Speaking of Innovation - Olympus OM-D E-M5

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mk II (Image courtesy Olympus, America Inc.)Yesterday Olympus announced the OM-D E-M5 MkII - a 16 megapixel Micro Four Thirds camera.  I am not going into all the specs and details about this upgrade to the current E-M5 with one exception.  I am referring to “Innovation” - the E-M5 is capable of creating a 40MP image by using a sensor shift technology.  Sensor shifting is achieved using the same electronics and electromechanical functions of the 5-axis image stabilizer.  The technology shifts the sensor in 8 steps in a pattern where the first four frames move the sensor in such a way so as to capture all colors at each  pixel position.  The sensor then shifts 1/2 a pixel width up and to the left, capturing full color information in the onset position. The entire process takes about 1 second. As a result it is not feasible to capture these high resolution images of subjects that may move.  I guess they will perfect this technology over time but as it is it is impressive.It is worth reading an article on the Imaging Resource web site where they have compared images from the OMD E-M5 Mk II to the Nikon D810 (a 36MP camera) and some animated examples on the DP Review web site.On a side note - Canon today announced the M3 the third generation of its mirrorless camera - for the Asian and European market. I guess it is hard to compete against the strong foothold Panasonic, Olympus, Sony and Fuji have in North America.

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Canon 50MP EOS 5D S and 5D SR - my 2 Cents