OM Digital Solutions has announced the much-anticipated firmware update to the original OM-1.
OM Digital Solutions has been working on a firmware upgrade for their original OM-1. They announced the OM SYSTEM OM-1 Mark II interchangeable lens camera on January 30, and there have been many inquiries regarding the possibility of a firmware update to the OM SYSTEM OM-1 that was released nearly two years ago.
Not every feature of the new OM-1 Mark II will be included in the older camera with this firmware upgrade, no doubt because the Mark II version included new hardware to cope with the additional functionality. However, they are living up to their promise of updating the OM-1.
The future firmware upgrade will be available later in the year; it's scheduled for the Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Tap or click here for more details.
The improvements that will be brought about by the update will be:
- Autofocus: Improvement of some AF performance capabilities, such as S-AF and C-AF in all-target mode to improve capture of main subjects
- Operability: Improved usability through the option to assign the trash (delete) button as a menu access shortcut.
OMDS says it cannot include new features introduced with the OM-1 Mark II, such as Live GND - the in-built graduated filter - and AI Detection AF for humans.
It will provide some AF performance improvements only and therefore the new AF performance of the OM-1 will not match the OM-1 Mark II.
OM-1 users, including me, will welcome this news, glad to hear about this much-anticipated upgrade to a camera that, two years after release, is still an advanced camera with unique features.
https://dclife.jp/camera_news/article/om/2022/0224_01.html:
"「OM-1」搭載エンジンはまだまだ伸びしろがある
エンジンは " まだまだ " 伸びしろがあるそうです。打ち合わせの時に開発の方に聞いたのですが、ディープラーニング演算能力はこれまでのものと比べると60倍あり、まだまだ使い切れていないぐらい。ファームウェア(アップデート)があるじゃないですか。まだまだ開発の余地があるとおっしゃっていたので、みなさんと同じ様にこれからの進化に期待していきたいところです。"
"「OM-1」 The installed engine is still stretched
The engine seems to have "still" "stretched. I heard about the development at the time of the meeting, but the ability to operate deep learning is 60 times higher than that of the past, and it is not yet used up. Isn't there firmware (update). You said that there is still room for development, so I would like to expect the future evolution as you all."
OM System doesn't respect those, who believe in the system. They gave an announcement only after the backlash. If they wanted to update the OM-1, wouldn't have needed time until autumn. What I believe happened:
1. Couldn't use "Olympus" on cameras, had to change to OM System.
2. They needed to get the "new" OM-1 out, but give at least some incremental features with almost identical hardware.
3. Had to protect the new camera body's features by not giving it to the "old" OM-1, even though the CPU is more than capable to utilize the "new" algorithms.
Feels like OM System is only churning out stuff, that the original Olympus pipeline had. Rehousing the same hardware over and over again...
"Couldn't use "Olympus" on cameras, had to change to OM System."
The enthusiast photo division of Olympus was was sold to OM Systems, and therefore began using a new name. The name OM System was not put in place simply to fool people, or because Olympus wanted a catchier name. It is a new company, and many of the engineers etc who worked for Olympus moved with the system.
Am happy to see a further update on the way. However, this whole episode has made me step back on OMDS in general. The marketing people really screwed up on the release of the Mark ii and have instilled a lot of doubt in the brand. Hopefully we will see some further releases soon to dispel these feelings.