As you know Olympus made a big mess trying to hide big losses made over twenty years ago. They lied to shareholders for all those years until the ex British CEO Woodford unveiled the scandal. No Olympus has to find a partner that is willing to invest into the company.
With a huge surprise Reuters (Click here) reports that Sony is the company that will very likely look for an agreement with Olympus. I don’t know for what reason Sony is doing that. probably the medical part from Oly is where Sony wants to get in. It’s hard for me to believe that Sony wants to move into the m43 system and it’s also impossible to think that Olympus will join the NEX system. The only realistic option is that like Nikon, Pentax and Ricoh also Olympus will use Sony sensors inside their cameras. Let’s see what will happen soon…
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Hard to believe that Olympus has anything at all that Sony would want, or that it would be in Sony’s interest to let Olympus use their sensors.
How about some of that AF magic for the NEX?
Well, it is:
Sonys Sensors are already in Nikon, Pentax, Fuji cams. The thing is:
its not the same division as the imaging division. Thats why they need to make profit. And they dont care about the Imaging division.
So:
When Sony is able to sell sensors to Olympus, that would mean more profit.
Would make sense. As well, Sony would get the knowledge of superb optical and AF technology. So its would be a win-win situation.
Aswell, as it said the new Oly OM-D uses a completly new sensor with high DR, sounds like a Sony sensor. Maybe the 24MPix sensor but cropped to 4:3 size and effectivly 16MPix. Oly is not bound to Panasonic anymore, thats why they could use a sensor of another company.
Sounds clever to me.
I like Sony can grow up, the only thing I ask is Olympus AF 😀
Saying that Sony doesn’t care about their imaging division is like saying that Toyota doesn’t care about their truck division. Of course they care.
Most of the sensor deals Sony has with other camera makers were in place years before Sony became a player in the high end camera market. It’s a different ballgame today and it’s entirely possible that Sony just wouldn’t be interested in striking a similar deal with Olympus.
And as far as AF is concerned, Sony is perfectly capable of making cameras with fast AF. They hardly need Olympus’s help in that area.
But it is true that Olympus is in dire need of better sensors. Their flagship E-P3 is still using the same 3-year old sensor their E-P1 did. It’s obsolete by today’s standard. So we’ll see. If Olympus can convince Sony to sell them their sensors I’m sure they will pay dearly for them.
Sony’s interest is that Olympus pays.
Despite all the brands rivalry residing from the consumers, behind the scenes, these companies are interdependent on each other through supply chains and other collaborations, greater than just the product they produce.
Maybe they might come up with a electronic adapter for m4/3 lens to be used on nex and vice versa .. just a wild thought lol.
EERRMMM not gonna happen. Check mount flange distance again please.
The mount flange distance woun’t make any problems at all in using m4/3 lenses on NEX cameras. There are already adapters for that.
It is just the “vice versa” part that ain’t gonna happen, because the flange distance is 20 mm for m4/3 and 18 mm for NEX.
.
And there’s virtually zero NEX lenses of interest to the m43 community.
#justsayin
It’s probably true. Sony has cash, Olympus has technologies Sony needs and market shares as well.
Corporate takeover helps eliminate competition and turn losses into profits. They don’t have to make products together since sales of Oly. will provide revenue for Sony, but if they chose to borrow a technology, they don’t have to pay for the patent use.
Olympus glasses are very nice and I think Sony can take advantages of that. I remember reading that Sony wants to push more new MA/E glasses into the market but they have limited people resources to develop lens quickly enough. This could be something that fills the gap in this news.
It is exactly what first come into my mind. Oly has excellent lenses and production capacity.
Wow…Olympus being to Sony like Nikkor is for Nikon?? Making lenses for Sony cameras…wow wow wow.
Nikon, Pentax and Ricoh also Olympus and FUJI
Every Japanese optical company wants Olympus’ endoscope division. The rest of the business, not so much.
Hope Sony are not thinking of asset stripping and a new lens factory
1. Medical and surgical – as Carl said mostly endoscope division they have roughly 70% share of the global market in that field!
2. Industrial equipment of all kind.
3. Scientific – microscopes and some more.
4. Patents (?) – maybe some 4/3 patents (?) but for sure lots of them in above fields.
So I see a good reason for Sony to even buy them, not only to make an agreement. And due to this accounting scandal its good time for any negotiations 🙂
“So I see a good reason for Sony to even buy them, not only to make an agreement.”
It’s going to be interesting if Sony does have enough cash flow to buy a majority stake. They seem to be busy revising many product lines that didn’t quite reach expectations.
Technology transfer would benefit both companies. This is a good move.
Buy it and scrap it please.
Why would you say that?
haters gonna hate
A while ago, but in 2012, I also read rumours about Samsung acquiring Olympus . . . . . .
Samsung has cash, are they interested in Olympus’ camera technology or merely the medical and scientific systems?
B.R.
Olympus’ market value is rather low right now, so it’s not really a matter of whether an large company could afford them or not, it’s the concern that Oly has a whole bunch of bad accounts and misrepresented goodwill on their books that no one knows about that could come back to burn anyone who bought them. Also, their endoscope business has such high market share (70%+) that any other major endoscope manufacturer who bought them (namely Fuji and Hoya) would have to deal with Japanese anti-competition laws.
There will be wealth of patents held by Olympus some of which will be worth a lot.
The scientific and medical imaging divisions are also well worth acquiring particularly given their market share.
Wooow.
Just imagine a SONY sensor in a camera body with IBIS :O
Sony would not need to buy Olympus to do that.
What a novel possibility.
Like in the Sony Alphas?
Would be nice in more mirrorless for sure.
Nearly all of Olympus’ profits are generated from its dominant 70 percent share of the global market for flexible diagnostic endoscopes and it’s the profits from here that’s been keeping their consumer camera business alive.
Sony’s been trying to get into the pro-medical scene for some time. This could be the way in.
I feel this would be a good strategic move on Sony’s part. Don’t just think cameras.
I agree, and for cameras, it means a larger market share. What company doesn’t want that ?
Relax,
This is not about the camera business at all.
Most companies does alot of thing general public sees nothing of.
/E
right but Sony will sell some of its super35mm video sensors to Oly for MFT cameras.
Sony, like a Boss 🙂
Does Olympus have any imaging-related technology that’s better than Sony’s?
Sony is not interested any of Oly’s camera tech or camera related patents but its medical division and its audio division.
i am think of E-5 goodies, olympus mirrorless % market sales to be combine with sony, and olympus underwater camera feature. also supply them with sensor business
This may mean many good new lenses for the Nex.
I think that Sony should buy Kodak.
I thought Sony should have bought Pentax instead of Ricoh
😉
NOBODY wants to buy Kodak. They sold all the divisions of the company that generate revenue.
Well, why not. They could use current 16 mpix Sony APS-C sensor as multiaspect 4/3 sensor. Or simply use same technology and make smaller ones (lets say 14 mpix in similar quality as current Sony). Im pretty sure that if there were 14 mpix Olympus 4/3 camera with same output quality as NEX-5N ppl would really like that.. Even 12 mpix with same IQ would be great.
wow and now engadget also report the news: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/23/olympus-sony-talks/
Seems plausible now.
According to many people that commented on that page, Sony is facing SERIOUS problems… Besides the natural dissasters from last year..Is there anything else that puts Sony in such a bad position to make a deal with Olympus? Are the other companies in better position economically?
well, it is already a fact not a rumor any more.
Sankei news paper and nikkei already reported it a few times.
Sony is not interested in any of Oly’s camera related patents but its medical division.
Should not Sony buy Leica ? (:-)
Olympus lenses in the NEX system and Sony sensors in the m43s system. Who wouldn’t be happy? 🙂
However I believe if there is going to be a big deal it will be in the medical division. Interesting times ahead.
Oly lenses on the NEX/Apha series. Now there’s a marriage made in heaven! Shame it won’t happen…
OM and Pen F lenses can be used on a NEX with an adaptor if you’d like.
Maybe Sony wants to put a real sensor into a system with real lenses?
In a way that’s what I’m inferring!!
I don’t think this has anything to do with cameras or medical. Probably a little push behind the scenes by the Japanese govt. It’s interesting that Sony keeps their hands in so many businesses while losing money on a whole at the same time. How long can they keep this up? They really need to stay focus, like Apple.
They can keep it up because their gaming division is profitable.
@calxn: “to stay focussed!” No pun then…
I hope this partnership would result for better camera and lenses technology for sony
How about this:
Merge Sony and Olympus P&S camera divisions to save cost
Use OM manufacturing capacity to produce premium optics for sony
OM continue to produce high end retro style m43/FF DSLR machine to fight against Ricoh/Pentax, Fuji and Panasonic
Sony to produce advanced NEX and DSLT to fight against Canon and Nikon
But keep the Olypmus brand name Please!
Well the piece of news is already well covered, what is not covered though ( this is reported in many trade and in depth reportage in Japan regarding financial and economy sector ) is that it had nothing to do with the consumer end of the business. Sony is looking to enrich their reach into the lucrative medial and industrial / commercial sector and Olympus need the money and many of Sony’s know how ( to stay sharp in that critical endoscope and medical product field )
So there foster the proposed tie up.
As for consumer end product, the saying is its not even considered in the plan right now. Sony and Olympus consumer imaging products is likely still going their own … the money is on the corporate level.
Besides the medical biz, Sony can get in on 4/3 sensors on the cheap. This will make it easier to compete head on with Canon’s 4/3 and Nikon 1 sensors.
Should they do it? For the medical accounts, yes. For the 4/3 sensor, NO. Because why settle on a compact with 4/3 sensor when your engineers can cram aps-c into a compact instead??
I mean, look at the NEX cameras, except for the mount and E lenses, it’s already the size of a compact. Sony wouldn’t have a problem creating an aps-c compact with a retractable zoom lens that competes directly with Canon’s G1X. NEX is already selling in the same price segment.
If this means Olympus use Sony sensors, it could be a bit of a blow to Panasonic who directly compete against Sony in several product areas.