Olympus Engineers; why did u remove card slot near the battery in OMDs?

[Bhupinder2002]

Hi Guys
I was looking at my EM5 and started to wonder , why did Olympus engineers removed the card slot near the battery compartment ? If they would have left it there then OMD series could have ended with two card slots
I mean design wise , look at EP5 and previous cameras , card slot doesn't occupy big space and olympus already had a design . Any thoughts ?
Cheers

 

[Dramaturg]

I guess since OM-D was designed to have a grip moving the card slot to the side was a wise decision. And who is going to care about two card slots in a world, where 64 gb sd card costs less than 30 bucks?

 

[fortwodriver]

I can see where the two card slot thing might be an issue.

It's not a storage size issue, it's the ability to replicate your shoots on two cards for redundancy, or to split a raw+jpeg shot across two cards.

I was surprised the E-M1 didn't come with that feature. Most of the larger professional and special-use cameras now have tow slots to allow storage replication. Since the OMD line uses SD cards (and there are readily available dual-card surface-mount holders) and I believe the Olympus software actually supports dual slots... it's a mystery to me.

 

[Ross the fiddler]

I can see where the two card slot thing might be an issue.

It's not a storage size issue, it's the ability to replicate your shoots on two cards for redundancy, or to split a raw+jpeg shot across two cards.

I was surprised the E-M1 didn't come with that feature. Most of the larger professional and special-use cameras now have tow slots to allow storage replication. Since the OMD line uses SD cards (and there are readily available dual-card surface-mount holders) and I believe the Olympus software actually supports dual slots... it's a mystery to me.

You just gave the reason why there's only one SD card slot! The other cameras are larger. You have only got to look at what is housed there, four way controls at the back & then the SD card slot with a battery (from underneath) in front & then the body depth runs out of room.

 

[lightmonkey]

if you mount it on some sort of rig for video or tripod it might make access more difficult

 

[usayit]

Probably the same reason why the battery grip on the EM5 only has a single battery plus the one in camera. Most "larger" DSLR grips have two batteries in the battery grip which makes it easier to exchange both. All in the name of size which is fine by me.

 

[bassman]

Disagree. One of the features I loved on my Nikon D7000 was the dual card slots. As Fortwodriver said, backup is a really valuable feature. For better or worse, I've had two SD card failures over the years and both times the dual cards - which I ran in duplicate mode - saved my images. I fully understand having smaller bodies and a smaller total system, but I'd like to have the option of a body with dual slots at the top of the range - i.e. the E-M1.

 

[Fmrvette]

...why did Olympus engineers remove the card slot near the battery compartment...Any thoughts ?

Dara, obviously it's a weight thing.

Who wants to lug around a camera with TWO of those bulky, heavy, pesky memory cards in it??? Bad enough to lug around one card - Olympus should obviously be working on a method to immediately upload all images to The Cloud and not store them on the camera at all. Think of the weight savings!!!

Why, I've been known to delete perfectly good images from the single card in the camera just so I wouldn't be bothered by carrying the extra weight of those images around all day!*



More seriously, I would have thought the new E-M1 would have been designed with dual cards, since it's a "pro" OMD. Two cards can be quite handy, as noted above, for storing .jpg files on one card and raw files on another .

I wouldn't be interested in sacrificing the small size of the OMD line just for such a card capability, but if a way could be found within the current footprint it would be an added inducement to upgrade from my current E-M5. Having the second card access blocked by the grip or a tripod/monopod isn't a down check for me since changing cards isn't something I do very often during a daily shoot. Others mileage may vary, of course.

I imagine that in the current inventory it was either an engineering issue (I've not disassembled an E-M5 and have no knowledge of available space for more electronics) or a cost factor - the E-M1 has competition from the lower priced DSLR's as it is; keeping the per unit cost down was probably fairly high within the design parameters.

Or maybe Olympus is doling out the goodies on a scheduled basis so that current satisfied owners will want the latest and greatest .

Regards,

Jim

*(An old I.T. joke was that when a complaint was received that a laptop was too heavy the solution was to tell the end user to delete some of the stored files....).

 

[broody]

Sometimes when such an obvious feature is left out of a high-profile model, I can't help but think the manufacturer omitted it intentionally so they can milk their early adopters when they release the inevitable 'upgrade' whose big selling perk is including said feature.

Apple does it all the time. The original iPad could easily have been dual-core, the first iPad mini was likewise quite underpowered, and they made the move to better parts a big selling point in the follow-up releases.

I don't doubt the EM-2 will have 2 card slots, and that people are going to gush and fawn over it. I hate when a company does this.

 

[Ross the fiddler]

Disagree. One of the features I loved on my Nikon D7000 was the dual card slots. As Fortwodriver said, backup is a really valuable feature. For better or worse, I've had two SD card failures over the years and both times the dual cards - which I ran in duplicate mode - saved my images. I fully understand having smaller bodies and a smaller total system, but I'd like to have the option of a body with dual slots at the top of the range - i.e. the E-M1.

And how much bigger is the Nikon D7000? I suppose they could have put dual Micro SD card slots in (the E-M1) though. :118: But that wasn't going to happen, because that is what you put in phones & tablets. Think on write speeds & heat dissipation etc.

It's all about size & limitations with the size.

 

[OzRay]

I understand the GH4 has only one SD slot, and considering that it's designed for 4K video and stills that are very demanding on memory, one could ask why Panasonic only provided one SD slot.

 

[fortwodriver]

You just gave the reason why there's only one SD card slot! The other cameras are larger. You have only got to look at what is housed there, four way controls at the back & then the SD card slot with a battery (from underneath) in front & then the body depth runs out of room.

No I didn't. Take a look at any of the tear-downs You'll see there's enough room in there for a dual SD slot.

I suspect they didn't do it to avoid having to deal with balancing the electrical aspect if two cards with two different specs are loaded in. The double-draw across the data bus is also something you have to account for.

 

[Ross the fiddler]

I understand the GH4 has only one SD slot, and considering that it's designed for 4K video and stills that are very demanding on memory, one could ask why Panasonic only provided one SD slot.

I think those expecting the double card slot & quoting DSLR's with a flappy mirror are not really being realistic with the size constraints of a thinner body of a mirrorless camera. One could ask why they didn't use the BLM-5 battery (from the E-5), but that would also be due to size limitations.

The other restriction on the SD card slot is the ability to use Flash Air cards & I'm not sure they could work side by side, also considering the amount of heat they generate & also the camera isn't tall enough to take them one above the other.

 

[Ross the fiddler]

No I didn't. Take a look at any of the tear-downs You'll see there's enough room in there for a dual SD slot.

I suspect they didn't do it to avoid having to deal with balancing the electrical aspect if two cards with two different specs are loaded in. The double-draw across the data bus is also something you have to account for.

Some people don't have a good concept of space etc & forget about surrounding constructions & that was happening when we were adding some building work with our house. A room size has to include wall & floor thickness with studs, floor joists & bearers with clearance above the ground & wall structure (something to be considered when chopping out rock to make room for it) & I suggest you take another look at you E-M1. Open the battery door & the SD card door & look at the camera from the bottom & notice how close the battery sits to the front of the body & then looking down (up) to the card sitting in the slot that is sitting immediately behind the battery & then notice how the SD card sits just 7mm inside the back of the camera where the main pcboard sits (check your copy of the tear down photos) & then there is the rear buttons etc (which has got to be solid enough with users stabbing at the buttons). Now tell me where another SD card slot is going to fit? It can't sit on top of the first SD card because that would make the camera taller.

 

[fortwodriver]

I suggest you take another look at you E-M1. Open the battery door & the SD card door & look at the camera from the bottom & notice how close the battery sits to the front of the body & then looking down (up) to the card sitting in the slot that is sitting immediately behind the battery & then notice how the SD card sits just 7mm inside the back of the camera where the main pcboard sits (check your copy of the tear down photos) & then there is the rear buttons etc (which has got to be solid enough with users stabbing at the buttons). Now tell me where another SD card slot is going to fit? It can't sit on top of the first SD card because that would make the camera taller.

They're piggybacked upon each other and take up an extra 4 mm. Like a folded-over dual SD card interface. They use both sides of the mounting board. There is enough space in there to do it. Wether they trust the user not to mangle or break the metal frame holding it together is a whole other issue.
If you look in the E-M1, there is enough room to swap out the single slot for a double slot SD card interface - they would have to provide a wider card opening on the side (which, itself may be an issue). They sit on top of each other, not beside each other.
On the other hand, there is also a dual Micro-SD adaptor that will load two micro SD cards into a single SD card profile. However, Olympus chose not to support that technology either.

 

[OzRay]

The E-5 had two card slots, but you could not choose to use both at the same time, it was one or the other only. So even when we have had dual card slots, they haven't worked the way people want in this thread. There could be many reasons for this, including processing power required to run both cards concurrently, which likely means more space requirements and battery performance. My guess is that it's not simply a matter of providing two card slots, especially with m4/3 cameras.

 

[bassman]

Just to be clear, I didn't mean to say I expected the engineers to fit more componentry into the E-M1 as it is. I fully accept that they properly married the volume of the camera to the stuff it had to handle. Rather, I'd appreciate being able to choose a body at the top of their line that had two card slots or the equivalent, which could be configured for image data redundancy. If that makes the package a couple of mm bigger, so be it. My perspective is that the size I worry about is the total kit, including lenses, accessories and the bag to hold it all. The camera body is not the decisive factor by itself for me. For that matter, a bigger body with a bigger battery would also be nice. If you want to sell to pros, you need pro features.

And I also expect that Olympus would continue to design and sell lots of cameras with one slot, just as Nikon does. And I might buy one of those, as well. As it is, my other m43 body is the GX7 - a tad smaller than the E-M1, which was part of the decision process.

 

[OzRay]

As I mentioned in another thread, Olympus could be a little more innovative and offer say grips that provided different functions, such as extra memory capacity. The grip needn't replicate the camera controls, but be job specific and thus potentially smaller.

 

[Ross the fiddler]

As I mentioned in another thread, Olympus could be a little more innovative and offer say grips that provided different functions, such as extra memory capacity. The grip needn't replicate the camera controls, but be job specific and thus potentially smaller.

I think they tried that with the PENs with the accessories idea & are realising not many want a modular design (with its limitations) & that is why the OM-D concept has taken off as an all in one package (mostly). Somehow, I don't think they will try another modular idea.

 

[OzRay]

I think they tried that with the PENs with the accessories idea & are realising not many want a modular design (with its limitations) & that is why the OM-D concept has taken off as an all in one package (mostly). Somehow, I don't think they will try another modular idea.

If you mean the current Pens, such as with the additional EVF, I can understand why some things weren't all that popular. But when you look at the OM system from the film days, what was available was truly amazing:

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We don't have a fraction of what was available back in the film days. As everything about today's cameras is electronically driven, the scope for innovative accessories is almost endless. Panasonic is partly doing this with the accessories available or able to be coupled to the GH4 for video production. The things that you could do with small, optional, grips is pretty expansive:

- multiple memory card grip

- connection for a separate large-capacity battery pack, for those doing long time lapse sequences away from domestic power sources etc

- external viewing screen, controller connections etc

- wireless file transfer to external media adapter (not just an iPhone or Android phone)

- something that combines several functions already mentioned, and so on