I had no idea this existed, but sadly it seems to be missing lots of models, including all OM System cameras if I’m not mistaken. I wonder how often it’s updated. I love the idea though.
They have them under Olympus.
It does seem to be missing many cameras and lenses. I discovered it by seeing a store sales rep check it.
Does it? I can’t find the OM-1, OM-3 or OM-5… I can only see old Olympus models.
This appears to be my bad. I saw
and pulled up the price comparison for Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II. Sorry about that.
No need to apologize. I didn’t know the website existed and it could be useful for me.
It’s definitely hit or miss, as you say. I noticed they have the X100VI but not the X-T5. No idea how they are updating it. It’s probably a passion project by a single developer who doesn’t have the time to stay on top of it 
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As to DOF, I wouldn’t say “inability” - provided that equivalent settings are available in m4/3. The crop factor for m4/3 relative to a 24x16 mm “APS-C” sensor is 1.33. For an APS-C 35mm f/2.8, a m4/3 24mm f/2 gives about the same DOF.
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Yep, and depending on what you’re shooting and intended look, there’s often the option to just get closer to the subject to blur the background.
UPDATE:
I’ve gotten my hands on an OM 12-40 2.8. I’ll try to do some head-to-head comparisons. But I’m pretty pleased with how the combo handled the dynamic range and texture of my neighbours black dog on a snowy walk:
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That’s a good stress test!
I’m debating whether to get that same lens or the 12-45 F4. I’ve been leaning towards the latter because it’s nice and compact, which is essentially why I got an OM camera. Plus, I have the OM-5, so I think it would balance better on my body, whereas I think you have the OM-1.
But F2.8 is handy sometimes and the 12-40 has a focus clutch and Fn button, which are also nice…
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I’m really enjoying the 12-40. I’m not sure I understand the focus clutch though. I mean, I know I can use it to turn off auto focus and go completely manual. But, at least with the OM-1, you can set the camera to auto focus with manual over-ride. I’m not sure the advantage of the focus clutch in that case? Maybe if you’re not using back-button focus it would be useful?
I’m not sure either, never having used one, so maybe it wouldn’t be that amazing. With my X-T5, I have a switch on the front to change between manual focus and autofocus, so I assumed the clutch worked in the same way. You can be in autofocus and then snap the clutch to go straight to manual focus. But whether that’s any easier than the regular manual override, I don’t know…
I’m actually in manual focus most of the time, and then I just use back button focus to quickly autofocus. I used it with my Fuji, and I now use it with my OM-5. It’s always been my favourite way to shoot ever since I discovered the joy of back button focus. Occasionally I’ll switch over to C-AF, if I’m shooting birds or people, but for most of my landscape and street photography, I’m just in manual focus with BB autofocus.
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I really like the manual focus assist system on the OM-1 (and maybe the OM-5 is the same?). I’ve set it to zoom in as soon as you move the focus wheel, which makes it super intuitive to dial in the focus. It jumps back out to full frame after a very short pause, making it easy to check composition and take the shot.
Doing the same thing on my Z50 requires an extra button press or two, just enough friction to make it too awkward to use in most situations for me.
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I had one in a couple of Fuji lenses. You know how you can often pre-zoom a zoom lens to the desired focal length before even turning on the camera? The focus clutch allows you to do the same with focus. It makes zone focusing a bit easier.
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I’ve had the 12-40 since 2014 and it’s my most-used lens.
I also use focus assist, AF+MF, and back button focus. With this setup, I also have trouble to find use for the focus clutch. I don’t miss it on lenses that don’t have it.
Unfortunately the clutch is not accurate enough to focus at infinity for landscape shots by night, when AF has trouble to lock onto something. That would be useful.
Here are two cases where it could be useful:
- Manual focusing during video
- Rough pre-focusing for street photography
Still, I think it’s mostly useless. If I could modify the 12-40, I would
-
Remove the focus clutch and the “metal build” (it’s only on the outside anyway) to save weight
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Turn it into 12-40 f/2-2.8 by allowing these blades to go wider at f=12 mm! Even if it would rapidly reach f/2.8 with increased focal length, and if this comes at the cost of optical imperfections for apertures wider than f/2.8, I would still take it as a nice option to have. It would not prevent users to shoot at f/2.8 or f/4 when required!
Unfortunately, this is not how the market works, since a variable-aperture zoom would appear “less pro”, and less sharp wide-open.
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Yes, exactly! I noticed how much better it was as soon as I first tried it on the OM-5. My Fuji has exactly the same option to auto zoom in when you move the focus ring, but it doesn’t automatically zoom out again, so it’s more button presses. I ended up turning it off on my Fuji because I would sometimes accidentally knock the focus ring and it would just stay zoomed in and confusing me until I half-pressed the shutter to zoom back out.
With OM System, it’s a quick focus check and done, without any extra presses. It’s funny how these little details can make all the difference. It’s exactly what I wanted with the Fuji, and so it was a nice surprise when I found out that the OM-5 did exactly what I wanted it to. I didn’t realize until after I’d bought it.
Of course, the opposite is true where I’ve had some unpleasant surprises, such as the shooting information not automatically rotating on the screen or EVF when you switch from landscape to portrait mode. I thought all modern mirrorless cameras would do this, but alas, no.
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