see also:

• Micro Four Thirds cameras
• comparison of older Olympus OM-D cameras
• comparison of current Micro Four Thirds cameras
• Micro Four Thirds system
• a catalogue of Micro Four Thirds lenses
• see comparison with other mirrorless camera systems such as Sony, Samsung
• Micro Four Thirds vs entry-level dSLRs
• microfourthirdsblogs
• http://www.mirrorlessdb.com/index.html#microfourthirds

• Micro Four Thirds camera system started life in 2008 with the Panasonic G1
• The Panasonic GH series are generally the best video enabled still camera models
• the Olympus cameras can be thought of as belonging to generations of technology:
  • 1st generation
    • generally used the older 12mp Four Thirds sensors (presumably the same Panasonic sensors as in the Olympus E-30 and E-5 dSLRs) and had slowish AF as CDAF technology was in its early stages of development - Olympus had only introduced CDAF into its Olympus Four Thirds dSLR system in 2008 with the Olympus E-30 dSLR
  • 2nd generation
    • these came in 2011, and although they generally used the older Four Thirds sensors, at last they were equipped with fast AF for static subjects - and the AF for such subjects was even faster than had been achieved in over 30 years of dSLR development with their phase detect AF systems
    • some had touch screens
  • 3rd generation
    • these arrived in 2012 and were game changing, led by the extremely popular Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera
    • finally we had fast CDAF autofocus for static subjects PLUS a new far better sensor with much wider dynamic range, more pixels, and better high ISO noise
    • this would be enough but these cameras brought much more along - very good quality EVF sufficient to placate most optical dSLR users, weatherproofing, 5 axis image stabiliser, touch screens, and the lovely OM-D retro styling
  • 4th generation
    • these arrived in 2013 and featured even better EVF and in addition, WiFi remote control and tethering to smartphones built-in
    • examples are the Olympus OM-D E-M10 camera and the pro verion, the Olympus OM-D E-M1 which for the 1st time added phase detect sites to allow faster AF with Four Thirds lenses and better C-AF Tracking with Micro Four Thirds lenses

• more detailed comparisons:
  • comparison of the 2011 Micro Four Thirds cameras