a mirrorless future for Olympus?

[roberto64]

Some rumors on the net and some Oly's manager declaration, says that in the future also 4:3 camera (E system) could be mirrorless, sobstituing the mirror box with an electronic viewfinder.
What you think about? Show your opinion

[Olybacker]

Hi! As an Olympus enthusiast for over thirty years I am going to be really controversial here! Olympus business strategy has been disasterous since the end of the '70's/early '80's.

They went from nowhere to challenging Nikon (with Canon) for no.1 spot in the mid-'70's. They managed to throw all that away with bad decisions on lens introductions (too late with pro lenses for the OM system in '74 and '75) and model development (OM10 good, OM20-40 not so good) and were hit by some production and design problems (early OM2SP and OM3 and OM4) and too high pricing for the OM3 and OM4.

Not only had Olympus become a major SLR player in the mid '70's, they still had a strong compact range and once the brilliant XA had come along, for several years approximately six out of every ten compact cameras sold in the UK bore the Olympus name. Having blown the SLR side of the business (when all it needed was a sensibly priced reworked OM2SP) they got rid of their two prize compact assets - the Trip 35 and the XA - and introduced the AF series, then the Mju. Until a zoom was introduced to the Mju it (and its predecessor AF series) offered nothing provided by the Trip 35 or the XA. Plus, in trying to hold onto market share, the multiplying range of compact cameras led to confusion among potential customers with further confusion being added - while conventional interchangeable lens SLRs were still popular - by adding fixed lens zoom SLRs to the mix. It could be argued that Olympus were ahead of the field here, pressaging a type of camera that would become commonplace through the change brought by digital sensors at the end of the twentieth century but the cameras were not of the high standard set by the OM system from launch in 1972. In the meantime, it did not help that autofocus came to the SLR market, that Canon would constantly get the market right, that Nikon's inherent conservatism would pay long-term dividends (Olympus missed another chance there!)and that the possibility of cameras in mobile phones would wipe out the compact camera market.

If it wasn't for the medical and business divisions and the money Olympus make from patenting inventions (they are still really clever and very good in the science lab!) then our favourite camera co. might not still be with us.

They then got the DSLR market wrong but could have recovered things with the E1 had it not been introduced at a ridiculously high price for the spec it offered. Olympus needed to do a Sony in 2003/04 and buy market share by subsidising the E1 but I guess either (a) the accountants wouldn't let them or (b) they had run out of the cash to do it - because of the problems I have outlined above or (c) they were not entirely confident anymore that they could do it. It's a great shame because the E1 is a great camera. I have used one since 2005. I did not like the E3 and so bought a Nikon D700 a year ago. Guess what - good though the D700 is - I appreciate the E1 now more than ever.

The E series demonstrates the confusion that can develop in camera manufacturers' brains and boardrooms (Olympus are not entirely alone in this), no E2 or E2 too late & too poor spec'd to launch against fast changing competition, E3 losing family resemblance and handling qualities of E1, E30 better but the E4 is now a year overdue! The E400 and E500 ranges are OK (it is significant that pros seem to choose to use the amateur SLRs more - I like the E520 most out of the current cameras) but Panasonic, Fuji, Casio and Samsung now seem to dominate the compact market.

It is a brutal battle for survival for the camera manufacturers and it is likely that at least two more will go down in the next few years. Invoking nostalgia - especially in a recession - is a great move and the digital Pen seems to be a wonderful idea but ... in my opinion ... it is ruined by the lack of an optical viewfinder built into the camera body. [I do know about the bolt on bits for the EP2 but that just proves the points I have been making in my assessment.] Micro-four thirds SLRs (with mirrors or not) are always going to be vulnerable to competition from future full-frame and APS sensor DSLRs being made more and more compact. The ePen is a great idea spoilt once again by ... a lack of thought? ... not really knowing what photographers want or not being able and willing to provide it at a price photographers are willing to pay? ... panic in the struggle to survive? ... the lost innovative edge from the late '70's early '80's still haunting the company? ... I don't know for sure but I guess that it is probably a combination of all those. I really must stop now as I have used up all the emoticons and this must the the longest ever answer to a forum post! The market as a whole is likely to go four ways 1. DSLR in 'medium format' and '35mm' forms, phone cameras (and smaller) at the other end and a limited, very limited market, for compacts. That is the sector the ePens will find themselves in. Did I say four? Yes. The other sector will be film, yes FILM based and will be mostly nostalgia biased but with some new products - probably with a strong retro element but possibly some innovations - mixed in. For example, will we see in 2010 that the Holga and Lomo are dead: long live the Trip35?! Maybe! Suffice to say that if the EP3 has a viewfinder built in ... and the price is right ... and Olympus really get to grips with noise at ISOs from 800 to 3200 ... and I have spare cash ... then I would find it a hard camera to resist.

[Olybacker]

Just seen camera sales data for 2009 and Micro 4:3 appears to be doing well. This must be encouraging for OLYMPUS and for Olympus enthusiasts as I suspect the ePens, mostly the EP1, have probably contributed to that. Olympus UK appear to have said there will be no Micro FourThirds reflexes and if that is the view of the HQ in Japan then the ePens will be up against what Panasonic and Kodak & Leitz (thus far silent partners in FourThirds) choose to do with Micro FourThirds reflexes. Will any other manufacturers join in FourThirds? I cannot remember but I think one other manufacturer has announced they will make a MicroFour Thirds so it seems the smaller version of the format does have a little more momentum than the original. Was it Samsung? They certainly have big ambitions to enlarge their share of the market but are happy for Pentax to make their 35mm film equivalent DSLRs. It is also interesting that Leitz have chosen to go big with their new medium format competitive S2 reflex. That is going to take a lot of resources and will probably keep them from FourThirds/Micro Four Thirds involvment.

[Olybacker]

I was in Jessops (New Oxford Street) last Wednesday and noted that some E-system DSLRs had disappeared from their display but hadn't seen this week's Amateur Photographer. Picked it up in the supermarket today and it looks as though in a Photokina year, there will be more good news for Olympus fans. An E-4 perhaps, and if we get really lucky an E-40 also, with both having better ISO 800/1600 performance in neater bodies with tidier layouts of controls, especially the buttons used frequently. This isn't quite so important for me as I have had to jump ship for a DSLR and get a D700, so I am hoping that a EP-3 will also be announced with an optical viewfinder built in the body to cover the 14-42mm zoom with a fixed brightline for the 17mm. I'm hoping ...

[GheneS]

Let's hope Photokina will bring out something new for us Olympus users. Although, I love my E-3 to bits, I want to see (and have)an updated model.

A propos E-P3, I like the current design of the E-P2 as it is. The only thing I wish to see are more new lenses from Olympus for the Pen. Also, less lag should be great to have too.