Thread: Has m43 finally lived up to the promise?

Originally Posted by Ray

You put a much higher premium on image quality than I do and you scoffed at the notion of "good enough", where good enough was the only salient point I can EVER see regarding IQ. Rashomon indeed! And even though the author and I came down to the same place in terms of the OMD (he rejected the X-Pro while I also chose that), our reasoning in getting there was not at all the same.

Now I'm thoroughly confused. Why did you choose the X-Pro over the OM5 if not for the IQ? The OM5 seems like a better camera in every which way to the X-Pro1 apart from the IQ due to it's larger sensor. Especially since you shoot street, wouldn't the OM5 with it's fast AF be a better camera for you?

First test of the new M Zuiko 75mm f/1.8. Not a focal length that everyone will want, and not at a price that everyone can afford, but it shows some clear intent that Olympus is getting serious about making higher-end lenses again. Zooms next? (Please!)

Olympus Lens: Primes - Olympus 75mm f/1.8 ED M.Zuiko Digital (Tested) - SLRgear.com!

Originally Posted by Boid

Now I'm thoroughly confused. Why did you choose the X-Pro over the OM5 if not for the IQ? The OM5 seems like a better camera in every which way to the X-Pro1 apart from the IQ due to it's larger sensor. Especially since you shoot street, wouldn't the OM5 with it's fast AF be a better camera for you?

I didn't choose the X-Pro over the EM5 - I chose both. I just really love variety in my shooting and the X-Pro is a very different shooting experience than the EM5. And IQ means more to me in low light, where I can get shots with the X-Pro that I couldn't do nearly as well with the EM5. But I do tend to use the EM5 more for street shooting (although I rarely use AF for street). I find the combination of the EM5 with the 12mm lens and the flip up touchscreen to be about perfect for street shooting. But in low light, I can use the X-Pro in situations, even with zone focus, that I can't with the EM5. And I'm not saying I don't care at all about IQ - the X-Pro is really sweet in this regard. But the EM5 is more than good enough in anything but the lowest light, where better matters enough to me that I'm really glad to have both. if I was going to have one camera, it would be the EM5 for its greater versatility.

-Ray

Originally Posted by Luckypenguin

First test of the new M Zuiko 75mm f/1.8. Not a focal length that everyone will want, and not at a price that everyone can afford, but it shows some clear intent that Olympus is getting serious about making higher-end lenses again. Zooms next? (Please!)

Olympus Lens: Primes - Olympus 75mm f/1.8 ED M.Zuiko Digital (Tested) - SLRgear.com!

I can't really swing that one now, and not sure how I would even use it, but I cracked up when I saw that blur graph. By far the flattest blur chart I have ever seen on SLRGear.

Originally Posted by krugorg

By far the flattest blur chart I have ever seen on SLRGear.

It's pretty damn impressive, isn't it? Now I'm not going to be rusihing out to buythis lens either, and nor would I really have much of a use for it if I did, but it's good to see that Olympus has even loftier goals than we've seen so far.

Robin Wong has done some shooting with the new Olympus 75mm on his blog. Pretty impressive!

Robin Wong: Olympus M.Zuiko 75mm F1.8 Review: Street Shooting in Pudu

The Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 is also just starting to ship. So far it looks to be very sharp (if not quite 75/1.8 sharp!). CA is noticeable in some of the wide angle samples, but given the way that Lightroom 4 deals with it I wouldn't consider it to be a problem.

If that isn't enough we should see the Olympus 60mm macro and Panasonic 35-100mm f2.8 zoom in the not too distant future.

Originally Posted by Brian

Looking at the numbers on the dx info site- I am guessing they are comparing RAW output from cameras. In this case, CMOS based cameras have already performed signal processing on the chip and the CCD based M8 and M9 have not. Otherwise, the QE numbers for the M9 should be closer to 90%, or the 60% numbers are for cameras without a color filter and without an IR filter.

I completely defer to you on all things technical, but in practical terms I can't get low light high ISO color results from my brother's M9 (processing RAW files in Lightroom 4.1) that are as good as I get from my E-M5 with it's 4/3 sensor.

For me, I still see better DR from the APS sensors like the Pentax K5 than the smaller mu43 sensors. I'm basing this on what I see posted in this forum and the mu43 forum vs. the K5 shots I see on the Pentax mailing list. The latter still seem to my eye to have a more subtle range of gradations whereas mu43 sometimes looks a bit "clipped", especially the highlights. Mind you, I use almost exclusively mu43 and smaller sensor cameras like the X10, so I'm happy with these results. I just can't help but notice the differences. I suspect that as sensor technology improves further, however, these differences in DR will become increasingly moot in most situations.

Originally Posted by drd1135

For me, I still see better DR from the APS sensors like the Pentax K5 than the smaller mu43 sensors. I'm basing this on what I see posted in this forum and the mu43 forum vs. the K5 shots I see on the Pentax mailing list. The latter still seem to my eye to have a more subtle range of gradations whereas mu43 sometimes looks a bit "clipped", especially the highlights. Mind you, I use almost exclusively mu43 and smaller sensor cameras like the X10, so I'm happy with these results. I just can't help but notice the differences. I suspect that as sensor technology improves further, however, these differences in DR will become increasingly moot in most situations.

Sorry but there is no mu43 sensors, I am aware of, if you meant 43 sensors, then latest m43 cameras are matching DR of APSC sensor cameras. OM-D is clear winner there and new Pany G5 also looks promissing in that regards.

Originally Posted by Amin Sabet

I completely defer to you on all things technical, but in practical terms I can't get low light high ISO color results from my brother's M9 (processing RAW files in Lightroom 4.1) that are as good as I get from my E-M5 with it's 4/3 sensor.

This is with the M9, ISO2500, 50/1.1 Nokton wide-open. Only lighting at the roller rink is the "LASERS" and Disco lights. It was very dark, the picture is brighter than by eyesight.
Straight LR3 output. I've not shot with the OM-D, cannot compare the two. My newest u43 camera is the EP2.