E-? - The Rumour Mill.

[russ.will]

Come on people, however much you love your current E-whatever and however much you protest it\'s all you\'ll ever need, you know you\'re just a little bit interested in the one we all know is comming.

Wild speculation abounds and there is no reason why we shouldn\'t have some of it, so let\'s hear it. I\'ve heard the following and would appreciate anything, no matter how wild, to add to the list:

-12Mp
-Live preview
-In body IS
-Command Dial Customisation - Den
-2Variants - DavidL
Fast pro sports body with inbuilt grip
Full featured IS in body

Next......

Russell

Post edited by: russ.will, at: 2005/09/04 17:10

Post edited by: russ.will, at: 2005/09/05 07:43

[Den]

I want to be able to customise the command dial so, when I\'m on aperture priority, the dial goes the other way...

My free 4/3 adapter has been shipped and, at the moment, I\'m more interested in getting that and checking out how my Zuiko 50mm f1.8 fares...

[For UK members - a tip... Olympus Europe stopped giving away these adapters a while back but I called Olympus America in May and they sent the adapter to a friend of mine, living in America... He\'s just received it and is now putting it in the post again...]

[admin_old]

I guess there are always things that can be improved as teck does. For me I think that I would like 12-15mp. I am wild at post shooting croping. IS would be nice. Um... And it needs to use the same vertical grip as my E-1. (I don\'t want to drop another $500 for a vertical grip)
I probably won\'t upgrade to 8 MP.
But really I am most intrested in Glass.
T

[marcof]

I\'d be happy with a doubling of the current mp, so 11mp would suit me fine.
A slightly faster fps (5-7 fps)
wireless flash capability (a la i-TTL on nikon, but better)
IS.. in-body IS would be great, but not a must for me.
and that\'s about it.. maybe integrated portrait grip/battery holder.. but the current E1 body would be perfect

from my \"little tidbits\" list I\'d like to have improvements on:
- startup time (faster is better)
- histogram display (and LCD screen - that can be bigger)

remove the \"TIFF\" option, and replace this with DNG.. so you can choose JPG, native RAW and DNG..

[First Light]

Greetings,

Much of the time I shoot in low light. I\'ve also used a few Canon dSLRs in low light (like the 20D) so one my first desires will be lower noise at high ISO settings. Here\'s my list:

Lower noise at high ISO settings.
In-camera IS/AS/VR system.
Higher resolution (10-12mp). However, we should be able to select a lower resolution for all file formats (including raw) when the full resolution is not required.
Higher dynamic range with 14-bit/channel raw files.
Faster burst speed with larger burst buffer (5 fps, 24-shot buffer, user-upgradable buffer).
LZW lossless compression for both raw and tiff files.
16-bit/channel support for tiff files.
Faster CF card write/read speed (faster than the SanDisk Extreme III).
Use the same body as the E-1 because it is great. Use the same accessories.
Larger LCD monitor (at least 2.5-inch with higher resolution and higher zoom modes) with better image quality (how about an OLED monitor?).
Option for separate RGB histograms and highlights display.
Option to have the histogram and/or highlights display automatically immediately after a shot.
Larger viewfinder for us eyeglass wearers.
Support for the new faster firewire standard.
Wireless support for both computer and flash.
Support for faster flash sync.
Abandon the homemade Olympus image editing software. Instead, adopt Photoshop as the standard software and include a \"light\" or \"elements\" version with each camera. To support this, upgrade the Photoshop raw plug-in so that it has all the raw developer features of Olympus Studio—including lens correction—(I prefer it over ACR because of its superior image fidelity). Provide a second Photoshop plug-in for tethered camera control where shots are saved direct to the computer\'s harddrive (like Olympus Studio).

MarcoF... I\'d like to keep the tiff support. It is still an important standard in the publishing industry. Dng support is not important to me unless Olympus shares its raw interpretation algorithms with Adobe so they can be incorporated. Without them, the Olympus software and plug-ins will always produce images with higher fidelity. There\'s a lot more to this but it would be beyond the scope of this thread.

P.S. Am I the only one who can\'t use the \"Preview\" button to check a post before I submit it? Plus the BBcode buttons still don\'t work so I have to do it all by hand. It\'s a major pain!!!

Post edited by: First Light, at: 2005/09/05 01:25

[marcof]

First Light wrote:

MarcoF... I\'d like to keep the tiff support. It is still an important standard in the publishing industry. Dng support is not important to me unless Olympus shares its raw interpretation algorithms with Adobe so they can be incorporated. Without them, the Olympus software and plug-ins will always produce images with higher fidelity. There\'s a lot more to this but it would be beyond the scope of this thread.


of course, my idea assumed the openess of Olympus. rather unlikely, but you never know.. 4/3rds is all about \"open\" standards...

[russ.will]

Whoa people, the idea of this thread was to compile what we have heard to be rumoured about the new camera - not to compose pie in the sky wish lists. Theres always DPreview for tech-heads and measurebators!!

Russell

[DavidL]

2 new bodies one around £1000 with live histogram built in stabilisation.
The other very fast probably with built in grip and stabilisation Around 10mp.
Some people already know but can\'t talk. Jim Porter and Lauri Sippu to mention just two. David

[Richard]

Thanks David

£1000, man the \'entry\' price of DSLR are coming down aren\'t they! How much was the E-1 back in July 03 - £1800??

I was unable to use my E-System gear for two months, while I was moving as it was in transit. Now I have it all back and I have to ask myself do I need anything more...it hasn\'t aged in 2 months, and it still produces wonderful images - the problem comes when I start to \'want\' more

;)

I look forward to the \'official\' news, and I\'ll think I\'ll wait a few months for the initial price drop. Or I could sell one body I suppose......

Rich

[First Light]

Russell... Sorry again for straying from the topic. I\'ve been following the Olympus \"buzz\" pretty closely for some months now hoping to learn about a new pro body to replace the E-1. There really aren\'t any even remotely reliable rumors. All that can be stated at this point is:

An Olympus executive stated in an interview this past February that Olympus would announce two new bodies along with other system components at the 2006 PMA (Feb 26–Mar 01, 2006 in Orlando, FL). In this same interview, a Panasonic executive also stated that his company would announce a body for the 4/3rds system at PMA also. This is almost as exciting as the new Olympus bodies. You can find the interview with a careful google search.

A recent photo that was published on the internet by someone reviewing a pre-release copy of the new Zuiko Digital 35-100mm f2.0 constant-aperture lens showed an unidentified Olympus E camera. It had an identical body as an E-1 but there was no number—just \"E\". It had an HLD-2 attached.

MarcoF... IMHO the 4/3rds standard specifies only the lens mount, optical requirements and that a 4/3-type sensor be used. That much is \"open\". However, the way that each manufacturer chooses to implement a 4/3-type sensor and associated circuitry is highly proprietary and full of trade secrets. The dng file standard does not address this and I don\'t believe that it will be very useful. In fact, we\'re already seeing some manufacturers (Nikon) begin to encrypt some of their raw data (WB data). I\'m not saying that I like this, I\'m just viewing it pragmatically.

[Frank B]

I would be happy with -

1. Low noise through ISO 800

2. Stabilization

3. 10-12 MP

[laingjd]

IS decreases my skills and makes me dependent on artificial means.

8-10 megapixels okay

LARGER BUFFER

MORE LENSES

Built in flash

[russ.will]

I don\'t want wish lists, I want hard fast rumour!!!

Jim, Oh come on! Your comments about IS draw comparison with those thrown at Oscar Barnack and his outrageous idea for a 35mm based interchangable lense camera system using the readily available movie format film of the day.

IS could allow you to hand hold 1/8 sec exposures reliably. No amount of skill can reliably enable that. It is desirable, it is coming and once you have it, I bet you will use it. And anyway, why would it reduce your technique anymore than the ability to increase ISO/ASA at the flick of a switch?

Russell

Post edited by: russ.will, at: 2005/09/08 17:20

Post edited by: russ.will, at: 2005/09/08 17:26

[laingjd]

Russ you are correct. If it comes out I\'ll use it. I wouldn\'t ask for it in lieu of other features tho.....
I spent a lot of time perfecting a rock hard stance to avoid lens shake. If I told you how I hand hold the 50-200 fully extended, you\'d laff so I won\'t.

Hand Held 50-200 shot at 200 just to see if I could........

http://www.pbase.com/milsuper/image/48950513.jpg

Post edited by: laingjd, at: 2005/09/08 17:44

[laingjd]

And I\'druther have the IS in the lens.....

[russ.will]

I agree, in the vast majority of the situations in which I actually take photos, there are many features I would pay for before IS. However:

1) I took twelve sucsessive images of Tutankamuns death mask in the Archeological Museum in Cairo at 1/8 sec, hoping at least one would come out. It did and I will post it in my gallery even though it was on a Fuji 4900 zoom 3 years ago.

Because you don\'t get to photograph these thing too many times in one lifetime (and as a travelled person I am sure you will have run into this), anything that ensures you get that \"you couldn\'t buy one this good on a postcard\" picture is a truly desirable advance.

2) Why pay for it with every lense when you can buy it once - assuming you aren\'t too wealthy for your own good.

3) Has your rock solid stance got anyhing to do with strategic bracing of elbows and breathing fully out as if you were about to fire a rifle?

Ooh, just found it and the exif info tells me it was taken at 1/7th sec. I do myself an injustice!
http://www.fourthirdsphoto.com/pictures/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=353&g 2_serialNumber=2&g2_GALLERYSID=d1ea4b1df02df681a21 d9df979d04474

Post edited by: russ.will, at: 2005/09/08 18:29

[laingjd]

Nooooooo.......
It does have to do with elbows tho.........

[admin_old]

How about for IR we could have a built in tripod that came out of the bottom.....
(Don\'t be offended its only a joke.

[marcof]

http://stuff.marcof.net/new_oly1.jpg

http://stuff.marcof.net/new_oly2.jpg

Post edited by: MarcoF, at: 2005/09/09 08:05

[mikefellh]

The next \"E\" will probably be a rangefinder, it\'s the only way to make the \"E\" cheaper. If you look back on history, with the C series ultra zooms Olympus released an expensive camera (C-2100), then a cheaper version (C-700), and then a really stripped down version (C-720).

[wazza]

I am still wondering if Oly are planning on having 3 bodies available at 1 time in the future. This would fit in with the lens line up, entry level, 14-45 and 40-150, middle, and a top of the line body to go with the oober zooms which should be out soon.

Also, I would love an IS/OS/VR/OIS/WF adapter of some sort. If they were to come out with this, it would make the E1 perfect for my needs, and I doubt I would buy a new body (which is probably the exact reason they won\'t do this).

cheers
Wazza

[hammer_400]

i think they will and should have in order to survive and grab a bigger pice of the DSLR pie...

[Ian]

mikefellh wrote:
The next \"E\" will probably be a rangefinder, it\'s the only way to make the \"E\" cheaper. If you look back on history, with the C series ultra zooms Olympus released an expensive camera (C-2100), then a cheaper version (C-700), and then a really stripped down version (C-720).

I\'d possibly buy it as I am looking for a digital RF but I am running out of patience waiting for news of the new E3. I need a second body and don\'t want to get another E1. I also need more mp and a better AF system. If nothing is forthcoming by the spring I will jump ship which will be a shame but needs must when the devil vomits in yer kettle!

[Kansas Ron]

Olympus is slow to bring out new DSLRs, but then the Minolta crowd had the same complaint. Once the Dynamx 7 was brought out they were able to then use that as a starting point to bring out a lower priced model (D5). Olympus got Panasonic to commit to the 4/3s system and it would make sense for a lower priced body to come out with 2 or 3 lower priced lenses, all mostly of Olympus development given that the partnership is not that old, to be branded with both company\'s logos. I would expect the announcement of the E-3 (if that will actually be the name) in February. IMHO.