Olympus in-body Image Stabilization misrepresentation

Hello. A word to the wise:
I bought an Olympus E-510 camera for the in-body image stabilization.
They advertised the in-body Image Stabilization as "works with any
lens." Now they are repeating the same hype with their new E-3 camera.

The sales rap was, "With Nikon or Canon, you have to pay for expensive
optical image stabilization in the lens, and you have to pay for it in
every lens that you want stabilized. But with Olympus, you buy the in-
body image stabilization once, and it stabilizes every lens."

'John Knaur, senior marketing manager, Digital SLR, Olympus Imaging
America Inc said,
"The new E-3 will satisfy the pro-level needs of our customers with
incredible AF speed, superior image quality ue, in part, to In-body
Mechanical Image Stabilization that stabilizes all lenses attached to
the camera..." '

Olympus Product Manager Sally Smith Clemens said, "Our feeling in this
camera is that in-body-based image stabilization is an advantage to
the user because every lens or every existing lens they have would be
able to take advantage of image stabilization by having it built into
the body."

"...Every lens, or every existing lens..." That's pretty definite.

But that isn't true. The minute that you mount a legacy manual-focus
lens on either camera, the camera responds by TURNING OFF the in-body
image stabilization and the Focus Confirmation. Even classic Olympus
Zuiko manual focus lenses are disabled.

I have written to Olympus about this, asking for a firmware update to
fix the problem, and received an answer that said, in so many words,
"Thank you loyal Olympus customer. Many people have mentioned this. We
will think about it." It turns out that the owners of Olympus E-1 and
E-300 cameras have been begging for several years for a firmware
upgrade that would enable the Focus Confirmation with legacy lenses.
And Olympus refuses to fix the problem. They are still "thinking about
it."

The apparent corporate policy is to pressure you to buy all new lenses
from them.
So, it seems that Hell will freeze over before they issue a fix.

On the other hand, I have learned that Pentax also has in-body image
stabilization. And when they say that their in-body image
stabilization will stabilize any and all lenses that you can attach to
the camera, they mean ALL LENSES. You just dial in the focal length of
the manual-focus lens you have mounted, and it works. Look at the
K10D.

And someone in Russia just came out with a "liar chip". (There are
some samples being marketed on the German eBay web site.) It's a
little piece of PC board with gold contacts and a chip. You glue it
onto your lens adapter so that the contacts connect with the camera
just as if you had an electronic Four-Thirds lens on the camera.
The chip lies to the camera and says, "Yes, I'm a genuine Four-Thirds
lens, and my focal length is XXX."
And the Image Stabilization and Focus Confirmation immediately start
working.
All you need is a chip that will tell sweet lies to your camera body.

So it isn't an engineering problem. It's a corporate policy problem.

On Nov 17, 1:47 pm, Orange wrote:
Hello. A word to the wise:
I bought an Olympus E-510 camera for the in-body image stabilization.
They advertised the in-body Image Stabilization as "works with any
lens." Now they are repeating the same hype with their new E-3 camera.

The sales rap was, "With Nikon or Canon, you have to pay for expensive
optical image stabilization in the lens, and you have to pay for it in
every lens that you want stabilized. But with Olympus, you buy the in-
body image stabilization once, and it stabilizes every lens."

'John Knaur, senior marketing manager, Digital SLR, Olympus Imaging
America Inc said,
"The new E-3 will satisfy the pro-level needs of our customers with
incredible AF speed, superior image quality ue, in part, to In-body
Mechanical Image Stabilization that stabilizes all lenses attached to
the camera..." '

Olympus Product Manager Sally Smith Clemens said, "Our feeling in this
camera is that in-body-based image stabilization is an advantage to
the user because every lens or every existing lens they have would be
able to take advantage of image stabilization by having it built into
the body."

"...Every lens, or every existing lens..." That's pretty definite.

But that isn't true. The minute that you mount a legacy manual-focus
lens on either camera, the camera responds by TURNING OFF the in-body
image stabilization and the Focus Confirmation. Even classic Olympus
Zuiko manual focus lenses are disabled.

You'll get the same "f--- you" from Olympus as they gave people
wanting focus confirmation with legacy lenses. They could care less.
They want the E-3 buyers to cough up $2000+ each for the digital top
pro lenses, tbey do not want you using old OM or any other lenses.
They had to be beaten to death just to release the MF-1 adapter to
attach the old OM lenses.
Pentax's K10D apparently does IS with any lens and focus
confirmation.

On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 22:51:33 -0800, RichA wrote:

On Nov 17, 1:47 pm, Orange wrote:
Hello. A word to the wise:
I bought an Olympus E-510 camera for the in-body image stabilization.
They advertised the in-body Image Stabilization as "works with any
lens." Now they are repeating the same hype with their new E-3 camera.

The sales rap was, "With Nikon or Canon, you have to pay for expensive
optical image stabilization in the lens, and you have to pay for it in
every lens that you want stabilized. But with Olympus, you buy the in-
body image stabilization once, and it stabilizes every lens."

'John Knaur, senior marketing manager, Digital SLR, Olympus Imaging
America Inc said,
"The new E-3 will satisfy the pro-level needs of our customers with
incredible AF speed, superior image quality ue, in part, to In-body
Mechanical Image Stabilization that stabilizes all lenses attached to
the camera..." '

Olympus Product Manager Sally Smith Clemens said, "Our feeling in this
camera is that in-body-based image stabilization is an advantage to the
user because every lens or every existing lens they have would be able
to take advantage of image stabilization by having it built into the
body."

"...Every lens, or every existing lens..." That's pretty definite.

But that isn't true. The minute that you mount a legacy manual-focus
lens on either camera, the camera responds by TURNING OFF the in-body
image stabilization and the Focus Confirmation. Even classic Olympus
Zuiko manual focus lenses are disabled.

You'll get the same "f--- you" from Olympus as they gave people wanting
focus confirmation with legacy lenses. They could care less. They want
the E-3 buyers to cough up $2000+ each for the digital top pro lenses,
tbey do not want you using old OM or any other lenses. They had to be
beaten to death just to release the MF-1 adapter to attach the old OM
lenses.
Pentax's K10D apparently does IS with any lens and focus confirmation.


How precise do you want them to describe things?

Any lens with a mount to fit the camera and the on-board IS will work.

This does not and should never include lenses you have to buy an adaptor
to mount them. You can't mount an OM lens without an adaptor. They are
designed for a different, earlier system.

Even though Olympus "sell" OM to 4/3rd adapters, it's no guarantee the
lens will have infinity focus or any other function. It is only a way to
get some use from your non digital lenses during the transition to a
digital system.

Douglas



--
If you don't defend your rights... You end up without any!

On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 10:47:03 -0800 (PST), Orange
wrote:

A load of wining garbage.

Who cares about legacy lenses?
Olympus are right and you are wrong. Deal with it. Grow up. No one
cares a **** about crappy old legacy lenses not designed for four
thirds.

Jeeez...some people eh?

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On Nov 18, 3:01 am, Douglas wrote:
On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 22:51:33 -0800, RichA wrote:
On Nov 17, 1:47 pm, Orange wrote:
Hello. A word to the wise:
I bought an Olympus E-510 camera for the in-body image stabilization.
They advertised the in-body Image Stabilization as "works with any
lens." Now they are repeating the same hype with their new E-3 camera.

The sales rap was, "With Nikon or Canon, you have to pay for expensive
optical image stabilization in the lens, and you have to pay for it in
every lens that you want stabilized. But with Olympus, you buy the in-
body image stabilization once, and it stabilizes every lens."

'John Knaur, senior marketing manager, Digital SLR, Olympus Imaging
America Inc said,
"The new E-3 will satisfy the pro-level needs of our customers with
incredible AF speed, superior image quality ue, in part, to In-body
Mechanical Image Stabilization that stabilizes all lenses attached to
the camera..." '

Olympus Product Manager Sally Smith Clemens said, "Our feeling in this
camera is that in-body-based image stabilization is an advantage to the
user because every lens or every existing lens they have would be able
to take advantage of image stabilization by having it built into the
body."

"...Every lens, or every existing lens..." That's pretty definite.

But that isn't true. The minute that you mount a legacy manual-focus
lens on either camera, the camera responds by TURNING OFF the in-body
image stabilization and the Focus Confirmation. Even classic Olympus
Zuiko manual focus lenses are disabled.

You'll get the same "f--- you" from Olympus as they gave people wanting
focus confirmation with legacy lenses. They could care less. They want
the E-3 buyers to cough up $2000+ each for the digital top pro lenses,
tbey do not want you using old OM or any other lenses. They had to be
beaten to death just to release the MF-1 adapter to attach the old OM
lenses.
Pentax's K10D apparently does IS with any lens and focus confirmation.

How precise do you want them to describe things?

Any lens with a mount to fit the camera and the on-board IS will work.

This does not and should never include lenses you have to buy an adaptor
to mount them.

"Should not"? The word "should" implies some rules. Whose rules?
The rule that I'm sure of is that companies *should* not engage in
false advertising.

You can't mount an OM lens without an adaptor. They are
designed for a different, earlier system.

So what? The laws of physics haven't changed lately. The lenses still
work.
And Pentax had no trouble making their old lenses work with their new
cameras.

Even though Olympus "sell" OM to 4/3rd adapters, it's no guarantee the
lens will have infinity focus or any other function. It is only a way to
get some use from your non digital lenses during the transition to a
digital system.

Douglas

--
If you don't defend your rights... You end up without any!

Well in fact, I have infinity focus with all of my legacy lenses and
adapters.
That is a totally different issue from anti-shake technology.

On Nov 18, 3:32 am, JG wrote:
On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 10:47:03 -0800 (PST), Orange

wrote:

A load of wining garbage.

Who cares about legacy lenses?
Olympus are right and you are wrong. Deal with it. Grow up. No one
cares a **** about crappy old legacy lenses not designed for four
thirds.

Jeeez...some people eh?

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Yeh, can you imagine?
Some people shell out over $1200 for a camera and accessories, and
then expect it to work as advertised?
How stupid can anybody be?

On Nov 18, 6:01 am, Douglas wrote:
On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 22:51:33 -0800, RichA wrote:
On Nov 17, 1:47 pm, Orange wrote:
Hello. A word to the wise:
I bought an Olympus E-510 camera for the in-body image stabilization.
They advertised the in-body Image Stabilization as "works with any
lens." Now they are repeating the same hype with their new E-3 camera.

The sales rap was, "With Nikon or Canon, you have to pay for expensive
optical image stabilization in the lens, and you have to pay for it in
every lens that you want stabilized. But with Olympus, you buy the in-
body image stabilization once, and it stabilizes every lens."

'John Knaur, senior marketing manager, Digital SLR, Olympus Imaging
America Inc said,
"The new E-3 will satisfy the pro-level needs of our customers with
incredible AF speed, superior image quality ue, in part, to In-body
Mechanical Image Stabilization that stabilizes all lenses attached to
the camera..." '

Olympus Product Manager Sally Smith Clemens said, "Our feeling in this
camera is that in-body-based image stabilization is an advantage to the
user because every lens or every existing lens they have would be able
to take advantage of image stabilization by having it built into the
body."

"...Every lens, or every existing lens..." That's pretty definite.

But that isn't true. The minute that you mount a legacy manual-focus
lens on either camera, the camera responds by TURNING OFF the in-body
image stabilization and the Focus Confirmation. Even classic Olympus
Zuiko manual focus lenses are disabled.

You'll get the same "f--- you" from Olympus as they gave people wanting
focus confirmation with legacy lenses. They could care less. They want
the E-3 buyers to cough up $2000+ each for the digital top pro lenses,
tbey do not want you using old OM or any other lenses. They had to be
beaten to death just to release the MF-1 adapter to attach the old OM
lenses.
Pentax's K10D apparently does IS with any lens and focus confirmation.

How precise do you want them to describe things?

Any lens with a mount to fit the camera and the on-board IS will work.

This does not and should never include lenses you have to buy an adaptor
to mount them. You can't mount an OM lens without an adaptor. They are
designed for a different, earlier system.

Even though Olympus "sell" OM to 4/3rd adapters, it's no guarantee the
lens will have infinity focus or any other function. It is only a way to
get some use from your non digital lenses during the transition to a
digital system.

I've used about a 14 OM Zuiko lenses, they've all worked. The
problems come with cheap Chinese adapters for other brands of lenses
where the adapters are slightly too thick to allow infinity focus.

On Nov 18, 6:32 am, JG wrote:
On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 10:47:03 -0800 (PST), Orange

wrote:

A load of wining garbage.

Who cares about legacy lenses?
Olympus are right and you are wrong. Deal with it. Grow up. No one
cares a **** about crappy old legacy lenses not designed for four
thirds.

Jeeez...some people eh?


Yes, old OM lenses are SO crappy some Canon FF users have shaved down
their mirrors in order to fit those lenses, rather than use Canon's
"modern" versions. Are you intentionally clueless?

On Nov 17, 10:51 pm, RichA wrote:
On Nov 17, 1:47 pm, Orange wrote:



Hello. A word to the wise:
I bought an Olympus E-510 camera for the in-body image stabilization.
They advertised the in-body Image Stabilization as "works with any
lens." Now they are repeating the same hype with their new E-3 camera.

The sales rap was, "With Nikon or Canon, you have to pay for expensive
optical image stabilization in the lens, and you have to pay for it in
every lens that you want stabilized. But with Olympus, you buy the in-
body image stabilization once, and it stabilizes every lens."

'John Knaur, senior marketing manager, Digital SLR, Olympus Imaging
America Inc said,
"The new E-3 will satisfy the pro-level needs of our customers with
incredible AF speed, superior image quality ue, in part, to In-body
Mechanical Image Stabilization that stabilizes all lenses attached to
the camera..." '

Olympus Product Manager Sally Smith Clemens said, "Our feeling in this
camera is that in-body-based image stabilization is an advantage to
the user because every lens or every existing lens they have would be
able to take advantage of image stabilization by having it built into
the body."

"...Every lens, or every existing lens..." That's pretty definite.


You'll get the same "f--- you" from Olympus as they gave people
wanting focus confirmation with legacy lenses. They could care less.

Yes, unfortunately, that's the conclusion I'm coming to. I'm learning
that the people who want FC have been waiting for years, and the
answer is always, "Thank you loyal Olympus customer, for the
suggestion. We will think about it." It's the polite Japanese way of
saying, "F... you."


They want the E-3 buyers to cough up $2000+ each for the digital top
pro lenses, tbey do not want you using old OM or any other lenses.
They had to be beaten to death just to release the MF-1 adapter to
attach the old OM lenses.
Pentax's K10D apparently does IS with any lens and focus
confirmation.

Yes, Pentax brags that the K10D will stabilize any lens that you can
somehow manage to physically hang off of the front of the camera.
Wish I'd know that before I bought the E-510.

On Nov 18, 8:31 am, Orange wrote:

Yes, Pentax brags that the K10D will stabilize any lens that you can
somehow manage to physically hang off of the front of the camera.
Wish I'd know that before I bought the E-510.

Ah, but I have to add that Olympus does have another big advantage for
use with third-party lenses: The Four-Thirds system just happens to
have the shortest registration distance of any DSLR brand. That's the
"flange-to-film" distance. If you want to mount a lot of foreign
lenses on a camera, the camera body needs to have a shorter
registration distance than the foreign lenses that you are attempting
to use so that you have room between the two for the adapter.

The very short registration distance of the Olympus DSLRs makes them a
lens-hackers dream. If you want to use a lot of different kinds of
legacy lenses, Oly bodies are the ones to choose. You can put almost
anything on Oly bodies, with a little hacking (like putting a Konica
back on a Canon FD lens, and stuff like that). So it's a shame that
Olympus chooses to be positively hostile to the idea of using legacy
lenses with their camera bodies.

I think if they were really smart they would exploit that advantage
for all it's worth, and make Oly the gold standard for lens hackers.

Especially since the second-lowest registration distance is now Canon
EF. (Not counting the dead-and-gone lines of camera bodies, like
Konica and Minolta).

Pentax, on the other hand, has a much longer registration distance.
(45.46mm versus 38.67mm for Oly.) So if I were to switch to Pentax, I
would lose the Konica lenses, and Canon FD lenses. And on the high
side, I'd also lose the Nikon-mount lenses, because Pentax and Nikon
have such similar registration distances that there is no room for an
adapter between the two. (45.46mm for Pentax, 46.5mm for Nikon)

You mentioned that the users had to "beat Olympus to death" to get
them to put out the MF-1 adapter for old OM lenses. Well maybe, just
maybe, if enough people bug Oly enough, they might see the light
again. It's along shot, but worth a try. I'm doing my part.