Olympus M.Zuiko Pro – UNITITLED.NET

Mindy Tan, Photographer, aka FujiGirl, Tries Out Fujifilm X-H2 & Fujinon XF 18-120mm f/4.0 LM PZ WR For Documentary Photography

We have another article in progress about Fujifilm’s Fujinon XF 18-120mm f/4.0 LM PZ WR stills and video zoom lens but we were impressed by what Singapore-based wedding photographer and Fujifilm X-Photographer did with one mounted on an X-H2 that we just had to share it with you.

This video , there first one below, depicts her using the 18-120mm attached to an X-H2 to photograph workers at a floating fish farm located out to sea in Singaporean waters and it proves the value of having at least one zoom lens with a decent range from wide to long in your documentary photography and video production kit.

We’ve been waiting for exactly the right zoom lens to appear in Fujifilm’s X-mount lens collection for the longest time now, ever since investing in an X-Pro2 with a couple of fast prime lenses.

Could the Fujinon XF 18-120mm f/4.0 LM PZ WR be what we’ve been waiting for?

Fujinon XF 18-120mm f/4.0 LM PZ WR & Fujifilm X-H2

Fujifilm X-H2. Image courtesy of Fujifilm Global.

optimized_fujifilm_x-h2_vg-xh-vertical-battery-grip_01_1024px

Fujifilm X-H2 with VG-XH vertical battery grip. Image courtesy of Fujifilm Global.

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Fujinon XF 18-120mm f/4.0 LM PZ WR stills + video zoom lens with lens hood. Image courtesy of Fujifilm Global.

optimized_om-digital_solutions_om-1_12-100mm-f4.0_01_1024px — OM System OM-1 camera with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4.0 IS Pro zoom lens. Image courtesy of OM Digital Solutions Australia.

While waiting for Fujifilm to deliver on its promise to take video more seriously some years back, we had no choice but to invest in a Panasonic Lumix camera and Olympus zoom lenses for video production.

We were volunteering for a global human rights charity at the time and believed that the best way to communicate its message was to do it audio-visually, in still and moving images, and as the charity had absolutely no funding we bought our own gear for the charity’s work.

We still have a couple of those now rather old Lumix cameras that have no in-body image stabilization and our Olympus lenses aren’t stabilized either so our use of them for handheld video projects is a bit limited.

When we need to attend a rally or demonstration and must carry the bare minimum of gear while being prepared to shoot in-deep or from a distance we’ll pack one of the Lumix cameras with our Olympus M.Zuiko Pro Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro zoom with its invaluable manual clutch focus mechanism and we’re confident we’ll be able to handle pretty much anything that comes our way, for photography at least.

If Olympus’ M. Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4.0 IS Pro zoom had been available at the time then we most certainly have bought that instead for its optical image stabilization.

Its f/4.0 maximum aperture would not have been a problem as we usually default to f/5.6 or f/8.0 for documentary photography anyway.

The Micro Four Thirds system’s Bayer sensors, smaller than the Fujifilm X System’s APS-C X-Trans sensors, have been delivering impressive results when processed in DxO PhotoLab Elite 6 using its DeepPRIME XD demosaicing and denoising functionality and we’re looking forward to DeepPRIME XD supporting X-Trans raw files soon.

We’ve been hoping that Fujifilm would take a leaf out of the Olympus, now OM Digital, professional prime and zoom lens design book and ensure that every new lens would have manual clutch focus.

Instead Fujifilm has taken a giant leap backwards and no new lenses since the Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8 R, XF 16mm f/2.8 R WR and XF 23mm f/2.8 R have come equipped with manual clutch focus.

Oh dear.

The question then becomes, is the non-manual clutch focus Fujinon XF 18-120mm f/4.0 LM PZ WR up to the job, at least insofar as documentary photography goes?

Recent FujiGirl videos by Monday Tan, Photographer, sponsored by Fujifilm Singapore

We were so impressed by the video below that we added several more where Ms Tan makes documentary photographs with other recently-released Fujifilm cameras and Fujinon lenses, the X-T5. X-H2S and XF 56mm f/1.2 R WR.

Mindy Tan, Photographer: Fujifilm X-H2 with XF18-120mm – Travel Photography Kit (FujiGirl15)

“X-Photographer Mindy Tan pairs the Fujifilm X-H2 with the XF18-120mmF4 for day out in Singapore’s waters, to Ah Hua Kelong, a local fish farm in floating in the sea.”

Mindy Tan, Photographer: Fujifilm X-T5 with XF56mm1.2: Muay Thai Portraits (FujiGirl14)

“X-Photographer Mindy Tan pairs the Fujifilm X-T5 with the XF56mm1.2 R WR for an electrifying portrait shoot with Muay Thai fighters.”

Mindy Tan, Photographer: Fujifilm X-T5 x Trash Collector: Fujigirl13

“In episode 13, FujiGirl photographs with the Fujifilm X-T5 for a day with the Karung Guni – trash collectors who recycle and sort materials for profit.”

Mindy Tan, Photographer: Fujifilm X-H2S: Streets of Vietnam. HoiAn – Hue

“Hoi An to Hue, Vietnam. With the Fujifilm X-H2s, I travelled solo for 8 days in Central Vietnam, taking in the sights and smells, taking my time to enjoy the world.”

4/3 Rumors: Officially announced: New Panasonic GH6, GH5II and 25-50mm f/1.7 MFT lens – Commentary

https://www.43rumors.com/officially-announce-new-panasonic-gh6-gh5ii-and-25-50mm-f-1-7-mft-lens/

Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 Mark II with Panasonic Lumix G Vario 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens. Image courtesy of Panasonic Australia.

panasonic_leica_dg_vario-summilux_25-50mm_f1.7_aspheric_01_1024px

Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 25-50mm f/1.7 Aspheric zoom lens. Image courtesy of Panasonic Australia.

Panasonic Lumix DC-GH6. Image courtesy of Panasonic Australia.

Commentary

olympus_m-zuiko_pro_collection_2017_1024px_80pc — The Olympus M.Zuiko Pro professional prime and zoom lens collection as of late 2017, all with manual clutch focus, invaluable for fast, accurate and repeatable manual focusing as well as linear focus-by-wire and autofocus. Image courtesy of Olympus.

The staff at 4/3 Rumors have done their customary excellent job of linking to articles and videos by brand ambassadors and professional reviewers so I am linking to the site’s first and most important collection of them here.

I will be adding other content about the Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 II, Lumix DC-GH6 and the Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric zoom lens as it becomes available.

Meanwhile if there is any substance in the article linked below by 4/3 Rumors from February 2021 where Mr Uno mentions that “We are also considering to make a “Revolutionary” new zoom lenses and new fast single focus [focal length] lenses for Micro Four Thirds” then that is a very pleasing development.

I have long been an advocate of the Olympus M. Zuiko Pro professional-quality Micro Four Thirds lenses that are excellent for stills photography and cinematography, and that I rate as almost perfect if it were not for their lack of an aperture ring.

olympus_m-zuiko_primes_square_17_25_45_1024px_02_60 — Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 17mm f/1.2 Pro, Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 25mm f/1.2 Pro and Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f/1.2 Pro professional prime lenses with manual clutch focusing, brilliant for shooting video or stills where accurate focus is absolutely critical. Image courtesy of Olympus.

With the sale of Olympus’ camera and lens division to JIP, the future of new additions to the M. Zuiko Pro collection is in doubt, so I would be well pleased if Panasonic has taken a leaf out of the Olympus book and is in the process of creating a matched set of pro-quality optics for stills and video.

Until then, one of the best investments that Micro Four Thirds documentary videographers and photographers might consider making may be Panasonic’s current Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric zoom and the coming Leica DG Vario-Summilux 25-50mm f/1.8 Aspheric zoom.

While the 10-25mm f/1.7 is often described as a “box of primes” by happy owners, and the 25-50mm f/1.7 would make a great companion for it, some documentary photographers and videographers prefer matched sets of fast prime lenses and that includes me.

I was impressed when Olympus released its M. Zuiko Pro 17mm f/1.2, 25mm f/1.2 and 45mm f/1.2 primes and had been hoping that the company would add other focal lengths to the set.

leica_summilux+_lineup_21-90mm_square_1920px_80pc — Leica worked out the best prime lens focal length line-up for documentary photography and photojournalism in 35mm years ago and it remains the benchmark and role model for other lens makers to this very day.

I would love to see Panasonic produce its own professional fast primes in at least the following focal lengths, with my documentary favourites marked in red:

10.5mm = 21mm in 35mm sensor format
14mm = 28mm
17.5mm = 35mm
20mm = 40mm
37.5mm = 75mm
45mm = 90mm
52.5mm = 105mm

Imagine if all or some of these appeared alongside the Lumix GH6 and the Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 25-50mm f/1.8 Aspheric zoom lens later this year.

It would cement Panasonic’s dedication to the ever-versatile Micro Four Thirds format in the minds of its current and future customers.

Even releasing a fast professional prime subset alongside the GH6 would make a difference, say the 10.5mm, 14mm and 20mm core lenses though I do love the idea of that 37.5mm equivalent to Leica’s legendary 75mm fast prime lenses.

olympus_12-40mm_f2-8_02_1024px_60pc — Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro standard zoom lens. Image courtesy of Olympus Australia.

Ever since buying into Micro Four Thirds with the Lumix DMC-GH4, which I still use and love, I have continued to set my default documentary zoom lens, the M. Zuiko Pro 12-40mm f/2.8, at 14mm for wide or 37.5mm for long, a perfect pairing of wide-angle and telephoto.

How about it, Panasonic, a great matched set of wide aperture primes to go with your two matched f/1.7 zooms on the release of the GH6?

Panasonic’s lens design strategy has always seemed a little random to me with gaps in its prime and zoom lens offerings, two sort of competing collections under its Leica and Lumix lens branding, and the challenge of assembling a perfect set of focal lengths in the way that Olympus has already achieved, albeit with gaps, in its M. Zuiko Pro lineup.

panasonic_lumix_dmw-xlr1_mic_adapter_03_1024px — Panasonic DMW-XLR1 Microphone Adapter for Panasonic Lumix G and S-Series cameras. Image courtesy of Panasonic Australia.

Panasonic has long been a leader in small camera high-end video and with the addition of the DeepPRIME AI algorithms to DxO PhotoLab, its cameras now produce remarkable high-end stills photography results in the widest choice of aspect ratios for sub-medium format cameras, including my favourite aspect ratio of all in 4:3 for painterly documentary scenes and 3:4 for portraits.

Panasonic now needs to be seen as a leader in matched prime and zoom lens collections so those of us who love their cameras no longer need to pine for the lenses of other brands.

Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric ultra-wide to standard normal zoom lens, first of a series of fast matched prime and zoom lenses?

panasonic_leica_dg_vario-summilux_10-25mm_f1.7_05_1024px

Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric ultra-wide to standard normal zoom lens. Image courtesy of Panasonic Australia.

panasonic_leica_dg_vario-summilux_10-25mm_f1.7_06_1024px

Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric ultra-wide to standard normal zoom lens. Image courtesy of Panasonic Australia.

panasonic_leica_dg_vario-summilux_10-25mm_f1.7_03_1024px

Optical diagram for the Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric ultra-wide to standard normal zoom lens. ASPH = aspherical. ED = extra-low dispersion. UHR = ultra-high refractive index. Image courtesy of Panasonic Australia.

panasonic_leica_dg_vario-summilux_10-25mm_f1.7_aspheric_g9_01_1024px

Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 with Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric wide to standard zoom lens. Image courtesy of Panasonic Australia.

Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric zoom lens, equivalent in 35mm sensor terms to 20mm through to 50mm. This is the zoom lens I wanted when I invested in the Micro Four Thirds system but nothing like it existed back then. Image by Karin Gottschalk.

Links

4/3 Rumors – Great news! Panasonic says new “revolutionary” MFT zoom and new MFT fast primes are in the works along the GH6! – the attached video in this article from February 26, 2021, has vanished but for those Japanese speakers and readers amongst you, might be found by following the links from this video or this article.
4/3 Rumors – More GH5II videos….
4/3 Rumors – Officially announced: New Panasonic GH6, GH5II and 25-50mm f/1.7 MFT lens
B&H Affiliate Link – Panasonic DMW-BGGH5 Battery Grip – does this vertical battery grip go with the GH5 II? I am currently awaiting confirmation on that question.
B&H Affiliate Link – Panasonic DMW-XLR1 XLR Microphone Adapter
B&H Affiliate Link – Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric zoom lens
B&H Affiliate Link – Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 25-50mm f/1.8 Aspheric zoom lens
B&H Affiliate Link – Panasonic Lumix GH5 II Mirrorless Camera
DxO – DxO PhotoLab, DxO FilmPack, DxO ViewPoint, DxO PureRAW and Nik Collection – the first two is a superior raw processing pairing for documentary and photojournalism work while DxO PureRAW² offers a great first step for those relying on other companies’ image processing software.
Leeming LUT Pro – cinematographer/director Paul Leeming offers a wide and growing range of camera profile and looks LUTs – “Leeming LUT Pro is the world’s first unified, corrective Look Up Table (LUT) system for supported cameras, designed to maximise dynamic range, fix skin tones, remove unwanted colour casts and provide an accurate Rec.709 starting point for further creative colour grading.”
Unititled.Net – Cameras – Please use these B&H affiliate link lists here and below for researching and purchasing hardware and help keep Unititled.Net going.
Unititled.Net – Lenses

Richard Wong: Panasonic Leica 10-25 mm f/ 1.7 In-Depth Review

“Panasonic Leica 10-25mm 1.7 is the fastest zoom lens from Panasonic/Leica. How is it’s build quality, image quality (sharpness,vignetting,CA,flare,distortion..etc)? Could this be a great lens for videographers or vloggers? How does it compare to the Leica prime lenses and what are the pros and cons of this lens? We’ll talk about all of these in this review.”

panasonic_leica_dg_vario-summilux_10-25mm_f1.7_aspheric_01_1024px — Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric wide to standard zoom lens.

Links

4/3 Rumors – Panasonic Leica 10-25mm f/1.7 In-Depth Review by Richard Wong
Photo by Richard – Panasonic Leica 10-25mm f/1.7 Review – article – “When Panasonic told me about this lens, they told me this is a lens that can replace multiple prime lenses. I was skeptical because zoom lens rarely can match the quality of prime lens. But after testing this lens, I agree with them. If you are a pro photographer or videographer who is currently rely on multiple prime lenses within this focal length range, I think you should consider switching to this amazing lens. It would make your life a lot easier without sacrificing the image quality.”
Richard Wong – Panasonic Leica 10-25 mm f/ 1.7 In-Depth Review – video

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Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 ASPH. Lens – B&H

ePHOTOzine: Panasonic Leica DG VARIO-SUMMILUX 10-25mm f/1.7 ASPH Hands-On

https://www.ephotozine.com/article/panasonic-leica-dg-vario-summilux-10-25mm-f-1-7-asph-hands-on-33371

“Panasonic are showing a working version of the new Leica 10-25mm f/1.7 Micro Four Thirds lens, at The Photography Show 2019, at the Birmingham NEC. We had a hands-on look at the new lens, which was first shown, in prototype form, at Photokina 2018. The lens gives the equivalent of 20mm to 50mm, and is lighter than it looks, considering the (large) size of the lens….”

panasonic_leica_dg_vario-summilux_10-25mm_f1.7_01_1024px — Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 zoom lens currently under development. It may prove to be a great primary lens for available light documentary moviemaking and photography on M43-mount cameras including those made by Blackmagic Design, Olympus and Panasonic. Photograph originally published at CVP.com, showing manual clutch focus mechanism in operation. Photographs by Joseph Waller of ePHOTOzine do not show a manual clutch focus mechanism however. So far it is unknown as to whether the mechanism will make it into the final version of t he lens. Double the numbers on the zoom ring for their 35mm equivalents – 20mm, 24mm, 28mm, 36mm and 50mm.

Commentary

olympus_m-zuiko_digital_ed_45mm_f1-2_white_square_upright_clutch_1024px_60.jpg — Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f/1.2 Pro prime lens with manual clutch focusing via retracting focus control ring. Equivalent to 90mm in the 35mm sensor format. If only ALL lenses offered manual clutch focus!

When I went looking for the best lens for documentary photography and video after I decided to invest in Panasonic’s Lumix Micro Four Thirds camera range, I read about and tried out a number of options including adapted and native prime and zoom lenses.

After narrowing the options down, it was a contest between the Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm f/2.8 II Aspheric Power OIS and the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro and, after a lengthy tryout of both lenses, the Olympus zoom lens won hands-down.

The single biggest reason?

The M.Zuiko Pro lens collection’s manual clutch focus mechanism that is activated by retracting the focus-by-wire control ring towards the camera body.

“Pulling focus with focus-by-wire sucks,” as they say in the video industry.

I rapidly obtained critically sharp focus for stills with the M.Zuiko Pro 12-40mm f/2.8 zoom more times than I did with the Panasonic lens’ focusing control ring or the camera’s autofocus functionality, and that capability outweighed the Lumix 12-35mm lens’ rather attractive optical image stabilization.

I still rely on my M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro zoom lens for mission-critical work after having tried out and invested in a number of Lumix prime and zoom lenses, and may well be adding more M.Zuiko Pro primes and zooms in future.

Then news leaked out of Panasonic’s Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 zoom lens being in development, full feature set then unknown as it still is, and things shifted somewhat.

This lens is the closest so far to the ideal zoom lens I had visualized when buying into the Micro Four Thirds system.

I had imagined a lens with a range encompassing every single focal length I rely upon when shooting documentary photographs and video, with the exception of the portrait and big close-up range of 75mm through 85mm and 90mm to 105mm.

Imagine that focal length range in a similarly fast and wide maximum aperture standard-to-telephoto companion zoom lens.

Questions persisted for some time as to whether the Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 would have optical image stabilization and whether it would come with manual clutch focus.

Many professional photographers and videographers have reportedly been asking Panasonic for the latter in new lenses for quite some time now, to no avail.

It is great to finally see a little more of the Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 in Joseph Waller’s photographs for ePHOTOzine of a pre-production version, but there is no mention nor evidence of a manual clutch focus mechanism in the article and its photographs.

I have asked a contact who is attending The Photography Show 2019 in Birmingham to see if she can get hold of the lens and confirm whether or not it actually has the crucial focusing functionality.

Watch this space!

olympus_lens_roadmap_2019-02-13_1920px — Olympus lens roadmap as of February 13, 2019.

Meanwhile I am wondering what Olympus has in store with its most recently updated lens roadmap, especially in regard to the “Wide Zoom” and “Standard Zoom” items, not to forget “Bright Prime Lens” and “Telephoto Zoom Lens” which appears twice.

Imagine all those lenses with the brilliant M.Zuiko Pro manual clutch focus mechanism.

Kiss goodbye to the frustrations of pulling focus via fly-by-wire.

Postscript

My Birmingham contact is pretty sure that the Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7’s aperture ring is declicked.

Now waiting for her to have hands on with the lens and confirm whether there is a manual clutch focus mechanism.

Post-postscript

Photography Blog posts pictorial confirmation that manual clutch focusing has finally come to a Panasonic lens.

Well I think that is evidence enough that Panasonic’s Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 will have manual clutch focusing mechanism and thus accurate and repeatable focus pulling for video.

It will also have the ability to quickly and accurately set hyperfocal distance, a necessity when zone focusing for high-speed forms of documentary or photographing in the street, as well as landscape photography.

Hyperfocal distance can be calculated using online forms or mobile apps, and a number of options can be found online here.

Fully manual focus lenses such as the Leica M-Series rangefinder camera lenses illustrated up this page provide beautifully-etched scales allowing quick calculation of hyperfocal distance, a functionality I often yearn for when photographing in public with digital cameras and lenses.

Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric zoom lens and Lumix DC-G9 camera. Photographed by Joshua Waller for ePHOTOzine.

Whet now remains is for a late pre-production Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric zoom lens to find its way into the hands of professional cinematographers and photographers for extensive testing and reporting on its mechanical and optical quality.

This lens has the potential to replace a range of prime lenses in one’s daily gear kit, in my case the 35mm sensor equivalents of 21mm, 28mm, 35mm, 40mm and 50mm.

Neither Olympus nor Panasonic supply all those focal lengths as prime lenses, though I hope that situation will change in the near future.

The Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric will not be a cheap lens given Panasonic’s ambitions in producing it, but whatever its price on release, it would be wise to compare it to what those five focal lengths might cost as f/1.7 prime lenses.

There are other potential benefits.

Of all the brands of aluminium and brass step-up rings I have tried, those made by Breakthrough Photography have proven to be the best and are unique in their top quality machining and easy-handling traction frame.

The Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric’s filter diameter is 77mm, and I would recommend attaching a Breakthrough Photography 77mm to 82mm knurled brass step-up ring to it for attaching 82mm diameter fixed and variable neutral density filters when shooting video.

Whether the Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 Aspheric zoom lens is heavy or not, its size would benefit from attaching a vertical battery grip to your camera if it is a Panasonic.

I like most cameras to be equipped with vertical battery grips for added power when shooting video and ease of handholding in portrait photography.

The countdown to NAB 2019 is well advanced and it will be interesting to see if Panasonic shows off mockups of the coming Lumix DC-GH6 hybrid M43 camera.

I am hoping that Panasonic will combine the best of the Lumix DC-GH5 and GH5S in the GH6 while taking into account the challenges presented by the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, Fujifilm’s X-T3 and X-H1 while bearing in mind the coming X-H2, as well as the 35mm sensor-equipped mirrorless cameras now released by Canon, Nikon, Leica and, indeed, Panasonic itself.

zhiyun-tech_weebill_lab_01_1024px — Zhiyun-Tech Weebill Lab gimbal stabilizer.

While the Super 35 format has its many attractions, the smaller and lighter cameras and lenses of Super 16 moviemaking still allow you to go places where the larger 35mm cameras and lenses can draw undue attention.

The photographs of the 10-25mm f/1.7 lens published by ePHOTOzine and Photography Blog appear to have been shot on mobile phones and optical exaggerations make it hard to accurately judge the lens’ size in relation to the camera or the hands holding them.

Nonetheless, I have no problem with the idea of carrying this one lens about almost permanently attached to any Panasonic M43 camera whether with battery grip or not, or a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Camera 4K for that matter, though I would be tempted to consider the Zhiyun-Tech Weebill Lab or Crane 3 Lab as appropriate if stabilization is a necessity when shooting with the BMPCC 4K.

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Olympus Lenses – B&H
Panasonic Cameras – B&H
Panasonic Lenses – B&H

OlympusEuropePhoto: #olympusLIVE | PART 1 | Olympus OM-D E-M1X Press Release Conference Hamburg 24.01.2019

“Brought to you live from Hamburg: The newest Olympus camera in professional photography! Watch here the playlist of the full show of the OM-D E-M1X release event. This clip summarizes the official Press Release Conference on January 23rd, 2019, with guests from Olympus Tokyo….”

olympus_om-d_e-m1x_square_1024px_01 — Olympus OM-S E-M1X Micro Four Thirds camera with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 17mm f/1.2 Pro lens.

Commentary

For me, the Micro Four Thirds sensor format occupies the place that 35mm inhabited during the analog era and so it is well-suited to the photographic genres that were dominated by 35mm cameras such as sports, wildlife, photojournalism, some subgenres of documentary and specific approaches to fashion photography.

Other sensor formats occupy places once owned by larger analog formats, for example Fujifilm’s X-Trans APS-C has taken the place of some 120 roll film formats while Fujifilm’s G-Series Bayer sensor-equipped medium format cameras have taken the place of 4″x5″ sheet film and the company’s coming GFX 100 will likely match if not surpass the image quality of 8″x10″ sheet film cameras.

Similar analogies apply to other sensor formats such as 35mm where 20+ megapixels sensors amply match if not surpass the quality once obtained by medium format roll film and circa 50 megapixels sensors are inching on the door of sheet film’s house.

Complaints that MFT camera sensors may not be as sensitive as those of larger formats are silly given the mobility, weather resistance and smaller lenses with stellar performance the smaller format affords.

If you need larger sensor cameras, invest in them and let MFT be what it excels at just as one should allow cameras of other sensor formats and body types to be what they were designed to be.

Pretending otherwise is silly.

I am rather fond of the Micro Four Thirds format as it gave me access to the pro-quality video capabilities I could not afford at the time and its cameras proved to be rather good for documentary stills photography and photojournalism too.

If I were working for newspapers and magazines as I used to, MFT cameras and lenses would constitute my core daily working kit, supplemented by equipment in other sensor formats as projects demanded.

The Olympus OM-D E-M1X would be in contention as would the excellent Olympus M.Zuiko Pro lenses.

The Micro Four Thirds sensor format is perfectly adequate for those genres and applications.

Olympus OM-D E-M1X with lenses and accessories

Olympus OM-D E-M1X with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro zoom lens.

Olympus OM-D E-M1X camera. Image courtesy of Olympus Australia.

Olympus OM-D E-M1X Micro Four Thirds mirrorless digital camera with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro zoom lens, equivalent in the 35mm sensor format to 80mm to 30mm. Image courtesy of Olympus Australia.

The Olympus Lens Roadmap, February 2019

Olympus has been doing a great job of fleshing out its professional-quality M.Zuiko Pro lens collection but gaps remain in its prime and zoom lens offerings and rumours of new lenses, particularly new fast prime lenses, have appeared over the last couple of years without results.

I am rather fond of the M.Zuiko Pro lens series, with my most-used being the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro standard zoom, and I have been hoping that Olympus will add more prime lenses.

I chose the 12-40mm f/2.8 over what might have been the more logical choice given I use Panasonic cameras, Panasonic’s Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm f/2.8 II Aspheric Power OIS zoom lens, for several reasons:

Manual clutch focus – essential in my opinion for achieving fast, accurate, repeatable focus especially when shooting documentary video.
Longer focal length range – 24mm to 80mm in 35mm sensor equivalents, extending the long end into the realm of ideal focal lengths for portraiture.
Excellent optical performance – all throughout the lens’ focal length range.
Excellent mechanical and optical design and manufacturing.

Olympus’ release of its first three fast M.Zuiko Pro prime lenses was very pleasing, but I have long been hoping for the addition of 10.5mm and 14mm prime lenses, equivalent in 35mm terms to 21mm and 28mm, both of which are essentials for documentary photography and video.

While 10.5mm is available wit in the M.Zuiko Pro 7-14mm f/2.8 zoom, that lens requires the use of large, unwieldy and costly adapters for attaching neutral density filters when shooting video.

A 10.5mm M.Zuiko Pro prime lens is a much better choice and it does not need to be as fast as its M.Zuiko Pro siblings with their f/1.2 maximum aperture.

The same applies to an M.Zuiko Pro 14mm prime lens.

Both lenses would be perfectly fine with maximum apertures of from, say, f/1.8 through to f/2.8, though faster is always appreciated in available darkness.

One of Olympus’ new items in its February 2019 lens roadmap, “Bright Prime Lenses”, is encouraging and it appears to be placed somewhere between 10mm and 60mm.

I would love to see wide aperture prime lenses added in popular focal lengths such as the following, in their M43 and 35mm sensor equivalents:

10.5mm – 21mm
14mm – 28mm
37.5mm – 75mm
52.5mm – 105mm

Two other new items in the lens roadmap have me intrigued, “Wide Zoom Lens” and “Standard Zoom Lens”.

I would like to see Olympus take on Panasonic over the latter’s Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm f/1.7 fast zoom lens that was announced with scant details back in late 2018.

This lens may well be the one I had been looking for when I first bought into Micro Four Thirds, containing most of the focal lengths I need on a daily basis for documentary stills and video, and something similar coming from Olympus for its M.Zuiko Pro lens collection can only be a good thing.

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Frank Glencairn: Why the new Pocket Cinema Camera 2.0 isn’t actually a successor of the original Pocket, and why it doesn’t mat[t]er.

https://frankglencairn.wordpress.com/2018/04/19/why-the-new-pocket-cinema-camera-2-0-isnt-actually-a-successor-of-the-original-pocket-and-why-it-doesnt-mater/

“… So it’s that time of the year, when the whole industry looks at Vegas, eagerly awaiting the new game-changer collection. And this time, Blackmagic pretty much mopped the floor, with all the other new cameras that came out this year, by taking the GH5s (IMX294 or variant) sensor, building a better camera with it, and selling it for have [sic] of the price, while throwing in a full blown, Hollywood grade postproduction package on top of it….

… It’s not as small and stealthy as the original Pocket, but it’s a pretty amazing camera, that still lets you steal shots, while looking like a tourist with a DSLR, if you have to (come on – we all did that at least a few times).

It’s a good size and weight to put it on a one hand gimbal and run all day with it. And if you don’t have the budget for an Ursa, it’s a great camera that you can rig up cine style with all the bells and whistles, and shoot commercials or even narrative….”