Micro Four Thirds System
In August 2008, Olympus and Panasonic introduced a new format: Micro Four Thirds.
The new system uses the same sensor, but removes the mirror box from the camera design. A live view preview is shown on either the camera's main LCD or via an electronic viewfinder, as in digital compact cameras. Autofocus is accomplished via a contrast-detect process using the main imager, again similar to digital compact cameras. The goal of the new system is to allow for even smaller cameras, competing directly with higher-end point-and-shoot compact digital cameras and lower-end DSLRs. The smaller flange focal distance allows for more compact normal and wideangle lenses.
Four Thirds lenses can be used on Micro Four Thirds bodies with an adapter, however, "all of the functions of the Micro Four Thirds System may not always be available."
Read more about this topic: Four Thirds System
Famous quotes containing the word system:
“Human beings are compelled to live within a lie, but they can be compelled to do so only because they are in fact capable of living in this way. Therefore not only does the system alienate humanity, but at the same time alienated humanity supports this system as its own involuntary masterplan, as a degenerate image of its own degeneration, as a record of people’s own failure as individuals.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)