New OM System OM-3 is NOT 14-bit
Update:
Mark G discovered that the specs on the B&H website are in conflict with the Olympus page. According to the Olympus page, the OM-3 is 12-bit RAW which is a huge disappointment. Olympus is doing so many cool things with their cameras so it frustrates me to no end that I can’t recommend them for such a silly design omission.
And a lesson learned for me, that I need to check the manufacturer spec page when details really matter.
Original Post:
Today the new OM System OM-3 was released, and I was pleased to see that it captures 14-bit RAW! This doesn’t fix their older cameras that are limited to 12-bit, but it is the right choice for this new camera. I am glad they figured out the importance of using this industry standard. I want to see camera companies succeed because that gives us photographers more options, and the OM System continues to add compelling computational photography features, so this is a win for photographers. The resolution is still low at 20mp, but for some users, that is not an issue. Good job, OM Digital Solutions Corporation.
Unfortunately, I believe the posting on the B&H website that the
Olympus OM-3 is a 14 bit camera is an error. What concerned
me was the too-great similarity of some of the OM-3 sensor specs
to those of previous cameras.
So I went to the Olympus website.
go to: https://explore.omsystem.com/us/en/om-3
scroll 'way down to nearly the bottom and click on the box that says
VIEW PRODUCT SPECS
then scroll down to "Recording Formats", and click on that
it clearly displays: RAW 12bit
As a check, I also viewed the website in French, and under
"Formats d'enregistrement"
it clearly displays: RAW 12 bits
I'm assuming here, of course, that the official Olympus website
is more likely to be correct than the B&H website.
This was a big disappointment to me as the ONE THING
I really miss in my micro 4/3s system is exactly what you
described earlier: the slight but occasionally noticeable
lack of smoothness in some tonal transitions