Some very good news is coming from the latest Olympus financial report (PDF file here). Some key stats for (Apr-Sep 2015), compared w the same period last yr:
– mirrorless sales up 22%, units sold up 21% (due to impressive sales of OM-D and PEN series cameras in Japan and Europe)
– compact is down 11%
– the camera division as a whole up 10% in sales
– gross profit for the division increased from -3.7bil JPY to +0.1bil JPY
– the company is doing even better as a whole: sales up 12%; net profit up 60%(a bit weird here)
This is good news for the MFT world. Finally Olympus is not loosing money on the imaging business. And let’s hope next year it will go even better when the new PEN and E-M1II cameras go on sale!
Thanks Boston C!
74 Responses
Well, I’m holding off buying a compact m43 body at the moment, in hopes that Olly will give me a PEN with an EVF next year….
I do not mean to argue with you because choice and preference are the reserved privilege. I have tried both, one PEN and one OM-D, and a smattering of 1:1.7 cameras, one of them a Canon, and a slew of pocket cameras in the run up to spending actual money. IFF (if and only if) the 2016 PEN retains the μ43 lens mount and the FourThirds sensor, and gains the wonderful EVF, then I would say that waiting is probably a good idea because the 5-axis image stabilizer beats the combination scheme on the Panasonic GX7 and GX8 cameras. If your money is ready, I would hate you to lose a few hundred pictures. Perhaps you already have a half-decent setup. It also depends on how much more you will spend on lenses and what type they may be. None of the kit lenses from either μ43 manufacturer are worthy IMHO as the primary means to shoot. I would rather have the 17mm or 20mm prime as my first lens because the f1.8 and f1.7 apertures significantly narrow the distance to full frame, and the f3.5 zooms put you at a disadvantage to one inch, a la, Sony RX100. I would also be tempted to think about the Panasonic LX100, or the follow on, which, undoubtedly will feature the 20 megapixel FourThirds sensor in combination with the current lens. The package is very close to the wonder of the 12-40mm f2.8 mZuiko, but you get a free camera along with it.
You point out something here with the kit lens average quality. Olympus or Panasonic should come with a “premium” kit lens, 12-50 f/4.0 or something like that…
I used to have a LX100 but sold it, it was on paper a very attractive camera, but the lack of physical manual zooming operation + lack of tilting screen was a big turn off for me..
12-40 2.8?
We’re on the same page, I have an E-M1, and bought an E-PL1 as soon as it was released. It still works… But I got tired of the steampunk VF2. I did like that it tilted, and still use it occasionally on the E-M1. I have old eyes, and can’t use an LCD screen.
If whatever Olly comes up with next year doesn’t suit me, I’ll be getting a GX7 or possibly a GM5. I want something to use as a travel & party camera with the Olly 9-18 and Panny 20/1.7. I find that those two lenses and the 40-150 (both Pro and compact versions) cover my needs well.
Olympus PEN cameras are not compact. My E-P5 feels like a brick. Try a GM5 instead, now that is nice and compact.
My E-P5 takes abuse like a very solid brick, and has the best blend of size and controls I can think of. I simply can’t use a GM5, and my Sony A7’s EVF is a constant hindrance.
Sens of compactness is pretty variable… I still used my D7200 (still not the biggest DSRL out there) for some sports assignments and I feel delighted when I come back to my small E-M1 (which is regarded by some as huge!)
I like my sick brick.
You’re missing out on the EP5.
Not at all. I need an EVF. And I am ideally wanting a smaller body than the EP5 anyway, as mentioned above. Currently, I use the little lenses on an E-M1. They work fine, but the combo is a little too “obvious” for social occasions. I could get a Panny GM5, but it’s not stabilised. Happy to wait and see what Olly comes out with.
I own mostly Sony equipment. A7II, A77II, A900- and I have Olympus gear. The EP5 is my favorite all around camera. Maybe I didn’t sound convincing enough so let me try putting it in better terms:
The EP5 was carved by the very hands of the Olympus gods and struck by a rod of lighting with the power of 5 axis. It shape and form is a specimen of Zeus like proportions.
Well, I’ll make a sacrifice and pray that the Gods of Mt Olympus add an EVF and a bit of shrinkage to the EP5…
“This is good news for the MFT world. Finally Olympus is not loosing money on the imaging business.”
Since for Olympus, the imaging business is important part of the public image, I honestly was never much concerned about them.
What would be more interesting are some concrete numbers for Panasonic. Sadly, last time I checked, they publish only the combined data for the whole division, with only few split-out stats for the camera business.
Olympus has a long history of burying their real imaging group losses in the last quarter of the fiscal year, generally reported as restructuring and/or inventory write down. When that pattern breaks, we’ll know that things have probably truly turned around.
“(due to impressive sales of OM-D and PEN series cameras in Japan and Europe)”
See no mention of the US? Because Olympus US failed to price the cameras right against Sony.
Neither in Europe. I call bunk on these sales figures.
Olympus is doing pretty well in Netherlands and Germany. Don’t know about the other country’s
What a load of anecdotal bunk.
Amazon Germany sales rank for digital cameras, first Olympus camera is at #97: http://www.amazon.de/gp/bestsellers/photo/571862/ref=zg_bs_nav_ph_1_ph
Olympus sales are incredibly poor in all of Europe. Only Sony makes a dent in Canon/Nikon sales with A6000, A5000 and A7.
no one in europe buys @ amazone….. at least none of the people i know, and i know a lot 😉
it´s amazon and millions in europe buy there.. don´t be a moron troll.
Do you have sales figures from any other store?
tbh, i work in a eletronics store, and i sell more Olympus than Sony. but that could be me 😉
I wonder what country it is? Because in the US, electronic stores don’t carry Olympus at all.
The Netherlands, and we carry the PL6, EM10, EM5 II and the EM1
Larger Best Buys have “Camera Experience” shops which carry an expanded selection of equipment. They usually include the E-M10 and E-M5II (as well as GH4 & G7).
I have been to a BestBuy like this in my area, they even have A7rII. But no Oly ILCs.
I’m guessing you don’t live in Dallas, Chicago or South Florida because I’ve seen them in all those markets. They all even had the same planogram.
You’ve got to stop assuming that the rest of the world is like the US.
It isn’t, honestly.
Even here in the UK (the 51st state) we have more in common with our European neighbours as far as how we live, what we like etc.
And big is not necessarily considered better.
As my (long departed) mother used to say ‘rubbish is by the ton and diamonds are in small packages’.
Small and elegant is preferred to big and brash.
And there are so few photography shops in the UK now that most cameras will be sold in electronics stores, regardless of brand.
Who assumed that? I was the first to point out the absence of the US in the Olympus bragging in the report.
Take Amazon sale figues with a grain of salt. At least here in Canada, the price of camera gear at Amazon is not that good, better buying local or even at B&H…
No, it’s because most US buyers determine the likely image quality of a camera by it’s weight and size, with the expected image quality being directly proportional to the size/weight.
This whole USA and size thing is kind of getting played out. Besides, most of the dwindling consumers I see using cameras are using entry level models that are pretty damn light and small and Most likely old models. It is what it is and I’m sure it has nothing to do with size. The world has spoken. Most consumers could give a rats !?ss about cameras whether they have a mirror or not.
yes.. most photographers lack SKILLS.. not GEAR.
especially the noisy internet fanboys.
that said my personal preference is aps-c.
it gives me better low light performance.
and the size of aps-c mirrorless is not much bigger (mostly the lenses) than m43.
Well said.
the most costumers i get in our store don’t even know what the function of the mirror is.
They want a DSLR because everyone has one and they want better pictures.
Then i tell them about CSC, and 8 out of 10 take an CSC to their home.
So it’s more about ignorance than the opninion of the customers
don’t sell yourself short. That could also mean you are a good salesman:) I’m sure you could have sold them a DSLR as well if you wanted to.
Lets be honest. The term ignorance is a rather snooty term.
Most people like our crazy breed don’t sit online wasting there hours away reading about tech. Ignorance can also be thought of this way. Most consumers just want a camera. After all, they all accomplish the same thing in the end. If I want a washing machine, I’m certainly not going to study the last five years of washing machine technology so that I can get my cloths washed a bit better.
Their….
And they’re right, since the larger cameras do often have better image quality than m4/3…
Image quality, overall schmimage quality… Let’s not consider mediocrity as can be found easily in almost every brand. The point is to discuss trade-offs. It is quite true that a top-notch, professional-grade camera can do a few things better, in the right hands, than the best of the enthusiast cameras—freely and normally admitted: deeper ISO by one, or rarely, two stops, higher resolution on some models, faster frame rates, more bokeh, ergo tweaks for people who shoot all day, and such. The best of the enthusiast cameras, however, can do studio portraiture perfectly well with the lens groups available, for example, printing 24 x 36 with ease.
There is a question, however, that varies per shooter. How many of those deep ISO, high resolution, bokelicious shots are in your reportoire? If none, the most expensive cameras are overkill. That is to say, the $15,000 setup is not always better for all people. For the vast majority who do not sit in the same boat, image quality is excellent and impossible to distinguish because the eyes are not shooting or printing at the margins reserved for very deep pockets.
Or, if you shoot a modicum in low light you may ask, is that proportion high enough to justify the diminishing return on the investment? If you specialize in low light or super high resolution for business purposes, the question changes obviously. But for everyone else, the bang for the buck calculus is compelling in crop frame cameras. You can do MORE, today, with a limited $3000 investment in μ43 than just about any format. The coverage of things you can and want to do is awfully close to 99.9 percent. That and you do not need a truck or a heavy bag to get it done.
It is simply not true, across the board, that bigger is better. High end, is marginally better. It is not a terrible thing to figure out.
Exactly the same arguement applies to mFT for the type of shooting you describe the FZ1000 RX10 II etc would easily compete and the Sony 1″ sensor is far closer to mFT than mFT is to FF
It is not the “same” argument because fixed lens, superzoom cameras cannot match ISO depth or the optical prowess of a bag of great lenses. We could dicker if close-enough was argued. I will agree, the argument is “similar,” and, yes, that we find the same trade-offs to consider, bang for the buck to spar over in particular. But no, 116mm is not closer to 864mm than 225mm square. FourThirds 3200 ISO is better than OneInch 1600 ISO because the 5.8mm pixel cannot match a 14mm pixel any more than 14mm can match 24mm or 36mm square.
For many people, I DO think the fixed lens, one-inch argument is compelling for some kinds of pictures, but that the setup is another rung down the ladder. If it is good enough for the money, I am completely fine. I will never buy the argument, however, that one standard rules, and the rest is junk. Every step on the ladder has a rationale that fits a buyer. The higher you go, the faster the financials get out of control. That is the main point, there is a sharp curve of boku bucks above APS-C, so even if the arguments are similar, there is a difference in photographic performance that is enough for me.
Honestly, for most people around me who use a dslr, a fixed lens camera just like the Stylus One, Fz1000, Rx100 or Rx10 would be better options. As they will never invest in better glass than the kit lens…
You mean all people around you are shooting at static subjects?
Yeah, just like most people who are not doing photography as first hobby, they shoot landscape when in vacation and shoot portrait and selfie the rest of the time. Ho, and don’t neglect that aunt or the grandfather who shoot very occasionally the soccer game of a kid during about 5-10 minutes….! So for those, the superzoom are much better than a dslr with good autofocus with… a standard 18-55mm kit lens..
As all other tech enthusiast here, we don’t like to say it, but most people buying camera are not using 50% of their functionalities and would be pretty satisfy by a very good point and shoot.
As a concert and sports photographer, I don’t see planny if any “normal” people doing photography in those context, which are honestly the only place where larger sensor or more advanced camera really shines.
Right, shooing sports with a camera that cannot track. And 55-250/70-300 kind of lenses for DSLRs are cheap and often sold in double-lens kits. 18-200 or even 18-140 kind of lenses are also very popular.
You are insightful and dead-on. It is almost a dirty secret, that the mysterious “P” setting and the kit lens are all they ever need. One common variation, some of the more well-off buy an 18-180mm zoom instead of the 18-55mm kit lens and they are all set. One lens, done. “Look at me; I am shooting a DSLR! Psst, what does DSLR stand for?” I would shy away from making recommendations to the “me too” crowd, however, because they are gonna say, every time, “just show me the best camera for” whatever amount of money they have to blow. At that point, The Wiley Coyote just shows them the branded model for the price, the one that happens along with the biggest spiff. All are welcome. Have fun storming the castle! If worse came to worse and I could not afford the mount and the bag of lenses, I would choose the RX10 from the list you suggested, because that constant f2.8 is of more use to me than the telephoto length on the FZ1000.
So, if they just make the outer shell the size of a car, it may increase the image quality?
bigger sensors = better image quality.. (given the same level of sensor technology).
that should not come as a suprise to you?`
Oh, that is why almost everybody shoots with phones – because maximum image quality matters that much!
I’ll tell you what – unlike Europe and Japan, everybody here has children, and the children are playing sports. Cameras other than smartphones are bought to shoot high school football, gymnastics etc etc, when they discover that their smartphones and their old compacts simply cannot do the deed, and Olympus failed to put decent tracking (meaning OSPDAF) into everything but very overpriced (and already outdated) E-M1. I mean, Canon T5 with 18-55 is $209 here, and it tracks way better than $1100 ($900 now on sales) E-M5 II, not to mention having bigger sensor of higher resolution and fking built-in flash! Weather-sealed Pentax K-50 is $289, Sony a6000 is more compact (no stupid hump), $450 and has tracking at 11 fps etc etc. Do you think people are not buying E-M5 II instead because they are stupid? Or are YOU that incompetent person in Oly US who does not understand the current market at all?
Profits are up so high because the manufacturing costs are lowering per camera. Either they have paid off the cost of building the manufacturing or they are sharing more parts and bringing the overall cost of each camera down without reducing the price. This is how Canon makes a ton of money, the cost of manufacturing the same sensor, body and lenses over years across multiple products pays back so well. Olympus had to take losses early on to build the m4/3 business to were it is today. Panasonic will reap the rewards along with them. It is just a shame there are not more people vested in it.
Profits up so high lol did you actually look at the profit numbers 0.1 billion yen is only $800,000 a miniscule fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars that the imaging division has lost over recent years. And lets wait and see if Olympus pull the ususal magic numbers explanation at the end of the fiscal year to explain why the losses in the imaging division are not really losses.
yes it´s tiny but a first step.
i like competition… look what happens when you have none (intel).
thought i have no great hopes for m43.
aps-c is too big a competition and in my opinion the perfect compromise from size and quality.
Yay!
P.S. The American market is a funny place in all areas, not just photography: seldom informed, gravitating to established expertise, highly opinionated, truth be told or not, somewhat trend averse, more likely to jump on the band-wagon later in the game.
“My father’s co-worker’s ex-roommate’s brother’s friend says to use Canikon.” so that is what I’m going to do.
That is funny!
People used to tell me the most ridiculous reasons why they bought Canikon, and that wasn’t far off.
So true! I am a photographer based in Canada, although we are a more progressive country with a bit more influence from Europe, Canikon still dominate. When I tell people that I am a pro photographer, their first question is if I am a Canon or a Nikon guy..
American market can compare prices, and Oly US failed to put right price tags against competition.
Those figures don’t mean all that much if there’s a loss at the end of the year. And If I remember correctly, Olympus themselves expected a minor loss this year.
And with the whole E-M10 Mark II fiasco, I’m sure there will be more of the red paint in Q3 than Olympus would like to see.
To echo the sentiment below about the American mkt (including North and South) with some stats: The DSLR/MLIC ratio is highest among all the 4 markets (Japan, Europe, America, Asia-Japan), about 6.5 times, twice as high as the next one. The adoption rate of mirrorless here is ridiculous. Apparently those love driving big fat SUVs also like obese camera bodies.
Hey, we’re ‘mericans. We gotta have the biggest everything!
It’s great that their numbers tick up even as the price of their gear ticks down.
Must be a lesson here.
Good execution trumps all. Er, most.
Olympus’s sales growth is in tandem w the number of units shipped. No sign of gaining sales at the expense of price discount.
They have been cutting prices.
Sales have increased (which is a tautology for units shipped).
QED
“mirrorless sales up 22%, units sold up 21%” sales value goes actually a bit faster than units shipped. If what you said is true, the rates would have gone the other way. Your QED fail.
Olympus is going down on this year, or early next year. Wait for firesale of their products when the whole company is in fire and burning in pieces and canikons and fujitsons with samsunoits are dancing around…
That’s funny since Samsung’s photographic business seems to be going away.
Bet that newbie doesn’t even know the samsung rumor has been around for at least 2 weeks.
Oly selling well in Australia.
The pricing there is very attractive.
At least here in Canada, I see more and more people adopting mirrorless and recognizing the quality of Oly camera and glass. And it doesn’t hurt that their price is now more realistic.
People also tend to forgot that aesthetic of product tend to affect the way they sell.. The majority of the camera business’s customer are people doing photography for fun, and it’s fun to use good looking object. Olympus and Fuji certainly got it.