What if Olympus made a...

Perhaps, they would have to make it look stunning, get it displayed in the right shops on the right shelves and price it reasonably. I though am not in the market for a fixed lens camera unless it is really small so perhaps my opinion should be taken with a pinch of salt.

 

I dont think a post about a hypothetical camera with a 1" will get much interest honestly. The m43 sensor was a major thing with the lx100, as is 4k. Olympus still have no specific plans for 4k even.

 

Well, Panasonic has done it already, so why be interested in Olympus duplicating their efforts?

Although I wish the EV compensation dial was an ISO dial instead...EV compensation is useless when doing manual control.

 

Yes. Yes. Yes. YES.....x 1,000,000

Canon started this with the G-series and it annoys the heck out of me! At the very least make it a programmable dial. But for those of us shooting full manual (you know...the crowd this camera is aimed at), it's a completely wasted dial. I refuse to buy any camera that has one because I know I'll never, ever, EVER use it and resent its presence every time I look at the camera haha.

 

It's not, not if you have a good auto-ISO option. I find I shoot my A7r in manual with auto-ISO and fine-tune using the exposure compensation dial quite a lot. In almost all shooting I do, ISO is the least important member of the exposure triangle to 'lock down', given the performance of modern sensors. I thought the ev dial would be useless to me, but it's actually incredibly useful.

If the camera doesn't allow auto-ISO (properly) in manual mode, then it is significantly less useful, that I give you.Then again, I spend a lot of time in aperture priority in good light, so I get use out of exposure comp there as well...

 

IMO and arguably, most of the people buying this camera will not be the crowd shooting full manual.

In any case, for many photographers who are using either aperture or shutter priority, the EV dial is quite handy which is why camera makers have been placing that dial there.

I'm also all for having an ISO dial as well but would not necessarily want to replace the EV dial for one. I appreciate cameras that have both dials, like the Fuji XT1 and the Nikon Df as examples, but if I were to have to choose between one or the other, the EV dial is more appreciated.

No right or wrong. Just goes to show that everyone's ideals and preferences are different and that the relationship between photographer and camera is a very personal one.

 

Yes it is. For someone who only shoots full manual, an Exp. Comp dial is 100% useless, regardless of auto ISO or any other factor you can think of. I don't care what that dial does, so long as it's something useful (hence my suggestion to make it a programmable one). For me, an ISO dial (regardless of the Auto ISO mode, as I never use that anyways) would be far more useful than an Exp. Comp. dial.

 

Right, for not shooting manual, for sure, it's useful.

But...I just wish they'd make it a programmable dial. That's one of the reasons I love Olympus (E-M5). Two blank dials. Do with them as you please.

 

I am not really convinced that a longer zoom with a smaller sensor brings a lot to the party. If I need 120mm focal length, I would be happy to go with the Panasonic and crop.

 

Maybe you're onto something. A camera with 4 programmable dials. 1 each on front and back as well as 1 each on either side of the top plate which can all be assignable to different functions with immediate readouts on the LCD/viewfinder.

For now, I think Fuji got it pretty much right with the XT1 in terms of it's physical dials, buttons and overall interface.

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Ray, are you still test-driving new models? It'd be great if B&H set you up with an LX100, G7X and a G1XMKII for a 3-way shoot and compare.

I am tending to agree with you on the G7X over the LX100. The Panny has all the hype, and deservedly so, but the Canon is iikely the right camera for me, all things considered. .

 

The whole idea of having MARKED manual controls is to set the camera MANUALLY BEFORE you put the camera to your eye to look at the meter (like I used to do with my film SLR for 20 years before I started using digital cameras with unmarked controls), and that includes ISO; although my mother's Kodak Retina Reflex III did have a second meter indicator on top of the camera so you could see what you would see on the meter in the viewfinder would show while you are setting the dials.

Before setting aperture or shutter speed you'd set the ISO FIRST (based on the film you chose)...today being dark and overcast I'd choose ISO400 film....I do the same thing with digital, set the ISO FIRST, although I may decide to change ISO during a shoot; using auto iso with manual controls is the opposite, choosing the ISO last (or letting the camera chose in that case).

The LAST thing I'd do with a camera like the LX100 where I'd be using manual marked controls (or any camera for that matter) is let the camera choose the ISO manually...it's a potential picture spoiler if the camera chooses too high an ISO generating too much noise, not to mention basing an exposure on middle gray instead of the moodiness of the exposure settings I chose; (a conversation to the camera with Auto ISO), "No, I don't want you to choose an ISO for a perfectly exposed image, I WANT you to underexpose using the settings I CHOSE!!"

It's like buying a car with a manual gearshift (a proper one where you actually have a clutch pedal, not the pseudo manual where you have paddles on the steering wheel to change gears electronically), and relying on an automatic choke...it RUINS the experience of having manual controls!

Here's what the top of my mother's SLR looked like...right of the flash shoe you can see the second light meter indicator so you could see what the light meter was telling you while you were setting the controls before putting the camera to your eye:

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I'm more interested in the Panasonic FZ1000 (1" sensor) than in the LX100 (m43 sized sensor).

I see the the FZ1000 as a 35-400 mm walkng-around-lens with a body attached.

 

I want my cake and eat it too, would have been nice if they could squeeze in both of those