June 2nd 2011 Why micro four thirds?

A couple of years back I started using the Panasonic Lumix G1.
At the time it was a revolutionary new camera system, and since then has become very popular and highly acclaimed.
Based on the four-thirds size sensor first used by Olympus in the E-1 (2003), Panasonic/Olympus developed a new lens-mount allowing an even smaller body design. It doesn't have a reflex-mirror, instead it uses an electronic view-finder with full time live view. Since its introduction (Dec 2008) micro four thirds has "taken-off" with many new models from several manufacturers, and with lens companies joining in, the future looks promising. They still can't decide what to call it, but I have heard a new acronym "EVIL" meaning electronic viewfinder interchangeable lens ... (credit for that - John Nicholson)

The beauty of the system is that the camera body, and more importantly, the lens, can be physically much smaller and lighter than the ones used on APS-C or
Full-Frame sensor cameras, whilst still producing good image quality.
OK - it's not quite as good - but in most situations it's good enough - and the system being more "portable" is a big advantage if you're trekking.
I'm setting off to the Alps this weekend and my camera kit, which fits in a belt pack, weighs-in at under two kilos. That includes camera body and accessories (spare batteries, charger et al) with 7-14mm, 14-45mm, 100-300mm zoom lenses and a 20mm prime lens. You can see the belt pack in my profile picture.

OK - I'll pop some pictures of the Tour du Mont Blanc in my next blog post .. See you soon ...

BTW - Pictures in this blog can be clicked to view at full-size - if you click on a photo and there is more than one, you will see a slide-show of all the pictures at "fit to screen" size - then close the side-show to continue reading. If you want to view a picture at full size - then use right-click (windows) and view in new tab or new window. Mac users will have to figure it out for themselves!