Electrically-coupled tilt-shift adapter for Four Thirds lenses onto Micro Four Thirds cameras – now I’m getting really excited!

Written by admin on March 12th, 2010

Anyone who follows my blogs will know that I am in love with the Micro Four Thirds camera system and I also love using tilt shift lenses – I own some very expensive Canon professional tilt shift lenses such as 17mm, 45mm and 90mm TS-E lenses.

Unfortunately, these tilt shift lenses are cumbersome to use on Canon dSLRs as you MUST use live view manual focus assist to ensure accurate manual focus, and doing this necessitates activating the clunky dSLR live view function which requires moving the mirror up then dropping it down prior to taking the photo.

I can use these tilt shift lenses on my Micro Four Thirds cameras and get MUCH easier manual focus control but the 2x crop factor effectively converts these into 34mm, 90mm and 180mm tilt shift lenses (although I can go a touch wider using 16:9 on the GH-1) – which can be very handy to compliment my Canon 1D MIII which effectively uses these at 1.3x crop giving 22mm, 59mm and 117mm tilt shift lenses.

See some of my demo photos using the Canon TS-E 90mm on my GH-1 here – it is awesome for close up work! (NB. demo photos NOT uploaded yet as my provider ftp service is currently down – come back and check later).

You can also get tilt or shift adapters which enable this function for a wide range of legacy 35mm lenses, but the 2x crop limits how wide you can go – perhaps the widest rectilinear  lens for 35mm cameras is 14mm and this then becomes a 28mm tilt shift lens – very nice but still limiting.

Now, a Japanese company, Hino (see translated page), has come to the rescue and will be releasing this year, a tilt-shift adapter for Micro Four Thirds which will give us incredible power – it will be electrically coupled and thus allow any Four Thirds lens to be used with full aperture control, EXIF data and if AF-compatible, you even get contrast-detect AF – imagine how cool that would be with the new touch screen Panasonic cameras such as the G2 – you could put an Olympus ZD 9-18mm lens on it and zoom out to 9mm giving an 18mm tilt-shift capability, then touch the the LCD at the subject area you want in focus and voila - fast touch screen tilt shift AF not previously possible on ANY system let alone at 18mm angle of view!! The main issue with such an adapter is that the small image circle of Four Thirds lenses will limit how much one can tilt or shift, but at least you should get enough that it will be very handy!

If this is not enough, it is likely that Olympus will be producing a totally different type of adapter – an adapter for Olympus OM lenses which will enable them to be used at their native field of view on a Micro Four Thirds camera via a 0.5x wide converter, which will mean the light gathering power will be improved by 2 stops, but that is not all – the adapter will give all these lenses auto focus capability!

If you want dreamy shots, then the new Nokton 50mm f/0.95 Micro Four Thirds lens at $US750 may take your fancy!

If you want to try 3D images – check out Loreo 3D lens for Micro Four Thirds.

So hopefully you will be able to see now how I visualised the potential for this Micro Four Thirds system when it was introduced, and why I was an early adopter – the system is designed for fun, creativity and to be the camera you will bring with you – the best camera that you can have is the one you are willing to take!

And this is only just the start – just wait until they really get going with some technological advances – it will leave the mirror-based dSLR systems for dead within 5-10 years – and these dinosaur dSLRs will have advantages in a few niche areas only.

 

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Which Micro Four Thirds camera to buy – March 2010?

Written by admin on March 10th, 2010

The good news is that we are getting a little spoiled by the rapidly increasing number of cameras available in the Micro Four Thirds camera system, perhaps the bad news, is that there is no single perfect camera for everyone, and that the technology is changing rapidly, so which ever camera you buy, you can bet there will be an even better one in 12 months.

Micro Four Thirds camera size and image quality make them the ideal camera for families, travel, work, social, macro, documentary, conference and general walk-around photography – image quality is far better than compact digital point and shoots which have limited ability for acceptable enlargements, and are far more versatile and fun to use.

Thus, my rule #1, don’t spend too much on a camera body but enough so that it will do what you need now with some room for your short term growth – better to spend more on good lenses such as the almost essential Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens.

Firstly, I don’t want people to follow my advice and find that this system will not suit their needs, so here are a few things this system will NOT be good for:

  • fast action or sports photography where you want to use continuous autofocus – the AF system is rapidly improving and is as good as entry level dSLRs and will track a walking person, but it is still no where fast enough to track fast moving subjects. You can still do sports photography, but you will need to pre-focus on a certain spot to get good results.
  • rapid burst rates – the current cameras perform similar to entry level dSLRs at 3-3.5 fps burst rate, if you want faster then go for a semi-pro or pro dSLR
  • very high ISO – ISO is acceptable on these cameras up to 800-1600, although the new ones do allow up to 6400, but for most people using these cameras, particularly with a fast lens or with image stabilisation or a tripod, these ISO levels are adequate. The GH-1 has less image noise at all ISO levels than a Canon 7D, so if you need substantially better high ISO performance then you need to go to a full frame dSLR.
  • very shallow depth of field at wide angle field of view – an inevitable compromise with a smaller sensor is that it becomes harder to get shallow depth of field at a particular field of view, and this is largely an issue with effective focal lengths 100mm or less in 35mm terms. This can be mitigated to a certain extent by ensuring you use the widest aperture lenses you can get (eg. Panasonic 20mm f/1.7, Leica-D 25mm f/1.4, Olympus ZD 50mm f/2.0 macro, Voigtlander 50mm f/1.1, Carl Zeiss 85mm f/1.4, Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8 tilt shift lens, etc) or by using tilt adapters to turn your legacy lens into a tilt lens and thus be creative with your depth of field. The upside is that you can use wider aperture lenses to reduce camera shake in low light and still get just enough DOF for portraits so that tip of nose to ears are in focus – something that is more difficult to do on larger sensor cameras at the same ISO.
  • power zoom and audio level control for videos – unlike dedicated video cameras, this system does not, and probably never will for some years, allow power zoom during video. The current cameras do not allow manual setting of audio level, so you may need to use an add-on audio tool, or record audio separately as I do with a Zoom H4N digital recorder.
  • radio wireless remote TTL flash – currently this is only possible via third party accessories and unfortunately, these are currently only made for Canon and Nikon dSLRs. You can do infrared wireless remote TTL flash with the Olympus E-PL1.
  • heavy, big lenses > 1kg are not very ergonomic on these small cameras but can be used although tripod use via a lens tripod mount is advisable.
  • remote control of the camera is limited, and currently, there is no intervalometer capability or GPS recording.
  • no live video output for remote viewing live – hopefully this will be addressed soon.
  • weatherproofing is not currently available as yet
  • a fast AF portrait lens – there is an expensive Panasonic 45mm f/2.8 macro lens, but I would advise the less well off to use a manual focus lens until Olympus release their 50mm f/2.0 macro lens for M43 cameras – probably in 2011.
  • it does not scream that you are a professional – if this is important then get the biggest pro camera you can get

If Micro Four Thirds doesn’t do the above why buy it?

Simple, the best camera is the one you take with you and you are much more likely to take a Micro Four Thirds than a big, heavy, noisy dSLR which is often not acceptable in social situations and is too intrusive to allow you to capture those precious candid moments.

Perhaps more importantly, its smaller size means people are less likely to hold you as a professional and create unwanted expectations or prevent you from photographing events such as concerts or sports events.

A Micro Four Thirds camera is a perfect compact kit to compliment a full frame dSLR or high end Olympus dSLR such as an E-30 or E-3 (or the forthcoming E-5).

It can do things dSLRs cannot do such as:

  • continuous AF during HD video (GH-1 wth 14-140mm HD lens)
  • fast manual focus magnified assist anywhere on the frame without having to move a mirror out of the way – great for legacy lenses and tilt-shift work
  • quieter for use at conferences, etc
  • can convert almost any legacy 35mm lens or Four Thirds lens into tilt shift lenses – and when using Four Thirds via the new Hino tilt-shift electrically coupled adapter, you still retain full control over the lens including aperture control, EXIF, and AF – so now you can have a 14mm tilt shift lens in 35mm terms – the ONLY one possible with ANY system if you couple this with an Olympus ZD 7-14mm lens, and it will be image stabilised to boot!
  • all lenses including legacy lenses will be image stabilised if you use Olympus cameras – you can do this with Olympus Four Thirds, Pentax, and Sony dSLRs but not with Canon or Nikon.
  • you can use almost any lens ever made including Leica M, Olympus Pen, Canon FD which cannot be used on dSLRs without losing infinity focus.

Now, that is out of the way, let’s look at the main differences between the brands – Panasonic and Olympus:

Panasonic cameras:

  • tend to be more optimised for video rather than still photography, although the GH-1 has the best sensor at present
  • option of AVCHD video compression on all cameras except G1 which has no video at all
  • ability to have continuous AF during HD video – GH1 with 14-140mm HD lens
  • ability to record in 1080i HD video – GH1 only at present
  • rely on optical image stabilisation in the lens, thus you will not get image stabilisation for legacy lenses or non-MegaOIS lenses, but the image stabilisation if present, does work during video.
  • not as good as Olympus for using legacy lenses (see below)
  • marginally faster AF at present
  • flip out and swivel LCD on some cameras – the Gx and GH1 cameras
  • touch screen LCD on the newest cameras – the G2 and G10
  • faux-dSLR styling with hand grips and built-in EVF on some cameras – the Gx and GH1 cameras
  • can use the aperture ring on Panasonic Four Thirds lenses – not functional when used on Olympus cameras
  • unable to over-ride flash sync
  • corrects lens aberrations in-camera for most Micro Four Thirds and Four Thirds lenses
  • will not AF a Four Thirds lens if it is not CDAF-capable (Olympus will AF these, albeit slowly)
  • automatically activates manual focus assist on turning lens focus ring of a MFT or FT lens when in MF mode
  • cannot select a filter to use in B&W film mode (can do this on Olympus)

Olympus cameras:

  • much better for use of legacy lenses or non-CDAF Four Thirds lenses as:
    • in-built image stabilisation (IBIS) which will work on ANY lens – just set the focal length for legacy lenses – but does not work during videos
    • AF works on non-CDAF Four Thirds lenses but slowly
    • TTL flash works with legacy lenses (Panasonic cameras seem to assume lens is set at f/2.8)
    • MF assist even easier to access, although perhaps the new Panasonic touch screens may change this
    • do not get the occasional Panasonic firmware issues of “no lens attached” errors even when Panasonic camera has menu item set to “shoot w/o lens”
    • Olympus appear to be making a unique .5x wide converter for OM lenses which will have CDAF autofocus capability – will this function on the Panasonic cameras if and when it does eventuate?
  • B&W mode allows you to select a filter – this is important for skin tones or dramatic skies.
  • various art filters
  • electronic camera level guide – not on the E-PL1 though
  • able to force a high flash sync speed for sunlit portraits at wide aperture if the FP flash mode (HSS) is not adequate
  • better jpeg image colours in general
  • only the E-PL1 has a built-in flash
  • infrared remote TTL flash – E-PL1 only at present
  • no support for AVCHD video – only motion jpeg and currently limited to 30fps 720p, not 60fps 720p as with GH-1
  • no built-in EVF model as yet
  • rear LCD screen tends to be lower resolution (230,000 dots) and fixed but better in sunlight than that on the GF-1
  • optional EVF for the E-P2 and E-PL1 is very high quality, comparable to the GH-1, G2 EVF and much better than that on the GF-1 and G10
  • multiple exposure feature may be useful for some

So which camera to buy depends upon your needs and budget:

Best quality video, or best high ISO performance plus flip out LCD, high quality EVF:

  • Panasonic GH-1 with 14-140mm HD lens is the clear winner although relatively expensive.
  • the sensor on the GH-1 is not only over-sized so that you can do 16:9 or 3:2 images uncropped, but it seems to be giving high ISO performance approximately 1 stop better than the Olympus cameras or the G1, or GF-1, and its image noise level is BETTER or as good as, the Canon 7D according to DxO, and not too far off the Canon 5D MII, BUT you do get some banding in shadow areas at ISO 3200.

Best for using legacy manual focus lenses:

  • Olympus E-PL1 -cheaper but this may be frustrating for advanced photographers when using digital lenses
  • Olympus E-P2 – best option for enthusiasts
  • if you want built-in EVF or a flip out screen then the Panasonic G2 with its touch screen MF assist may be a good option

Best for using Panasonic lenses where 720p video is adequate:

  • Panasonic G2 or, if on a budget, the G10 but the EVF is lower resolution
  • Olympus E-PL1 or E-P2 if you can manage lens aberrations or they are not a big priority,  and you don’t need built-in EVF or flip out LCD screen.

Cheap, no need for video:

  • Panasonic G1

I just want that great retro styling and don’t need built-in flash or EVF:

  • Olympus E-P1 “Pen”

The family camera for non-enthusiasts with built-in flash and 720p video capability:

  • Olympus E-PL1 – designed for dummies :)
  • Panasonic G10 or G2  – if you want a flip screen with touch capability

Rumoured new Micro Four Thirds cameras in the pipeline:

  • Panasonic GH-2 (perhaps late 2010) – this would be similar to the GH-1 and I would expect this to offer some awesome features with silent global shutter, no rolling shutter effect in videos, touch screen, GPS, and even better HD video modes.
  • Panasonic GF-2 (perhaps late 2010) – this would be similar to the GF-1 but according to this patent that has been filed, it may at last bring a Leica rangefinder style viewfinder placement – an in-built EVF placed on the far left so that you nose does not hit the rear LCD screen, but more importantly, it allows your left eye to remain open and assessing the full view not just what the camera can see. Furthermore, it suggests that this EVF will be tiltable.

Finally, don’t forget to budget for some accessories:

  • spare battery
  • good UV and circular polariser filters for lenses – plus consider a square gradient ND filter such as Cokin for dramatic landscapes
  • Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens – currently RRP $A700
  • consider a lens adapter to allow use of legacy lenses such as Olympus OM lenses which you can get relatively cheaply on Ebay such as a macro lens, 50mm f/1.8 or a 100mm f/2.8 lens.
  • a bounce flash for nicer portraits – eg. Olympus FL-36(R) or Olympus FL50(R) – perhaps get a cheaper non-R model from Ebay – the non R models do not support remote TTL flash, and you almost certainly won’t need it anyway.
 

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Panasonic formerly announce their two new touch screen Micro Four Thirds cameras – the G2 and G10 plus a new 14-42mm kit lens

Written by admin on March 7th, 2010

New Micro Four Thirds cameras add touch screen control.

The touch screen control allows:

  • choose subject to AF on by touching it on the screen, and the camera will then track that subject automatically (if it is not moving too fast)
  • face recognition allows finer AF on the eye
  • ability to choose AF region size or spot metering location
  • multi-area AF possible
  • further improves speed of manual focus by allowing you to quickly choose the area on the screen you wish to be magnified, then choose level of magnification 1x, 5x, or 10x PLUS you can change MF via touching a slider function on the screen instead of using MF ring on the lens – of course, I presume it will also be automatically activated when in MF mode and you rotate the MF ring of a M43 or Four Thirds lens.
  • ability to trigger shutter
  • ability to move guide lines around
  • improves playback functionalities such as image selection


Panasonic G2:

  • similar styling to the G1 and GH-1
  • 12mp sensor
  • 460,000 dot flip, swivel touch screen LCD
  • 1,440,000 dot 60fps EVF – similar to that on the G1, GH-1 and thus much better than the GF-1 add-on EVF
  • imaging engine upgraded to the new Venus Engine HD II detects 3 separate regions of the image – outlines, detailed texture areas and soft gradation areas, to optimise image quality for each region.
  • adds AVCHD Lite 720p 30fps video with HDMI output, and can take a photo while recording movie by just pressing a shutter button.
  • as a cost cutting measure, does not have the 1080i AVCHD mode of the GH-1, nor the 60fps 720p mode – these will come in the GH-2
  • the front dial of the GH-1 has thankfully been moved to the rear – I was always plagued with accidentally changing exposure compensation on the GH-1 and there was no way to deactivate it.
  • movie record start/stop button has thankfully been moved to the top of the camera – I was forever accidentally pressing it with my eye up t the EVF on the GH-1
  • film mode button has been replaced by an iA button
  • focus mode dial on top left of the camera has been re-designed to add AF type mode such as face detection, tracking, multi-point, while the rear button previously used for this is now the metering mode button which was previously only available via menu. This may be problematic when using legacy MF lenses with eye up to the EVF as the touch screen will not be there to help out, and presumably, one will need to use your left hand to activate MF assist, then right hand to hit OK button, then left hand to manual focus – not sure this will be a great sequence of events – the Olympus may be the better approach for those using an EVF.
  • can divide videos in-camera
  • added My Color (art filters) including Expressive, Retro, Pure, Elegant, Monochrome, Dynamic Art, and Silhouette, but seems as though you still can’t set the color filter for B&W images as you can on the Olympus cameras – I hope I am wrong, but I really miss this functionality.
  • the 26 scene modes adds a Peripheral Defocus mode, and most of these can be applied for video capture as well.
  • stereo mic port
  • built-in flash with GN 11m (ISO 100) and flash sync 1/160th sec but still no remote TTL as is available with the Olympus E-PL1
  • ISO increased to max. 6400
  • shutter speed 60 -1/4000 sec but BULB limited to 4min
  • 2, 2.6 and 3.2fps burst rates

Panasonic G10:

  • similar to the G2 but a cut down version
  • EVF is only 202,000 dot
  • HD video at 720p 30fps  is only motion jpeg with no AVCHD Lite option
  • no stereo mic port

Panasonic 14-42mm Mega OIS 3x zoom kit lens:

  • similar optics to the 14-45mm kit lens but cheaper build quality and no IS switch on the lens.
 

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Panasonic GH-1 at Melbourne’s Moomba Festival hit by a once in 10 years super-cell hailstorm

Written by admin on March 7th, 2010

It was a nice warm, albeit humid March day in Melbourne yesterday, so I decided to pack my Panasonic GH-1 , Leica-D 25mm f/1.4 and Olympus OM 135mm f/2.8 lens and catch the train into the city to enjoy Melbourne’s annual Moomba Festival – a nice multicultural family event – Moomba is Australia’s largest free community festival and one of the longest running festivals in Australia.

There was no evidence of storms on the horizon, not on radars.

After a bite to eat  in our great little laneway cafe’s, I headed down to the festival region along the banks of the Yarra river.

I decided to try out my OM 135mm lens wide open at f/2.8 and stood some 30-40m from this African musician – I think his name is Jali Buba Kuyateh from the online programme (I did crop this image by removing about a third):

OM 135mm

and at the BMX bike stunt competition, I used the Leica-D 25mm f/1.4 lens at f/1.4 with the lens pre-focused so I could get nicely sharp shots with relatively shallow depth of field of this lad doing a jump on his bike (again about 1/3rd cropped out):

bike stunt

Then, with little warning, all hell broke loose, with sudden onset of golf-ball sized hailstones and cyclonic wind and rain which dumped 33mm in 30min causing flash flooding and cancellation of the festival for the day – this was the most dynamic super-cell thunderstorm to hit Melbourne’s CBD in 7 years – it dumped 66mm in 30min on nearby Flemington Racecourse where the Melbourne Cup is held.

Check out this short 720p HD video I posted to YouTube at the peak of the storm using the Leica D lens from the “safety” of a crowded, small gazebo – not protection at all for the lightning strikes, but we were lucky in that regard and had no other choice for better shelter.

This is freakin’ awesome man!

freakin awesome

And that Panasonic Leica-D 25mm f/1.4 lens was freakin’ awesome too!

See more of my photos from the event here.

See photos from other people hosted on The Age here.

Will I dare go back again today given that similar storms are forecast again for today?

ps.. my website was down for several hours after this event as the storm knocked out power to my internet provider’s data centre – apologies for that!

Now when will Olympus or Panasonic introduce a weather-proofed Micro Four Thirds camera and lens?

 

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Micro Four Thirds camera sales surge – now account for 16.5% of sales of interchangeable lens cameras!

Written by admin on March 5th, 2010

Watch out Canon and Nikon, your world of dSLR dominance is under threat.

The incredible popularity of the Micro Four Thirds camera system has resulted in it accounting for an unprecedented 16.5% of all sales of interchangeable lens cameras (ie. including the bigger, heavier, noisier dSLRs) – and all this in really less than 12 months of availability (if you exclude the original Panasonic G1).

The Panasonic GF1 is now the 4th most popular interchangeable lens camera, while the Olympus E-P2 sits in ninth place.

Just wait till the cheaper Olympus E-PL1 hits the shelves this month, and the potentially mind-blowing silent Panasonic GH-2 is released late this year, not to mention the expected fall in prices as these cameras will become cheaper to make with increased economies of scale and their relative lack of moving parts.

Furthermore, the release of some very affordable but high image quality lenses from Olympus – their 14-150mm lens is rumoured to sell at $US199 – and this surge in sales is only going to drive Olympus, Panasonic and third parties to a more rapid R&D timeline as they can justify the resources from the system sales.

A win-win for all Micro Four Thirds users – sorry Canon and Nikon – your entry level dSLR market is about to be cannibalized – fewer and fewer people will be wanting that style of camera for their travel, work, family events or just to take with them for sheer creative fun – because that is what Micro Four Thirds system brings back to the photography world – fun!

Of course, its popularity is not a surprise – the market has been demanding a high image quality digital compact system for years and the need has been unmet until now, and the Micro Four Thirds is the perfect sensor size to give the best compromise in image quality vs lens size vs versatility in range of legacy lenses able to be used – a much better compromise than the APS-C mirror-less cameras coming onto the market.

See dpreview report.

Olympus has also just announced that it is aiming to increase its current 5% market share in global high end digital cameras sales to 20% in the near future courtesy of the surge in demand for Micro Four Thirds cameras.

Olympus holds 70% market share of the medical endoscopy market, but prior to Micro Four Thirds, it has struggled to compete with Canon, Nikon and Sony in the dSLR stakes given the embedded virtual historic duopoly of Canon and Nikon.

But now with this “killer app” similar to the Apple iPod in being portable, take anywhere but have high functionality, the Micro Four Thirds popularity can be expected to grow exponentially as new technologies can be embedded which cannot be readily be used in legacy mirror-based dSLR models.

 

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Micro Four Thirds gets a cheap 50mm f/0.95 hyperprime lens for dreamy, very shallow depth of field or low light work

Written by admin on March 2nd, 2010

The Micro Four Thirds camera system is blessed with being able to use almost any lens ever made albeit in manual focus only, but at least image stabilised as well if you use an Olympus body, and being mirror-less, having fast, accurate access to manual focus anywhere on the image.

New US-based company, Noktor, has just released its first lens product – a hyperprime 50mm f/0.95 lens in Micro Four Thirds mount for $US750 (yes that is cheap compared to the Leica version which is some 15 times more expensive!), weighing 480g and with close focus of 0.6m and a filter thread of 62mm. The lens appears to be based on the $US900 Senko/Navitron/Yakumo C-mount TV camera lens. It will be interesting to see how it compares with the similarly priced Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.1 in Leica mount. I suspect the Voigtlander will beat it for sharpness wide open given the images Noktor have posted thus far.

Noktor 50mm f/0.95

They provide the following image sample (click image for large size):

portrait

As you can see, it has a dreamy aesthetic, and it has extremely shallow DOF. More images in their gallery, and a quick preview of it by Steve Huff, and also check out Philip Bloom’s review of this lens for videos – he shows a very nice shallow DOF video taken with a GF-1.

Having a 50mm focal length, this gives a field of view of a 100mm lens on a 35mm camera, and I presume a depth of field of a 100mm f/1.9 lens on a 35mm camera, but exposure of an f/0.95 lens, and image stabilised on Olympus!

Now let’s see what other wide aperture options at that focal length we have for Micro Four Thirds:

Autofocus capable:

  • Panasonic Leica M43 45mm f/2.8 OIS macro
  • Olympus M43 50mm f/2.0 macro (coming in 2011?)
  • Olympus ZD 50mm f/2.0 macro – slow AF on Olympus, no AF on Panasonic
  • Olympus ZD 35-100mm f/2.0 – slow AF on Olympus, no AF on Panasonic – bit too big for a small body though
  • Olympus ZD 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 – slow AF on Olympus, no AF on Panasonic – bit too big for a small body though
  • Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Four Thirds – slow AF on Olympus, no AF on Panasonic

50mm lenses which will only manual focus on M43 but with aperture at least as fast as f/1.2:

  • Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH – 700g, close focus 1m, £6290 or $US11,000 new.
  • Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/1 ASPH – 630g 1975 model (~$US4000 on Ebay?) now replaced by the f/0.95 model which has less vignetting and distortion
  • Carl Zeiss 50mm f/0.7 limited production 35mm movie camera lens
  • Tarcus I.T.V 50mm f/0.95
  • Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.1 Leica VM mount – 428g, close focus 1m, 58mm filter, 10 aperture blades, $A1295 Sharper than the Leica f/1.0 but not as sharp as the Leica f/0.95, but bokeh not quite as nice, and micro-contrast a bit flat.
  • Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Leica Vm mount is also available – see photos here
  • Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 and f/1.4 are also available
  • Hexanon 50mm f/1.2 – $US2000 on Ebay
  • Canon EF 50mm f/1.0 L – 985g, close focus 0.6m, USM AF, discontinued 2002; $US3500? Very soft, no where near as good as a Canon 85mm f/1.2L, even at f/2.8
  • Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L – USM AF, introduced in 2006, sharper than the f/1.0 Canon
  • Canon FD 50mm f/1.2
  • Canon 7 rangefinder 50mm f/0.95 “dream lens”
  • Olympus OM 50mm f/1.2
  • Olympus OM 55mm f/1.2 – very soft wide open on Four Thirds
  • Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AI-S – 354g, 9 blades, close focus 0.5m,  $US670 new
  • Nikon 58mm f/1.2 Ai-s Noct ASPH – 465g, 9 blades, discontinued in 1997  much more expensive than the 50mm Nikon – ~$US3000 Ebay
  • Minolta Rokker 50mm and 58mm f/1.2 lenses
 

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The very exciting future of Micro Four Thirds cameras – native field of view and SWD AF for Olympus OM lenses as well??

Written by admin on February 28th, 2010

Despite all the other cameras that I own, including dSLRs such as Canon 1D Mark III, Olympus E-510, Olympus E-330, it is the unique characteristics of design of the Micro Four Thirds which has me, and much of the photographic world truly excited.

It has sufficient image quality to address the needs of most photographers, indeed, the DxO tests of the Panasonic GH-1 showed it to have less image noise and more dynamic range at ALL ISO levels than the new Canon APS-C dSLRs – the Canon 550D and Canon 7D.

The system now has enough lenses and bodies and versatility that there should be a reasonable selection of a compact, light, relativley quiet and non-intrusive high image quality camera kit which you can take anywhere and also do HD video, and in the case of the GH-1 and its excellent HD kit lens, you get the only continuous AF HD video capability out there.

One of the beauties of its design is it very short lens mount flange to sensor distance which not only allows use of almost any legacy lens ever made to be used on it such as Leica M rangefinder, Olympus Pen half-frame, and ANY 35mm film or digital lens – albeit in manual focus, but it’s design allows the fastest access to accurate manual focus currently available.

Furthermore, when used on Olympus bodies, all these lenses can be image stabilised and used at up to ISO 1600 with good image quality – something 35mm film photographers could only ever have dream’t about.

Not only that, but you can now get adapters which will also convert nearly ALL those 35mm lenses into tilt and shift lenses for awesome versatility unheard of before, and now Olympus has also filed a patent to create a 0.5x wide angle converter for OM lenses so that they can be used at their native field of view and aperture, thus an OM 21mm f/3.5 lens when currently used on a M43 camera has a field of view of a 42mm lens, while letting in the equivalent light of a f/3.5 lens and having a depth of field similar to a 42mm f/7 lens, this new wide angle adapter means that this lens will once again have a field of view of 21mm lens and a depth of field of a 21mm f/3.5 but an exposure capability of an f/1.7 lens, and be image stabilised.

Not only that, but if I am reading this patent correctly, it will convert ALL Olympus OM legacy lenses back to their native field of view and depth of field and with twice the brightness for shorter exposures AND adds SWD autofocus capability to all of them!

Now wouldn’t that be awesome!

And of course, you can extend this versatility to your creative needs by using the nice Art Filters, and do all this even in HD video with full manual exposure control if you wish.

BUT, this is only the beginning of this revolution!!

The next Panasonic GH-2 is likely to have high end HD video capability, but more importantly, the first global silent digital shutter which has the potential to radically change everything:

  • at last we will have a totally silent high image quality camera for wedding ceremonies, classical music concerts, etc
  • the rolling shutter jello effect in videos on panning will disappear totally
  • potential for much faster burst rates (probably in the GH-3) – perhaps up to 60fps if there is adequate buffer and focus is managed
  • sensor design will be able to be radically different, such that even in the GH-2 it is rumoured that it will have a dual exposure system such that green pixels will be exposed 4x longer to give sensitivity of a full frame dSLR
  • this could be further extended so that the sensor could automatically detect areas of highlights and dark shadows and adjust exposure accordingly in each area to improve shadow detail and prevent blown highlights.
  • they could even potentially design it to give different exposures to the foreground subject to further separate subject from the background regions.

We can expect the silent players from the Four Thirds consortium to consider re-entering the arena now that it is so profitable, and this may give us Micro Four Third camera bodies with totally different sensor designs:

  • Kodak sensors
  • Fujifilm DDR sensors
  • Sigma Foveon sensors
  • sensors optimised for infrared photography

With Panasonic now producing 3D televisions, surely, it won’t be long before they produce a Micro Four Thirds camera for 3D still and video capture to provide content for it – the small M43 size means a stereo camera lens system would still not be too onerous in size.

The amazing progress in electronic view finder technology is one area that has really allowed this type of camera to be possible, but this will only get better and more creative – inevitably we will get wireless viewfinders so that we can operate the camera remotely and see in real time exactly what the sensor is seeing.

The achille’s heel of mirror-less systems has been autofocus speed, but current models are as fast if not faster and more versatile than entry level dSLRs already – as electronics and algorithms improve, they can only get faster.

There is now little point in buying entry level dSLR’s – AF speed is the same, viewfinder on these dSLRs tends to be much worse than the EVF’s on the GH-1 and E-P2, image quality is similar, but they are bigger, heavier, noisier and more intrusive – so why bother with them?

Even Olympus officials are suggesting that all entry level Olympus dSLRs will be mirror-less by 2012 leaving only high-end semi-pro and pro models with prisms – the pentamirror will be banished, and we will see the Four Thirds system become part of the Micro Four Thirds system with full interchangeability of lenses, albeit via adapters, but with better live view AF performance than we have now.

I would also expect that Canon will replace some of their entry level dSLRs with mirror-less versions using the same EF-S mount but still only providing their largely second-rate EF-S lenses – they never really got serious about providing pro quality lenses to the EF-S mount, but will they bite the bullet and add the extra mount pins to make fast CDAF possible, and remake all their EF-S lenses optimised for CDAF?

Nikon will follow suit, but they are also likely to add a new even smaller version with a 2.5x crop sensor with new lens system – a good idea but the even smaller sensor will make it even harder to get shallow depth of field.

Just as 35mm film cameras displaced medium format film, Micro Four Thirds will displace entry level cropped sensor dSLRs and high end point and shoot cameras.

Sure there will be hoards of APS-C sized mirror-less systems – but why would you bother with these when their lenses will be inevitably bigger, will not be as versatile (unable to use Leica M lenses, unable to use tilt-shift adapters, unable to add silent AF crop-adjusted adapters), will have minimal if any image quality advantage, and in many cases, will not have pro quality AF lenses available to use as well?

See also Zone-10’s take on the M43 revolution, and a quote from them:

“In 1972 the Olympus OM-1 rewrote the rules for SLR cameras. 38 years on, Micro FourThirds could do even much more than that.”

One of the biggest barriers in getting into photography ever since AF lenses took over the world, has been the cost of these lenses.

Micro Four Thirds will soon allow more cost effective bodies (no need for AF sensors, moving shutters or prisms), plus the ability to use and accurately manual focus, cheap old legacy lenses, but not only that, it appears you just need the one AF adapter and they not only will become image stabilised and AF lenses  – this will make such a high image quality and versatile system finally accessible for the more financially challenged sectors.

The momentum is with Micro Four Thirds – let the force be with you :)

Sorry Canon and Nikon, you have misjudged this one from left field!

 

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Panasonic GH-1 does Dave Hill grunge – a tribute to my mate Ian at his retirement

Written by admin on February 27th, 2010

My mate Ian retired this week, and we are all going to miss him at work.

He is a gentle, kind giant of a man with a rare intelligence and a wonderful sense of humour who was always dependable and never shirked his responsibilities when things got tough as so many others do.

He made a tremendous impact on many lives and he will perhaps never quite understand the magnitude of his influence, not only to his clients but on those with whom he worked.

A couple of years ago, we thought we would have a bit fun with my Olympus E-510 and a couple of flashes and we came up with this image of a mad man in a padded cell:

the mad man.

This week we had a little informal lunch to celebrate his farewell at work, with his colleagues gathered around the room, I managed to get a few shots after his speech as he gave a farewell wave.

This image is approximately a 33% crop of a 16:9 aspect ratio image taken with the Panasonic GH-1 Micro Four Thirds camera with Leica-D 25mm f/1.4 lens at f/2.8 and an Olympus FL-50 flash bounced from the ceiling.

Although the original captured the occasion beautifully, I wanted a more punchy, grunge effect along the lines of a Dave Hill effect, because to me this suited another side of his personality which I love, I hope he likes it:
Dave Hill effect

 

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Ultra-wide zoom lenses for cropped sensor cameras

Written by admin on February 23rd, 2010

In my book, the best lens to get for ultra-wide zoom if you can afford it at $A1849 is the Panasonic 7-14mm f/4 lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras which of course will be image stabilised when used on Olympus cameras and gives field of view of 14-28mm (and a touch wider when used in 16:9 aspect ratio on a GH-1).

It is almost as good as the much larger, heavier, more expensive Olympus 7-14mm f/4 Four Thirds and the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G lens for full frame Nikon.

It is far smaller than anything else in that range, ideal for travel, and generally gives as good, if not better results – another great reason for buying the Micro Four Thirds system instead of a cropped sensor dSLR.

It’s built-in petal lens hood means you cannot attach polariser or ND gradient filters – even on lenses which can take filters, you are likely to get vignetting at focal lengths wider than 21mm in 35mm terms – this may be a big factor in your decision, particularly if you are buying it for landscape work rather than urban or creative work.

Another excellent option for Micro Four Thirds users, is the more affordable (?$A600-800), forth-coming Olympus M.ZD 9-18mm lens (the Four Thirds version is very popular and retails for a very reasonable $A795 and you can attach filters – the M43 version should be easier to design and much smaller).

If you have an Canon APS-C dSLR then you have a choice of generally cheap, consumer to mid grade lenses, albeit not as good optically as the lenses mentioned above, but that’s one of the prices you pay for getting a Canon APS-C dSLR – wide angle lenses has never been their forte, but at least they are relatively cheap.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5:

  • eq. to 16-35mm range; has reasonable build quality and minimal aberrations with good resolution. Not dust proof. 77mm filter; $A1269
  • said to be better than the Nikon 12-24mm, the Tamron 11-18mm, and the Sigma 10-20mm
  • less distortion at 10mm than a Canon 16-35mm L on a full frame
  • see Photozone review and Ken Rockwell’s review

Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM:

  • 16-32mm in 35mm equiv.; 0.24m macro; 77mm filter; non-rotating front element; 6 blades; $A769
  • significant distortion limits architectural use;
  • perhaps the worst optically of the bunch, and is no longer the widest of the zooms
  • see dpreview lens review

Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 DC HSM:

  • 82mm filter; $A989

Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX DG:

  • 19-38mm equiv.; a great lens but you need to find a good one as they are quite variable in quality.
  • $A1179

Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II LD IF:

  • 16-38mm on APS-C cameras; 77mm filter; 370g; bulky lens hood. $A789
  • sharper centrally and with less distortion than the Sigma 10-20mm, but still generally soft, especially wide open
  • see dpreview lens review

Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8:

  • 77mm filter; $A859

Tokina AT-X Pro SD 12-24mm f/4 IF DX:

  • 19-38mm range; $A739 and $A799 for version II;
  • easily beats the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM and Tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di-II as it is much sharper, especially wide open with good distortion results and solidly built
  • best used at 12-18mm
  • not so good at 24mm end and complex CA difficult to remove; not good for close up work.
  • almost as good as the consumer level Olympus ZD 9-18mm
  • see dpreview’s lens review

Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC:

  • announced Feb 2010 and will be the widest zoom available offering 12-24mm range in 35mm terms
  • 545g, HSM motor, close focus 24cm.
  • but will it’s optics be good enough as promised with its 4 FLD glass elements

In addition to the above third party APS-C lenses, Nikon DX users have the choice of the following lenses – perhaps no better off than Canon APS-C users:

Nikkor AF-S 10-24mm f/3.5-5.3G ED:

  • $A1399

Nikkor AF-S 12-24mm f/4G DX  IF ED:

  • $A1569
  • said to be not as good as the Canon EF-S 10-22mm lens, particular in distortion reduction

Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED for full frame:

  • $A2285; generally regarded as the best full frame ultra-wide zoom but on cropped sensor becomes 21-36mm range.

Finally, if you are like me and you have a Canon 1D Mark III (or  Mark IV), then forget ultra-wide zoom capability – you have to use a full frame lens at 1.3x crop factor, thus:

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM:

  • becomes 21-46mm on 1.3x crop – hardly ultra-wide zoom, but could still be useful, although no where as good as the Nikon 14-24mm which in addition to being sharper, would give 18-31mm range, but no AF, and you would need a special G adapter to allow aperture control.
  • $A1999
 

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Why Micro Four Thirds is the ideal system to migrate from high end point and shoot cameras

Written by admin on February 21st, 2010

This little post is inspired by a forum thread started by a photographer who mainly shoots using the excellent Panasonic LX3 but is finding the image quality, although excellent for prints to 11″x14″ is not adequate for exhibition work at, let’s say 20″ x 30″.

The Panasonic LX-3 is a brilliant little “point and shoot” digital because, not only is it super small, quiet and discrete, it has a great 24-60mm f/2.0-2.8 Leica lens which will shoot in native 16:9 aspect ratio and when you check out his photos, you will see that he has a fantastic eye for photography and that the discrete nature of this camera has enabled him to create these images which just would not be possible with a larger intrusive dSLR.

The problem with the LX-3 is the same as for all point and shoot digital cameras – it has a tiny sensor and tiny sensors mean severe diffraction limitation of optical resolution, less dynamic range, more noise at high ISO, and very deep depth of field (the latter is actually great for landscapes, street photography and hand-held self-portraits but very limiting for other styles of photography). This means quality of images deteriorates rapidly as you enlarge them past 11″x 14″.

His need for improved image quality could be achieved without question by buying a dSLR or even a medium format digital, but the size, noise and intrusiveness of a dSLR would change the way he takes photos and this would be a pity, because as you can see, he takes great photos in this style, and of course, the larger size of these cameras may mean he doesn’t even take them with him and so he would miss opportunities for spontaneous photography which is such an important feature in his work.

A Micro Four Thirds (M43) camera has a sensor more than 5x larger than that on a LX-3 which should equate to some 2.5 stops of improved sensor noise and dynamic range, while not being anywhere near as diffraction limited in its resolution.

A M43 camera will be only a little more louder, and bigger than the LX-3 but no where near as loud or as big as a dSLR.

Autofocus speed has not been an issue with his style and thus the AF speed of a M43 will be adequate given he is not shooting action/sports with narrow depth of field.

The image quality of a M43 will be similar to if not better than a cropped sensor dSLR such as a Canon 550D or 7D – see here, so this combined with his above needs means a cropped sensor dSLR would not make any sense for his style of photography compared to a M43 kit - if he really wants to go the dSLR route – he may as well go the latest full frame or medium format route – but then he will have to change his style.

Having decided upon the M43 route, the next difficulty is which kit to get as there is not one perfect M43 camera – the Panasonic cameras have marginally better AF, AVCHD video, optical image stabilisation which works in video as well and with the GH-1, the best sensor with native 16:9 aspect ratio and, in my opinion, the best design with its hand grip and built-in EVF, while the Olympus cameras have in-built image stabilisation, better jpeg quality, better flash control and some nice art filters to assist with your creative process, while not having the exposure compensation being accidently adjusted via a front dial as on the Panasonic models – my biggest gripe with them.

Given he is on a budget, perhaps his best option for his style is an Olympus E-PL1 with Olympus M.ZD 9-18mm lens, Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens and perhaps an Olympus 14-42mm collapsible lens.

The E-PL1 is the cheapest avenue to M43 and adds ability to add the excellent EVF later if he feels he needs it, provides a built-in flash and allows him to extend as a photographer by allowing remote TTL flash, and the image stabilisation combined with the 20mm f/1.7 lens will allow low light work even better than on his LX-3 although of course, it will be at 40mm effective focal length instead of 24mm, but I think he will still manage, while the 9-18mm extends his preference for wide angle work by giving him 18-36mm range, perfectly complimenting the 20mm f/1.7 lens.

The main downside of the E-PL1 is that Olympus has made it harder to change aperture, ISO and shutter speed as it has given priority to a dummies mode feature – nevertheless for most of his work, he will be using a set aperture and ISO so this may not be as big an issue as it could be – if this was an issue, he could go for the Olympus E-P2 and pay for the EVF upfront.

He could then further extend his video capabilities by getting the forthcoming Panasonic GH-2 with 14-140mm HD lens as this camera, if rumours are correct, will have the features of the GH-1 but add some awesome features:

  • improved HD video modes to match the Canon 7D but with full, silent AF with the HD lens
  • global silent shutter for silent still shooting, no jello/rolling shutter effect in video shooting, and perhaps a fast burst rate for still shooting – see here
  • dual exposure sensor to give sensitivity as for the full frame Canon 5D Mark II – see here
  • built-in GPS with automatic local time updates to provide accurate location and time data to EXIF data – see here

The old mantra – the best camera is the one you take with you applies more than ever – the future for most non-professional work is Micro Four Thirds style cameras.

 

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