4/3rd Cameras
I definately want to get a camera in this form at some point. With the emerging nature of this class of camera, is it worth waiting a couple of years before getting one? Have they started getting them right?
Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1
The Olympus PEN Mini is a no-fuss, interchangeable lens camera created for the casual photographer that wants the respectable image quality of a Micro Four Thirds system at the price and size of a compact. Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1 Micro Four-Thirds camera Affordable mirrorless marvel: Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1 Also known as the …
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Friday 25th November 2011 13:42 GMT Ru
Don't wait and wait and wait
There's always something better coming Real Soon Now.
The important bits of any interchangeable lens system are the lenses, and they're pretty good. A decent lens should last you for far, far longer than a camera will so when you upgrade your camera body in the future to one that's been 'done right', you'll have a decent selection of glass and a good few years of photographs to show for it.
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Sunday 27th November 2011 18:42 GMT FutureShock999
Licences
Olympus and Panasonic constitute the two producers of Micro Four Thirds, and Panasonic develops and sells the sensors. Unlike Four Thirds, there is no open consortia, and it is a closed system apparently, with no licenses for sale - although if one were granted to Leica it would not surprise me, as they are partners of Panasonic.
I think the smaller sensor of the J actually competes with the Oly XZ-1, rather than the larger Four Thirds sensor. As the XZ-1 has a very, very good Zuico lens (Oly's pro line), and a 4x zoom, it's hard to see where the J competes. Perhaps not having a company that is about to be delisted is a large enough advantage...
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Friday 25th November 2011 14:02 GMT Anonymous Coward
Sadly...
... I was going to bellyache about the travesty of using the venerable Pen name for this type of camera, especially as my Proper Pen still works, but actually what annoys me is the fact that I know that no matter what the equipment, I don't have the eye to see pics like the sample shots, which are just great.
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Friday 25th November 2011 14:02 GMT ssu
The cheapest micro 4/3 camera is the Olympus E-PL1. It's available with the same lenses bundled with the E-PM1. Its a lot cheaper £250 (14-42mm lens kit), £350 (14-42mm and 40-150mm lens kit).
I bought the E-PL1 double lens kit in high street photography shop earlier in the week. It seems to be a camera you can use almost as easily as a compact but with the more advanced options available like those found on an SLR, if you want to use them.
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Friday 25th November 2011 14:40 GMT An nonymous Cowerd
I just bought one
ah - but it was the older Olympus PEN E-PL1 which had a stinking 61% discount at your fave trader with the 14-42 kit lens = £250 all-up that I got. I prefer the 720p AVI video recording to the new 1080p AVCHD which is harder to edit, allegedly, on a Mac. I only get 7 minutes of video in one shot whilst the new camera in this review gets close to a half-hour. The Fotodiox Canon EOS adapter ($23) allows reuse of the old lenses from my ancient clockwork 35mm film SLR, hence saving some more dosh, have to stop-down & focus manually.
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Sunday 27th November 2011 18:33 GMT Andy Enderby 1
got one.....
Bought an e450 from Argos a few months ago. Not looked back. It was reviewed here and didn't score as highly as some, but it's the first SLR I've owned rather than had allocated to me by parent/educator. Does what I want it too and with the money I saved I bought it a shiny telephoto lens and am looking forward to having more reach when the motor sport season recommences next year. In the mean time it's seeing me through a night school photography course. A joy to use and excellent value.
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Monday 28th November 2011 05:03 GMT Mark 65
Hayden, have a look at some of the photos out there (flickr etc) that have been taken with the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 prime lens - I think there's even a site dedicated to it. This lens is often touted as a great one for street photography, low light etc. and the shots I've seen taken with it are something special - the advantage of prime lenses. 20mm works out at more or less a standard lens for this format and makes the camera incredibly pocketable. I don't have one but it's one of the things I'm debating about as a carry around alternative to a DSLR, the other being a Canon S100.
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Tuesday 29th November 2011 13:13 GMT Grease Monkey
The E450 like the E-PL1 mentioned above is an example of something that is common in the photographic market these days. When I first got into photography a camera model would last for years, my first proper camera was Pentax ME Super and they stayed in production for well over five years. These days you're lucky if a new model lasts for more than a year without being superceded. The thing is that the new model often isn't a significant improvement on the old one. Some are nothing more than a firmware upgrade and a new finish.
As a result retailers and manufacturers end up with stocks of the old model that that have to shift. Often the cameras remain current models until stocks are sufficiently depleted. List prices are usually much lower than the new model, but you have to dig around on the manufacturer's website to find them listed as current models.
The E-PL1, for example, is now two generations out of date. And sells for something like half the price of the latest E-PL3.
Just so long as you are not one of those fashion victims who has to have the absolute latest model this is a good thing as you can pick up some great kit at bargain prices, but brand new and with a full warranty. If you are one of those fashion victims of course this is doubly bad news. Not only do you have to buy a new camera at inflated prices every year, but the fact that the old model is still current and discounted means that your outgoing kit is worth a fraction of what you paid for it on the second hand market.
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