Do you recall the story of my uncle’s war camera – the little Olympus Pen half frame? Well, looks like they’ve reinvented it (read here) digitally using the new micro 4/3 sensor technology and it got me thinking.
Since you know by now I believe deeply that the best camera is the one that’s with you. And since I’m an advocate of keeping a camera with you at all times, it’s obvious that small cameras are easier to haul around than large ones. As such, this little Olympus–and potentially a huge wave of cameras following this path (ahem, Nikon and Canon?)– could drive a revolution of small, high powered cameras with interchangeable lenses. I mean, c’mon, check out this sweet little 17mm 2.8 on this Pen. This camera clearly fits into your shirt pocket. If these micro 4/3 sensors can get noise issues figured out and they can add an array of lenses… [Click ‘continue reading’ link below]
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…might we be onto something?
Don’t get me wrong, those of us that have them, we love our D3x’s and H3D’s for the majority of large scale commercial work–and that level of camera is certainly here to stay–, but it seems we could be in for a real polarization of technology in the very near future. At one end, the really big and buff – the big dSLRs I mentioned + DSMC’s like the forthcoming RED camera system; and at the other end of the spectrum a new standard–perhaps even professional quality–of highly effective micro cameras.
And it’s what this begets that interests me: Might we then also see a new era of professional photographer, a backlash in the spirit of Terry Richardson who lands large commercial commissions but who’d rather shoot Kate Moss with a point and shoot than with a Hasselblad?
The only thing that’s constant is change.
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The MFT system is for me the first digital camera system that make sense. Perfect compromise between size and image quality – the lenses are good and !!! small. All the existing DSLRs are only big ang heavy digital copies of the old film cameras. I bought 2 Panasonic GH2 cameras for filmmaking -since then my canons stay at home more and more even for stills. I bought the G3 one week ago and i am more than happy with it – perfect size for street photography. I like the huge viewfinder, i can see all the different formats in my viewfinder as well as black and white, i can put the AF point where i want, i can switch between viewfinder and screen in a second, and both are fast and usable. I can use the lenses of Olympus as well and i definetely hope that more companies like fuji will join the MFT system. So – forget the APS-C cameras. The only DSLR i will keep is the full format camera because of its better image quality – but i will sell my 7D. Best. Peter.
Looks like it would be fun to carry around!