New Olympus 8080 and Pro88

Check out the Wetpixel homepage for some photos of the 8080 and the new Olympus E20 replacement (my opinion) which looks to be called the Pro 88:

According to the ad copy I have seen, Olympus are expounding on the high resolution and excellent lens on the Pro88. I'm sure we'll know more when the official Olympus PMA announcement comes out.

Cheers

James

Does anyone else feel that the quest for the biggest MP number is out weighting common sense? I'll bet that the quality of the image from any of the current dSLRs is far superior to any of these 8 MP cameras. The sensors are just too small.

I feel like that as well. From the sample shots on the Sony 8MP camera, viewing at 100% shows really bad stuff. But Michael Reichmann of http://www.luminous-landscape.com/ claims that for prints up to 11x17", the Sony 8MP camera matches the Canon 10D!

I'll have to see it to believe it.

Phil Askey has a preview up of the 8080.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/olympusc8080wz/

Yes, the news is somewhat changed since the photos were leaked last night.

So, what is the photo of 5060 body with an 8.0 megapixel badge on the front if it's not the 8080??? Another camera that wasn't in the announcement, or a good photoshop job?

I'm thinking it's not the latter, because the person that posted the photos got the other camera stuff right... Odd.

Cheers

James

Now that it's official that everybody and their brother has an 8mp camera, apparently the same Sony chip, should we bother waiting for the comparisons?

The Sony 828 does not impress. Should we expect a better implementation by the other brands or more of the same issues as the Sony? I wonder how they differentiate themselves? At least Minolta has a anti-vibration thing going. Sony has a "Zeiss" lens. (Despite its name, the results are woeful). Everyone is on the bandwagon, save Fuji and Polaroid.

At least with these other non-Sony brands you won't get a highly proprietary RAW format.

Now that it's official that everybody and their brother has an 8mp camera, apparently the same Sony chip, should we bother waiting for the comparisons?

We'll have a better idea about whether the "purple fringing" problem is due to the sensor, sony's image processing, or the lens.

At least with these other non-Sony brands you won't get a highly proprietary RAW format.

???

Is the RAW format strictly dependent on the CCD's, and the Sony ones more proprietary than the others? I have three non-Olympus raw converters in my PC for the Sony chip in my Olypmus 5050.

Herb, I think he was referring to a Sony RAW format - I don't have any experience there though.

Cheers

James

Herb, I think he was referring to a Sony RAW format - I don't have any experience there though.

 

Cheers

James

I misunderstood what he (scopio_fish) wrote. Thanks.

Phil Askey has a preview up of the 8080.

Ah, I can see all that 'dead space' in the housing if it was to use the internal pop-up flash...

Phil Askey has a preview up of the 8080.

Ah, I can see all that 'dead space' in the housing if it was to use the internal pop-up flash...

http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/news/2004a/nr0...40216c8080e.cfm

That's interesting! I wonder if their wideangle port will have a flat front again...

Cheers

James

Thanks for the press release apete,

Does anyone know how the shutter lag of 55 milliseconds and autofocus responce time of .3 seconds compare to DSLRs that are currently on the market?

I also believe that the purple fringing problems experienced by other 5-8 megapixel cameras is due to mgfrs using lenses originally designed for 3 mp cameras. The small sensor size just compounds any imperfections that the lense may already have. To eliminate the problem completely the lenses would truly have to be extrordinary, and I question if this quality can be acheived in a $1000 consumer camera. For example: a Nikkor 12-24 zoom for the D100 is $1000+ (just the lens) and the D100 has a much larger sensor size.

Doug

Doug, where did you see those numbers for shutter lag and AF times?

Those are likely in optimum conditions.

The sony f828 has a measured shutter lag of 9 msec, and is the fastest shutter lag of ANY digital camera, including the DSLRs. Anything under 100 msec is probably good...

The AF is much more problematic - both the new Canon Pro1 and Oly 8080 (And Oly 5060!) claim much faster AF times, but the have done it with an external IR triangulation system, that will not work in a housing, so the AF in a housing will not be any faster.

The Minolta A2 and Sony f828 boh have much faster AF than most others, and do it without the IR system.

Don

Don,

The numbers came from the Olympus press release listed above by apete. Any idea what shutter lag times are for my Nikon CP-5000 or the D-100?

Doug

All are available at:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/DIGCAM01.HTM

He measures them to the millisecond.

dpreview has times also, but is a bit less rigorous about it, though he adds in low light focus ability.

As for manufacturer's specs on AF speeds, that is probably best case you'll ever achieve if you happen to have a gigawatt lighting system, 1 foot away, on a subject that is half perfect white and half perfect black...

But the real measurements from review sites should be out soon. The problem is, they will go ahead and measure with the IR tirangulation systems turned on.

Don

Wow, looks like they do listen to some feedback provided by UW photographers (me being one of them). From the olympus.jp link:

A newly designed GUI (Graphical User Interface) for settings menu displayed on the EVD or LCD monitor makes it much easier and faster to select advanced shooting modes made via buttons and dials. The menu also allows users to customize button and dial function assignments, so that most of advanced shooting settings can be selected only via buttons, and exposure compensation can be selected only via a dial. It's a significant advantage in situations where controls need to be operated with one hand, such as when using a housing for underwater shooting.

That's interesting! I wonder if their wideangle port will have a flat front again...

Unlikely - they've realised they made a big mistake with the P-020. There's even talk by Oly/UN of changing the current flat port to a dome...

Hey divers

On the following link there are some new pictures op the PT-023 underwater housing for the c-8080

http://www.olympus.co.jp/jp/news/2004a/nr0...40223pt022j.cfm

Babel Fish translator

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Sofus