This past week was exciting for the Micro Four Thirds community with the announcements of the Lumix GH6 and Olympus OM-1. Two cameras, one each from the two heavyweights in the world of Micro Four Thirds image capture.
The power of YouTube
A couple of years ago, one very well-known YouTuber professed to the world that Micro Four Thirds was dead. He was known for carrying on ad nauseam about how there was no interest for such disadvantaged cameras. For him, the only way forward was full-frame. I never could understand why anyone would feel tearing down Olympus and Panasonic was advantageous. How could anybody think fewer options would be better than more?
Even if a person didn’t care for the MFT system, why would anybody want fewer choices? He actually justified his position by stating, “I feel it’s my duty to be honest with people.” And since he knew the inner workings of the camera industry much better than most—at least that’s what he professed—he was the chosen one to tell us all the blinding truth. Just to be clear, I’m paraphrasing, and my recollection may be a bit skewed. But in short… he felt he was the most appropriate authority to share this news, since he was obligated to protect his viewers. I remember watching that video and thinking, “What’s with this guy? Why is he trying to destroy these manufacturers?”
Olympus and Panasonic all in on MFT
Thankfully, so far it seems, the super pundit hasn’t succeeded. Those of us who believe in MFT have had to wait through a long dry spell. But this past week we were rewarded for our patience. Not only did we see two great new products announced, but we had this comment from the folks at Panasonic, “We’re committed to developing the full MFT lineup.”
OM Digital Solutions (Olympus) hasn’t had to verbalize their commitment to MFT, since they’ve chosen to not branch out into full-frame cameras. OM Systems proves its commitment every day by releasing new MFT products all the while keeping the doors open. Not easy for a brand new company.
Comparing specs of each camera
The two new cameras have a fair amount in common, but they do have some major differences. Below is a graphic from a B&H Photo web page that is linked to a detailed list of all specs between each camera.
My short time with GH6
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog post titled Lumix GH6 Has Much Improved Autofocus. I won’t rewrite what is already in that post. But the one thing I keep thinking about from that shoot is how beautiful the files look. I can’t put my finger on it. All I can say is the quality of the images is different than other MFT cameras I’ve shot to date. The color, the contrast, they just look gorgeous. I’m hopeful to have the GH6 for a longer period of time in the future. If I get the chance I’ll try to figure it out. In my prior post on the GH6 (link at the top of this paragraph) you can find original JPEGs that you can download for your own personal review.
No time with the OM-1
Unfortunately I’ve not had any luck getting my hands on an OM-1. I was working hard this past week to pull strings, ANY string, to acquire a test unit to take on assignment for the Arctic Documentary Project. But alas, I leave in two days, and all threads have turned up unraveled. Strings dangling in the wind and nary an OM-1 in my camera pack. Such is life. I’ve ordered two of them and hope to see at least one when I return in mid-March. We can pick this up then.
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