Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/02/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]They are doing well in at least one area, albeit very niche area: underwater photography. A couple of the major dealers in the country for UW photo and video gear tell me that m4/3 is outselling DLSR systems 6 to 1. The disappointing popularity of mirrorless in North America is due to uninformed consumers and also the fallacy that really good image quality starts at APS-C. Already M4/3 is very hard to distinguish from APS-C for most applications. And the fact remains that larger sensors mean larger lenses. Neither of the top 2 manufacturers of APS-C DSLRs has ever made a serious attempt at a high quality lens line for their cop sensor cameras. I'm talking about a full range of high speed primes and fast zooms, so if the users of APS-C cameras want really good glass, they're forced into the full frame lines. Only the m4/3 consortium have made a serious attempt at a complete system with premium glass optimized for the smaller sensor. The jewel-like Olympus 12mm f/1.8, the 75mm f/1.8, Panasonic 8mm fisheye and 7-14 are the result. Extremely compact lenses of extremely high optical quality. It's funny to look back and remember all the prejudice against the "small format" 24mm x 26mm when it was first introduced. But as film quality improved, so did the viability of the 135 format for almost every application. The same will be true of sensors, only it will happen faster, and in 10 years' time, a lens the size and weight of Canon's 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM will look like quite the relic, while Panasonic's 35-100 f/2.8 will be regarded as having been a harbinger of the future. --Jim On Feb 24, 2014, at 1:07 PM, Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> wrote: > And Panasonic. > > It seems to the average western consumer a mirrorless is a step up from > what > they get with their Smartphone but they don't find it necessary to take > that > step they are more conserved with getting the pix out of their phones onto > their facebook or Instasgram or other social network galleries than hanging > a show on the wall of a gallery with exposed brick behind them. > We have to be careful when we say "mirrorless" now as they seem to come in > two distinct form factors. The original flat ones which could also emulate > compact rangefinder cameras. And ones which look like DSLR'S which are > lightweight but too chunky to be called flat. > The articles states Asian ladies like the mirrorless as they are light into > to put in their purse. Western ladies don't see that? > The bottom line from all I can see is how to get the publics smart phones > out of their cold dead hands to take a picture or do anything with anything > else. One step up is not enough over here it seems it seems we need to go > two steps up and make it a camera which really shoots a quality pictures IE > having a sensor at least 1.5x crop. > > http://www.businessinsider.com/mirrorless-camera-sales-disappoint-2013-12 >