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Olympus most expensive and last m43 camera comes in January
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    • Olympus will focus on still shooters again.
    • Again sensor will be slightly improved Sony m43 one
    • Margin will be absolutely record in the industry (even considering crazy FF margins)
    • Camera can be last m43 camera ever released by Olympus, at least among advanced cameras
    • With around 60% probability Olympus camera department will merge with other manufacturer in 2019
    • Around 15% probability that camera department will be suddenly closed
  • 110 Replies sorted by
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Olympus has announced that Geraint Radford and Marcus Clackson are set to become Olympus Ambassadors.

    Restoration and growing of so called "ambassadors" played extremely negative role for cameras market.
    In reality we got lot of people who day and night asked for small fixes and otherwise told how all is good and nice, plus most of them asked for price hikes as I know from my source who worked with them in EU (even if publically they always tell you otherwise).

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    I got word from one single reliable sources that Olympus did kill the PEN-F line. I am awaiting confirmations from other reliable sources just to be 100% sure about this. But I fear this “rumor” will get positive confirmation.

    They will kill all m43 lines, but can leave top camera until imaging department sellout or closure.

  • EnoEno

  • caveportcaveport

    " If you want happy press releases and managers nice talk - we have plenty of such, just in different topics."

    Yeah, I have seen most of the PV team interviews with company representatives at the various trade shows. Thanks for letting me know. :-)

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @caveport

    Look who came out of the long sleep:-) Welcome to real camera industry. If you want happy press releases and managers nice talk - we have plenty of such, just in different topics.

  • caveportcaveport

    When is this "last" camera going to appear? January 2030? It's probably better to wait for Olympus to announce something rather than make gloom & doom predictions without any actual information.

  • EspenBEspenB

    For some reason the statement was about not selling their consumer camera division.

    Who would buy that? Canon looking for 5-axis stab?

    There has been no debunking of actually closing down.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    From April 1st Yasuo Takeuchi is becoming the new Olympus president. And in an interview released at Sankeibiz he directly debunked the rumors saying that shareholder ValueAct Capital asked to get rid of the camera business.

    Yasuo Takeuchi once more confirmed how vital the camera business is for their much bigger medical business. They will never get rid of their camera business period :)

    The more they debunk this, the more insiders become assured.

    One of the people inside industry even told that we can see series of fast mergers during 2019 and early 2020.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @EspenB

    No, I don't. Except Panasonic top management no one have, and even they have distorted numbers as lot of current sale go to shelves and it is lot of unsold stock.

    I think Thom also got his number out of his fantasy, I mean that he knows total CIPA number and tried to interpret Olympus marketing share.

  • EspenBEspenB

    Do we have the sales numbers for Panasonic m43? Just a few 100.000s I guess?

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @EspenB

    You must remember is that Thom is among elite Nikon sponsored influencers (not directly, but using complex schemes to keep integrity), due to skill and knowledge working like lone wolf. He had been one of the first who helped demise of m43 cameras (and owned lot of them as reason), especially successful are his articles among Japanese management. He has lot of sane thought, but you always need to remember that he has poison inside.

  • EspenBEspenB

    500.000 units a year in 2018 (?) means 250.000 units in 2020 if the market drops by 50 per cent the next two years.

  • EspenBEspenB

    https://www.sansmirror.com/newsviews/olympus-introduces-pro-e.html

    Since first hearing about this beast, my question has been and continues to be "why"?

    Olympus, after a quick and impressive start in mirrorless beginning in 2009, peaked early and never really got much above the 500k unit a year mark, despite making as many as six different models at once. Currently, I have Olympus at around a 4% market share in interchangeable lens cameras, and that's down from a high around 7% when the m4/3 marketing/sales engine was fully working.

    I don't see the E-M1X budging Olympus' long-term sales one iota on its own, as I'd be surprised if it sells even 50k units in its lifetime. Thus, we have to think of it as a halo product, something that shows off what the company can do and hope that translates to sales of their other products.

    And that's where I start to have problems with the E-M1X, as a halo product. The big issue to me is exactly that, how big it is for how little truly useful it adds to an E-M1m2. Most of Olympus' lineup, and most of the reason for the successes they've had in cameras throughout history, are linked to the opposite attribute: smallness.

    To put it in different terms: anyone can make a big auto that's fast. The usual formula for that is to put a bigger motor in and max out all the performance aspects (turbo, supercharger, etc.). Up to a point, going bigger tends to equal faster. But the impressive gains in auto racing is when companies go the opposite way: smaller, lighter, leaner designs that go faster.

    Most of us believed that's what Olympus was doing (going smaller, lighter, leaner). Now we have the same basic engine (sensor) in a far bigger body, with lots of performance accessories thrown in, all of which gave us a big, heavy product.

    The Big Three have been tending to go the other way. They're putting V8's (full frame sensors) in smaller, lighter, leaner bodies. Olympus just put a straight 4 (m4/3 sensor) in a bigger, heavier, bulkier body. That's not why I got into m4/3.

  • AzoAzo

    @Scot well said agree 100%.

  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    lol In that case, thank goodness Olympus finally came out with a camera that compensates the numerous deficiencies that have existed in DSLR and mirrorless systems for the last 20 years that have prevented people from being able to use them to take photos that are acceptable for public display.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @Vaterfreuden

    May be you can compensate our lack of knowledge?

  • VaterfreudenVaterfreuden

    It is so clear that this is a video forum - most of you have no real experience in photography - otherwise you could really talk about the features of the camera and you wpould recognize what the camera can do - only tech talks missing deep knowledge

  • ScotScot

    I liked m4/3 but wanted better low light and they have hit a wall. The problem is the wonderful dream of an organic sensor was going to come and save the day is all but pure fantasy now. As far as size and weight that's not as true as it use to be. Slap f/4 lenses on FF and your system is pretty light with the option to to buy rent faster heavier lenses when and if you need them. As to crop factor you can always crop a 40/50 megapixel full frame and get the advantages m4/3 or even aspc has to offer and still fall back on FF advantages when you don't. Fuji is keeping ASPC alive with value priced bodies Olympus is dreaming.

  • AzoAzo

    This guy is obviously living in some alternate universe world if he seriously believes in the KOOLAID that he is trying to sell. Please give me a break.... step up from APSC to M4/3 yeah right! This camera will be a huge flop at the current price point of $3000.00 no ifs ands or buts about it.

    I would take a D500 anyday of the week over this camera for sports for a lot less money and better image quality. I don’t even care if the D500 is a DSLR even though I much prefer mirrorless at this point.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    We believe that there will be three types of users. One is users stepping up from existing M43 cameras, like the E-M1 Mark II. That’s a good camera, but in certain circumstances it doesn't work for sports photography. For example having a joystick on the vertical and horizontal grips - that’s the kind of thing that’s needed for wildlife and sports. That’s the number one target group.

    Second is photographers who are stepping up from APS-C, like Canon 7D users. Those people are buying APS-C to make use of tele lenses, to get longer focal lengths. And the system is smaller than full-frame. Those people aspire to EOS-1D X type products but they’re not affordable. And they’re big, it’s a hassle. This camera will create new demand. You can shoot at long focal lengths and still hand-hold.

    For us, sensor size isn’t the answer

    Obviously current APS-C users will be tough. 'Step-up' for some of them means going to full-frame. But we want to say to those people think again - what kind of pictures do you want to take? For us, sensor size isn’t the answer. We want to convey that message to the market. Full-frame is definitely a buzzword in the market, but maybe after carrying around full-frame lenses they’ll find they’re too big and give up!

    The third group is people who are making an additional purchase, in addition to 5-series, 1D-series or D5 cameras who want to try the new system. Because what this camera does is basically the same. People may think that they need full-frame but once they’ve seen this camera’s performance I don’t think that that will be an argument, considering the difference in size and weight.

    https://www.dpreview.com/interviews/9251725115/sensor-size-isn-t-the-answer-olympus-exec-explains-the-thinking-behind-e-m1x

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @brudney

    They will try.

  • brudneybrudney

    Not possible Vitaliy. Not in the era of a $1,3k BMC4K.

  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    I think a lot of people would be happier if the GH6 just added PDAF finally. :P

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @eatstoomuchjam

    On the market it is new trend.

    I won't be surprised if last advanced Panasonic camera - GH6 will be in the $3500 ballpark if they will add raw.

  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    Sweet. A micro 4/3 camera which is larger and more expensive than a number of full-frame cameras with similar specs to those full-frame cameras. Should be a huge seller.

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