Micro Four Thirds less bulky without mirrors

Nearly as strong in performance as a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera) but with out the heft – that is the promise of a new class of cameras and consumers are snapping them up. The cameras are based a new standard launched by camera makers Olympus and Panasonic in August last year – the Micro Four Thirds (MFT)

A large image sensor – the star draw in a DSLR – is kept. Large sensors capture more light so colours will be richer and contrasts deeper. Also – like in a DSLR – the camera lens can be changed.

So, customers can pick from an ultra-wide angle for landscapes to a super telephoto for close ups of birds from a distance. Or, they can go for a zoom – that lacks the extremes but covers a range of angles – for convenience.
In an MFT camera, the DSLR’s mirror (or reflex) and pentaprism (you see this as the bump on top of the camera bosy) are thrown out. In a stroke, the camera becomes smaller. Light from the lens in a DSLR is reflected off a mirror inside the body and then bounced in a pentaprism.

So what you get is a camera about two thirds the weight of a junior DSLR but one that retains the superb picture quality and lens flexibility of a DSLR.

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