ultrawide, much less anyone who owns the f/4-5.6 version.

Sigma 50-200mm f/4-5.6 HSM OS

Press release

Next is Sigma’s budget telephoto, the 50-200 f/4-5.6 HSM OS, also designed for crop cameras.  Until very recently, the Sigma and Tamron 70-300 zooms were the budget lenses to get if you were looking to do telephoto on the cheap – they weren’t very expensive and also weren’t particularly sharp, but were still a heck of a lot better than the 70-300mm or 75-300mm junk lenses that the first party manufacturers were producing.  In the past few years we’ve seen a plethora of shorter range telephotos in the 50-200mm or so range crop up, many of which came supplied with image stabilization that benefited image quality immensely, yet were still offered at bargain $200 prices.  This 50-200mm lens finally brings IS (Sigma calls it OS – optical stabilization) to the table, but on top of this also features Sigma’s fast, fast hypersonic motor (HSM) focusing, which is similar to Canon’s USM or Nikon’s SWM and is essential to shooting fast action and tracking moving subjects with enough speed.  At around the same $200 price point, this could be a killer lens for budget sports shooters using crop.

Sigma 18-50 f/2.8-4 HSM OS

Press release

Sigma also announced a new standard zoom for crop cameras in the 18-50 f/2.8-4 HSM OS.  It’s an intriguing lens, not the least of which is because it’s the only APS-C standard zoom I know of that offers f/2.8 and image stabilization, outside of Canon’s 17-55 f/2.8 IS.  Previously the only other option for those who couldn’t afford the 17-55 IS or for those poor souls with cameras that couldn’t mount Canon lenses (kidding!) would have been either Tamron’s 17-50 f/2.8 or Sigma 18-50 f/2.8, neither of which offered image stabilization (nor faster sonic focus motors).

That said, I can’t help but feel that this lens is a bit of a compromise since it’s not actually a constant f/2.8.  It’s an intersting upgrade path for those looking to move up from a basic 18-55 kit lens, but it doesn’t offer a fully appealing solution to anyone who already has an upgraded lens – those with larger zoom lenses (like the 18-200′s and 18-100′s out there) already have image stabilization and face a dramatically smaller zoom range in exchange for only about a stop extra in aperture, if that.  And photographers who are already using 18-50mm f/2.8 lenses, which I imagine are the most interested customer base for a lens like this aren’t going to be fully warm to dropping a stop on the telephoto end just to get image stabilization (and HSM, if they really want that).

An 18-50 f/2.8 IS shouldn’t be hard – Sigma already makes one without the IS, and it doesn’t necessarily take a complete redesign to fit in a stabilizing lens element.  Maybe that’s in the works for the near future, or perhaps Tamron beats them to the punch with a 17-50 f/2.8 VC of their own, now that they’ve developed their own IS system.  In any case, someone should close in on this opportunity soon – it may not matter quite as much to Canon users but those using Nikon are for sure clamoring for such an option, and Nikon is going to release a 17-55 f/2.8 VR sooner or later (although this will probably cost $1800… so that midrange market should mostly remain intact).

Samsung NX System

Samsung NX mockup

Press Release

Photo Gallery

Hot on the heels of Olympus/Panasonic’s Micro Four-Thirds system, Samsung announced their very own mirrorless, large sensor, interchangeable lens camera system, to be called NX.  The term Electronic Viewfinder, Interchangeable Lens (EVIL) has been floated around a lot (although I find the use of acronyums rather than a simple initialism to be pretty cheesy here), but Samsung is calling these cameras “hybrids”, which I think will become equally silly once such cameras become the norm and there are no longer any DSLRs to give context as to what these cameras are “hybrids” between, exactly.

Anyhow, as for the actual system; I won’t go into the full details (you can read Dave Etchells’ excellent report on the similar Micro Four Thirds system), but in essence the NX system still uses interchangeable lenses and a large sensor, but foregoes the mirror necessary for the optical viewfinder, and instead uses live preview exclusively.  The lack of a mirror lets cameras and lenses to be engineered much smaller, and the focus on electronic rather than purely optical displays has some interesting potential.

Details are fairly vague at this point about NX.  We do know it’ll use an APS-C sensor, which instantly gives it a step up over Micro Four Thirds in terms of potential image quality, but at the same time sets a higher floor for the camera and lens size.  The release date for the system is set for the second half of 2009.  From what we can tell from product photos, the new body will definitely be very slim indeed, and Samsung definitely seems to be playing up the use of pancake lenses on this system.

Samsung has been ridiculed in photographic circles for a long while, just by virtue of not being an old camera company.  This is pretty similar to the way Panasonic (“They make microwaves!”) was treated in the early days of Lumix, but ironically enough Panasonic is now a huge player and one of the leaders in R&D and market innovation (far, far more than traditional camera companies like Canon and Nikon).  So it’s exciting, though not that surprising, to see a company like Samsung once again taking the lead and pushing out a camera like this long before Canon, Nikon, et. al. even come close to it (though of course Olympus and Panasonic get credit for pushing out Micro Four Thirds long before even Samsung).

Some talk on the interesting non-SLR announcements (of which there were many) to come.

Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S lens

Nikon 50mm f/1.4

Press release

Nikon users (and particularly all those D40/60 owners) have been waiting for this one for a long time, and it’s finally here: a (semi) affordable large aperture prime lens with a sonic motor that will focus with decent speed (or focus at all).  Previously Nikon users have had to deal with a slew of ancient lenses from the screw-driven era of autofocus – they weren’t really fast enough for fast action, didn’t even autofocus with the newer D40/60 bodies, and on top of that the optics really didn’t compare to more modern designs like Canon’s 50mm f/1.4 or Sigma’s monster 50mm f/1.4.

Nikon is promising a “newly developed optical system” with this one, so there’s at least the potential for it to perform much better than the current 50 f/1.4, and given how old the optical design is on that, it should.  Whether it stacks up with Sigma’s 50mm f/1.4 is the big question – initial pricing seems to be $440, which would undercut the Sigma’s current $500 price.  Given that it’ll be the “brand name” Nikon, it will sell bucketloads, and for a lower price and much more compact size (73.5mm diameter, 54mm length, 280g vs. 84.5mm, 68.2 mm, 520g on the Sigma) would be the more appealing option anyway for most users who aren’t obsessed with having the absolutely top-flight image quality.

More on the Nikon 50 1.4, Olympus Micro Four-Thirds mockup, Panasonic G1, Leica S2 MF dSLR, and Samsung HZ1 compact ultrazoom.

What does this mean for the market?  First of all, watch for the resale values of the old Nikon 50mm designs to plummet – it’s been clear for awhile that Nikon is shifting away from and will eventually abandon their screw-driven lenses, and it appears that they’re finally getting a move on it (now let’s have an affordable sub-$100 50mm f/1.8, shall we?).  This also snatches away a significant profit opportunity for Sigma, who only a few months ago introduced its own 50mm f/1.4 and had  the opportunity to seize this market segment as the only maker of a fast-focusing, large aperture midrange prime for the Nikon mount.

The last thing I have to say about this – manufacturers, please jump onto the IS bandwagon already.  The first of Canon or Nikon that starts pumping out 50 f/1.4 IS or 24-70 f/2.8 VR lenses is going to make me hop ship (or stay aboard) instantly.

Olympus Micro Four-Thirds camera mockup

Olympus Micro Four-Thirds camera mockup

News story

Olympus/Panasonic made quite a splash last month with its announcement of the Micro Four Thirds system.  The original Four Thirds system, which is used by Olympus and Panasonic cameras today, was set up as the first (and to this date only mainstream) mount system built from the ground up for digital SLRs.  The concept behind the system was that by using a smaller sensor (roughly a quarter the area of a 35mm film/digital sensor) and freeing itself from the limitations of backwards-compatability with legacy lenses (an issue that Nikon has had to deal with, in particular), the Four Thirds system could leverage the image quality of larger sensor cameras while condensing the size of their camera systems to make them much lighter and more compact than other camera systems.

While Four Thirds cameras have been somewhat smaller than their APS-C or full-frame counterparts, the size and weight reductions were never as dramatic as hoped.  Part of this was due to the Olympus and Panasonic business strategies, which quickly dumped the unique original designs of cameras such as the Olympus E-330 and Panasonic L1 in favor of more mainstreamed body and lens designs that were beefed up.  The larger issue was that, despite being built from the ground-up as digital systems, Four Thirds still held over many mainstays from the film era, most notably a mirror assembly box to provide a view through the viewfinder.

The newly announced Micro Four Thirds system seeks to finally achieve what the original Four Thirds system promised to be, by eschewing the mirror assembly entirely and using live view exclusively for providing an image preview (through the rear LCD or an EVF).  What this basically gives is a camera very similar to the non-SLRs available today, but with far larger sensors and interchangeable lenses.

The mockup Olympus presented here is just that, but it gives a sense of scale for how much the system can be downsized in comparison to today’s “full size” SLRs.  The body here is listed as 120x65x32mm (4.7×2.6×1.3 inch), which is a fair bit smaller than  most “compact” cameras are even (though those specs don’t include the size of the lens, which is surely going to increase thickness by a large amount).

Panasonic Micro Four-Thirds G1

Panasonic G1

Press Release

While the Olympus mockup has been making a big splash, Panasonic has been at work on an actual production model for the Micro Four Thirds system.  The G1 is a bit more of a conservative design – it definitely looks and handles just like a conventional SLR, except that it’s noticeably slimmer (45mm, or 1.8 inch thick) and of course has no optical viewfinder.  Still, the micro Four Thirds system has a long way to go realize its full potential – notably the G1 isn’t leveraging its mirrorless design to provide a fast continuous shooting mode (just 3fps) or a video recording capability, and paired with the current lenses in the lineup, the final camera setup still ends up the same approximate size as most regular SLRs (bring on the pancake lenses!)

Leica S2 37MP dSLR camera, system

Leica S2

Press Release

Following the introduction of the M8, Leica continues forging ahead into the world of digital with its new S2 and S digital SLR system.  This isn’ Leica’s first digital SLR – the company did introduce an S1 back in 1998, but it’s design was a bit more…. outside of the mainstream.

The new S2 is actually a medium format SLR (30x45mm sensor – that’s 1350 mm² compared to the 864 mm² of a 35mm sensor), and packs in a whopping 37 MP, which is pretty sweet if you’re in the high-end landscape or portrait/product studio photography business, although it’s still dwarfed by Phase One’s newest P65+ 60.5MP back on an even bigger 2178 mm² sensor)

Leica is claiming “twice as fast performance as Hasselblad H-series” cameras, and improved high-ISO performance.  Perhaps most surprisingly of all, unlike it’s autofocus-less M-series rangefinders, the S2 does autofocus, and what’s more Leica is also introducing 9 autofocus lenses as well.

How will it actually stack up to the Hassys and Mamiya’s and phantom Pentax’s of the world, not to mention the Canon (and possibly Nikon, soon?) ultra high-res 35mm SLRs that Leica is angling to compare itself to?  Just by the looks of it, it should handle much more conveniently (its ergonomics are much more like a 35mm SLR than a clunky digital MF box), but don’t expect performance (especially in the AF or high-ISO departments) to come anywhere close to the versatility that the 35mm (or even APS-C) SLRs provide.

As for the cost?  Well, it’s a Leica.  With a 30x45mm sensor.  And medium format glass.  So I’d start in the range of a half a milion.

Samsung HZ1 24-240mm (10x) ultrazoom

Samsung HZ1

Press Release

To date, Samsung’s entry into the digital camera market has been feeble, at best.  While the company’s a beast in the semiconductor industry, to date the image sensors it’s produced for its cameras have been disappointing to say the least – high noise combined with heavy-handed noise reduction processing that renders some of the worst quality images among the major players.

The sensor issues won’t really be revealed until some hard reviews come in (which won’t happen until review sites start showing some love for Samsung, which really requires them to come out with flashy high-end products, like Nikon does despite their long track record of horrendously vanilla non-SLRs), but the newest HZ1 stirs up the pot with some interesting features, most notably a 24-240mm (10x) lens in a small 1.4 inch body, placing it directly competition with Panasonic’s long running and highly succesful TZ-series of compacts.  Panasonic had long been the most versatile compact ultrazoom camera, and until now was still the only one to feature a highly useful 28mm wide-angle lens.  With the only other competitors (Sony H10 and Canon SX110) pushing out boring lenses in the 36-360mm or so range, consumers will finally have some choices if they’re looking for a versatile compact ultrazoom with wide-angle capabilities.

Samsung is still a relatively newcomer (heh, remember the days when we used to say that about Panasonic?) and really isn’t hyping any sensor technology advances with this one, while Panasonic’s 3rd-generation TZ4/TZ5 is a well-polished product at this point, so I wouldn’t expect this to be Samsung’s breakout camera that dominates the competition.  Nonetheless, it’s an interesting option with a 24mm starting point, and my guess is that Panasonic will once again start pushing the envelope, especially now that 28mm wide-angle is somewhat standard/rapidly becoming so.