John Matthews

Not for me. I went from M43 to a Sony A7r ii, said screw that, went back to M43 and swore I'd never leave again. Why? Size, cost (especially lenses), value, and where's the challenge in having a huge camera that you're expected to get great results? I'll probably never buy a lens for $1000 or more. I like the small cameras and lenses as they give me limitations and I can improve that way. If one day I NEED the latest and greatest that ONLY FF can do, I'll rent it. The rest of the time, I look for great bargains on M43 lenses. In most cases, I end up making money on them as so many people out there don't know how to sell their gear. It can be fun too trying out old stuff. That's how I got my $40 GM1 and $60 GH2 (great and fun backup cameras for me). Personally, I get a rush out of creating cool content on other people's old stuff. Why wouldn't I go APSC? Lenses. Except Fuji, no one has anywhere near what M43 offers. And Fuji lenses aren't really made for video AF. Also, they're rather expensive as they're the "hot" new things whereas people are dumping their M43 systems for nothing sometimes because they often (unwittingly) think FF will save their photography/video skills- been there, done that.

It is true that if you look at a A7 iv and OM-1 with their respective kit lenses, they look like a similar size and weight. However, once you get to the longer focal lengths, the size comparison is no longer valid as most of the long Sony lenses are heavier than a comparable LENS and CAMERA TOGETHER- this should not be underestimated. Also, the IBIS is simply in another league. Add to that the great weather sealing, and increased AF-point density, and I can definitely see the advantage of the Olympus. Now they need to show off the size advantages of the M43 sensors in terms of small and pocketable bodies like the GM1 with some super-small lenses.

There are a slew of photographers that'll buy it, regardless of price. I'm waiting for a discount later in the year (hopefullly). Also, my experience with OMDS has been super positive so far and it would seem they treat customers fairly well IMO.

I've never heard of anyone having any problems with weather sealing on Olympus cameras (although I'm sure it exists). Mine have taken heavy showers and direct snowballs without any problems (and that's my E-M1 ii which doesn't have ANY rating whatsoever). Olympus and Pentax have always been excellent in this regard.

This cannot be understated in terms of build quality. Another way to read it from the other manufacturers is: "Sure, we have a weather-sealed camera, just don't use it as a weather-sealed camera." I still remember the imaging resource tests of the "weather-sealed" options from Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Olympus. Olympus E-M1 ii was great and it still didn't even have the rating then. The Sony A7r iii did the worst (must have been the camera's consumer electronics heritage). Now, all the E-M1 iii, E-M1x, E-M5 iii, and OM-1 cameras have IPX or IP53 ratings.

This camera far exceeds my video and photographic needs right now and looks like a great addition to M43. I'm curious to see what real-world footage looks like. Is it really that much better than what we currently have (which I think is great)? I'm just happy to have another great option for all the small M43 lenses out there. I'll probably get this camera, but wait for a heavy promo.

Late edit: Out of curiosity, just looked it up. I think it's a national program similar to many places in Europe. This means your retirement is not tied to corrupt business people making bad choices about a company and your losing a big part of your retirement funds.

Do you know if a Japanese company fails that they lose their pensions? There are many places where pensions are not tied to future company success (for obvious reasons).

Wrong again.

Well, in 2022, it looks like "Olympus" will still be on the camera. Great news!

Nope. Looks like we're getting a new flagship in 2022, which is cool.

Nope. Not yet. 🙂

Nope. It looks like you called it wrong.

Thanks for that. I wonder how many more are going to show up out of the woodwork! Updated list: OMDS/Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, Tamron, Laowa (VenusOptics), Xaioyi, DJI, Yongnuo and Kodak are M43 manufacturers that produce (or have produced) lenses with electrical contacts. The other quasi-producers are Metabones and Viltrox with their speedboosters.

Yes. We're all winners here. @BTM_Pix was able to list the final lens manufacturer that has made a lens WITH electrical contacts (AF was NOT a requirement). You might be confusing the previous M43 trivia post. Let's recap: OMDS/Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, Tamron, Laowa (VenusOptics), Xaioyi, DJI and Yongnuo are M43 manufacturers that produce lenses with electrical contacts. The other quasi-producers are Metabones and Viltrox with their speedboosters.

Yes. Yes. I believe that's it. You win @BTM_Pix. Unless I missed one. Correct me if I'm wrong, the DJI 15mm f/1.7 is simply a repackaged Panasonic Leica 15mm f/1.7, made by Panasonic. One could say the same about many other lenses though. I believe the Olympus 75mm f/1.8 is actually made by Sigma, but it was design through and through by Olympus... more a question of production savvy.

Ok. Still a lens, I guess. Only one more... I think.

Metabones is a lens too, I guess. Nice! Yes. Only one more that I know of.

Yes. Sigma is another with many lenses and multiple versions (16mm, 19mm, 30mm x2, 56mm, 60mm).

I have 3 Lomography lenses (all f/8) and they weigh 115g TOGETHER (about 38g separately). They cost me 20 Euros, I think. I'll use them on a 204g GM1. Quality, schmality. Another limitation would to be that you can only shoot in-camera, no post other than putting shots on a timeline in the sequential order you shot them in.

Yes, Laowa 10mm f/2.0, but no AF. I most people would miss that one. Yes, they have at least one.

Another M43 trivia question: OMDS/Olympus and Panasonic make M43 lenses with electrical contacts, who are the other M43 lens producers that have electrical contacts? I just learned this one the other day. Winner gets bragging rights.

Sadly, my Olympus E-P7 had to go back for repair due to some IBIS problems. I couldn't take a photo at anything under 1/15s. This was unacceptable as I could do it no problem without IBIS, hence the faulty IBIS system. They assured me it was a one-off problem and wanted to replace my black and silver one with a white one (no available spare parts an no black and silver ones left). I refused. In the end, they gave me the E-M5 iii which is also a very capable small camera. I will have to say they treated me VERY well and made EVERY effort to make me happy. I will be taking my business to them for the foreseeable future. I don't know what Olympus was like before OMDS, but I cannot imagine a drop-off in after sales service. Kudos to them. I never really had a chance to get super cinematic video from the E-P7, but I can assure you, in the right hands, it's decent. With normally great IBIS and the ability to change the saturation of 12 individual colors, this tool seems like a creative in-camera powerhouse- and at only 337g. I'm eagerly waiting to see what's to come from the OMDS engineering team as they have a real opportunity to make gains with many content creators as they don't have other products lines to protect. Some day, I'll get another E-P7.

At 22.5mm, it's not that much with just "OK" stabilization. If it were 22mm and great stabilization, it might be passable. Also, you could get it a little further away with a make-shit selfie stick. The X3000 was great... everyone is waiting for the successor to no avail. I think it really doesn't offer that much over a phone with a wide-angle on it though. It would seem customers are putting in much more thought into this type of camera than all the manufacturers.

Thanks @kye. It looks like it's a 0.75x, making the 24mm on the ZV1 go to about an 18mm. I've tried a few of these over the years and this one looks much better than ones I've seen for smartphones that were complete garbage. At 294g for the camera and 133g for the WA adapter, it would be a decent setup for 427g, achieving 18mm FOV equivalent f/1.8 on a 1" sensor. The only real problem I see is with the stabilization system on the ZV1, which isn't so great- you'd probably end up with about a 20-24mm FOV with decent stab in post. I have to say I like the tally light on the ZV1- that's cool!