Your are mistaken Vitaliy. The most recent statement from Olympus today is much different.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev

So, they are still contemplating about joining the L-mount alliance.

Of course nothing is set in stone. Except Mr Wong's fanboyism it seems.

I speak as an Olympus Visionary, so I’m also limited in what I can say.

I am still very much active in my role as an Olympus Visionary.

When I talk to the people I have long standing relationships within Olympus with, they see see L mount as an opportunity to further extend what Olympus are already known for...small cameras, unique features and they now own this market.

When you make full frame cameras, you just can’t make cameras and optics as small. Not everyone is as obsessed by 135 format / FF as you’d think. We’re also in a bubble of movie making video shooting, but most of the customers for these cameras are stills shooters.

Even when Olympus made film cameras, they were always aiming to be smaller and with a Leica-like simplicity of style and operation. The original OM-1 was called the M1 originally as a not subtle nod to Leica. They were sued and had to change the name.

“ The first model was presented at photokina in Cologne in 1972 and was called the Olympus M-1. Thirteen years earlier, the release of the Nikon F had made the 35 mm SLR the standard choice for professionals accustomed to Leica and other rangefinders, but it had driven the market towards heavy and bulky cameras. The Olympus M-1 changed this and with it began a reduction of size, weight and noise of the 35 mm SLRs. It was designed by a team led by Yoshihisa Maitani, who had already created the Pen and Pen F cameras, noted for their compactness.

Since Leica's flagship rangefinder cameras are known as the M Series, Leica complained about the name of the M-1, forcing Olympus to rename it as the OM-1 to further clarify between the brands. Because of this, today bodies and lenses with the original M name are rare (52000 bodies were made according to Olympus) and sought after by collectors.”

Now it’s really only Olympus in the stills side of things offering a compelling alternative in m4/3 for those that sensor size doesn’t matter as much as portability and feature set. Olympus have always sold well into the landscape / wildlife / sports markets and they value the extra reach you get from a smaller sensor.

I think they see this gives them more room to develop to their core values, their spiritual values, back to the earlier cameras are smaller lighter alternatives to their big and bulky competitors. That’s what they’ve always been known for and what they’re planning to keep on doing.

I don’t see any evidence of panic. I see heads down working on what’s to come, not phased by 135 / FF / L mount.

I also don’t think Panasonic have hit a home run either with L mount. I don’t see much evidence of a rush to full frame from their user base, or appeal to new users. And it’s getting crowded in 135 / FF now.

I also see other cine camera manufactures making m4/3 camera variants too. I really don’t think m43 is going away anytime soon....

JB

@johnbrawley

Interesting post, thanks.

I am also big m43 fan, and Olympus idea to keep making nice m43 cameras had been nice, as idea.

It is just two issues - who will be making them very good sensors (as Sony feel less and less inclined to invest human resources in m43), and who will be making them LSI that will be up to the task.

They started with Panasonic providing both, later kept Panasonic LSI and started to use Sony sensors, same as Panasonic. And as LSI manufacturing had been further sold by alliance that owned it, it is not clear who will make it all.

Add to this constant pressure of financial underperformance.

Usually big dealers and PR/marketing/training staff are best indication (in strictly private talks) of that happening. And as far as I can see - nothing good happening at Olympus/

I also don’t think Panasonic have hit a home run either with L mount. I don’t see much evidence of a rush to full frame from their user base, or appeal to new users. And it’s getting crowded in 135 / FF now.

As far as my sources tell - it is biggest financial disaster in recent Panasonic cameras sales history.

@johnbrawley

As far as I see it is now only Sony making competitive m43 sensors for consumer cameras.

And no, Sony won't sell to anyone, as they are very careful now, already cutting support and people devoted to m43 sensors. One of the people I talked said that they think about stopping all new development on consumer m43 (may leave some industrial).

Situation with LSI also changed extremely from last years. It is big issues here, largest of all issues that Olympus has.

Consumers don’t buy cameras any more, they use phones. So the market is shrinking to enthusiast and blogger / you tubers.

I look at this different. I see exactly firms and their visionaries and ambassadors (who restored almost all their influence around 4-6 years ago, after it went to almost nothing in the end of analog era) who alienated themselves to users and tech persons in last 3-4 years.

I also see it as disaster of understanding, where visionaries and ambassadors keep promoting "stupid cameras" despite consumers clearly want very advanced "smart cameras".

@johnbrawley

In both cases they have their own relationship that is fire walled. Their Sony contacts have no contact with the other parts of the sensor business. Sony semi treat Sony themselves as a customer, just the same way they would treat any customer, they have their own client liaison. They develop and customise the chips to their clients specifications. Everything with a price of course. That’s their business. They don’t practice favouritism. I think that’s why you see so many sony sensors in so many supposedly competitive brands.

"Sony semi treat Sony themselves as a customer, just the same way they would treat any customer" this part is only partially true. Sony never provides same sensors to third parties at same terms as to their own department, normally they also have agreed delay on new cameras releases from other companies.

Considering visionaries and ambassadors, most of this people are very good and nice guys. I know lot of them personally. Issue is that whole institution is outdated and now plays destructive role for manufacturers.

Proper way is to involve masses (of course it will be 1-5% of really interested people) into cameras design from day one. Open new talents, bring up engineers from other fields and so on and so on. Make cameras modular and with documented interfaces, so small firms and competition will be able to offer their solution.

Smartphones market has lot of issues, but it is very fluid, with lot of knowledge and lot of practically open things. If not the secret Sony/Samsung cartel here - sensor improvements could be much more radical. And it seems like we could see mobile sensors war in coming 2-3 years.

This is like the Christian vision of 'the end of the world is near'.

Olympus will launch the new Olympus E-M1III in mid February! I Still have no images and specs but I should receive some info soon…

Even if we will see this camera it'll be just another price hike, same LSI (renaming by PR department does not count) and old sensor.

At Olympus, we work hard to make people’s lives healthier, safer, and more fulfilling through our technologies and products, and we prioritize the well-being of our team, ambassadors, and customers above all else.

Due to recent public health concerns we have made the difficult decision to postpone all consumer events in the United Stated and Canada until further notice. We look forward to rescheduling these events as soon as possible and will contact registrants directly once revised event information is confirmed.

We are also providing information regarding the best ways to clean and disinfect your camera gear. If you have any additional feedback or questions, please contact our Customer Service team at getolympus.com/contactus for further assistance. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

As we'll be out of this it is super high probability that it won't be Olympus brand on camera market anymore.

Some people thought that Olympus was planning to reduce or even close its imaging business, but that is not the case. Imagery continues to play an important role in the business, by being at the forefront of technologies or innovations. We will therefore certainly maintain the imaging activity as an important part of Olympus society. The rapid pace of technological development could help accelerate certain developments in medical devices or life sciences. The photo division is also our public face, and contributes to the fact that many people know about Olympus, which should promote the presence of the brand.

From French interview. Quite shitty one.

I am sure that Olympus is planning to do lot of things with all of 4-5 people marketing they'll soon have left in the world. And 10 influencers.