Olympus Out!

[Range-rover]

Just read this sad news on the Casual photophile that Olympus is
getting out of the camera business. Sad news for sure, I remember
the day's of the Big Five Nikon, Canon, Minolta, Pentax and Olympus.
It's just the market is changing. 😱🙁

 

[Orthogonal]

According to this article the buyer will continue making current cameras models and developing new ones, though it hasn't cited a source: https://www.ubergizmo.com/2020/06/olympus-sell-off-camera-business/

A pity since Oly proved themselves to be pretty good hardware designers even into the digital age, IMO much better than Sony.

 

[Archlich]

According to this article the buyer will continue making current cameras models and developing new ones, though it hasn't cited a source: https://www.ubergizmo.com/2020/06/olympus-sell-off-camera-business/

A pity since Oly proved themselves to be pretty good hardware designers even into the digital age, IMO much better than Sony.

Haven't seen much improvements in their cameras for the past 3 years though. Everything Olympus offers today are circa-2016.

It's not like they can just "have a moment of revelation and make up their mind" and begin to innovate (i.e. making big beautiful complete FF mirrorless system at blazing speed and ultra competitive price). They lack the resources to do so in the first place, otherwise they'd already done that long ago. It's been a death spiral. Unless the new owner is able to inject BIG investment and human capital into its R&D to make some huge breakthrough in a steadily shrinking market, the new Olympus, like its predecessor, would not even be able to compete on equal terms against the stiff competition.

High chance that they'll linger around for a couple of years more with scant, bland releases, much like Pentax today. But unlike Pentax (or Rioch Imaging) which got Ricoh cameras that actually sold well to break even, Olympus will be on its own. So it'll be a matter of time before the inevitable finale happens.

 

[Godfrey]

Very sad to hear it, if true.

The Olympus E-1 was a masterpiece of a DSLR, still my favorite-ever DSLR camera (mine is still in perfect working order despite being almost 17 years old). The Olympus high-grade and pro-grade E-System lenses are second to none. And the Olympus E-M1 in the new generation Micro-FourThirds system is also a fantastic camera with oodles more features and capabilities than I've ever really taken advantage of. Still have that one too, use the same lenses on it that I use with the E-1.

If all this wonderful gear is going the way of the dinosaur and prices are tanking even further, well, I'll just keep it and use it til it no longer works. It might out last me. I have no questions about the quality of the photos it makes ... they've been good enough for all the client work and exhibition awards I achieve with them, so not a single complaint from me. 😀

G

 

[LeicaFoReVer]

Very sad news... They made a leap with OM-D but it wasn't enough to stay in the market I suppose...

 

[kshapero]

rip oly these sales usually don't pan out well.

 

[Bingley]

Very sad to hear. The Pen F was and is a wonderful mirrorless digicam and the lenses Oly made for m4/3 were pretty good.

 

[BillBingham2]

It started a few years back when they cooked the books and started focusing on finance rather than photography.

So many other companies have been trashed by very similar missteps. I'm hoping the new owner(s) can breath life back into the brand/offerings.

I would have gone with m4/3s rather than Fuji recently if they had a camera with less (though I prefer no) flash/functions and buttons. Give me digital OM 3 or 4 with no more controls and I'd switch, even today. I can do everything else I want to do in my computer of choice.

B2 (;->

 

[aizan]

Am I missing something? The press release says they are still going to be making cameras.

People just like doing the danse macabre!

 

[Huss]

Very sad to hear. The Pen F was and is a wonderful mirrorless digicam and the lenses Oly made for m4/3 were pretty good.

I think the PenF is their best design and the lenses are superb. I have the 17 1.8, 25 1.8 , 30 macro, 45 1.8. All outstanding.

Nothing out there like the PenF.


25 1.8 @ 1.8:



25 1.8 @ 5.6:

 

[Ste_S]

Haven't seen much improvements in their cameras for the past 3 years though. Everything Olympus offers today are circa-2016.

It's not like they can just "have a moment of revelation and make up their mind" and begin to innovate (i.e. making big beautiful complete FF mirrorless system at blazing speed and ultra competitive price). They lack the resources to do so in the first place, otherwise they'd already done that long ago. It's been a death spiral. Unless the new owner is able to inject BIG investment and human capital into its R&D to make some huge breakthrough in a steadily shrinking market, the new Olympus, like its predecessor, would not even be able to compete on equal terms against the stiff competition.

High chance that they'll linger around for a couple of years more with scant, bland releases, much like Pentax today. But unlike Pentax (or Rioch Imaging) which got Ricoh cameras that actually sold well to break even, Olympus will be on its own. So it'll be a matter of time before the inevitable finale happens.

Bingo. Micro 4/3 cameras were revolutionary 12 years ago, but since then APS-C, Full Frame and even Medium Format sensor based cameras have caught up.
Panasonic and Olympus haven't had anywhere to go since the 20MP cameras. Panasonic made the jump to full frame, Olympus couldn't.

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

Sad news. I've never owned an Olympus digital camera but I liked the latest OMD EM5 and EM10 cameras a lot and had actually been thinking about picking one up.

I liked the PEN F too but I think they should have put the sensor in vertical orientation to be true to the original. I think they also missed an opportunity by never creating a fixed lens compact with the M43 sensor (look at what the X100 series did for Fuji).

 

[KoNickon]

Well, this is too bad. I love my E-M10 and lenses. Let's see what happens, but this is certainly not good news.

So I have to ask, whatever has become of the Sony Vaio computers? Will the same fate befall Olympus cameras?

 

[sooner]

It's ironic that the world of photography has exploded like never before in human history with the ubiquitous use of cellphone cameras, yet the quality of those cellphone cams are putting traditional camera makers out of business. For those of us who are gear heads and love the traditional camera, this is tragic. OTOH, I'm cautiously hopeful that some day there will be niche camera makers who are content to do limited production runs of cameras for the enthusiast/amateur film market. For example, I wish Fuji would license someone to do another production run of the 645-zi. You can say it's unrealistic, but I'm not convinced, especially if you had a company that didn't require many millions in profit to undertake such a project.

 

[Archlich]

Stock hit record high...

So shareholders had long been anticipating this, Olympus getting rid of its main bleeding point.

 

[Pherdinand]

correct title would be "Olympus Out Again!"

 

[Pherdinand]

i only have their "tough" soapbox. It's nice one, a waterproof soapbox, good to snap pics of weird underwater beasts.

 

[lynnb]

This is the most informed comment I've seen of what this means, from Thom Hogan.

 

[Out to Lunch]

What is this all about. Olympus sold it's imaging business to an investment fund. That's it. Deal with it.

 

[Archiver]

It's a little disturbing to think of how this may shake out. Olympus cameras may be smaller and less financed, although this may help them funnel attention and resources into key performing products.

Olympus cameras have more or less stayed steady over the last few iterations, whereas Panasonic understand that a lot of vloggers and content creators want inexpensive but high performing mirrorless cameras. The G9, GH5 and GH5S are the fruits of that toil. But Olympus struggled to create a professional sports camera with the m43 sensor, which on its best day still isn't as good as a decent aps-c sensor.

Right now, I'm processing images from the Panasonic G9 and the 14 year old Canon 30D. Although the 30D images are only 8mp resolution, their colour and 'thickness' or depth is better than what I'm getting from the G9. It's kind of unsettling. The G9's operational performance/speed is way better, but it lacks something in terms of image quality, particularly at higher ISOs. Don't even ask whether the Canon 5D Mark II's image quality is better than the G9, it just is. Don't get me wrong, the G9 is very appropriate for a lot of applications, but for some situations, like action under artificial light, the G9 is not the best. Olympus cameras, sharing this sensor, have the same problem. If their image quality is beaten by an 11 year old Canon DSLR, then what is the point?

It's times like this that I think of getting a Sony A7 III with good native lenses so I can have decent video and excellent stills performance in the same fairly small body. No need to carry multiple cameras and lens mounts, just one camera and a few lenses. But I digress. Sigh.