[ OFFICIAL RELEASE 2010.09.14 ] - Olympus E-5

[Anthony Lee]

Sorry I missed your post here in the sea of posts.

Nightpiper was right in his reply.

Legacy lenses usually find it hard to compete with modern lens design as modern sensors demands a lot more from the lenses to resolve image better. Therefore I can safely say you will be quite impressed with a 12-60mm/E5 combo. BUT, at this day and age, there are also options out there if you are looking to build a system all over again. Though I would not go anywhere else since I have heavily invested into the E-System, but I would also look at what Pentax has got to offer... just for reference.

Of course, if you have a biggest budget, then there is always the top of the line Canon and Nikon. I am sure you will have no regrets with them other than weight issues. That is the only thing that puts me off the big boys. They are good camera systems, without a single doubt... but the rig is so heavy, I don't have that physical stamina to use them for long hours of shooting.

Wait and see the new E5. And I am sure many here has the OM-E-Mount adapter. Bring your fav lens and join the gang for the hands on event. Bring your SD card too, so that you can save the sample images and pixel peep at home. I am sure the E5 imaging capabilities will be quite stunning, and be miles better than the older Canon 5D. But not sure how much better (if at all) against the 5DMkII since no one has yet to see a straight-from-camera image from the E5.

I always believe in touching and feeling the camera first, and seeing the sample images before buying anything. So far nothing has compelled me more than the E-System and it remains even so until today. I believe we shared the same reasons as you were an OM-ie. (Think the word "homie") We should be of the same breed that love the Tatsuno glass and that is why we ended up with what we have.

I believe you will love the E5. Don't let my ranting affect your judgement. See and touch for yourself.

Thanks, and I like your style, straight forward and honest, yet friendly. I carried my first SLR in 1964, and I do understand most technicalities but I was absolutely disgruntle when Olympus went 4/3. I have tried my OM lenses on most bodies and I chose the 5D over the 5D2 for many reasons, the most important is absolute IQ. I am getting on in age and may want a cropped camera, slightly smaller, lighter and usable with my legacy lenses, not only Om but Leica, Zeiss and Pentax. The new E-5 excited me and if I were to buy it, it will be with an all purpose 12-60. Thanks for your long explanation.

 

[nightpiper]

Thanks, and I like your style, straight forward and honest, yet friendly. I carried my first SLR in 1964, and I do understand most technicalities but I was absolutely disgruntle when Olympus went 4/3. I have tried my OM lenses on most bodies and I chose the 5D over the 5D2 for many reasons, the most important is absolute IQ. I am getting on in age and may want a cropped camera, slightly smaller, lighter and usable with my legacy lenses, not only Om but Leica, Zeiss and Pentax. The new E-5 excited me and if I were to buy it, it will be with an all purpose 12-60. Thanks for your long explanation.

From ur prev post, i'm guessing u r more old school with prime on FF body & its a 35mm FL, thats why i recommended primes to u. However do rem zoom lens will have its compromises in terms of IQ. Like microcosm said, go try out one before committing, u may not like the distortion at the wide end of the 12-60. So prime lenses r still the way to go if u r very "meow" about IQ. Other option is the SHG zooms but those r more costly & heavier, & u may also want to note that the E sys doesn't have much primes line up. If ur fav FL is 35mm, there's no 17mm prime on the E sys unless its the m43 sys.

If u r considering m43 sys, i can recommend u the Panny 14 F2.5, 20 F1.7 & the 45 F2.8 primes lineup. :lovegrin: That wud be equiv to the old Contax G2 film cam. Zeiss & Voigtlander also annouced to support m43 with prime lenses

I've tried Leica 100 macro R mount & Zeiss 84 1.4 C/Y mount on the E1 some yrs back, i can honestly tell u the new Oly ZD primes r still better. The results were discussed with Antonio, the real Oly "MIB" hahaha & he also agreed with my observations

Lastly, i dun think the 5D or 5D2 IQ is comparable to the Canon 1 series. But to each his own

Like i mentioned earlier, the smaller the sensor, the more demanding is the lens. Hope u now understand why Nikon & Canon stick to the "magic no." 1.5 & 1.6 crop factor.

I believe you will love the E5. Don't let my ranting affect your judgement. See and touch for yourself.

See but dun touch. Touch but dun taste. Taste but dun swallow... HAHAHAHAHA!!!
(quickly run away & hide from microcosm sniper rifle)


PS. How come u guys hasn't seen the actual pic 1:1 from E5? Somehow i manage to view a few using a old browser with security compromises on the mac, it can pass thru those login thingy. From ISO 100 to 6400 HAHAHAHA.

 

[spidey89]

So I'm a little bored now since its my holidays and its been raining, I went and did a photoshop mockup of what the E-5 could have been in my mind and this is how it more or less could have been

Pardon the crappy photoshop work :angel:

One thing is it would be a little cramp but the E-1 was smaller than the E-3, probably could make the E-1 form factor a little bigger? Bad thing would be the E-1 grip wouldn't fit, but they could probably make a new grip? I'd gladly buy one and make it so they could use the old E-1 grip battery? If something works, why not just keep the old form factor? I mean, check out the XXD series from Canon, the 1D series, DXX series from Nikon, and DX series from Nikon, more or less the same with exception of D1. A young man can only dream

 

[bousozoku]

So I'm a little bored now since its my holidays and its been raining, I went and did a photoshop mockup of what the E-5 could have been in my mind and this is how it more or less could have been
...
One thing is it would be a little cramp but the E-1 was smaller than the E-3, probably could make the E-1 form factor a little bigger? Bad thing would be the E-1 grip wouldn't fit, but they could probably make a new grip? I'd gladly buy one and make it so they could use the old E-1 grip battery? If something works, why not just keep the old form factor? I mean, check out the XXD series from Canon, the 1D series, DXX series from Nikon, and DX series from Nikon, more or less the same with exception of D1. A young man can only dream

A 640x480 display (the E-5's display) could be put into a 1.8 inch space like the E-1's.

Before the E-3 arrived (and after), I was hoping that Olympus would provide the E-1 with the various internals, skipping the Live View hardware but with an enhanced low light (auto) exposure array and enhanced processor (TruePIC III at that time).

They should still do a body with zeros bells and whistles like the E-1, not some hobbyist's camera body. Image quality is everything. I don't want over-the-top HDR effects. :bsmilie:

 

[spidey89]

A 640x480 display (the E-5's display) could be put into a 1.8 inch space like the E-1's.

Before the E-3 arrived (and after), I was hoping that Olympus would provide the E-1 with the various internals, skipping the Live View hardware but with an enhanced low light (auto) exposure array and enhanced processor (TruePIC III at that time).

They should still do a body with zeros bells and whistles like the E-1, not some hobbyist's camera body. Image quality is everything. I don't want over-the-top HDR effects. :bsmilie:

I'm a little confused. Are you saying that they should make a body with the E-1's form factor with the best image quality they have to do but with the functions of an E-1?

 

[Anthony Lee]

From ur prev post, i'm guessing u r more old school with prime on FF body & its a 35mm FL, thats why i recommended primes to u. However do rem zoom lens will have its compromises in terms of IQ. Like microcosm said, go try out one before committing, u may not like the distortion at the wide end of the 12-60. So prime lenses r still the way to go if u r very "meow" about IQ. Other option is the SHG zooms but those r more costly & heavier, & u may also want to note that the E sys doesn't have much primes line up. If ur fav FL is 35mm, there's no 17mm prime on the E sys unless its the m43 sys.

If u r considering m43 sys, i can recommend u the Panny 14 F2.5, 20 F1.7 & the 45 F2.8 primes lineup. :lovegrin: That wud be equiv to the old Contax G2 film cam. Zeiss & Voigtlander also annouced to support m43 with prime lenses

I've tried Leica 100 macro R mount & Zeiss 84 1.4 C/Y mount on the E1 some yrs back, i can honestly tell u the new Oly ZD primes r still better. The results were discussed with Antonio, the real Oly "MIB" hahaha & he also agreed with my observations

Lastly, i dun think the 5D or 5D2 IQ is comparable to the Canon 1 series. But to each his own

Like i mentioned earlier, the smaller the sensor, the more demanding is the lens. Hope u now understand why Nikon & Canon stick to the "magic no." 1.5 & 1.6 crop factor.

Hi nightpiper,

I will take sometime to look at Oly's range of lenses. So far, from Oly's S'pore website, the lenses and the photo samples there are nothing to shout about, but I will take a much closer look. This is one DSLR segment that I have not look at because I am prejudiced against 4/3. Yes I am very old school, 35mm lenses on 35mm FF bodies. The Canon old 5D plus just the OM 50f1.4 or the 100f2 is hard to beat if you look at DOF, image isolation and bokeh transition and OM on Canon type of color rendition. Once again, many thanks for chipping in.

 

[bousozoku]

I'm a little confused. Are you saying that they should make a body with the E-1's form factor with the best image quality they have to do but with the functions of an E-1?

Yes, you're not confused at all.

They can use the best of what they have to make an exceptional, up-to-date E-1.

Give it faster exposure, burst speed, and auto focus, along with sharp images utilizing 12 MP but leave out the art filters, live view, and video. It would be nice to add the remote flash control since there wouldn't be room for a flash unit but that might be difficult to put in the E-1 body, especially with enhanced auto focus hardware, though the E-620 has something that would work as a start.

 

[spidey89]

Yes, you're not confused at all.

They can use the best of what they have to make an exceptional, up-to-date E-1.

Give it faster exposure, burst speed, and auto focus, along with sharp images utilizing 12 MP but leave out the art filters, live view, and video. It would be nice to add the remote flash control since there wouldn't be room for a flash unit but that might be difficult to put in the E-1 body, especially with enhanced auto focus hardware, though the E-620 has something that would work as a start.

:think: It is possible, though I'd like to have live view and flip screen,but art filters and videos can be left out,that's what my E-P1 is for Remote flash would be nice but could always use 3rd party radio triggers (not like its very heavy anyway).It would be nice to have an E-1 body with most of the bells and whistles that the E-5 has

 

[albertri]

Yes, you're not confused at all.

They can use the best of what they have to make an exceptional, up-to-date E-1.

Give it faster exposure, burst speed, and auto focus, along with sharp images utilizing 12 MP but leave out the art filters, live view, and video. It would be nice to add the remote flash control since there wouldn't be room for a flash unit but that might be difficult to put in the E-1 body, especially with enhanced auto focus hardware, though the E-620 has something that would work as a start.

I am good at E-620 hehe just do the following to it

make i a bit more faster (AF) pls pls pls
a bit bigger LCD and higher res maybe 3"
HD video 720 or 1080 would be great
Exposure braketing pls bump it up a bit up to 2 stop increment and 5F :lovegrin:
maybe 16MP Sensor :lovegrin:

The rest they can do what ever they want :sweatsm: then I am good to go! will not think of leaving Oly anymore!

 

[elgkh]

Reviews will be out on Monday

"...I was told to wait until monday before I can post my write-up. .. This said, there will not be only me who will do that so, rest your eyes because I am sure it will get tired from all the reading and pixel peeping on monday."

 

[albertri]

I am good at E-620 hehe just do the following to it

make i a bit more faster (AF) pls pls pls
a bit bigger LCD and higher res maybe 3"
HD video 720 or 1080 would be great
Exposure braketing pls bump it up a bit up to 2 stop increment and 5F :lovegrin:
maybe 16MP Sensor :lovegrin:

The rest they can do what ever they want :sweatsm: then I am good to go! will not think of leaving Oly anymore!

oppps I forgot Oly said if you want higher mega pixel go FF :cry::cry:

 

[albertri]

Reviews will be out on Monday

"...I was told to wait until monday before I can post my write-up. .. This said, there will not be only me who will do that so, rest your eyes because I am sure it will get tired from all the reading and pixel peeping on monday."

any teaser???:think:

 

[bousozoku]

:think: It is possible, though I'd like to have live view and flip screen,but art filters and videos can be left out,that's what my E-P1 is for Remote flash would be nice but could always use 3rd party radio triggers (not like its very heavy anyway).It would be nice to have an E-1 body with most of the bells and whistles that the E-5 has

Things don't have to be heavy by themselves. If they take extra space, the body becomes more heavy to accommodate them. The auto focus processor takes extra room in the E-3 but frees up the main processor. It's part of the reason that the E-3 is so bulky. They really could use some electronics design people on their side.

I am good at E-620 hehe just do the following to it

make i a bit more faster (AF) pls pls pls
a bit bigger LCD and higher res maybe 3"
HD video 720 or 1080 would be great
Exposure braketing pls bump it up a bit up to 2 stop increment and 5F :lovegrin:
maybe 16MP Sensor :lovegrin:

The rest they can do what ever they want :sweatsm: then I am good to go! will not think of leaving Oly anymore!

I'm not sure whether I care if they update the E-6x0 body. That peephole of a viewfinder is far too dark for me, especially coming from a company which shouted to the world about the OM-series viewfinder being big and bright.

I really wonder about the E-x0 and the E-6x0 bodies. They should continue, but does Olympus have the desire to make them work properly?

 

[Evilmerlin]

Olympus probably has the view that if you want a small body system, go m4/3. That's why there is nothing on the E-XXX series.

If there is a real improvement in DR and high ISO, I can really consider this. Can pass my E-30 to my father who don't have to look through the tiny E-510 VF then!

 

[albertri]

Olympus probably has the view that if you want a small body system, go m4/3. That's why there is nothing on the E-XXX series.

If there is a real improvement in DR and high ISO, I can really consider this. Can pass my E-30 to my father who don't have to look through the tiny E-510 VF then!

Planning to do the same pass my E-620 to my dad if I wont sell it then move on :cry: if Oly doesnt have any plan for thier E-XXX systems anymore

 

[K3N]

So I'm a little bored now since its my holidays and its been raining, I went and did a photoshop mockup of what the E-5 could have been in my mind and this is how it more or less could have been

Pardon the crappy photoshop work :angel:

Nice photoshop. It would be nice if you moved the Delete button to where the IS button is.
Notice the tilted thumbwheel? Nikon has a tilted thumbwheel for the D3 too and its not on the D2x and earlier cameras.

 

[spidey89]

Reviews will be out on Monday

"...I was told to wait until monday before I can post my write-up. .. This said, there will not be only me who will do that so, rest your eyes because I am sure it will get tired from all the reading and pixel peeping on monday."

Will be looking forward to getting home from work on Monday then

Things don't have to be heavy by themselves. If they take extra space, the body becomes more heavy to accommodate them. The auto focus processor takes extra room in the E-3 but frees up the main processor. It's part of the reason that the E-3 is so bulky. They really could use some electronics design people on their side.

Maybe they already do? Then it should be, they need to hire newer younger more creative minds,hahahahha, What you said makes sense, but the bulk and weight doesn't really bother me if grip is right, the E-3 is lighter than the D200(without grip on the D200 but with grip on the E-3) from what I feel and yet the E-3 feels more comfortable to hold. Even the D3 wasn't very nice to hold despite me enjoying the weight felt by the right arm

Olympus probably has the view that if you want a small body system, go m4/3. That's why there is nothing on the E-XXX series.

If there is a real improvement in DR and high ISO, I can really consider this. Can pass my E-30 to my father who don't have to look through the tiny E-510 VF then!

That is also true, but one thing that I find consumers especially teens might not want to buy the PEN is that its compact,making it look unprofessional and gives the impression that it may not take good images, that's what I feel anyway, though its not always the case for everyone

Nice photoshop. It would be nice if you moved the Delete button to where the IS button is.
Notice the tilted thumbwheel? Nikon has a tilted thumbwheel for the D3 too and its not on the D2x and earlier cameras.

Thanks, I just anyhow did it out of boredom, the thumbwheel doesn't bother me, its the front wheel that i hope doesn't change to be similar to that from the Canon XXXD series, I'm fine with either E-1 or E-3 front wheel

The reason why I put the delete button and the IS button where they are is simply cause I use the delete button more often than I use the IS button, and the IS button is more or less where the E-3's IS button is which I'm already accustomed to

 

[napalmdog]

I am good at E-620 hehe just do the following to it

make i a bit more faster (AF) pls pls pls
a bit bigger LCD and higher res maybe 3"
HD video 720 or 1080 would be great
Exposure braketing pls bump it up a bit up to 2 stop increment and 5F :lovegrin:
maybe 16MP Sensor :lovegrin:

The rest they can do what ever they want :sweatsm: then I am good to go! will not think of leaving Oly anymore!

actually considered that last year. looked around, came down to either Pentax or Nikon.

pentax nearer to olympus philosophy. clean high ISO on their K-X. but the lenses are no zuikos

next nikon, D90 with 18-105 + 50mm f.18 was as appealing setup. tried it out from a friend, weight became a problem after a while (coming from e620). took the pics home, didnt like the colors. had to PP often.

so now, no plans of leaving 'til i really see something i like outside oly camp. and will wait til 2011 and see what they have in store

 

[albertri]

actually considered that last year. looked around, came down to either Pentax or Nikon.

pentax nearer to olympus philosophy. clean high ISO on their K-X. but the lenses are no zuikos

next nikon, D90 with 18-105 + 50mm f.18 was as appealing setup. tried it out from a friend, weight became a problem after a while (coming from e620). took the pics home, didnt like the colors. had to PP often.

so now, no plans of leaving 'til i really see something i like outside oly camp. and will wait til 2011 and see what they have in store

I'm still here bro still here hehehe..... I hope I'll have enough cash to have two system in my dry cabinet to satisfy my craving of good feature pack DSLR (other brands) and good color IQ (Oly). I know other seniors here also have two or more systems in thier cabinet :bigeyes: they cant let go of Oly coz at the end of the day if they want good IQ they use Oly anything else they use thier other systems:devil:

 

[drakon09]

43rumors posted quite a number of images taken with the pre-production E-5.

There are full-sized ISO1600 and upwards pic for peeping as well.

False colour, especially the blue channel, starts to creep into the blacks at 3200 upwards, but its nothing that would show at A4.

The ISO1600 pic on the other hand looks nice and clean.

Of course the pics aren't going to win any prizes though.