OM SYSTEM Launches the OM-3 Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera
OM Digital Solutions has introduced a brand-new camera, the OM System OM-3. The OM System OM-3 combines classic elegance with modern performance. It combines the classic design of the Olympus OM-1 film camera with the flagship-level performance of the OM System OM-1 Mark II Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera.
Style is an essential aspect of the OM-3’s appeal to contemporary photographers. The new camera has a classic, elegant design. The OM-3’s metal top plate features four dials, including controls for switching between stills and video recording, a mode dial, and two command dials.
Moving on to the OM-3’s flat front fascia, photographers will notice the reintroduction of something special: the Color Profile control dial, last seen on the Olympus PEN-F. This dial gives photographers easy access to user-customizable color and monochrome profiles.
The OM System OM-3 is 139.3 millimeters wide, 88.9 millimeters tall, and 45.8 millimeters deep at its thickest point. With the battery and memory card installed, it weighs 496 grams, substantially lighter than its flagship sister, the OM-1 II, which weighs 599 g.
Color profiles allow photographers to change the saturation of a dozen independent color channels and highlights and shadows. Black-and-white photographers can use color filter effects to vary how different color channels translate to monochrome, tweak highlights and shadows, adjust shading, add grain, and give their images a tone, such as sepia. Of course, there are defaults, but OM (correctly) feels photographers would like to customize their profiles.
While the OM System OM-3 appears to be a 1970s-era film SLR from the front and top, it is an entirely modern OM System camera on the inside. The OM-3 uses the same photography pipeline as the OM System OM-1 Mark II, including the 20.37-megapixel stacked BSI Live MOS image sensor and TruePic X image processor.
This has a massive impact on performance. The OM-3, like the OM-1 II, can shoot up to 120 fps with locked focus and as fast as 50 fps with continuous autofocus when using compatible lenses. The OM-3 features the same 1,053-point cross-type on-chip phase-detect autofocus technology, Pro Capture Mode for pre-capture shooting (up to 70 frames), and a high-capacity BLX-1 lithium-ion battery.
Because the OM-3 shares its imaging pipeline with the OM-1 II, OM System’s elegant new camera offers the same extensive choice of computational photographic modes. The OM-3 camera supports High-Res Shot [tripod (80 megapixels) and handheld (50 megapixels)], Live ND, Live GND, HDR, Focus Stacking, and Multi Exposure. Furthermore, these are available via a new computational photography (CP) button and associated control dial.
The OM-3 also supports the same video modes, such as log recording, C4K up to 60p, and slow/quick functionality. While it includes professional-grade functionality, such as external RAW recording, it is intended to be simple to use. In that spirit, it introduces two new creative video profiles, OM Cinema 1 and OM Cinema 2. These 8-bit recording options will not provide the same flexibility or quality as 10-bit log recording, but they promise a cinematic look without further processing or grading.
The OM System OM-3 will ship in late February for $1,999.99.
