Olympus VS other brand, strange comments from sales people..

i was talking about Olympus cameras with the camera store sales person today (the biggest one in my town) and the guy was not aware that a new olympus was to be released...(620)

2 days before, an other sales person told me to stay away from olympus because they are to complicated...

Well...i'm not a pro...i read a lot about cameras and i took time to choose my Lumix FZ50 a while back...i take my time and i'm not disapointed with the choice i make.

I take time and i have fun when i read magasines, forums like this one, etc.

For a while i tought i would make a mistake if i did not buy CANON or NIKON ... wel, as i'm looking for my first DSLR, i want to be a happy person...so i make research..

Olympus & Pentax always comes first ... lens that are limited in quantities but that gives me what i'm looking for. Nikon has great things to...for a first time DSLR buyer they have good lens : 18-105 looks great, nice kit lens, etc. The thing with "You must buy CANON" does not reach me at all...Unless i had lots of money to buy L lens, they have very few stabilized lens at reasonnable price...and coming from FZ50, i'm hooked on stabilisation...

Olympus & Pentax have cameras that catch my attention a lot...now i'm waiting for the Oly 620 comming soon or the Pentax k200D with the 17-70 lens to start..

I'm still amazed, when i share my toughts with professional sales people, that they may not even be as informed as a lot of people i read on this forum ...

All of this to say that i'm happy to come here often, i love to see your pictures, comments, observations, and the GREAT interest that people have for photography...it makes a first time DSLR buyer more aware...open minded...and it makes me happy !

Cheers

Luc

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Nikon does not have in-body image stabilization, and their kit lenses are... Kinda yuck. Low light shooting with the newest Nikons seems to be the deal. Wooo.

Pentax is the way to go for primes. If you want a camera with prime lenses, go Pentax.

Oly is the quirky tofu-eating highly advanced but not quite always there brand. I've had three Oly DSLRs now, or five if you count the two bad E-330s... Nice cameras. Not sure if I like the E-30 yet or not, think the VF is a little bit sad on the ones I've played with. They really need to update the pro body with a sensor that isn't a compromise at 1600 asa.

Canon? Wanna-be pro cams. Phallus cams. Great big picture-taking machines that are very competent. I hate them.

Who else... Oh! Sony. I really like the Alpha 900, but the Alpha 900 is $3000 for just the body. Dunno about the APC DSLRs.

Yes, thats what I have also experienced with some local stores too.

IMO, olympus is a choice of the aware kind of guys (I am not saying experts or best, there are of course) but in general aware about the things needed to take a good photograph. And Oly is a good enough tool for that.

Personally, I first chose Oly, b/c I liked the compact size of the E-4xx series. Then after reading this site and a bunch of other sites, and then having bought into the E-system, I realized that Oly has a pretty nice line up of very good lenses at reasonable prices.

It doesn't matter whether you're shopping for cameras, cars, or new computers, you should always do research in advance before ever talking to a sales person.

The vast majority of the time a sales person only knows enough about the product to sell that product o people who know nothing. If you do your research before you walk through the door then you won't need to even talk to a sales person ... other than to say, "That's what I want. Ring it up."

As for the choice of camera brand, there is more than one way to skin a cat ... or photograph a subject ... and gear choice is largely a "subjective" matter.

After making the switch to digital I used to shoot mainly with Fuji and Nikon DSLRs. After a couple of years I switched to Canon for about a year ... but I found I hated the look of the Canon images and I didn't like the camera ergonomics/interface.

I ended up buying some Pentax gear to try the Pentax "Limited" series primes and discovered those were exactly what I wanted for available light work. I also ended up adding an E-330 and some Oly zooms to my kit as well.

I currently use equipment from Pentax, Olympus, and Nikon and each DSLR system has strengths and weaknesses.

Use whatever tools work for you.
--
http://www.jjjphotography.com
See 'The Big Picture' at http://jjjphotography.blogspot.com/

--I find it hard to believe that the salesperson did not know that Olympus had a new model on the way. More likely Olympus doesn't bring him any extra on his commission. Then again, maybe cameras are no different than any other product to that salesman. When I sold cameras 20+ years ago, the salespeople I worked with barely talked about anything else until the store closed.

Last week I went to the one "real" camera store left in my area to look at the 12-60 lens. I wanted to see how it fit on the E420 as a prep for the E620. Well, I get there on a Friday afternoon and it is quite busy. Now I'm talking a "real" photo store where the guys behind the counter are still wearing photo vests and the like. I end up waiting behind a young girl who has a Brand X DSLR in her hand and I hear the sales guy telling her that this is the absolute best starter DSLR for her... image stabilized lens, great photos, yada yada. She asks about the Olympus E420 in the case underneath and he proceeds to tell her that it isn't a real camera! No joke. Now, I usually don't stick my nose into other peoples business, but I stepped forward and challenged him, told her to look at the E420 and E520 with the two lens kit and compare to the Canon. I also sent her away to check out DP Review and do some research. I really couldn't believe it - are these guys subsidized by Brand X?

Needless to say, they weren't too pleased with me. They refused to show me the 12-60 lens. Just as well, as I won't go back there again anyway. Too bad, because as I said it is the last real camera store in my area. I buy EVERYTHING over the internet, but I do prefer to find it local and hold it. Guess I will be buying site unseen over the http://www from now on.

For what it's worth, I just picked up a used 12-60 and an anxiously awaiting an E620 body to mate it with to get me back in the game.

Tony A.

Sales people want to move boxes. And name brands move boxes.

--
Steve

http://www.flickr.com/photos/knoblock/
http://picasaweb.google.com/steve.knoblock

Film will only become art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper. -- Jean Cocteau

I don't know about Olympus, but certainly Canon, Nikon and Sony spiff the sales staff at camera stores. For example above their salary plus commission they might get a $20 spiff - depending on the body/lens they sell it could be lower or higher. I have seen these paid in cash on occassion. It can and does add up for the sales people especially in this economy - given the money involved you might be influenced to sell the camera with the highest spiff potential.

IMHO the issue is more endemic than spiffs for sales people - unless you ask for Olympus most retail camera sales people are not going to recommend it because they don't have a clue about the product - I discovered that as far back as the E1.

The Olympus distribution/sales training model seems broken near as I can tell. Recently I have had nothing but problems getting lenses, bodies, etc and every thing that is not on the shelf is three or four weeks away and only happens if I call once a day, this is just painful. Only today I convinced my favorite store to bring in the 620, they certainly knew about it, but they tell me it's a hard sell against Nikon, Canon and Sony. First and foremost they tell me there is no sales support unlike what they get from the big three - and I hear this a lot.

I often have sales people ask why I would want Olympus anything, with comments like 4/3 is a dead-end, etc. I blame Olympus for this and they need to get off their butts and get some marketing, training, and sales loyalty programs going forward.

(The E3 is an awesome camera, the 300 F2.8, the 150 F2.0, the 50mm F2.0 are stellar. Show me a Nikon or Canon 35-100mm F2.0 lens - doesn't exist.)

Olympus has at least two or three DSLR camera innovations which are now being picked-up by the so-called big guns (think live-view as just one example). I also believe in the not to distant future that Nikon will finally embrace in camera IS. The last two significant Nikkors the 24/70 F2.8 and the 14/24 F2.8 are not VR makes we think they are at least thinking of in camera IS.

I like the Oly cameras very much but I don't think the Olympus marketing group is doing a very good job to back-up the great engineering.

The other thing I have noticed is the absolute inferiority complex among SOME Olympus owners - owning and shooting with Olympus is not something less than doing the same thing with Nikon Sony or Canon.

Best to all. Terry.

It can be the other way around too,

Before i got my E410 i went a store here iin Aust. told the sales person i was doing some hands on research into DSLR's and wanted to look at what thy had in stock now this was before the E410 was released and i was really interested in the E510 also not out yet the salesperson showed me there wares until i asked about a Olympus then that was all they could talk about (had a E330) could not recommend then highly enough over the other brands. In the end I went with Olympus because I wanted to not the salespersons recommendations but I was nice to hear their confidence in Olympus cameras

in which Olympus is behind CaNikon:

1. Lowlight ability (or good high ISO results). It's a difference, but not as huge as many want you to believe. Especially for entry-level cameras, there is not THAT much difference.

2. Marketing: CaNikon are the better marketeers, so we are at a point that CaNikon is "the way" in the eyes of many (sales)people. One of the ways these brands keep Oly small is by enlarging the ISO-thing. Marketing is what makes the BIG difference IMHO.

But this still doesn't mean any of these brands are bad camera's. They're all capable tools for capturing great images.

That said, I also ended up with Olympus because it had what I was looking for, and just a bit more so than other brands at that time (and maybe still).

Most people here are not of the "I need a DSLR camera because it's cool" kind. Because they end up with the "Big Two".

The people here are part of the "other" group, people that do their own research and think for themselves. I think those kind of people are much more evenly shared amongst all brands.

--

Groeten,
Arjan

1) MARKETING

ive been selling cameras for about 3 years now, so im no long-term pro or anything but i have noticed, from my salesperson-colleagues that they won't sell an olympus or pentax because it's WAY easier to sell a canikon and now even sony.

seriously, ive seen sales where the salesperson says "cos its a canon/nikon" or "they're the number one brand" as opposed to suiting the customer's needs

it's hugely to do with marketing. at which olympus is terrible (read: TERRIBLE) at.

sony is excellent at marketing, and hence why it's already beating olympus in market share.

2) =FASTER SALES

if a customer comes in, most of the time they have a general idea as to what brand they want. now most salespeople don't care what brand they sell, so if a customer comes in and says "yeah i've been thinking of the canon or nikon" the salesperson is going to encourage that brand, EVEN if it's not what fits the customer's needs.

Why? because why spend 20 minutes explaining a different brand when u can close a sale in 5 minutes?

furthermore, less time is spent learning about "obscure" brands like pentax/olympus and so the salesperson will quickly dismiss them if the customer explicitly asks for it

now, some brands do from time to time give out spiffs and incentives but overall this doesn't make a huge difference, compared to brand marketing

essentially this all comes down to if the salesperson actually cares about fulfilling the customer's needs or just wants to sell stuff. if olympus suddenly became the biggest brand on everyone's lips, salespeople will push it.

also because all the brands are excellent and photography, even if the customer chooses the worst brand for them, they will still be satisfied, cos rarely do customers get the ability to handle and compare different systems.

luckily there are some decent salespeople who will discuss thoroughly the different aspects of the different brands and guide customers to make an informed choice as opposed to just pushing the easiest thing into their face. if you meet a salesperson like this congratulate them because they are very hard to find!

same as me, and because of the IS in-body.

montrealcanada45 said:

i would make a mistake if i did not buy CANON or NIKON

Click to expand...

I made my mistake....Canon 450D but I learned.

montrealcanada45 said:

Nikon has great things to

Click to expand...

true but DX and FX aren't logic to me. also, too expensive lenses compared to olympus.

when you free yourself from C&N then you'll enjoy photography.

--

E-510 (in the service center again) - E-30 / 12-60mm / 70-300mm / Leica 25mm f1.4 / EX-25

Sales assistants have a job to do: sell cameras. Sell as many of them as they can in the shortest amount of time.

The better they do their job= the more cameras are sold + the longer the camera store stays in business.

It's in our best interest for the camera stores to stay in business. It's not always in our best interest to listen to their 'buying' advice.

3 years of selling cameras/ comparing systems etc etc i'd say the pentax/olympus is the best choice for beginners/amateurs/enthusiasts/semi-pros
(i.e. bang for buck, quality, features etc)

and canon/nikon is the best for pros.
(professional equipment, lens/accessory base, support etc)

that doesn't mean canon/nikon is BAD for beginners and it doesn't mean that pentax/olympus is BAD for pros. overall that's how i see it

I have used a FZ-30 camera. Loved it! But the time came to upgrade, I began to feel that FZ30 can't give me anything I demand, I overgrown it... So I startef to research.

Olympus were very attractive. I liked the pictures, especially sky colors, which is very important to me. I knoew that Olys have worse High ISO then other brands, but that does not bother me much. So I wanted to grab a E510 camera.

Well, I came to a store (veeeery big one), and there I found equally priced E510 and Samsung GX-10 (which is Pentax K10 actually). And then the salesman began to tell me, that Olympus is not a serious photo company, the sensor is smaller, more noise, well, usuall bla-bla-bla, ask any Canon fan, he will tell you that.And to my shame, I listened, an grabbed GX-10.

I understood that I was wrong in like 2 weeks. Taking pictures with FZ-30 was fun and pleasant, and I was happy with the results. Taking pictures with GX-10 never gave me such feelings. Pictures took long time to posprocess them to make them look as I like. I used GX-10 for like 3 months, then sold it.

Then I came to another big store, to grab E510 DZK. Salesman said to me something like "Well, you know, you'd better buy a Canon 400D, we happen to have it for the same price! You'll never ger acceptable results with Olympus, it's not a serious camera..." This time I was smarter, and just laughed in his face, while getting my E510.

An guesss what!? Shooting pictures became fun and pleasant again! I felt like Oly is TRULY my system, and I stayed, and I am totally happy with it!

So NEVER EVER listen to salesmen, decide what do you want yourself and grab it!
--



My photo albums http://public.fotki.com/snowcat8/

Anthony Alongi said:

Needless to say, they weren't too pleased with me. They refused to
show me the 12-60 lens. Just as well, as I won't go back there again
anyway. Too bad, because as I said it is the last real camera store
in my area. I buy EVERYTHING over the internet, but I do prefer to
find it local and hold it. Guess I will be buying site unseen over
the http://www from now on.

Click to expand...

So, basically, you're a know-all time waster who never spends a cent in the shop, but just uses it to decided what you're going to buy from the low-overhead box shifting competition. And they don't want to devote any time to show you stuff. What a surprise.

If you value real shops, pay them their dues. They deserve it, and a good shop also gives you value for that little extra money you spend.

--
Blogs and galleries at http://www.snowhenge.net
E-System photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/snowhenge/

I have to say that in my experience the level of knowledge and impartial advice available in the majority of mainstream camera stores is pretty dire. In the UK, Jessops springs to mind as being consistantly poor. They're really just interested in shifting boxes and it's generally simpler to shift the big brands like Canon, Nikon and Sony simply because the general public has a much greater awareness of these brands.

"Joe Public" doesn't generally do his research and weigh up various reviews and opinions before making an informed decision about what is best for him. And to be honest, almost any camera you can buy these days will do a good enough job for the average DSLR buyer who will probably never move off Program mode or buy more than one addtional (and probably fairly basic), lens.

So the bottom line is I don't see the situation changing much.

Regards
--
http://www.v11.com
Olympus and Canon digital cameras. Mamiya film cameras.

...Just as car salesmen are. They want to sell you the product they are used to promoting and the one they know most about and the one that is most likely to make them dough.

Cheerio,
Seth

--
What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?

--
wallygoots.smugmug.com
wallygoots.blogspot.com

I didn't say that did I! I have purchased from them over the years, but will not do so again. While I am all for supporting the local shop they have to be at least competitive. For example, when I wanted to look at the 12-60 the price in-store was $999! It is available from B&H and other reliable sources for $749. Too big a difference.

I used to sell cameras when I was in college. I listened to what the customer required and then laid out their options and let them choose. I NEVER told them that this was the best or their only choice.

Tony A.