Where the CSC mirrorless drive originally started

[Ian]

It's surprising to think that Panasonic only launched the first mirrorless Compact System Camera (CSC) at the September 2008 Photokina show. I was privileged to have seen a prototype in Japan in June of that year. Joined by Olympus a year later and now enjoying by far the largest selection of bodies and lenses of any CSC system. Micro Four Thirds has been criticised for having a smaller image sensor specification than some of its rivals but the smaller sensor has enabled MFT lenses to be very compact and lightweight. In general lens quality has been top notch too and Panasonic is still the only CSC manufacturer to offer a 3D camera lens for 3D video. Sony is now supplying Olympus and, we believe, Panasonic, with high quality image sensors and so perhaps the biggest weakness of MFT has now been fixed.

DPNow has a sibling site dedicated to Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds at Four Thirds User. We also have a UK-focused site dedicated to Olympus system camera users called the Olympus UK E-System User Group. Nevertheless, we welcome discussion covering all camera brands here on DPNow, including Micro Four Thirds.

Ian

[John Perriment]

Re: Where the CSC mirrorless drive originally started

As consumers we are always demanding more from the manufacturers and show impatience for the "next big step." However, I sometimes think we forget how much progress has been made in a relatively short time, certainly in the case of Micro Four Thirds and Olympus in particular. Just think, from the original E-P1 to the E-M5 in three years! I wonder what the next three years hold?