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Olympus Japan announced a new firmware update for the E-Pm1, E-PL2, E-PL3, E-P3 and the E-5. It adds support for the new [shoplink 29838]SDXC 48GB cards (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. It also improves the external flash functionality on the E-Pm1 and E-PL3.
One more thing. Amy from Techradar (Click here) had another small talk with Claudia Baehr, European Product Manager for Olympus. She said the mirrorless market share in Japan now surpassed the 50% beating for the first time the DSRL camera sales. In UK mirrorless sales climbed at 30% while USA seems to be the most conservative market with mirrorless cameras having a 20% only. Claudia said: “the reaction in the States is a bit more mixed – the Americans seem to prefer bigger cameras, such as ultrazooms.”
Maybe the [shoplink 29074]Olympus E-M5[/shoplink] si the right camera for the US market? 🙂
38 Responses
Micro Four thirds cameras tend to get used often, where as DSLRs tend to sit on the shelf at home (making them feel even more like a waste of money).
*It’s kinda funny how some people disbelieved me when I said before that Micro Four Thirds was doing really well in the UK*
North America still has a love affair with Nikon and Canon (not surprisingly really considering their marketing muscle) but from what I hear Olympus has been strengthening their marketing on the ground there and are slowly winning/educating people… Perhaps Panasonic could do with giving Lumix a stronger push in North America…
I think the E-M5 will do well amongst some demographics in the USA and Canada as will the EP4’s and the GH3 and future Lumix, I don’t think just one camera is right for the USA market.
The US seems very price sensitive at Joe Bloggs level so maybe Olympus and Panny should dump loads of cheap E-P1’s and G1 on their bricks and mortar stores….
Helll yeah men , ALWAYS left my CANON 5DMII in home , cuz my ep3 , 12mm f2 is really handfull, and this combo is really light to carry ^^
Well, Nikons and Canons are also good. To me, it is not Olympus or Panasonic per se, but the fact that m43 offer decent image quality in light/small system cameras with good lenses, so that I actually use them. And of course — I like the fact that several companies use the same standard.
If Nikon and Canon go into the mirrorless camera systems with sensor size comparable to that of m43, that is only good because it will boost the improvement of sensors, etc.
Americans have a love affair with anything huge. 🙂 Just look at the size of the cars we all drive, size of the drinks at a convenience store, etc. Bigger is always better, right?
+1000 (cos +1 is just not BIG enough)
Why E-PL2 (and all the others) but not E-P2, the former “flagship”??? Strange!
probably hardware limitation…
It makes sense that mirror less is picking up market share, with the broadening selection of high quality lenses and some of the newer high end models matching the bottom end of the DSLR market it is only going to snowball as the technology found on larger sensor cameras migrates down to the smaller systems.
I have to say, since getting the Pen, people who see my photos on facebook are constantly asking me “what camera do you use”… I reckon m43 will grow by word of mouth as much as anything.
Likewise. Three friends bought Pens having seen what I would call snaps on Facebook. Word of mouth is a powerful thing…
My own buying and selling activities added three more users to the bunch. Word of mouth is at least as effective as ad campaigns, perhaps much more. The public is learning not to trust marketing and salespeople when it comes to highly technological products.
I think PENs are one of those rare cameras that breeds word of mouth, I think the O-MD range will do the same.
Maybe Olympus can reduce their marketing activity in certain areas or divert to certain markets as their word of mouth is on a roll 😀
*funny I said this wouldn’t happen with the Nikon 1 range*
Funnily enough, I visited a friends blog recently and wondered what camera she was using as she does food photography. Yep, a PEN.
Was camping in the weekend with some American friends. I was happily taking pictures around the campfire with the 20/1.7 and 45/1.8. They were struggling to take anything with a new Nikon DSLR and kit zoom. Couldn’t understand why mine was working well: “but mine’s bigger!”
Mind you, it would have helped if they had even skimmed the manual!
Before putting up party don’t forget that unlike in Japan in Europe mirrorless cameras aren’t really eating DSLRs but compacts:
“In Europe, the market for DSLRs is also increasing alongside the growth in CSC sales. It would seem the only area of decline in Europe is in the compact camera market, which dropped by 30% in 2011.”
Exactly same as what Canon reported recently here in Finland.
Ultimately success of mirrorless can’t be measured in increasing sales but causing decrease of Canikon DSLR sales.
E-M5 is sure to sell well especially for nostalgics but when people go asking recommendations for upgrading from compact to system camera with better controls and ergonomy result is still going to be Canikon DSLR.
I wouldn’t put up party until mirrorless has equal bodies and those are getting recommended instead of Canikon DSLRs.
Recommendations (esp at camera stores) are more about marketing than capability. Recommendations for mirrorless cameras will improve only if the marketing improves even more. Capability wise, the only area I see where the current gen m43 mirrorless cameras lag is in C-AF. There were complaints about S-AF and high ISO of which the former has been solved and the latter looks promising with the EM5. So Im certain this problem would be solved in the future as well. Then the real test begins. However, its quite positive to see good reception of the mirrorless cameras.
@OlyFan
there were very strong hints at the E-M5 launch that Oly are working on future Continous Auto Focus performance and are confident they will nail it…
While there are those stores selling brand religion instead of cameras Finland’s two biggest traditional and plain camera/photography shops actually have very representative m4/3 product range.
But it’s sure bet they won’t get recommended for controls and ergonomy.
Even I who would gladly see still analog era philosophy Canikon slipping on ice (best bone breaking season of the year now) and going downhill can’t recommend m4/3 for better controls and ergonomy than high end compacts.
GH2’s ergonomy is far cry from lowest end DSLRs of any brand and while E-M5 with horizontal grip would come closer to that level price would give DSLR with way superior controls and ergonomy.
And mostly people going there for upgrading from compact have already tried some cameras their friends&relatives, and especially photography hobbyers among them, have and go for DSLR.
It should be remembered that average western people hand size is clearly bigger than average hand size in Asia/Japan.
Mirrorless allows lot smaller size but if that’s all it offers then it’s really not competing DSLRs which have ergonomy as one of the main points.
“It should be remembered that average western people hand size is clearly bigger than average hand size in Asia/Japan.”
But most Western people do not have hands like Finnish lumberjacks either. I read a few discussion forums where Western people with above average hand size claim they are doing pretty well with PENs or Lumix GF1 or GX1. Esa, I do not understand your almot religious drive to convince people that what is good for you must be good for everybody. Pople know that DSLRs have better ergonomy than m4/3, but they may value other aspects as being important or even more important. To me size and weight are important. My country is not as flat as yours; it is not rare to walk 1000 meters vertical height difference when you go for a day hike. Would I carry a DSLR camera system in my backpack? No way! But a m43 yes. Same for walking around in the city I live, which has 400 meters difference between the lowest and the highest point (it can be raining on the lake side while it is snowing on the upper neibourhoods, 5 km away). So, everybody has different needs and tastes, no need for preachers who claim to have the truth and repeat it every day.
> no need for preachers who claim to have the truth and repeat it every day.
So why don’t you say same to those with smallness obsession?
Everytime there is news/rumour about some new m4/3 product there are people complaining if it doesn’t seem to be smallest such product yet and even despite of size decrease being prevented by laws of physics.
Consumers (+their mass medias) aren’t reliable source. They even claim there’s nothing bad in iPhone even though it easily becomes dumb as shit at winter because of capacitive touch screen not working in dry environment. (while resistive screen disparaged by those same people works like real tool)
And for the record I’ve visited Everest base camp and Kala Patthar and would gladly trade extra 200 grams over GH2’s weight for good ergonomy and full controls, though already 100 grams might be enough when designing with utilitarian display size instead of travel TV.
Anyway 4/3 sensor is really too big to have bigger zoom range optics (needed by landscapes/nature) if you want whole package to be light and pocketable like compacts.
9 fps with auto focus is fine for me. What expectations do you have?
Compacts are getting wiped out by phones in my opinion.
I am telling my friends also to buy m4/3 because in our country a better camera means DSLR and only few people really know what is a mirorrless camera.. they think anything else than DSLR is a weak camera.. A lot of people around me have 550D/7D/D5000 and their pictures aren´t that good because they don´t know how to postprocess their images.. I showed them that m4/3 is the best balance between quality and pocketability.. Sure.. if you are a pro buy a full frame camera (I am planing to buy too 1-2years later) but with good skills you can achieve profesional look also with m4/3 system .. I didn´t want to believe that much but there are lots of pros enjoys shooting with m4/3 cameras and their works looks perfect.. wishing m4/3 the best.. and I´m hoping the GH3 will be a huge step forward.. not only in video but photography also!
@matt
I’m hoping that Panny will really push the boat out with the GH3 too, their latest models are looking a bit average but will be reasonably successful amongst Joe Bloggs consumers…
Seriously, who buys a 48 GB SD-card? You spend a fortune on one single card to save a huge amount of important photos on it and then lose this tiny thing. Been there (with a 16 GB card).
well.. for video it makes sense..
@henno
correct for video it makes sense, maybe also for photos if you are going away somewhere remote and need to shoot RAW…
Actually, why not buy two of those cards? 🙂 Problem solved.
The E5 can copy all assets from one card slot to the other card slot it has, effectively backing up photos to a second card in the camera.
Putting that huge card in makes it ideal as the backup card.
ok you guys convinced me.
it’s just supporting what’s out there. i’d rather it work with 48GB than not. in a few months/years these cards might be the norm
aaah when I saw an update for Em-5 I was thinking about peaking and 1080/50p.. and what I see? a meaningless update just for that pricey panasonic sdxc card.. sigh..
48Gb, I’d still be inclined to buy a multiple of smaller sizes. I lost an entire holidays photographs from that very issue, one large card, card irrecoverable failure, never again if I need 48GB I’d go for a minimun 3 x 16Gb. Lets not forget we already have a fair amount of cards and who uses a card for storage? myself a couple of mini external drives 2 x 500GB at present. Cards are for shooting with.
Saving to disks… I nearly got a heart attack the other day when I rushed to collect my laptop, and suddenly heard the clunk of the external hard disk hanging in the USB cable and bumping into the table…
Anyone: are there suitable external SSD disks with capacity of 512 Gbyte?
I’d be wondering why my disk drive was not fitted securely inside my laptop, anyways I’m talking about a little 2.5 inch drive that I can carry in my pocket connected by USB.
I’m convinced. The last DSLR will be the Nikon D6 or D7 – for traditionals. I like my old EOS1 – but she is simply to heavy. My PEN-equipment fits in one bag – with bread and waterbottle.
My photography students keep buying Olympus micro four thirds cameras when they see the work I am producing, they have a close look at the prints, the size of my camera and consider that my kit is cheaper than one of their lenses. And a few Voitalander f0.95 25mm lenses have been sold as well.
I am often seen waving my EPL-1 one around and saying “You can get these things for under $300 bucks at the moment!”
Here in Australia the most CSC’s I see being used are Sony NEX’s. Following behind is Olympus but I tend to see them being used mostly by asian tourists/students. I know very few people that use Panasonic, unless it’s a rigged GH2 by mates of mine who like shooting things. The odd X100 floats around.
There is a rumour that Olympus Australia have marketing people for cameras. It is only a rumour because nobody has seen any output from them. The guy who moderates the blog is the only one to make announcements, then he copped the flack because the price was $300 more than the US. I bet the rumour drives round in a BMW and wants a new one when the e-m5 eventually gets here, though he/she is just riding the wave, not creating or even assisting and growing it.
Len, that is delicious.