4/3 - The Dead-End System
Several years ago I was a loyal Olympus OM user that felt horribly betrayed by the discontinuance of the OM line. I had purchased a Minolta A1 as a "bridge camera" until price/performance of DSLRs became reasonable. (I still use my A1 for almost 50% of my shots).
Well, it came time to buy a DSLR. I loved the Minolta A1 as well as the Maxxim D7. Well, the D7D came out and I was all set to get it. But ended up getting a bargain-priced Olympus E-1 with 14-54. The 4/3 format was OBVIOUSLY a "dead-end", but the reliability of the camera was already becoming legendary. Minolta became Konica-Minolta and now Sony. If anything, the KM(S) direction was the "dead-end".
Is the 4/3 system a "dead-end"? Maybe, but in the meantime there are a slew of outstanding lenses available and with an OM adaptor, you can use some of the most legendary lenses ever made. I use about a half-dozen all the time, including the excellent Tokina AT-X 100-300/4 zoom which I picked up for around $150.
If 4/3 becomes a "dead-end", you can always sell it and move to something else. Meanwhile, with this "dead-end" system I am taking pictures, like this one, that have HUGE dynamic range requirements with great success.
Or this one which is an extremely high-contrast scene, taken with the E-1 with 14-54 zoom:
Meanwhile, giving me compatibility with the old lenses which are still used on film cameras (OM bodies) to produce images like this one (35/shift lens):
If it is a dead-end system, well, I guess we're all "terminal" anyway.
1 comment:
Some photographic camera systems evolve and continue to grow, others change and die. That's life in the consumer world. I feel some photographers place far to much importance on which camera manufacturer they themselves or others choose to support. IMHO, it's the photographer's vision that is important. I look and wonder at your images, not at the tools that made them. IMHO, if anyone has a negative opinion of you or your work due to the camera equipment you chose to use then it is their reasoning that is "dead-end".
Richard L
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