Image courtesy: PersonalView.
BestMirrorlessCameraReviews interviewed MR Terada, Mr Fandrey, Mr. Guthmann and Mrs Beckmann from Olympus. These are some of the key info we got from them:
1) The OM-D line is somehow easier to promote than the PEN line.
2) According to research, many people are using smartphones. Some are interested in interchangeable lens cameras, not compact cameras, because they already have a compact camera in their smartphone.
3) Olympus recognizes that photographers nowadays are also interested in video capabilities. Terada said: “Maybe 4K or new technology is something that stimulates our photographic users, and we should follow the market I think.”
4) At this moment Olympus has no plan to make a LX100 alike camera.
5) 300mm f/4 and the 7-14mm f/2.8 are coming in 2015. And so new OMD and PEN cameras.
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Olympus preorders:
Silver E-M1 body at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus. In Europe at Wex UK.
40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus. In Europe at Wex UK, Topshot and Fotomundus.
LH-76 lens hood at Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
MC-14 1.4x teleconverter at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
PRF-ZD62 Z protection filter at Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
PRF-ZD72 Z protection filter at Adorama, Bhphoto, GetOlympus.
General links to all new Olympus stuff at Adorama.
ALL new stuff announced at Photokina at Amazon.
Panasonic preorders:
LX100 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto. Europe at WexUK.
GM5 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto. Europe at WexUK.
GM5 in red at Adorama.
35-100mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
137 Responses
Focusing on video is the most important thing Olympus can do for themselves right now. They’ve sat on the sidelines for a long time but they should be planning to move forward soon before it becomes too late. Good to hear that they will finally bring a little more effort to this area.
Besides, video is the field where having a smaller sensor and less mp for still photos do not hurt at all, as each 4K is an 8mp picture. Having 4K with Olympus, with its nice set of lenses, would be great.
Currently having the GH3 but wanting to get into 4K, my plan is to first get the LX100. Then later to get a m43 MOUNT camera with 4K – If Olympus announces a new camera (or em-1 update) in the next 12-18 months that supports 4K (with good quality..), I would probably choose that over a GH4, even if I sacrifice a bit of stability/recording limitation due to overheating risk. The reason is simply IBIS.
Maybe.
Anyone else get the feeling 4K wont come through firmware but in a new camera ….grrrrrrrrr
I give you… The new OM-D E-M2!. 🙂
If they would concentrate on improving the video codec and framerates via firmware update in say, the E-M1, E-P5, E-PL7, and E-M10 that would buy them some more time (and get them some more sales) while they focus on the next iteration of camera body hardware and design.
I’m sure that they can get more out of the current hardware, and it could increase sales from people shooting video, who are currently avoiding Olympus but would like to take advantage of the IBIS. Adding more frame rates, higher data rates, and a better H.264 compression shouldn’t be a difficult task. Their smaller compact cameras can already do this.
I would have bought into the E-M1 had they provided 24 and 60p with a better codec. Instead I bought the GH3 and GH4.
Wow! Oly has discovered photographers are interested in video…next thing we’ll learn (2016?) is that they learned that wedding photogs are being asked to use drones as well as the usual (“usual” including video). Reminds me of when Detroit suddenly discovered that people were demanding small cars and so we had to suffer the embarrassment of the Pinto, Vego, etc.
“Vega,” obviously; couldn’t edit.
I simply cannot believe that “bestmirrorlesscamerareviews” didn’t ask them about the rumored video-specific E-M1 firmware update and whether 4K and/or additional frame rates would be something to still be expected. Why do such interviewers always forget to ask the most interesting and obvious questions?
As this isn’t a live interview they may asked off the record or Olympus didn’t answer them.
So you didn’t read the article? It was there, they asked and the question was: 4K not possible with software changes.
I meant to say … ANSWER was …
Oh, thanks! I just skimmed through it, must have missed it. Wonder why the admin didn’t mention it, though! 😉
Captain subtext: 1) The OM-D line is somehow easier to promote than the PEN line – nobody buys PEN. 2) According to research, many people are using smartphones – since 2007, ring ring. 3) “…and we should follow the market I think.” – ideally, you should lead the market 🙂 4) At this moment Olympus has no plan to make a LX100 alike camera – Panasonic doesn’t mind 🙂
This is the third time I heard the same words . It’s simple here , Olympus can’t do much in video .
Why not accept the reality & focus on STILL Imaging ?
I think that it is more “won’t” than “can’t”. Even Fuji has better video in their X100T now.
Because hybrid stills and video is the future. Why should Olympus be left behind?
Looks like 4k may have to go the Hack route hopefully from the firmware Olympus provided if the right people get hold of it and adapt it. Is this a possibility ????
Just once I would love it if the interviewer would say, “what, no 24p? Are you INSANE? Deaf as a post? Can’t find the lens cap? Battery run down?
I don’t do stills AT ALL. Yet I bought EM5 exclusively for video because of its FANTASTIC stabilizer. It’s great in that respect and it SUCKS for its poor codec and 30p only. Time to wake up to 21st century, Olympus. It’s HYBRID time, isn’t it?
Excuse me, I read your post as ” I work as a mover, and I bought a sport car because of its stability but it sucks ’cause it doesn’t have the room of a pantechnicon”.
Sure it’s 21st century, and so what? 🙂
I have 4 other bodies for other needs and situations. In my case EM5 is a tool in a set. An instrument for a purpose. To shoot handheld with prime lenses in lowlight without jello and wobble. There is NO HDSLR as of today that does this particular job as good as Oly. So I have to tolerate its drawbacks when I need to do that particular task. I’m not a typical Oly user, for sure, but should Oly care to give me 25p, decent 1080 and non-stop recording (not even asking for 4K) I would replace ALL of my cameras for Olies. So my voice weights as that of 4 typical still shooters 😉
Ok now I get your point 😉
Many have been saying it for years now. Brilliant engineers at Olympus but dinosaur managers.
The omd range has an inbuilt view finder, weather sealing, decent grips, useful controls.
Put them in the pen line, it will sell.
(The faux DSLR look – the hump – is not why omd is popular compared to pen.)
Too much pride at olympus, not enough listening to customer feedback.
“Many have been saying it for years now. Brilliant engineers at Olympus but dinosaur managers.”
+100 Prbably the average age for the managers is around 70
Really? Are you an expert? And you? How old are you?
You again Tom, with yet another alias? How many do you have now?
Exactly ! I still do not understand why they can not do it. Customers would welcome it. PEN rangefinder like camera with a built in VF.
But still where is their promised LENS ROADMAP (UWA no-zoom lens) ??
Their are still pushing me into something I do not want to do – to leave m43 and get Fuji + 14mm 2.8 or Samyang 12mm ….
I don’t think the GX7 has been anywhere as near popular as the OM-D line.
What are you talking about – what do you call the 7-14mm f2.8, a telephoto zoom?
That could have many reasons…
I have a E-M5, but if there are new technologies available the justify an upgrade I would rather prefer a GX7 Body over an OMD.
The GX7 has the worst EVF I have ever used. It is the SOLE reason I didn’t buy it over the EM-10. It wasn’t the rangefinder body style that was the problem.
Ee ? I’am not talking here about any GX7 I’m talking here about Olympus which is still not listening to their customers. I’am pretty sure that there would be enough demand for a PEN like camera with an integrated viewfinder. People purchase E-M5 because there is no other Olympus camera without a VF bump.
Second. There were many rumours about Olympus upcoming lens roadmap. If it was just an Olympus 7-14 announcement … well then it was pretty poor news.
Third. Oly + Pana I’m still waiting for any UWA prime lens. I’m not going to wait forever … then I would rather switch systems to Fuji or Sony.
Cheers
Several ppl have left m43 recently, but Fuji is not going to cut it, either. After all it’s said and done, proper cams are still the usual suspects: Canon, Nikon, Pentax.
Why go to one of the three companies that don’t innovate much at all? Aside from M43, Fuji, Samsung and Sony are the only ones that seem to try to evolve cameras other than just adding minor adjustments for every generation (looking at you Nikon, Canon….). Pentax is great but what have they done lately?
I don’t understand this innovation craze. If you have a good product, that stands the test of time, why should you always look at something new? It’s like, we can take great pictures, with great handling, but it’s no good because the tool is too traditional.
Most “innovative” products have flaws I could not live with.
I think most people agree that Olympus’ 5-axis stabilizer (IBIS) is a fantastic innovation, or that Panasonic’s DFD is finally making mirrorless competitive in the focusing department is extremely useful, or for the growing number of people that shoot video, the 4K and useful videofeatures on the GH4 is nirvana.
Why, in 2014 are the big companies still putting 90% of their effort on old technology using mirrors? By all means, keep some of that, if nothing else for nostalgia, or the users that truly cannot make the leap into the 21st century, but innovation is a good thing. Without innovation craze, we wouldn’t have cars, computers, gone to the moon, or be able to travel half way around the world in a few hours.
By all means, as a consumer, we are all allowed to find the products that have the balance we are comfortable with, between “safe” and “innovative”.
Have a look at a cross section of an E-M5 and then tell me where you put the viewfinder components if you take away the space they currently occupy.
Isn’t it, look at the ep5 and see where they could add a vf?
Right? The reason the OM-D line is successful is precisely because they are actually price competitive with the more paired down PEN line once you factor in buying an EVF. Also… these PEN cameras are really not much smaller than the EM-10 and once you put a lens on them, their size advantage disappears.
Numbers 1, 2, & 3 are quite embarrassing coming from this source, My 7-yr.-old niece knew all of that I early 2012. Does the corporate leadership of Olympus live in a time capsule wrapped in a cocoon?
Terada gave the same arguments years ago, nothing new here and Olympus droped its cheap compact line long ago.
They tried to bring some smartphone features in their last pen with a “special selfie mode”, I don’t know if it’ll be enough.
Maybe they could open their platform a bit, allowing third party “apps” for their WiFi enabled cameras… Maybe that’s part of their Open Camera project…
Big expensieve camera’s with puny sensors. Hulk smah puny sensors.
Hulk learn use spellcheck! Make brain-dead comment more funny.
🙂
To be fair, who really knows what Hulk’s vocabulary really is like? He’s not human. He’s a meta-troll.
Lovely. Olympus joining the Panasonic LCSS group (Larger Camera with Small Sensor). Panasonic made that mistake with the GH3 and now GH4. Oly was the last hope for those who believe that cameras should primarily take PICTURES.
Well, most of us don’t live in the stone-age. There is no reason why a camera can’t do great at both.
yes but many want ultimate specs in both disciplines while they dont take advantage of it, same happens in the pc branche.
If you click on mentioned in Ireland. There is an answer to the video question., well sort of.
Tarada says; “even if we go in the direction of video, Panasonic already has really nice MFT cameras for video. We like to show the total possibility of the entire MFT line-up, and if we start to focus on video capabilities, it may be misleading to the market.”
I read that that there are som kind agreement between Olympus and Panasonic, that Panasonic is the first choise for video, and that sux for Olympus owners.
regarding such agreement, if olympus owners complain about the lesser specs, its actually a logic step to go panasonic.. but no ..emotional reason(and even logic one like ibis) explain their reasoning here.
A warning to PanaOly to keep delivering especially in Sensor dept , further breakthough otherwise Hulk will strike their products again .
2.5 years without direct replacement for E-M5… and now they only promise 2015… That is one long product cycle for the class. But no replacement gives (weak) hope for another firmware update…
No point have to come out a successor with minor or small refinement .
Example EOS 550 to 600 to 650
As EM5 is Oly premier camera , successor need to shine cause it carrying the spirit of the OM & company’s reputatation so everything have to be latest techs & best of best .
Be passion to it .
I rather it don’t come out if no breakthough over it’s predecessor .
The E-M5 is still an awesome camera. I love it. It’s replacement needs to be MUCH better to convince me to buy it.
So, it’s absolutely fine if Oly takes 3 years time… why not?
I don’t have a problem with that.
I am not talking about replacement for current E-M5 owners. Olympus is not the only brand in the market. I am talking about proper competition for a6000, which is out for almost a year.
Yeah, the new E-M5 probably needs higher-res sensor, because with Sony 24mpix and now Samsung 28mpix they reached the same density, so crop factor advantage in reach at the same FL disappeared. I personally not a huge fan of megapixels, but the market is what it is.
you already said about the similar density range…for Olympus or Panasonic to come up with new image processor algorytms with excellent high ISO results for >16mp mft sensors might be difficult. I read somewhere Nikon spends millions in their image processing engine for sensors. I dont think the mft brands have similar budget to keep up in this.
Agree, and as Oly are buying sensors from Panasonic or Sony they have to wait for them to develop the more pixel dense sensors.
At the moment the APSC 24mp and Mm3 16mp have roughly the same pixel density. When the tech moves on then so will m43 (and APSC proportionally)
Olympus does not make sensors and processors, it s the question what you order – TSMC, Samsung etc will be glad to make it for you.
you did not understand….the iso and other finetuning happens in the image processor/engine, its seperate from the sensor…and each serious camera brand defines its own processing there (truepic for olympus)
I agree! Asude from not having some of the newer features (focus peaking, 4k, wifi) it’s still a very competitive camera. And in any case, the E-M1 is fine for those in a hurry to upgrade.
But Oly’s bottom line has a problem with it. Sony and Samsung and Fuji eat its lunch.
I like a long product cycle. Unlike Sony who replace their cameras on a yearly basis and seriously reduces their resale value.
As opposed to the resale value of a PEN, which has the features of a Sony from two years ago?
But they even missed dual-yearly update. You may like it, but Sony sells more cameras now, while it was behind 2 years ago.
All the E-M5 needs is a firmware update to stay relevant. Bring it up to E-M10 standards features-wise, including 0 second antishock, and it still holds its own.
Anybody noticed that on firmware 2.0 for the E-M1 the 0 seconds anti-shock feature has disappeared? Am I missing something?
It’s still there for me.
I’ll check it again then…that’s odd
I agree. At least to E-P5 standard, specifically focus peaking and panning detection for IBIS.
But to compete with 24 and 28 mpix APS-C cameras, they need 24 mpix m43 sensor (othewise their crop matches your “reach” for the same lens FL and you lose size advantage), and you cannot do it with firmware update – you need both different sensor and faster processor. You also need OSPDAF in this class now, and you need 4k. Putting the old hardware into E-PL7 does not make it a new camera, and it cannot compete with a5100.
In a recent interview, CANON acknowledged that customers are interested in smaller, high quality cameras. Imagine that!
But even more behind the curve is OLYMPUS, who seems to have just realized that improving video might be a good idea, and that smart phone cameras exist. And they still don’t understand why people favor the OMD over the Pen. It shouldn’t be such a mystery. And they have no plans to do something like the LX100? Really? Maybe eventually they’ll notice that Fuji built their brand on the success of the X100 and that Panasonic’s LX100 is the most exciting compact camera ever. Then maybe we’ll see a Trip-D and a weather sealed, EVF integrated Pen one day. I hope by then it isn’t too late for Olympus.
Canon even hinted at potentially looking into the m43’s standard for their next small ILC camera. Its not like they have much invested in their EOS-M right now, so I could see them making a move to something different. Though, I think the suits at Canon will likely not have them jump on the m43’s standard simply because they would want every Canon purchaser to only be able to choose lenses from Canon. Sad, because it would strengthen the heck out of the m43’s standard for sure, but I think this is farther from possibility than the EM-1 getting a 4K firmware update.
Agreed. It seems very unlikely that Canon would join M43 as their move towards miniaturization, but I hope that they surprise us. They would benefit from the established lens and bodies in the market as much as they’d need to compete in that they would not have to launch an entirely new lineup out of the gate. Nikon 1 made that mistake.
It would be good for Canon to try to make a m4/3 body. One great body level to E-M1 and they could get very good start if manages to put even 1-2 own objectives by themselves. Like 10-30 f/2 and 25-45mm f/1.4. It would draw sales quickly. Throw as bonus a adapter and that’s it
Usual UK rip-off pricing for 40-150/2.8:
Wex UK = £1299
Topshot & Fotomundus = €1399 = £1099
Expect discounts in UK within a couple of months – don’t they realise that they are competing in a global market
Why Olympus don’t buy codec 4k processor/technology from Panasonic and Panasonic grab their 5-ibis and then they will make more great camera video.
Olympus doesn’t even need 4K to be considered a good option for video. If they could just get 1080p quality as good as the GM1 or GX7, combined with their class leading IBIS, their video could still be a great option. Heck, the GM1 and GX7 match or exceed the video quality on a 5D3 (except for high ISOs), and people have been using those for professional video for awhile now.
Ok there we have it. Olympus main target are still photographers. Even in 2014, even in 2015.
So they will probably improve video over time, but I guess Panasonic is the way to go for people who scream for 4K, other codecs, etc etc.
As an Olympus (still) shooter, this is fine for me.
But others might wanna switch to Pany rather than complaining about the lack of 4K in the E-M1 firmware upgrade, etc etc.
Too bad the GH4 doesn’t have IBIS. If it did, I think it would be close to a perfect hybrid camera. yeah, yeah, heat dissipation, I know..
Heat isnt sensor problem, but CPU/Battery problem.
Could be, but Panasonic has time and again said that if they mount the sensor on a 5-axis stabilizer, they cannot mount it directly to a heat-sink.
Might just be an excuse of course.
In any case, I’d like to see a version with say 30 minute limitation on 4K recording, if it would allow them to use IBIS.
….which is exactly what I just did. Olympus has been caught slipping
“According to research, many people are using smartphones. ”
What?
“…we should follow the market.” Why not lead? Innovation means risk. But being so late guarantees they’ll be marginal.
Sure they were late with EM5, EM1…
Terada isn’t a native speaker, I’m sure you know that.
EM5 was groundbreaking and a leading product a few years ago. The EM1 is awesome (I purchased one!) but evolutionary. Maybe he means that they’re listening to customers, but I see no evidence of that in the Pen lineup. Again, it may just be a language barrier, but Olympus came off sounding very out of touch. I hope they have great stuff in the pipeline and just had to tread water at this show until they arrive later in the year or early next. But the latest Pen doesn’t provide much hope. They seem to be chasing a mainstream that doesn’t care instead of super serving the enthusiasts that do. That’s what FUJI is doing, and the latest PANASONIC releases seem to be a move in that direction too.
It must be pretty painful for them to be at an event like this with so little to talk about and have to do interviews. Maybe they just missed and have stuff in the pipeline that’s a few months away…
Almost all the Japanese camera manufacturers are quite conservative these days, and somewhat insulated from the needs/desires of consumers.
The sudden shrinkage in the marketplace due to camera saturation, smartphones, etc. has caught them all a bit off-guard, I think, and further exacerbated this problem.
What we’re witnessing is conservatism coupled with a bit of “deer in the headlights” syndrome right now as the industry as a whole tries to determine what its next move should be … and each of these companies tries to determine its role within that changing industry.
If you don’t pull the sentence out of context, it makes sense. What he is saying is, fgewer and fewer people are actually interested in a compact, pocketable camera because they already have one – in their phone.
Sorry, my post was just sarcasm. I haven’t had my morning coffee yet, and that comment jumped out as so obvious it’s ridiculous.
Missed your sarcasm 🙂
“According to research, many people are using smartphones.”
No shit sherlock!
Everyone talks about 4k all the time. Where is 2k RAW apart from Blackmagic but they don’t take stills as well. Surely that is a gap in the market, Mr Olympus. Just and that to the already very nice EM5 and you have an exciting new camera, don’t you?
Sure, processing video RAW files is a gigantic gap
I may be wrong, but I think it’s because SD card speeds just aren’t up the the point where they can handle raw just yet. The blackmagic cameras use SSDs for recording.
“Maybe… I think.”
Now there is some clarity for you.
In Japanese corporate comunication that is the same level as definetly, i know…
They are very conservative
on the other hand they are very innovative with their japanese adult movies
You know that in scientific articles people also use “we suggest…could be….”.
Its obvious the reason why it’s easier to promote omd over pen. 100% it’s due to a lack of integrated evf on the pen line. Otherwise they’re essentially the same camera…
Yeah. Makes me wonder why it is so hard for Olympus to stick an EVF into an EPL body, just to test the waters and see. I don’t understand why they see lack of EVF as a differentating factor between the OMD and PEN ranges… surely the form factor is enough of a USP for each?
Olympus! If you are reading this bump the bitrate by 50% and give us 24p and you will double your camera sales of the em5 and em1 overnight. Don’t you like profits?
If you want Olympus’ video roadmap, just take the video features from Sony and Panasonic cameras available now, add two years, and voilå.
50% bitrate bump is negligent improvement. H.264 quality doesn’t raise more going from 24Mbits (actually 24-32Mbits) to 36Mbits as much as people believe.
H.264 codec is designed to be used in 2-4 Mbits range and there is the difference how much you can get better quality.
It is about codec encoder settings how good you can get, not about bitrate after that. If you have enough CPU power (E-M1 has two CPU instead one like E-M5 has) and good encoder algorithms, you can pull a huge difference visually just by better settings than higher bitrate. And then the lower bitrate actually is benefit as there is less data to encode with better quality. A bad settings look bad even if having 200Mbits bitrate. A good settings look good even if having just 3Mbits bitrate.
24fps isn’t required than fans who believe they see something fancy.
We are not on film anymore, where film is traveling at specific speed.
We are using digital cameras that gives easy access to people adjust shutter speed, aperture and ISO.
The video can be 30fps but look like blurred motion if wanted. Difference between 24 and 30 is non-existing among skilled videographer. The real benefits are that how easy it is shoot in 50Hz country and how easy it is mix footage with other footage. If going to add visual effects, it is easier to render them to slower frame rate than faster. Adding a computer animations is easier too.
But once you see 60-100fps movie, you don’t want to go back 24-30fps as that doesn’t look good at all.
All what Olympus needs to do, is to release new frame rates 25/50/60 with existing one. And 120/240fps for 720p. Olympus has lots of experience from high-speed and 4k videocameras but it needs just to use that knowledge for their OM-D line.
Terada in 2013 “There will be no silver E-M1” http://www.43rumors.com/more-terada-interviews-no-silver-e-m1-coming-we-do-not-exclude-a-full-frame-future/
Never say never… 🙂
maybe if they stopped marketing the pens as a girl’s selfie toy camera? As a poor grad student I bought the e-pm1 and then e-pm2. I loved being able to get the same sensor as the top m4/3 cameras for cheap. All I gave up was a few buttons and a few extra features, no loss in IQ.
I continue to buy lenses, and soon probably an e-p5. So they’ve pulled me in by starting with a solid, inexpensive camera.
Then again, maybe that’s what they are worried about. perhaps people would not buy the expensive cameras if they knew how good the cheaper ones were?
no maybe or I think, just do it. LX100 is a good example of what folks want. Stop wasting time on art filters. If Panasonic puts a better IBIS in their camera, I know I will totally switch over.
We’ll know if LX100 is a good example of what folks want when we’ll see LX100 in folks hands…
The hands on reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, the specs are great. All we need to wait for is some confirmation that the Photos/Videos are as spectacular as the previews indicate.
And even the (techniclly) best camera in the world may not be “what folks want”.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that the LX100 is a bad camera,. It’s only the simplistic view (sophism?) “I want it, I’m part of ppl, so ppl want it too” that I don’t agree with 😉
The polls on this site were pretty clear that this is a camera that people think they want. As you say, we’ll only know for sure once it ships, but it seems like the biggest hit in this space in a while. Will it be bigger than the EM1 or GH4? It seems like a complementary camera to them for enthusiasts, but could also be someone’s only camera. I think that dual role is what will make it a hit.
+1
That camera is popular for those who knows camera functions and brand and needs a small pocket camera.
Most people don’t buy their cameras from amazon or follow sites like these or even care camera settings. They go to closest supermarket and buy a pocket camera from sale. But only I’d their smartphone isn’t good enough (read good enough flash, fast shutter speed and fast trigger).
90% of pictures are probably taken by cell phones at this point, so in that perspective, no standalone camera is what “folks want”. I can only speak for enthusiasts (which happens to be a large portion of camera purchasers, at least since Cell phones eroded the camera market) – and the LX100 looks like it could be very popular with this crowd. I think it was the #1 pre ordered camera on Amazon the other day too.
it is #3 best seller in Amazon in compact system and even though lot of Pany fans mightbe jumping on it but products don’t jump so high On the list unless there is a demand for it and people are buying it. The silver em1 doesn’t even show in top 20.
“4) At this moment Olympus has no plan to make a LX100 alike camera.”
What! So how about that long rumoured fixed prime compact aka the Trip-D? This is not good news.
Well, one could argue that it is not LX100 alike, simply due to the fact it is a fixed prime, not zoom, I suppose.
I agree with all this MG&B over lack of spot on direction from Olympus. Normally, aimless blather is the sound of the bottom falling out of the leadership pool with a share-holder group refusing to spend money on the R&D that has a better chance of saving the ship than of doing nothing which guarantees its sinking. The Panasonic LX100 is an example of leadership and determined direction. Although the camera seems damn near a marvel of clever trade offs, there is nothing in the design that was impossible for anyone else. Panasonic gave us a perfect Pen in the GX7 and hardly anyone read the tea leaves in the sales info. The market was soft in that area. What was wrong? The answer, the fast lens apertures in the RX100 cameras were two stops better and the sensor was only one stop worse. The LX100 gives us a lens two stops better than a Pen, and a sensor that is zero stops less. They may not be using the entire sensor, but for a field camera, it’s beside the point. Panasonic kept its eyes and ears open. They learned something and moved their efforts onto unoccupied ground that was sitting right under the Olympus nose too.The next opportunity is for a 1-inch XZ-5 camera that undersells the Sony and Canon models. Or perhaps they could give us an interchangeable lens for the Pen and OM-D cameras that sacrifices the edge of the sensor, same trick, in order to gain the competitive aperture of the Leica fixed pancake.
In the philosophy of Olympus it makes no sense to improve video capabilities of the OM line. The strategy is to add art filters because (it must be their conviction) people need more art filters!
So do not complain, obey!
Well, I hope you are not a Canikon fanboy – those companies sadly don’t even do that for their users.
Besides, I guess you missed that their latest firmware improved their refresh rate etc, which is a fairly nice update..
I do own a E-M1 and a Fuji X10.
I use the M1 with the lower refresh rate to save battery, which to me is fully sufficient. Remember, you can set a fast and a slow EVF refresh rate somewhere in the custom menu. This slow refresh rate is not to be confused with the really really slow refresh rate when focus peaking is on in MF mode.
I do not know to which refresh rate the currently advertized improvement in EVF framerate refers to (the really slow MF focus peaking, the “normal slow” one (which for me is perfectly enough) or the battery draining (twice as fast IIRC) “fast” EVF rate.
If the faster EVF rate got even faster while leaving the “slow” and “even slower” rates the same …. well, no deal for me.
Let’s analyze this once it is avaiable!
The peaking and other “slow” frame rate art filters were fixed in the last update. There is no real difference between normal viewing/operation and peaking/art filters now.
Yes, follow the market, man. I’m here waiting for 4k with variable frame rates. Take my money!
“we should follow the market I think” Ya think? Ha. About time they pull their heads out.
2017: People still don’t use our PENs to take photos instead of smartphones. We should promote them more.
2015, Olympus release a PEN-S1 that is Olympus variant of the Panasonic C1 smartphone. I will have a 3 axis IBIS and f/1.8 objective.
Comes O.I Share preinstalled….
It is obvious that Olympus R&D has slowed down to a crawl.
2012: E-M5, E-PM2, E-PL5, a million lenses
2013: E-PL6, E-P5, E-M1, E-M10, VF4, some lenses
2014: E-PL7 (E-M10 without EVF, no new R&D), a few barely updated firmwares, 40-150/2.8 promised long ago (if it is even released this year)
What are all these engineers doing for the last year? Layoffs? Painting E-M1 silver by hand?
No need to flood the market with models that only have little distinguishing features – it’s one of the main reasons they don’t sell – making models for the sake of making models. I’m becoming more and more convinced that the E-M1 success was an unplanned fluke that took even them by surprise. It just happened to fit people’s needs 🙂
I think the answer lies in agreements. Licensing agreements that is. Panasonic and Olympus have some form of understanding which the consumer isn’t privy to. How else is it that you can have a groundbreaking ibis and no respectable frame rates. Maybe Mr T. and team are just focusing on their home market… I just don’t understand the marketing strategy.
I don’t think it has anything to do with licensing anything from Panasonic, especially for cameras with Sony sensors. What Panasonic has to do with it?
Working for a large corp, I know how they work. Old employees get to management position and have no vision or drive to excel.
Then why would Terada say something like this?
“even if we go in the direction of video, Panasonic already has really nice MFT cameras for video. We like to show the total possibility of the entire MFT line-up, and if we start to focus on video capabilities, it may be misleading to the market.”
I read that as: If you want video, dont buy an Olympus, buy a Panasonic!
I think market share is also a factor. From Thom Hogan just today >> “Recent revelations out of Olympus in Japan seems to put them at just under 3% and slipping.”
Moreover, it’s been rumored that Olympus shareholders would prefer the company to get out of cameras altogether.
If it does that, that would be the third time Olympus has abandoned its users after the OM and 4/3. Maybe they should just sell off the camera division to be merged with Sony and be done with it.
They just merged it to medical division to protect IBIS technology from Sony.
Olympus is medical corporation first, not camera manufacturer. Their camera division has almost been doing negative figures whole its lifetime. It isn’t there to make profit but to maintain branding and research.
I have no idea why Olympus still can’t stick an EVF into an EPL body and then sell that to test the waters. Call it the New PEN Limited or something to differentiate it. If it succeeds, bring out the Trip-D. If that also succeeds, you’d then have one high-end PEN model in the GX7 space, and one (or two) Trip-D to serve the EPM and EPL niches. The rest of Olympus m43 cameras could be OMDs.
Late to the party, but I really wanted to say that if Olympus is just figuring this out now (or needs “research” to determine it), they’re in much, much worse shape than I thought.
Seriously, this is not news. It’s been obvious to anyone with eyes who walks outside since, what, 2010? 2008?