[whatever7]

That's a bit of a baseless statement; they've only made one pancake lens prior to this, but that was for 4/3, and the majority of development after that was diverted to m4/3. There'll be another pancake for this available within a few months with the Panasonic 20mm f1.7, and in interviews top Olympus officials have stated that the company was surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to first the 25mm pancake and now these more recent efforts, and that compact prime lenses were high on the priority list as a result. They've only just started; let's not judge just yet.

...

How is that a baseless statement? Olympus had more than 5 years to make compact lens for the 4/3 format and they have only made one. And 4/3 is supposed to be the smallest DSLR system.

He didn't mention any future pancakes but a UWZ and a superzoom.

Neither the 25mm, the 17mm and the Panasonic 20mm is wide enough. As long as they don't release one wide angle pancake I can order from B&H, I don't consider m4/3 a viable system. Bookmark this post if you want, It may take a long time for the wide angle pancake to show up.

[Sean Nelson]

That blogger has convinced my father, a thirty-year slide-film shooter and recent digital convert, to only shoot JPG with his Nikon DSLR. 8(

You understand that the relationship of SLIDES:FILM is the same as JPG:RAW, right? So he's just continuing his modus operandi. (And I say this as a slide shooter from way back.)

[lithos]

The new Micro 4/3 cam from Oly is being advertised as a continuation of its Pen series of cameras from the fifties...

The new camera's model number is E-P1...

Are Olympus trying to tap into the lucrative people-with-life-threatening-allergies market?

[ogl]

Answer from Samsung is VERY STRONG.

Ultra-Precise LED Electronic ViewFinder 1620x1080p/250Hz 3:2 resolution
-1X magnification and 100% coverage
-3" AMOLED 960x720 (720p) 3:2 display
- APS-C CMOS sensor 14.6 megapixel 3:2
-100-6400 ISO
-4 frame per second
-Video HD 720p/30fps
-Audio stereo

[er1kksen]

How is that a baseless statement? Olympus had more than 5 years to make compact lens for the 4/3 format and they have only made one. And 4/3 is supposed to be the smallest DSLR system.

He didn't mention any future pancakes but a UWZ and a superzoom.

Neither the 25mm, the 17mm and the Panasonic 20mm is wide enough. As long as they don't release one wide angle pancake I can order from B&H, I don't consider m4/3 a viable system. Bookmark this post if you want, It may take a long time for the wide angle pancake to show up.

5 years that were well spent in bringing all the zooms to the table that the majority of consumers would be interested in. Items that are somewhat more "specialty" like pancake lenses were relatively low on the priority list for Olympus and it's understandable that we've only seen one thus far (which was an experiment to see how it would be recieved by the market, from which they have recieved a strongly positive reaction as well as a clamoring for, just as you're asking for, a truely wide angle pancake. Who knows what's in development?). As far as other compact lenses go, have you checked out their kit lenses lately? Apart from the fact that optically they're definitely among the best kit lenses available from any manufacturer (not unlike the pentax kit lens), they're tiny. The esteemed 50-200mm is a fair bit smaller than most manufacturer's 100-400 (FF equivalent) or even 70-200 (similar usage on APS-C) lenses. I don't know if you could find a lens that does the same thing as the 12-60 at any size from any manufacturer. It is a big lens, relatively, however, another important aspect to remember is lens telecentricity, which Oly emphasizes for higher IQ. Lenses of similar specifications but with near-telecentric design for other formats would indeed be quite a bit larger.

I mean, sure, you can't stick any of those lenses in your pocket with a camera attached, and there's only one Oly lens available that gets you into the Pentax+pancake size range, but you can't say Oly hasn't offered more compact alternatives in a variety of situations.

Not sure if this Imaging resource link was already posted, but the image quality doesn't seem bad at alla compared to for example Panasonic GH1:

Olympus E-P1 Digital Camera - Hands-On Preview - The Imaging Resource!

[ogl]

Not sure if this Imaging resource link was already posted, but the image quality doesn't seem bad at alla compared to for example Panasonic GH1:

Olympus E-P1 Digital Camera - Hands-On Preview - The Imaging Resource!

ISO1600 is not usable, but much better than E30

[uccemebug]

You understand that the relationship of SLIDES:FILM is the same as JPG:RAW, right? So he's just continuing his modus operandi. (And I say this as a slide shooter from way back.)

Nope, don't understand that relationship at all. Can you explain it?

Thanks,

[er1kksen]

ISO1600 is not usable, but much better than E30

!? Print that out at 8x10 and tell me it's not usable? I must protest that it's hardly any noisier than my K20D, and would you mind revealing the processing parameters? Or is this just the jpeg they put up?

[ogl]

Have a look at texture of fabric - almost no details.

[vinzer]

Answer from Samsung is VERY STRONG.

Ultra-Precise LED Electronic ViewFinder 1620x1080p/250Hz 3:2 resolution
-1X magnification and 100% coverage
-3" AMOLED 960x720 (720p) 3:2 display
- APS-C CMOS sensor 14.6 megapixel 3:2
-100-6400 ISO
-4 frame per second
-Video HD 720p/30fps
-Audio stereo

Any info about the mount itself (I mean, if it's possible to use K-mount glass via adapter and still retain aperture control, at least)? I guess for people invested in Pentax lenses, that's the bigger question.

Samsung execs have said K mount lenses can be used with an adapter, but I haven't seen anything more specific.

PMA Interview: Samsung: Digital Photography Review

[whatever7]

Nope, don't understand that relationship at all. Can you explain it?

Thanks,

He was talking about the dynamic range of slide is narrower than film, much like jpeg vs RAW.

To be fair, I think asking older people who don't use PC all the time to work on RAW is a bit of a tall order. I work on computer all day and even I don't bother with RAW. Becuase I don't like to spend the extra time on the work flow.

[jct us101]

ogl, 1600 is better than on the *ist DS which is still very usable to me. I'm sorry that you require absolutely no noise in your photos.

[Rondec]

I don't think Ogl is talking about the noise, but rather the lack of detail.