EOS vs Olympus 4/3

[RenaudVL]

Hello,

I just found out about the Olympus 4/3 sensor.
I found this really interesting.
For this sensor gives you a 2x magnification factor instead of the Canon 1.6x

This means that you can attached a Sigma 70-200 f2.8 to it and it gives you a 140-400 f2.8 plus some bodies gives you internal stabilization...
For this combination give me a very fordable 400mm f2.8 with stabilization.

Is it just me or this is pretty amassing...

Any comments on this ?
Is there a cache ?

Thanks

Renaud

[BigBlueDodge]

The Olympus 4/3 uses a pretty small sensor. While this is great for people who like to shoot lots of tele, it make finding wide lenses more difficult. Additionally, the Olympus sensors are poor performers with Noise, since they have to cram so many pixels into such a small area. Until the release of the E-3, the Olympus camera's had very small viewfinders.

But, having the 2.0x crop does allow the casual hobbiest to get an affordable 600 f/2.8 effective FOV lens (i.e a 300mm 2.8 prime)

[pieq314]

The 2x crop factor gives 2 advantages: price and smaller size.

The so-called focal length magnification is irrelevent because you can crop a photo in post processing.

[griptape]

The 2x crop factor gives 2 advantages: price and smaller size.

The so-called focal length magnification is irrelevent because you can crop a photo in post processing.
Exactly. You're buying a camera with high noise when you could to the same thing with "digital zoom" (cropping), when no sane human being would buy a dslr with digital zoom.

Not to mention the 4/3rds format is great for 8x10's, but a giant pain in the rear for the more common 4x6 size.

[basroil]

Hello,

I just found out about the Olympus 4/3 sensor.
I found this really interesting.
For this sensor gives you a 2x magnification factor instead of the Canon 1.6x

This means that you can attached a Sigma 70-200 f2.8 to it and it gives you a 140-400 f2.8 plus some bodies gives you internal stabilization...
For this combination give me a very fordable 400mm f2.8 with stabilization.

Is it just me or this is pretty amassing...

Any comments on this ?
Is there a cache ?

Thanks

Renaud

I think it uses the same 64kb L1 cache as everthing else...:rolleyes:

The catch is the same as with everything else that's cropped, DOF issues, smaller sensor means densely crammed pixels leading to poor noise control, needs better lenses to have the same detail, loss of wide angle, and the list goes on. Not to mention that it'll be impossible to upgrade to FF because there is no such thing for the 4/3rds system. Hell, at that density, diffraction plays a roll before F8 (unless it's 36mm instead of 40mm, if you have no clue what i'm talking about, simply ignore it, beyond the scope of this thread).

Get a 50d instead, crop after the fact. It'll give you about the same density as an E300, but not tied down to it.

The 2x crop factor gives 2 advantages: price and smaller size.

The so-called focal length magnification is irrelevent because you can crop a photo in post processing.

And no, price is NOT better with 4/3rds. Look at their version of the 70-200 f2.8. If a 70-200 cost that much for a 1.6 crop body, people would never buy them... Most of their lenses are overpriced by a large margin, only the bodies are cheaper.

[JeffreyG]

Hello,

I just found out about the Olympus 4/3 sensor.
I found this really interesting.
For this sensor gives you a 2x magnification factor instead of the Canon 1.6x

Any comments on this ?

If you get a Canon G10 you get about a 6X 'magnification factor', so I guess that makes the G10 even better than the Oly if 'magnification factor' is important to you. One wonders why 'magnification factor' influenced buyers would even bother with dSLR cameras.

Is there a cache ?

Yes, there is a catch. Catch 22 I believe. The smaller the sensor the more you must magnify the captured image from sensor to print. This in turn demands greater lens resolution and delivers more noise in the image. People who demand higher IQ will always use the largest format (larger sensor).

[picturecrazy]

I just think it's sweet that they have F/2 zooms. too cool. :)

[JeffreyG]

I just think it's sweet that they have F/2 zooms. too cool. :)


Panasonic LX3 is f/2 also. Nice for a P&S. Almost as good as f/8 on a 5D.

[K6AZ]

I bought an E-420 as a Christmas present for my wife. I wouldn't buy one as a replacement for long glass but it does have some definite selling points for certain people - very small and light is probably the biggest one. It is not something I would use in low light but for casual photographers who do mainly daylight shots or short range indoor flash shots it's a nifty little camera. It is not bad with noise up to ISO 800. You can definitely notice the noise at 1600.

[tkbslc]

Panasonic LX3 is f/2 also. Nice for a P&S. Almost as good as f/8 on a 5D.

You are only referring to DOF. How about shutter speeds?

for the OP:
The 2x mag factor is cool for telephoto, but how about wide angle?

[Sean]

You are only referring to DOF. How about shutter speeds?

for the OP:
The 2x mag factor is cool for telephoto, but how about wide angle?

They have some pretty wide zooms. 7-14 and 9-18 and an 8mm prime.

[NeoTokyo]

I knew a jackass that is going after wedding photography with a 4/3's setup. He isnt a Jackass because of that though, he did a lot of bad things and feels that he is in the right and a perfect person of god.

General rules for everyone!

*Pedophiles are bad people, hit them with your car when you see them! Repenting to god doesnt make it OK to be one!
*No means NO, not freak out and bash her car up because it hurt your feelings, SHE IS MARRIED AND IS NOT INTERESTED!!!
*Dont walk into a studio without a lick of experiance and claim you are better than them because you have an "EYE" for it!
*Dont use your fathers extreme wealth to keep you out of trouble, learn from your mistakes and be a better person!


Anyways back on track, the images from his camera were very noisy but it was small and lighter than my 40D and L glass combos. He claimed he spent more on his with the kit lens (Whatever lens that is.) I think he said it was $1500 dollars.

Hope the non-rant section of my reply helps :)

-Eric-

[JeffreyG]

You are only referring to DOF. How about shutter speeds?

Try the 5D at f/8 and ISO800 against the LX3 at f/2 and ISO100. The 5D will have better IQ and less DOF.

The point is this: The LX3 is a great P&S when compared to other P&S cameras, but that does not suddenly make it comparable to a dSLR.

The Oly 4:3 sensor line is great for when you want something smaller than other dSLRs but faster handling and better IQ than P&S cameras.

Think of all of these sensor sizes in a continuum, and you will realize that the big trends track with the sizes. Smaller sensors mean smaller, lighter cameras that are cheaper and have worse IQ. Larger sensors mean bigger, heavier cameras that are expensive (including expensive lenses) and have better IQ. Somewhere in the range is the best fit for each person.

[daleftw]

My mate bought a E420 or something, and I was surprised as how tiny it was. Suppose it meets his needs, whereas I like my 17-55 2.8 and soon to be, 40D.

[MarKap77]

One thing that most of you are ignoring about the Olympus cameras is their inherently better color rendering over either Canon or Nikon.

I was on a dive trip this past summer with a number of underwater photographers. Most were just amateurs like me, although there were a number of very good photographers. One guy, who was probably the most experienced diver and underwater photographer on the trip (30+ years in the business) is a true Olympus fanatic. Because of the colors they produce. A lot of underwater photographs have to be altered after the fact to get the color saturation you see in most magazines, but the Olympus images don't. Some of that can be attributed to better skill of the photographer, since he is well versed in how to get an image in the challenging situation of underwater strobes, water absorption of light, etc.

Anyway, don't run down the Olympus cameras too much. They make excellent images. I had an E-300, but switched to Canon because of the wider selection of lenses.

Regards

[MarKap77]

I knew a jackass that is going after wedding photography with a 4/3's setup. He isnt a Jackass because of that though, he did a lot of bad things and feels that he is in the right and a perfect person of god.

General rules for everyone!

*Pedophiles are bad people, hit them with your car when you see them! Repenting to god doesnt make it OK to be one!
*No means NO, not freak out and bash her car up because it hurt your feelings, SHE IS MARRIED AND IS NOT INTERESTED!!!
*Dont walk into a studio without a lick of experiance and claim you are better than them because you have an "EYE" for it!
*Dont use your fathers extreme wealth to keep you out of trouble, learn from your mistakes and be a better person!


Anyways back on track, the images from his camera were very noisy but it was small and lighter than my 40D and L glass combos. He claimed he spent more on his with the kit lens (Whatever lens that is.) I think he said it was $1500 dollars.

Hope the non-rant section of my reply helps :)

-Eric-

Not trying to be disrespectful, is it just me or is this post weird?

[RenaudVL]

Hello and thanks every one,

My main interest is birding, I should have said so in the original post.
I believe that my 40D with my 300 f4 L IS with a Kenko 1.4x will surpass the Olympus 4/3 and a sigma 70-200 f2.8. But it was more the possibility of having a 400mm f2.8 that was really appealing to me...

Good point where made by all and thank you for that...

Renaud

[tkbslc]

Try the 5D at f/8 and ISO800 against the LX3 at f/2 and ISO100. The 5D will have better IQ and less DOF.



But also 16 times the shutter speed. And what if you NEED f2 shutter speeds? I guess you can buy a F2 prime for the 5D, but Olympus makes some great f2 zooms.

Also, many situations call for greater DOF, so a 2x crop can have an advantage.

All cameras and systems have their strengths.

[erure]

The only reason why I got an E-420 is because it was small and light -- it's only slightly bigger than my G9. However, I did not know how much noise there would be in the photos -- it's much worse than the Rebel series, so it deterred me from taking it everywhere... To me it was like a P&S upgrade since it's so small, especially with the pancake lens.

[NeoTokyo]

*Note* if the mods feel this is too off topic they can remove it, I wont be offended.

Mark: I let this guy into our lives because I thought he was a nice guy at first and another California native stuck in Missouri. Well as time went on things got really weird with him.

Long story short, he is a bad person, did a lot of bad things and I had to run him off because he was trying to lure a 12 year old neighbor girl to his car and home. He was also coming over during the day and just walking in to our house while I was at work.

My wife had to start having a girlfriend come over because she was scared that he might do something.

The day before I ran him off he walked into my house while I was at work, solicited my wife directly and when she told him no and that's how it would always be he then freaked out and bashed up her car.

We called the police and told them the whole story but they didn't do anything because they said there was not enough evidence to prove that it was him. They also did nothing about him trying to lure the girl because they cant just act on claims.

Anyways it was just a rant. The whole thing makes me very very very angry that a person like this can walk around Scott free.

He is going to piss off the wrong person one day when trying to "Score" with their kid and he will end up in a place he doesn't want to be.

We knew this guy for about 2 years, he didn't get really weird until about the last month or so.

Probably not the best place for a rant but the whole 4/3's thing struck a cord...

For those of you that have children and children in your neighborhood, watch the people around them because you really cant trust anyone. That girls parents lived right next to the pool and never saw what was happening.

Just watch your kids and keep them safe.


PS. This guy is trying to start a wedding and SCHOOL photography studio when he gets to Portland Oregon.

I dont want to get in trouble for saying what his business name will be so his """Legacy""" probably wont go that far with his """Photography""" there in Portland.

I also dont want to get in trouble for saying his name but just like """HOWARD""" the duck he wont be at any """HELM""" any time soon.

(If some of you dont get that, read it again and be forewarned in the Portland area, he will probably show up by the end of 2009' right now he is in South West Missouri.)

[blary54]

My first SLR (which I still have) was an Olympus E500. I switched to canon because of the larger lens selection and I personally believe that full frame is the future of digital photography. I didn't want to invest anymore money into the 4/3s system.

However I found my Olympus SLR took excellent pictures(noise was not an issue). I also like how small and compact the cameras and lenses were. I found it much more convenient to travel with my E500 than my 40D. It was an excellent first camera for me.

Also say what you will about the senor, but Olympus makes excellent glass.

[chardinej]

...snip
smaller sensor means densely crammed pixels leading to poor noise control, snip

It is not the density of the pixels but the size of them that affects noise. The smaller the pixel, the less light it can collect per unit time and the lower the signal-to-noise ratio.

[Mark]

The Olympus 4/3 uses a pretty small sensor. While this is great for people who like to shoot lots of tele, it make finding wide lenses more difficult. Additionally, the Olympus sensors are poor performers with Noise, since they have to cram so many pixels into such a small area. Until the release of the E-3, the Olympus camera's had very small viewfinders.

But, having the 2.0x crop does allow the casual hobbiest to get an affordable 600 f/2.8 effective FOV lens (i.e a 300mm 2.8 prime)

No it doesn't the Oly 300 2.8 is crazy expenisve (600/4 territory) :(
All the good Oly glass is crazy expensive, which, coupled with the relitively poor high ISO performance is why I switched to kanon :)