1. About Four-Thirds

In 2001 Olympus and Kodak announced the creation of a new digital imaging standard for DSLR cameras called Four Thirds. It’s not surprising that not everyone in the industry was happy with that but those were largely Olympus’ key competitors. As they had to march to Olympus’ tune with the OM-1, they found themselves threatened with a piece of ‘revisited history’ but this time around it’s probably a little more serious.

There are a few important areas of Four-Thirds that threatens Olympus’ chief rivals. Of course depending on who you talk to, that might not even be the case at all. However from a historical point of view, Olympus has long been an irritating thorn to the key players in the market and there’s no sign that this will abate.

Firstly Four-Thirds is the first serious attempt at breaking the market stranglehold. Although not technically an open standard, Four-Thirds offers an invitation for other manufacturers to share the use of the standard in producing DSLR cameras and lenses to mix and match one another. Today the Four-Thirds consortium comprises Olympus, Kodak, Fujifilm, Sanyo, Panasonic, Leica and Sigma. More are expected to join within the foreseeable future. Of these, three companies including Olympus have produced DSLR models.

For those interested in what the U.S. Patent Office has to say and how the standard is defined, click here.

Secondly the potential benefits of the standard means smaller body footprint, (proportionately) smaller lenses, lighter weight to carry and superior mobility advantages. In hindsight this was obviously not evident initially and Olympus bore the brunt of criticisms. It was only when the E-400 was released in 2006 that the criticisms began to ebb. To date, the past and present line-up of Four-Thirds DSLRs looks like this:

Thirdly the aspect ratio of Four-Thirds lends itself well to common enlargement sizes (such as 8x10 inch) including those of computer-based graphic displays. It’s the cropping nature that finds appeal in the past as much as it is today. In contrast an APS sensor is based on a (3.2):2 ratio, which produces a proportionately 8x12.8 inch enlargement size. If a six-megapixel APS type sensor is used to produce an 8x10-inch standard print, you will need to remove close to 3 inches, which would end up nearer to a five-megapixel crop.

Fourthly Four-Thirds introduced the world’s first system that has no technical links to the film legacy. It is a completely new blueprint that takes full advantage of the digital imaging medium in ways no other camera maker had. Other than Four-Thirds DSLRs, most if not all others are hybrids from film days, ‘forcing’ an essentially 35mm system to work as a ‘digitalised’ SLR camera with lenses that were developed from a bygone era and therefore not optimised to exploit the potential of the new medium. This situation continues till today, which is why Four-Thirds poses a threat.

Anders Uschold of Digitaltechnik (München, Germany) underscored this fact in his scientific test report where he analysed the capabilities of digital cameras that were based on 35mm film design to those that were digitally optimised. In his comparison, it was clear that a digital-specific solution trumps DSLRs that have firm roots in film. To download Anders Uschold’s, click here.

Anders Uschold can be contacted at: Anders Uschold Digitaltechnik, Gleichmannstraβe 9/III, D-81241, Germany or at .

There are several aspects of Four-Thirds that have been the cause celebre in the industry, a heated talking point of countless debates that still resonate today about its viability and the thorn that has been an irritation to quite a number of people. A great deal have been written about issues like crop factor, sensor size, maximum photo sites and pixel pitch and others that it’s repetitive to mention here. To date no other DSLR maker has ever been so targeted as Olympus but by the same token, no one has upstaged the current industry leaders the way they have.