Not a bad price for a stellar m43 lens. I would have purchased this if I am not invested in FF L Mount and the alliance.
CamelCamelCamel.
OM system (the new company) have just released a new M43 flagship camera and a couple of premium lenses!
The OM-1 is built around a completely new 20MP Stacked CMOS image sensor. Stacked sensors are the next generation of technology beyond BSI designs, combining layers of semiconductor to allow more complex designs and faster readout.
Most of the "advancements" are to compensate the small sensor size (1/4 of FF), just get a larger sensor and you don't have those handicaps to begin with. Also the "premium" lenses are the same as before but with improved weather sealing.
You’re partly right in that M43 doesn’t have any major benefits for general photography, But for handheld wildlife photography, M43 is now the best system by far.
@ForkSnorter: Fair enough, there is benefit for wildlife photography, the longer the lenses the more size and weight benefits (and cost as well).
I do motorsports, so 400 is more than enough, this one from yesterday was only 126mm.
Why stop at full frame? Go medium format for even heavier and more expensive bodies and lenses.
I have a full frame mirrorless and its way smaller than my old canon APS-C…
Am guessing you never put on telephoto or zoom lenses right? LOL
FYI, I have full frame, APSC and M43 systems and a multitude of lenses. Guess what I carry with me when I go on long walks or trips?
@realist123: APS-C and FF are probably the mainstream systems now, good value in terms of size and features.
When medium format becomes more affordable and practical, then yeah for sure.
Never said to go for the heaviest and most expensive systems. Earlier comment was about cost/feature between M43 and FF.
heavy (for such a small sensor), expensive and mediocre AF. I was a M43 user from the first gen Pana GF1 all the way to GH5 until I was sick about the aforemoentioned problems, so I switched to sony and never looked back.
I made the switch too… but I recently went back to M43 because I decided that portability is important to me. Brought it on a trip and really enjoyed shooting with it (E-M5). Image quality is definitely a level below Sony FF, but as a hobbyist, I can live with it. I still keep my Sony FF, but that's only used for shooting important events rather than for travel.
Took me a long time to off load my M43 gears (EM5ii, EM1ii, 12-40/2.8, 40-150/2.8, 25/1.2, 12-100/4, 60/2.8), but they surely retain values pretty good. Roughly I got back 75%, but most likely because I bought them on sale and/or during cashback.
I sold the EM1ii and 12-100/4 last, such a versatile combo for equivalent of 200mm, but unless I actually use the longer end of the lens, it was neither light nor compact. It's about the same size of my A7 with 24-105/4.
Fantastic lens, for portrait shots it's probably the best available for m43.
Aren't canon/nikon the best?
Sony is also very good but I've heard people rave about fujifilm. There's many good options. An issue with Canon especially is it's very expensive now.
Panasonic are also very good.
Probably the best with firmware support
12 years ago, sure. Lots of new players now offering different systems that suit different things. Sony, for instance, have been a major player since early 2010s.
Being early became their achilles heel, Sony is now stuck with a smaller mount diameter. The later adopters produced larger mount diameters which allow design advantages for large aperture. It is no coincidence that the mirrorless Nikon and Canon have highly rated lenses, with both having significantly larger mount diameters.
but all the Nikon CMOS come from Sony.
Samples online look pretty good even when shot wide open. And how come no one talks about Bokeh anymore? Remember Kai Wong and Digital rev? Bokehlicious lenses?
Bokeh was a novelty when only SLR can do it back in the days, now software can do arguably better, so they stop talking about it. :D
Bokeh is not dependent on the camera (let alone a SLR), it's the aperture and the focal length of the lens that determines the amount of bokeh.
Yes, but only SLR (now DSLR, Mirrorless) can use those lenses. Can you put those lenses on your phone?
More often than not, when they come up with new bodies, there are new lenses, and they used bokeh as a selling feature. To differentiate from point and shots.
Now it's all about AF, frame rate, low light performance. Bokeh is more of a given, so no further discussions needed.
Oh I used to have this on my olympus. Beautiful glass but definitely heavy for the small m43 body. Had to buy a grip :D
Wouldn't spend more on M43 at this stage, it was ahead of its time 5/6 years ago, not just in physical size but AF and IS. However, FF has caught up, meanwhile Oly and Pani haven't released anything significantly new. In fact, Oly (camera division) was sold, and Pani has started FF (may scale back on M43).