Olympus OM-1

[webrunner5]

3 hours ago, John Matthews said:

I disagree. People spend vast sums of money on phones, just to have the latest camera. Just buy a proper camera and lens, it'll be great. I don't stick to one brand as I have lots of Panasonic stuff; however, I stick with one format because it would get super-expensive otherwise.

Well my problem is I always seem to have 3 to 4 different brands at the same time. I am down to 3 now, Whoopee, But you get the point.

[noone]

20 hours ago, kye said:

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.

The FIRST version A7s is STILL the camera with the highest DR of all above ISO 12800 (at least by DXO).

The latest version A7siii is a bit behind the original A7s for lowlight ISO BUT it has a LOT more detail at all settings probably due to being 80mp in subpixels or however they describe it (so not really 80mp but maybe not really 12mp either).

This new Olympus seems to d something similar so I kind of expect the same....Lots more detail at most settings but no or only a little improvement in terms of high ISO.

[Video Hummus]

8 hours ago, Amazeballs said:

Ok, let's do a fact check on this one. MFT vs FF.

1. Olympus 12-100 f4 - 1300$

1. Tamron 28-200 f2.8-5.6 - 729$. Same weight.. but in terms of m43 it has f1.2-2.8 aperture! And its almost half the fricking price! Nice macro capabilities as well. 

Not exactly the same but I see your point. 

[kye]

3 hours ago, noone said:

The FIRST version A7s is STILL the camera with the highest DR of all above ISO 12800 (at least by DXO).

The latest version A7siii is a bit behind the original A7s for lowlight ISO BUT it has a LOT more detail at all settings probably due to being 80mp in subpixels or however they describe it (so not really 80mp but maybe not really 12mp either).

This new Olympus seems to d something similar so I kind of expect the same....Lots more detail at most settings but no or only a little improvement in terms of high ISO.

Ah, I was thinking more about just image quality in high ISOs (ie, images don't look like there's a technicolour snowstorm), rather than DR in high ISOs, but DR is a reasonable part of the image so that makes sense.

[Jimmy G]

22 hours ago, John Matthews said:

 

 

21 hours ago, John Matthews said:

Here's the final product. Cool!

I was just going to post these, but you beat me to it, looks like OM Systems has set a high bar for MFT!

I'm impressed with the noise performance and DR in this mostly-dark shoot, shadows look great to my eyes all-the-while not blowing out the streaming sunlight coming through the trees. Also, doing a frame-by-frame-advance look at the fast panning and cable cam shots it looks like rolling shutter is extremely minimal to nearly imperceptible in all but the quickest of frame travels (or maybe it wasn't there at all and I was looking at naturally bent trees?)...truly impressive. And the slow motion shots do not seem to exhibit any line-skipping/moire artifacts, so I'm guessing a true down-rezzed 4K to 1080 for the ultra-slow shots?

Nice job, OM folks! Hopefully, Panasonic followed suit with some creative filmmakers to showcase the GH6 release next week?!

Great times, these! 🙂

[androidlad]

It seems OM1 has really good internal NR, applied at RAW debayer level:

https://www.geh-photo.org/post/die-om-1-im-praxistest?continueFlag=143e81367b1d01290587846ff81073b9

Left EM1X, right OM1

 

OM1 ISO40000, yes forty thousand.

[John Matthews]

15 minutes ago, androidlad said:

It seems OM1 has really good internal NR, applied at RAW debayer level:

https://www.geh-photo.org/post/die-om-1-im-praxistest?continueFlag=143e81367b1d01290587846ff81073b9

Left EM1X, right OM1

 

OM1 ISO40000, yes forty thousand.

That basically looks like when you process photos through DXO PhotoLab 5. That's pretty amazing for photos! My guess is that it carries through to videos... on a side note, this increase in processing will make the digital teleconverter that much more useful (to be confirmed). The way I wrap my head around it is that it's not only processing, but the raw capture is downresed in a similar way you'd downres 4k to 1080p and it would give significant noise performance.

[sanveer]

23 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

It seems OM1 has really good internal NR, applied at RAW debayer level:

I noticed that from the pics online too.

The OM-1 seems quite promising, though it could have done with a CfastCF Express Type cards (much higher buffer?), higher video bitrates, 4k at 120fps, a faster mechanical shutter, and a $1999 price tag to capture a larger market(?)

[hoodlum]

59 minutes ago, androidlad said:

It seems OM1 has really good internal NR, applied at RAW debayer level:

https://www.geh-photo.org/post/die-om-1-im-praxistest?continueFlag=143e81367b1d01290587846ff81073b9

Left EM1X, right OM1

 

OM1 ISO40000, yes forty thousand.

According to the article OM is licensing AI-Denoise from Topaz. 

[androidlad]

5 minutes ago, hoodlum said:

According to the article OM is licensing AI-Denoise from Topaz. 

In the OM software "OM Workspace" yes, but not internally in-camera.

[John Matthews]

3 minutes ago, androidlad said:

In the OM software "OM Workspace" yes, but not internally in-camera.

Important point.

[John Matthews]

Here are few important things to note about the OM-1 when comparing it to FF:

1. It's bleeding-edge IBIS.
2. It's bleeding-edge PDAF density on a sensor.
3. It's bleeding-edge AI and processing in many respects.

Those are very important points to many people and cost money to develop. IMO, this camera's made specifically for longer lenses (also, most of their marketing is going in that direction with wildlife/landscape shooters being the niche). I'm willing to bet they've go something else for another market in their pipeline coming out soon-ish.

[hoodlum]

38 minutes ago, androidlad said:

In the OM software "OM Workspace" yes, but not internally in-camera.

According to below google translation the person from that article was using OM Workspace to process their RAW files.

"In the software (OM Workspace, since Lightroom does not yet know the OM-1), an AI DeNoise from Topaz that has been optimized for the OM-1 is already integrated. I tried that."

[hoodlum]

From the same article he posted 50MP Hand-held High-Res images that was shot at 500mm (150-400 + 1.25tc).   I am surprised it could work at that focal length hand-held.  This should bode well for most static scenes.

[MrSMW]

10 hours ago, John Matthews said:

I'm willing to bet they've go something else for another market in their pipeline coming out soon-ish

The only thing I can think of might be a higher res model...but then the OM-1 has both a handheld and tripod hi res mode so...

They don't need a battery grip model as there is an additional battery grip available.

So I don't know, - maybe the 'one and done' approach is all that is needed while they develop the OM-2 (speculation at a rumor site near you soon!) and depending on sales of this 'first' version?

I've read a lot of comments on various channels now re. both OM-1 and GH6 and OK yes, the OM-1 has a slight current advantage in chatter terms because it's been officially launched whilst the GH6 has only been leaked (deliberately of course to counter some of the OM-1 chatter) and it doesn't matter whether it's a Panny or 'Olympus' focused or barnad agnostic channel, but there seems to be more love (and surprise) going in the OM-1 direction and less (and quite a bit of criticism) for the GH6?

I'm surprised at my own reaction really which is (not GAS, but need related) in that the OM-1 ticks every single box for me regarding my video needs...and I mean EVERY single need) and I doubt the GH6 will and my current FF combo of S1H and S5 do not.

Photography needs, not so sure and I don't think I could know the answer to that until I had tested myself so my S1R won't be going anywhere until that question was answered.

So for now, the OM-1 has been marked 'potential' for my video needs.

I'm still going to wait a few days and see what the GH6 is exactly, but the call I have to make is soldier on with a compromised system I cannot fully rely on (and have to fudge to get a result in my specific use case), or take the very narrow window of opportunity to start my next season of 33 booked jobs (after 2 years of drought) having removed all the compromise and fudging.

I'm one of those people that hate change for the sake of change. I like and want as much consistency as I can get, but sometimes when you know you are just fighting the tide, it's better to take a hit and come back stronger.

Decision not final, but mostly over the other side of the fence as things stand...

[Django]

Same here.. never thought I'd be impressed over a MFT Olympus but one can't deny they've been very smart with the timing of this release! Quad-Pixel AF is such a breakthrough. But it remains to be seen exactly how good it is on video (smoothness & stickiness). 

Most of these "bleeding-edge AI and processing" features seem photo oriented. DCI 4K60p, LOG and 10-bit are all nice but to be expected and that low bitrate is a concern. How that log footage holds up and grades will be key but overall on the video side, GH6 should logically have a very clear advantage.. except on AF, which of course could be a deal breaker for many (and not so much for a hand few). 

[kye]

2 hours ago, MrSMW said:

The only thing I can think of might be a higher res model...but then the OM-1 has both a handheld and tripod hi res mode so...

They don't need a battery grip model as there is an additional battery grip available.

So I don't know, - maybe the 'one and done' approach is all that is needed while they develop the OM-2 (speculation at a rumor site near you soon!) and depending on sales of this 'first' version?

I've read a lot of comments on various channels now re. both OM-1 and GH6 and OK yes, the OM-1 has a slight current advantage in chatter terms because it's been officially launched whilst the GH6 has only been leaked (deliberately of course to counter some of the OM-1 chatter) and it doesn't matter whether it's a Panny or 'Olympus' focused or barnad agnostic channel, but there seems to be more love (and surprise) going in the OM-1 direction and less (and quite a bit of criticism) for the GH6?

I'm surprised at my own reaction really which is (not GAS, but need related) in that the OM-1 ticks every single box for me regarding my video needs...and I mean EVERY single need) and I doubt the GH6 will and my current FF combo of S1H and S5 do not.

Photography needs, not so sure and I don't think I could know the answer to that until I had tested myself so my S1R won't be going anywhere until that question was answered.

So for now, the OM-1 has been marked 'potential' for my video needs.

I'm still going to wait a few days and see what the GH6 is exactly, but the call I have to make is soldier on with a compromised system I cannot fully rely on (and have to fudge to get a result in my specific use case), or take the very narrow window of opportunity to start my next season of 33 booked jobs (after 2 years of drought) having removed all the compromise and fudging.

I'm one of those people that hate change for the sake of change. I like and want as much consistency as I can get, but sometimes when you know you are just fighting the tide, it's better to take a hit and come back stronger.

Decision not final, but mostly over the other side of the fence as things stand...

It's a rare day when a camera ticks all boxes for anyone..  I'd suggest buying a lottery ticket!

It will be interesting to see people really put the OM-1 (and GH6) through their paces, both technically and also with the image.  Unfortunately cameras tend to be mine-fields of incompatible features, like not supporting feature X while feature Y is on and it's in resolution Z, etc.  It needs the Gerald Undone treatment essentially.  Hopefully someone will post some SOOC footage soon and we can see how robust the image is, etc..

[John Matthews]

1 hour ago, MrSMW said:

So I don't know, - maybe the 'one and done' approach is all that is needed while they develop the OM-2 (speculation at a rumor site near you soon!) and depending on sales of this 'first' version?

Maybe. My impression is also that a integrated battery grip model is unnecessary at this point. However, my guess is that a PEN-F ii will be on the horizon. I only judge it because OMDS is demonstrating that they are also a company that commemorates the past and so many people have asked for a new PEN-F. The E-P7 didn't cut it in its build quality.

 

1 hour ago, MrSMW said:

I've read a lot of comments on various channels now re. both OM-1 and GH6 and OK yes, the OM-1 has a slight current advantage in chatter terms because it's been officially launched whilst the GH6 has only been leaked (deliberately of course to counter some of the OM-1 chatter) and it doesn't matter whether it's a Panny or 'Olympus' focused or barnad agnostic channel, but there seems to be more love (and surprise) going in the OM-1 direction and less (and quite a bit of criticism) for the GH6?

I think the GH6 is going to be super niche with a fan on it. Whatever AF solution they come up with, it'd better be 2022, not 2014. The video specs will be amazing, I'm sure.

 

1 hour ago, MrSMW said:

I'm still going to wait a few days and see what the GH6 is exactly, but the call I have to make is soldier on with a compromised system I cannot fully rely on (and have to fudge to get a result in my specific use case), or take the very narrow window of opportunity to start my next season of 33 booked jobs (after 2 years of drought) having removed all the compromise and fudging.

Good for you to get a bunch of jobs lined up. Not easy in this economy. That's great!

[kye]

21 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

I think the GH6 is going to be super niche with a fan on it.

Is this because it will impact the weather resistance?  If that's what you mean, it makes sense.  I've always been too afraid to test that kind of thing!

[John Matthews]

10 minutes ago, kye said:

Is this because it will impact the weather resistance?  If that's what you mean, it makes sense.  I've always been too afraid to test that kind of thing!

Yes. What I meant was weather sealing, size, weight, bulk and look. From the photos I've seen, it doesn't really look like a hybrid camera anymore. Like someone else said, it's a mini S1H. Personally, I think that's really cool, but I'm not sure how "run and gun" it'll be or if the AF is just hype with no substance or the real deal.