Hi, I wrote about this in another thread, but there were no response so I decided to share this in a new thread...

I went from canon 50d to olympus ep3.

one thing that made me disapointed with this trade was the more flatter look of the pictures.
I guess it has to do with the smaller sensor and the lack of DR...

Now i'm not sure if this flatness is any much better with the omd, which has the same sensorsize?

I think some pictures taken with the ep3 reminds me of my old lumix lx3.

subjects near camera seems suffer less of this "2D rendering problem" than subjects in the background of the picture. The more I zoom-in (pixel peep) the more it shows...

Is it just me or have anyone else thought about this?

Besides this, I love all about m4/3 :)

//fg

I think you are seeing the increased depth of field of the smaller sensor. I find the m4/3 primes to still provide the effect I think you are looking for... 20/1.7 or 25/1.4 in the f2.8-4 range work for me.

The other thing that I find helps to provide a 3D effect is to add a subtle lens vignette in post processing (or burn, or equiv. preset), so the center will have slightly more brightness, which seems to give some depth.

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Kyle / E-M5 and E-PM2
Flickr Photostream

How about putting up similar shots from your 50D and EP3 so we can compare? There is no doubt M4/3 produces more DOF, but it also depends on what lens you are using.

I see it the other way around, my 40d, T2I and new T4I has flatter looking output then my tiny E-PL1.

Though I am awaiting delievery of the new 40mm pancake prime, or the "Shorty Forty" as I have dubb'd it... for the T4i, so the jury is still out.

I have the 25 1.4. And I love how the subjects in pictures look in short distances ( 1-4meters) but the things in background, like people, houses, trees and so on seems to look very flat to me. And this shows off with small apartures.
Sorry for my crappy english :) ( swede)

littleMT: Dang girl you have a lot of toys.

I should also add my Sony Alpha A65 is also flatter, and I love that setup, my 35mm prime is always mounted and ready to go....

I have thought about showing some comp pic between 50d and ep3. I might do that tomorrow.
For me its really obvious and Im surprised that no one seems to bother as me...

Maybe I don't understand what you mean by flat and a lack of a 3d look..


These are shot with my E-PL1, using both the 45mm prime and a 20mm prime, I don't see them as flat, and I believe they have a certian 3d pop to them, that same day, my Sony A65 was also used and just couldn't replicate these results.

I'm sorry, but this is very close to the arguments you hear from audiophiles lacking "dimensionality".

Pictures *are* flat. All of them. So we need better terminology in play here before we can say whether or not we think you're wrong, fg.

Typically, yes, what we perceive as a kind of spatial isolation is the decreased DOF with a large aperture lens. (as an aside, I personally think that's why bokeh can be so spine tingling - it lends a sense of space)