Now For a Bit of Wild Speculation

[Leigh Youdale]

Olympus is taken to the brink of bankruptcy over the fraud, and is broken up. Micro 4/3 now has only one viable player (Panasonic) and could end up abandoning any further development of it, but Cosina is able to buy some rights to 4/3 camera manufacture from the wreckage of Olympus and a new RD camera emerges. Would that make us happy? Well, some of us?

 

[menthel]

Nope, the crop would be too much for me. I don't want my 35mm to be effectively 70mm!

 

[Keith]

Wash your mouth out 😱 ... Olympus will grow stronger from this and return with some of the most inovative photography products ever made! 😀

The company that made my beloved OM-1 must survive. 😛

 

[Sonnar Brian]

More likely the mu43 market will be over-run by the APS-C sized formats.

I just looked at the Sony NEX-7 specs. That's a lot of camera, built in EVF that looks superior to the Olympus VF-2.

No plans to replace the EP-2, but when I do- it will not be with a mu43 format camera.

 

[dondecastro]

That is some crazy news coming out of Olympus, after going through such a scandal like that, is there even a glimmer of hope that Olympus would survive?

I agree that APS-C mirrorless will probably overtake the m 4/3rds especially if this whole fiasco drives Olympus out of the game.

With that said though, are there any other companies that would make good business sense to pick up and buy the Olympus' patents and portfolio.


Man first Kodak sells its sensor business, now Olympus is crumbling apart.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Sure, there's a great market for tiny-sensor interchangeable-lens cameras with a very modest choice of suitable 'native' lenses (coverage + speed).

Another vote for its being a dead end, with APS-C as at least a better bet, even if that too turns out to be a dead end.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Frank Petronio]

Giving that the new tiny Nikon ate Olympus and Panasonic's lunch last week the winner will probably whatever Canikon force onto the market in spite of our complaints.

It's a shame since m4/3s has better quality and more compact lenses than any of the APS-C compacts. i bet the focusing accuracy will be better too, compared to the larger sensor compacts.

If Panasonic has any smarts they'll double rush the next generation and make a few semi-pro video-centric models as well. So far I am not hopeful but perhaps the decline of Olympus will inspire them to step up their game?

 

[Trius]

Frank: How did Nikon "eat [their] lunch last week"? I don't read most of the photo news.

BTW, I saw (a very few) people trudging into the building at Lake and Ridge the other morning. The sadness was palpable.

 

[ampguy]

doesn't look good:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-07/olympus-used-gyrus-fees-to-hide-losses.html

but serious camera folks should have seen micro four thirds as a dead end long before this.

 

[cosmonaut]

I have been with Olympus from the start with the E500 an now with the E5. I never hit it off with any of the m4/3rd stuff. It seemed cheap build quality and the lemses were just no match for the Zuiko HG glass. Plus it is a PITA to shoot manual.
For some reason I have fell in love with the NEX series and have a NEX7 pre ordered. I have also gravitated to the a77. It is an amazing camera. I think Sony is the camera of tomorrow. Canon and Nikon have set on the lead and have offered nothing in the way in new technology in awhile.
If you haven't check out the new Sony stuff you should.

 

[Frank Petronio]

Frank: How did Nikon "eat [their] lunch last week"? I don't read most of the photo news.

BTW, I saw (a very few) people trudging into the building at Lake and Ridge the other morning. The sadness was palpable.

Apparently the new little Nikons are selling much better than any Olympus or Panys. And unlike Oly and Pany, Nikon had the cameras ready to sell on the day they said they were.

I'm not a fan of those cameras but credit giving where it's due.

 

[celluloidprop]

I'm holding out high hopes for the Fuji mirrorless system to combine the excellent/small lenses of u4/3 and the EVF/features of the NEX system. They're big enough and with enough enthusiast cred to make a legit go of it.

 

[Mackinaw]

.......The company that made my beloved OM-1 must survive. 😛

The Olympus that was responsible for bring out the OM-1 ceased to exist when Yoshihisa Maitani retired.

Jim B.

 

[DamenS]

Olympus and Panasonic have ALWAYS had the aim of licensing out 4/3rds and Micro 4/3rds system to other camera manufacturers to make it a universal system (from which they would rake in much money for those licensing fees).

Cosina has not chosen to join the system yet (who has ?) and I can't think of any reason why Olympus' current woes (or even ultimate demise) would make it any easier/cheaper, or Cosina more willing, to do so.

Not to mention that Kobayashi is a staunch traditionalist - he doesn't like digital, but even if he could be convinced otherwise, I do not believe he would allow a 2x crop (probably not even a 1.5x crop) on any digital camera he was to produce for the lenses he loves so much (and the lenses his company produces so well).

 

[gavinlg]

Cosina has not chosen to join the system yet (who has ?) and I can't think of any reason why Olympus' current woes (or even ultimate demise) would make it any easier/cheaper, or Cosina more willing, to do so.

Not to mention that Kobayashi is a staunch traditionalist - he doesn't like digital, but even if he could be convinced otherwise, I do not believe he would allow a 2x crop (probably not even a 1.5x crop) on any digital camera he was to produce for the lenses he loves so much (and the lenses his company produces so well).

Actually Cosina/voigtlander has definitely had something to do with m4/3 - they make the 25mm f.095 nokton, and also the m4/3 matching simulation on the m4/3 website lists voigtlander M mount lenses.

 

[DamenS]

Actually Cosina/voigtlander has definitely had something to do with m4/3 - they make the 25mm f.095 nokton, and also the m4/3 matching simulation on the m4/3 website lists voigtlander M mount lenses.

I know that - and they have also had something to do with producing a 1.5x crop factor digital rangefinder (for Epson) in the past.

What I meant is that it is unlikely they will produce a 4/3rds or Micro 4/3rds camera, which is specifically what the original poster was asking about, if you care to read back - and I explained why I thought so (not liking digital cameras/crop factor of the digital sensor in such a digital camera). Of course, I said it was unlikely for Voightlander to join the 4/3rds "system" meaning cameras rather than lenses exclusively (well, one lens anyway), however I should have been more specific on this distinction of what I meant when I said "join the system". This is also why I excluded Sigma.

I don't know what a Micro 4/3rds website (whether official or independent) listing ANY M-Mount lenses has to do with anything being discussed here today. How are you suggesting that this website list makes it more likely for Voigtlander to make a 4/3rds or Micro 4/3rds camera due to Olympus' woes ?

 

[gavinlg]

I know that - and they have also had something to do with producing a 1.5x crop factor digital rangefinder (for Epson) in the past.

What I meant is that it is unlikely they will produce a 4/3rds or Micro 4/3rds camera, which is specifically what the original poster was asking about, if you care to read back - and I explained why I thought so (not liking digital cameras/crop factor of the digital sensor in such a digital camera). Of course, I said it was unlikely for Voightlander to join the 4/3rds "system" meaning cameras rather than lenses exclusively (well, one lens anyway), however I should have been more specific on this distinction of what I meant when I said "join the system". This is also why I excluded Sigma.

I don't know what a Micro 4/3rds website (whether official or independent) listing ANY M-Mount lenses has to do with anything being discussed here today. How are you suggesting that this website list makes it more likely for Voigtlander to make a 4/3rds or Micro 4/3rds camera due to Olympus' woes ?

I was just saying that they've made an m4/3 lens, so they have something to do with the system. I agree that there's no way they'd make a digital body for m4/3s though. Was just a passing comment, not an argumentative point.

 

[shadowfox]

but serious camera folks should have seen micro four thirds as a dead end long before this.

Whaaaat???? 😕

 

[Roger Hicks]

Whaaaat???? 😕

Well, he's only making a guess, but I made the same guess in an earlier post.

Time will tell.

Cheers,

R.

 

[rbelyell]

well seems to me sony and samsung have had quite a few products with which to bury m4/3 already and that hasnt been close to happening. there are many, like me, who look at a tiny cam coupled to those huge sony lenses and just think it's silly and counterintuitive. yes m4/3 low light performance may not be as good as aps-c, but lack of great quality low light performance hasnt stopped leica lovers from plunking down untold thousands on m8s & 9s.

olly pen cams (not pen Ls) are really nice quality, nicely built machines, unlike their aps-c competitors, and there will always be a market segment that appreciates that quality level. and while i agree i dont enjoy using my 35mm lenses as 70mm lenses, i also wouldnt enjoy using them as 52mm lenses either. the difference between 1.5 and 2x crop factors doesnt set me on fire with craving, and i'm sure i'm not alone in that conclusion.