Clamoring for stuff that no one buys

[JeffS7444]

I just read Jaron Schneider's PP article "OM System Is Surprisingly Eager to Talk About the Return of the Pen" and got to wondering: What is it about the online camera enthusiast community which is so out of sync with the rest of the world, that it pins it's hopes on products which few people are likely to buy, and which loves brands which barely command market shares in the low single digits?

 

[agentlossing]

Sorry, what? Are you saying that small Micro 4/3 cameras aren't relevant?

 

[JeffS7444]

Sorry, what? Are you saying that small Micro 4/3 cameras aren't relevant?

No, but I think it's ironic to hear passionate talk of how great cameras like Pen-F and Panasonic's GM5 were, from people who likely found reasons not to buy them when they were new, and who probably wouldn't buy successor models. Ditto with the initial furor, followed by dead silence, surrounding Nikon's Zfc: I've purchased all three, which makes me an oddball.

 

[agentlossing]

I bought a GM5 new that I owned for years - funny thing is, they were hard to get in the USA. Mine was imported from Hong Kong if I remember right. I think sales volume was not the true reason these models were discontinued; camera manufacturers should subsidize models which might sell fewer units but have a higher brand recognition and panache by the sale of more popular/less specialized models. I'm sure Panasonic could have kept a GM line alive by sales, for example, of the G line (G6, G7, G85, G95). Certainly the latter were/are much more widely available, but no one uses a G7 to showcase what the Lumix line can be.

This is, however, a lesson that I think camera manufacturers needed to learn. While I haven't seen it mentioned often, I think Panasonic was one of the ones who saw a steady drop in sales when the A7 series got popular and a lot of mirrorless users started chasing FF (whether they needed it or not). We probably saw some years of reactionary, back-foot thinking from them (still do, maybe).

 

[JeffS7444]

I bought a GM5 new that I owned for years - funny thing is, they were hard to get in the USA. Mine was imported from Hong Kong if I remember right. I think sales volume was not the true reason these models were discontinued; camera manufacturers should subsidize models which might sell fewer units but have a higher brand recognition and panache by the sale of more popular/less specialized models. I'm sure Panasonic could have kept a GM line alive by sales, for example, of the G line (G6, G7, G85, G95). Certainly the latter were/are much more widely available, but no one uses a G7 to showcase what the Lumix line can be.

This is, however, a lesson that I think camera manufacturers needed to learn. While I haven't seen it mentioned often, I think Panasonic was one of the ones who saw a steady drop in sales when the A7 series got popular and a lot of mirrorless users started chasing FF (whether they needed it or not). We probably saw some years of reactionary, back-foot thinking from them (still do, maybe).

My impression at the time was that GM1 was moderately successful, but GM5, less so.

Meanwhile, Olympus Pen-F was an oddity: A premium-priced, boutique offering that USA buyers didn't really understand.

Maybe both suffered from an American tendency to buy stuff based on the could-happen-someday scenarios, rather than how the things are likely to actually be used 99% of the time?

• In automobiles, you might buy an extended-cab pickup truck or SUV just in case you need to haul furniture, or 4 passengers. But most of the time, it carries just the driver.
• And in cameras, you might want a hefty grip and larger body, to balance the high-end zoom lens for the sports and bird photography you've thought about trying for years.

Cameras like Pen-F and (especially) GM5 are too akin to the 2-seat sports car for most people's comfort: They may love the idea in theory, but they come home with a new SUV to accommodate that possible 1% scenario. Matter of fact, camera salesman tried to steer me away from Pen-F with the large/heavy lens argument, but that was his 1% scenario, not mine.

Oh, and another oddball purchase I made was that of a Pentax 17. Unlike a reissued LX or P645, P17 is an actual camera.

 

[JeffS7444]

In his dpreview article "How to survive the great camera drought", Richard Butler notes:

...while within our circles, it may seem obvious that there's demand for an enthusiast compact or replacement for the Panasonic GM5 or Olympus PEN-F, the camera manufacturers may not interpret their tea leaves the same way.