Olympus OM-1

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

Word of advice from someone who once bought an Olympus camera right after launch: wait. 

This camera will be $1999 in 3 to 6 months.

[John Matthews]

1 hour ago, webrunner5 said:

I think it is suicide at the price point they have. Even 2K sounds a bit high.

There are a slew of photographers that'll buy it, regardless of price. I'm waiting for a discount later in the year (hopefullly). Also, my experience with OMDS has been super positive so far and it would seem they treat customers fairly well IMO.

[MrSMW]

1 hour ago, Marcio Kabke Pinheiro said:

Word of advice from someone who once bought an Olympus camera right after launch: wait. 

This camera will be $1999 in 3 to 6 months.

Plus for the early adopters, your usual software hasn’t been updated 🤪🤨

[noone]

Seems to me it IS a "wow" camera but only for a couple of specific groups of people.

For SOME already high end m43 users, it might be and for adventurers who travel to remote locations off the beaten track in all weather for wildlife it might be just the ticket.

For me it is just a nice m43 camera that I am unlikely to ever buy but i hope it does sell well.

 

[John Matthews]

2 minutes ago, noone said:

Seems to me it IS a "wow" camera but only for a couple of specific groups of people.

For SOME already high end m43 users, it might be and for adventurers who travel to remote locations off the beaten track in all weather for wildlife it might be just the ticket.

For me it is just a nice m43 camera that I am unlikely to ever buy but i hope it does sell well.

 

It is true that if you look at a A7 iv and OM-1 with their respective kit lenses, they look like a similar size and weight. However, once you get to the longer focal lengths, the size comparison is no longer valid as most of the long Sony lenses are heavier than a comparable LENS and CAMERA TOGETHER- this should not be underestimated. Also, the IBIS is simply in another league. Add to that the great weather sealing, and increased AF-point density, and I can definitely see the advantage of the Olympus.

Now they need to show off the size advantages of the M43 sensors in terms of small and pocketable bodies like the GM1 with some super-small lenses.

[Mark Romero 2]

8 hours ago, kye said:

The GH5 has "HLG" but it turns out that HLG isn't a standard, it's more like a concept.  Rec2020 and rec2100 are standards, but unfortunately the GH5 HLG isn't either of them (I tested it myself).

I use rec2100 in Resolve and it does a pretty good job, but having HLG isn't worth nearly as much as it actually being a standard.

Thanks for the elaboration.

I'm a bit confused here (nothing new, really).

So in the GH5, if you shoot in HLG, you usually use a CST with Rec2100 to 709 transform? Or you are setting the color space in Resolve to rec2100 in settings and then output color space to 709?

I guess part of my confusion was that I thought HLG WAS a standard, but it was limited to certain TVs. Is that not the case? I guess I thought this because I thought I remember saying that you could use HLG and then just plug the SD card in to some of their TVs and watch things in HDR easily.

So is HLG more like a "knock off" of something like rec2020 / rec2100???

[Mark Romero 2]

10 hours ago, Davide DB said:

Internal ND filters

Yes, that is never a bad thing.

[Mark Romero 2]

I will be the first to admit that I am a dynamic range junkie. I can't get enough of it. (Hence, why I went from Sony aps-c to Panasonic Full Frame).

I am really, really looking forward to seeing some / any dynamic range and low light video tests.

In particular, what the 4K 60p DR and Latitude is going to be like.

Having said that, I will probably just end up buying an a7 IV 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[webrunner5]

Oh I agree on the lens part. But once you have gone FF it is Damn hard to go back to even APSC let alone M4/3.

[John Matthews]

22 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

Oh I agree on the lens part. But once you have gone FF it is Damn hard to go back to even APSC let alone M4/3.

Not for me. I went from M43 to a Sony A7r ii, said screw that, went back to M43 and swore I'd never leave again. Why? Size, cost (especially lenses), value, and where's the challenge in having a huge camera that you're expected to get great results? I'll probably never buy a lens for $1000 or more. I like the small cameras and lenses as they give me limitations and I can improve that way. If one day I NEED the latest and greatest that ONLY FF can do, I'll rent it. The rest of the time, I look for great bargains on M43 lenses. In most cases, I end up making money on them as so many people out there don't know how to sell their gear. It can be fun too trying out old stuff. That's how I got my $40 GM1 and $60 GH2 (great and fun backup cameras for me). Personally, I get a rush out of creating cool content on other people's old stuff.

Why wouldn't I go APSC? Lenses. Except Fuji, no one has anywhere near what M43 offers. And Fuji lenses aren't really made for video AF. Also, they're rather expensive as they're the "hot" new things whereas people are dumping their M43 systems for nothing sometimes because they often (unwittingly) think FF will save their photography/video skills- been there, done that.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

Almost all OM System videos are people on the outdoors, covered in snow to the waist, shooting under monsoons, base jumping inside an active volcano...their intended demographic for this camera is well defined.

(the last one is a joke, IP53 is not rated for volcano swimming)

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

Just now, John Matthews said:

Not for me. I went from M43 to a Sony A7r ii, said screw that, went back to M43 and swore I'd never leave again. Why? Size, cost (especially lenses), value, and where's the challenge in having a huge camera that you're expected to get great results? I'll probably never buy a lens for $1000 or more. I like the small cameras and lenses as they give me limitations and I can improve that way. If one day I NEED the latest and greatest that ONLY FF can do, I'll rent it. The rest of the time, I look for great bargains on M43 lenses. In most cases, I end up making money on them as so many people out there don't know how to sell their gear. It can be fun too trying out old stuff. That's how I got my $40 GM1 and $60 GH2 (great and fun backup cameras for me). Personally, I get a rush out of creating cool content on other people's old stuff.

Why wouldn't I go APSC? Lenses. Except Fuji, no one has anywhere near what M43 offers. And Fuji lenses aren't really made for video AF. Also, they're rather expensive as they're the "hot" new things whereas people are dumping their M43 systems for nothing sometimes because they often (unwittingly) think FF will save their photography/video skills- been there, done that.

Same boat for me, size is my number one request. Never forget my last trip, one GX85, one LX100 (for my wife), the Panasonic 12-32 (what a gem), 45-175, 42,5 f/1.7, and a Rokinon 12mm f/2. Never felt the need for something else, and everything packed in a little messenger bag. 

Moved to Fuji because of the (in my opinion) the future of the format (not by quality, but because of the FF craze), because Oly and Panny were never sold officially here in Brazil (almost all my gear was bought in trips in another countries), because Fuji have kind of good body prices in comparison (we have a 60% import tax, cameras are usually double the US price, and some Fujis are sold here 30-50% higher "only"), and, ultimately, because after m43, is who have the smallest lenses.

The 18-55 f/2.8-4 zoom is indeed very good for video, the Nocticrons are small and good enough from my needs, the 55-200 have a good size and is very sharp, and got the Rokinon 12mm again. To make it closer to my old m43 system, got a Viltrox 85 f/1.8 to replace the (motferf*cking amazing) Olympus 75mm f/1.8. 

Zero interest in full frame, because of lens size. Ok, I could play the equivalence game, getting slower lenses, but these tend to be rather lackluster - is some FF system make a buch of very small f/4-5.6 lenses with good quality, maybe I will go there (but I doubt).

For me, I trade size and discreetion for absolute quality.

[Video Hummus]

17 minutes ago, Marcio Kabke Pinheiro said:

the last one is a joke, IP53 is not rated for volcano swimming)

That’s IP666

[kye]

5 hours ago, Marcio Kabke Pinheiro said:

The problem is that the WOW moniker that OM Systems kept saying will now hurt them.

Looks like an amazing camera for stills, not so much for video. OM Digital gave all the hints in interviews that their market now is wildlife / telephoto / adventure stills - the video capabilities were upped to the current state, which could be enough for a lot of hybrid shooters.

There were some surprises in this camera, some very well thought ones, and some new tech too.

The one thing that I was sure that OM will not touch was the menu - and it was completely redesigned. Not perfect (not being touch capable is a huge missing), but the layout is much better now, and have a thing that EVERY manufacturer misses - when a menu item is grayed out, pressing OK will list which other settings are disabling this item.

The sensor is a very new one, which looks like have much better low light performance (the Phoblographer guys said that the ṕrevious Olympus cameras were only ISO 1600 usable for A3 prints, and now got a very good one in ISO 6400). The sensor is a 80mp quad bayer, but with a single lens covering the 4 pixels, and each one of the pixels is used for AF (hence the "quad-pixel AF" moniker. Very interesting stuff, used now in smartphones.

The camera looks much better than I expected, ate least for stills, but at US$ 2200 and the now "common sense" that everything less than full frame is garbage, could not be enough.

It sounds like it might be a camera for adventure photographers, but also now would be "enough" if that person decided to do video or start a YT channel on the side.  I can imagine someone new to video being told "if it has 4k60p 10-bit HLG then that's all you need".

I see quite a few outdoor photographers on YT who started their channel to talk about their photography and started by using their main camera.  

2 hours ago, Mark Romero 2 said:

Thanks for the elaboration.

I'm a bit confused here (nothing new, really).

So in the GH5, if you shoot in HLG, you usually use a CST with Rec2100 to 709 transform? Or you are setting the color space in Resolve to rec2100 in settings and then output color space to 709?

I guess part of my confusion was that I thought HLG WAS a standard, but it was limited to certain TVs. Is that not the case? I guess I thought this because I thought I remember saying that you could use HLG and then just plug the SD card in to some of their TVs and watch things in HDR easily.

So is HLG more like a "knock off" of something like rec2020 / rec2100???

The HLG wikipedia page is worth a review: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_log–gamma. Maybe I mis-spoke about it not being a real standard?  But I think "HLG" being used to market a product is more like saying something is "HDR".

I shoot HLG on the GH5 and then convert from rec2100 to rec709.  In Resolve you can do this via a CST in the node tree, or you can enable Resolve Colour Management (IIRC in the project settings) and then set the Input Colour Space of the clips to rec2100.  The colour management behaviour of Resolve is complicated, so that's kind of a different subject.

I know it's not either rec2100 or rec2020 because I took a controlled test scene and shot three clips at -1, 0, and +1 stops.  I brought them into Resolve and converted them with a CST like described above, and adjusted the exposure on the -1 and +1 to the 0.  If the colour space I was transferring them from was correct the shots should have all matched, but they didn't - IIRC there were strange differences in the gamma curve.  That's how I knew they weren't actually those standards.

However, when I set Resolve to Colour Managed and Input Colour Space to rec2100 (I think I use "Rec2100 (Scene)" - not completely sure) then certain controls in Resolve become "colour space aware" and adjust their behaviour to act appropriately for that colour space.  IIRC this is things like WB and the LGG wheels, and the WB definitely does a pretty good job in that mode, so I'm actually really happy with how that works.  
I have a bunch of "hero" shots that I've copied to my SSD in my laptop that are from basically every camera I've ever owned, so include 700D, 700D + ML, Canon XC10, BM OG BMPCC, BM BMMCC, iPhone 6, iPhone 8, GoPro Hero 3 with Protune, Sony X3000, GH5, and probably others.  I tried that mode by setting all the input colour spaces on those and then grading all the clips and it did a pretty good job across all the various colour spaces and various colour science of those, and made it pretty straight-forwards to match them pretty easily, which is a pretty good test IMHO.

[hoodlum]

Press release from Atmos confirming ProRes RAW support this spring for the OM-1.

https://f002.backblazeb2.com/file/atomos-uploads/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/15154803/PR-OM-1-ProRes-RAW-Support-DISTRIBUTION.pdf

[noone]

Low light and dynamic range are two separate things.

A 1 stop improvement in DR will always be nice.

I do not yet buy the two stops improved ISO (is it even possible?) though no doubt will be better than previous M43 cameras.

As a interested bystander (and unlikely ever to buy it), the thing for me would be if it improved DR AT high ISOS.  

Smaller sensor cameras fall away in DR more steeply in general than larger sensor cameras (case in point, my Sony Rx100iv a now aging camera with a 1 inch sensor has about the same DR as the also aging Canon 5d iii at base but by around ISO 800 the Canon FF is well ahead).

So, my question is how well this camera holds up at higher ISOs for DR compared to previous m43 cameras. 

[M_Williams]

I've been using it for about 5 days now (should have gotten it over a week ago, but Fedex + snowstorm decided to spit on that idea).

In short, I preordered as soon as it Adorama last night. The autofocus is incredible, the handheld AI features are incredible, build quality is exceptional (I put it in my shower for ten minutes).

The new 40-150/4, which they loaned me too, is fantastic as well (wish it had a focus clutch, but not a big deal).

My full review will be coming later at Petapixel but paired with the grip and the Olympus 100-400 and this thing is a wildlife photographer's dream.

Image quality is certainly at least one step above the former 20MP sensor, though I have not spent much time messing with the files so far. Where I'd limit my E-M5 III to 1600, maybe 3200 in emergencies, I'm comfortable going to 6400 here. And with the even better IBIS (which is the best out there), rarely do I need to. The auto ISO options are still the same, which is to say that they suck.

Menu has been redesigned and is SO MUCH better, thank god. I love Olympus cameras but they always had the worst menus.

[Andrew Reid]

2 hours ago, hoodlum said:

Press release from Atmos confirming ProRes RAW support this spring for the OM-1.

https://f002.backblazeb2.com/file/atomos-uploads/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/15154803/PR-OM-1-ProRes-RAW-Support-DISTRIBUTION.pdf

Does it come with a free ticket to a Wallabies game as well?

[kye]

44 minutes ago, noone said:

I do not yet buy the two stops improved ISO (is it even possible?) though no doubt will be better than previous M43 cameras.

I'm not an expert in sensor tech, but Sony did a pretty amazing job of improving the ISO performance of their A7S line from normal FF sensors of the time, so if that can be done then maybe it is possible to have similar improvements in MFT sensors.
If the GH5 is a reference point for ISO performance on MFT sensors then I'd suggest that we aren't anywhere near what is possible!

I'm not saying anything definitive here, just that Sony showed that the tech can really be pushed - presumably with serious investment in the tech, and maybe that effort could significantly better low-light to MFT cameras.

[MrSMW]

9 hours ago, Marcio Kabke Pinheiro said:

To make it closer to my old m43 system, got a Viltrox 85 f/1.8 to replace the (motferf*cking amazing) Olympus 75mm f/1.8.

One of my favourite ever lenses.

Limited use, but superb results.

There are some absolutely superb M4/3 lenses and that for me is the magic of the system, especially the longer you go.