Olympus out of DSLR?

People tend to globalize everything now. If you are not with the global players, you are out. Is it so? I think there's more life in alternative waters right now... it's much more fun and thrilling than at the mainstream. Olympus is a well known company, but they are just not the main player. They know that. They are outsiders that are more focused on the other stuff they know best (innovation and optics). Some people appreciate that much more.

However, as already pointed in your discussion, the biggest mistake for Oly would be to lower the quality of their products or to come with bad lenses (currently Oly doesn't have ANY dud in their lineup, something that cannot be said to Canikon).

Mainstream waters can and will carry junk and still flow well...but side-alternative waters need to be kept in good condition and crystal clear or they will turn to mud.

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OlympusGuy said:

Just a thought, but there are two camera stores here in Calgary that seem to be selling off all their Olympus DSLR product. When I asked the sales people about when they'll receive more Oly product they were very coy about not knowing when.

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Maybe olympus won't sell them product anymore. Business is a two-way street. The recession has caused some retailers not to be credit worthy.

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E - 5 1 0 L O V E R

Take a look at some of the images on this website and others taken with the Oly 16-20 or 14-54. Mind blowing! Apart from ISO performance over ISO 800 the IQ with an E-30 or E-620 and these lenses blows away Canon and Nikon DX cameras.

I remeber reading that Canon, Nikon and Sony got burned bad when Ritz went bankrupt. Olympus and Pentax got off relatively lightly.

Some manufacturers are being very careful about extending credit to chains that are in financial trouble....
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Marty
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marty4650/sets/72157606210120132/show/

Panasonic FZ30, LX2, TZ5
Olympus E-510, Zuiko 14-42mm, 40-150mm, 70-300mm, Hexanon 40mm, 50mm

Gidday Marty

Marty4650 said:

I remeber reading that Canon, Nikon and Sony got burned bad when Ritz went bankrupt. Olympus and Pentax got off relatively lightly.

Some manufacturers are being very careful about extending credit to chains that are in financial trouble....

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I was told at the Melbourne E-P1 release that it would not be available through companies who were known or thought to dabble in "the grey market" - Mainstream stores and chains only ...

Don't know how much credibility to attach to that ...

As a CPA, I can assure you that credit risk is not only on the part of the final consumer; it is very possible for a large creditor to take down many small and perfectly viable companies if the big company fails ... Ugly, but true.

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Bird Control Officers on active service.

Member of UK (and abroad) Photo Safari Group

I don't know whether I'm a 'typical' enthusiast user, but thought I'd add my twopennyworth to the discussion anyway.

I bought a 510 a year or so ago to get back into SLR photography. Reasons were:

• light body (I like climbing mountains so weight does matter)
• good kit lenses (that are light)
• good (or comparable) feature set with Canikon

I did my research, worried a bit about the lack of dynamic range of the 510 compared to the competition but thought that this wouldn't cause me a problem given that my (lack of) camera craft would have more of an effect than the camera itself.

I've really liked my 510. It has served its purpose and got me taking pictures again. I've bought a the 50-200 lens so I can take some sports shots, several MF lenses (great that Olly has IS in the body not the lens so I can use MF lenses) and have my eye on the Summilix 25mm fast prime lens for shooting inside without a flash. I've also started to see limitations (to me) of the 510 so I'm not going buy a £600 lens until I believe that Olympus' roadmap goes where I want it to.

The things that I'd like to see in the new 'step up from entry level' Olly SLR camera are:

• HD video
• Improved dynamic range
• Nice and light

Reasons I think that HD is an issue for amateurs comes from wanting to use the camera at least some of the time as a device for recording family moments. When I'm out with the family I get enough grief from carrying an SLR and a spare lens or two so having to carry a video camera as well is a bridge too far (or is that the straw that will break the camel's back?).

Given that HD video is a feature that 'if you don't want it, don't turn it on', I think that Olly have to include it in their next offering to appeal to both 1st time DSLR users and people wanting to step up from their first DSLR. If they don't I'll seriously consider moving from Olly so I have a camera that can work for me in a variety of situations.

In terms of weather sealing, despite my 510 having no weather sealing, it has braved all of the weather than the North Wales mountains can throw at it and is still working just fine. The solution I use is to cover it with my waterproof coat. Simple but effective! Maybe for non professional users weather sealing is more of a marketing 'nice to have' than HD video.

I'm waiting for the 31st announcement with bated breath. I very much hope Olly does launch products that have a feature set that give an upgrade path to their customers that like their first Olympus SLR but wonder if they've made the right choice for the long term.

Nick

wingnut1 said:

Take a look at some of the images on this website and others taken with the Oly 16-20 or 14-54. Mind blowing! Apart from ISO performance over ISO 800 the IQ with an E-30 or E-620 and these lenses blows away Canon and Nikon DX cameras.

Click to expand...

That's the key isn't it, actually geting people to look, research, and especially understand their requirement. I bought an Oly because my number one interest is birds and researching broughtr me to my decision. On a limited budget I could get the best bang for buck solution from Oly. On the same budget I was seeing better bird pictures from Oly users than I saw on the same budget Canikons. I saw some bird pictures from Canikon that showed me pictures that were much better but the users were spending a lot more cash to get their results and I neeeded to be realistic. That crop factor made a big difference for someone moving up from a superzoomand I was also very keen on minimising weight. It was so logical I couldn't have made any other choice.

Unfortunately not everybody utilises the same thought processes. Humility says that maybe I'm wrong and everybody else is right after all in the mathematical sense thay are the normal ones.
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Trevor Carpenter said:

wingnut1 said:

Take a look at some of the images on this website and others taken with the Oly 16-20 or 14-54. Mind blowing! Apart from ISO performance over ISO 800 the IQ with an E-30 or E-620 and these lenses blows away Canon and Nikon DX cameras.

Click to expand...

That's the key isn't it, actually geting people to look, research, and especially understand their requirement. I bought an Oly because my number one interest is birds and researching broughtr me to my decision. On a limited budget I could get the best bang for buck solution from Oly. On the same budget I was seeing better bird pictures from Oly users than I saw on the same budget Canikons. I saw some bird pictures from Canikon that showed me pictures that were much better but the users were spending a lot more cash to get their results and I neeeded to be realistic. That crop factor made a big difference for someone moving up from a superzoomand I was also very keen on minimising weight. It was so logical I couldn't have made any other choice.

Unfortunately not everybody utilises the same thought processes. Humility says that maybe I'm wrong and everybody else is right after all in the mathematical sense thay are the normal ones.

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As a recent buyer of an Olympus e620 with the 12-60 for use when hiking and travel , I use Nikon professionally {D3/D700} whilst the 12-60 does indeed perform well ,in the UK it comes in at between £750 and £830 . So it is hardly in the bargain basement camp especially for a variable aperture zoom

I have been reasonably pleased with the combo but I find the viewfinder very small and noise is a bit of an issue. Statements such as “E-30 or E-620 and these lenses blows away Canon and Nikon DX cameras” are clearly nonsense. No camera is perfect and each has its pros and cons. unless you need a very specific feature {such as high iso which is a genuine boon to my wedding photography} pretty much all current dslr camera from all makers can deliver fantastic results in the right hands.

In fact with recent developments the advantages and disadvantages are shifting, high mp FF cameras which can easily be cropped and still give Olympus sized files {bearing in mind that here in the UK for example the Olympus 300f2.8 is £1800 more than the Canon 300mm f2, 8 which I could use on my 5DmkII crop a 10 or 12mp image from the centre getting the same or better results than the Olympus and on the other side the noise performance of Olympus’s latest cameras is improving making the noise advantage of the aps cameras insignificant though they are far from the D3/D700 level of noise.

It will be interesting to see if smaller sensor advances to a level where for typical use high iso noise is no longer a real issue and would a trend to smaller cameras develop. In many ways Olympus was ahead of the loop with smaller digital optimised lenses from the get go the only issue being so far the sensor.
Jim

jim stirling said:

It will be interesting to see if smaller sensor advances to a level where for typical use high iso noise is no longer a real issue and would a trend to smaller cameras develop. In many ways Olympus was ahead of the loop with smaller digital optimised lenses from the get go the only issue being so far the sensor.

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I believe this is a very important point.

Larger sensors will ALWAYS have an advantage over smaller sensors, but that advantage can become a moot point for 99% of us when technology permits the 4/3 sesor to get great results at ISO 3200.

And is anyone willing to bet that this will NEVER happen?

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Marty
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marty4650/sets/72157606210120132/show/

Panasonic FZ30, LX2, TZ5
Olympus E-510, Zuiko 14-42mm, 40-150mm, 70-300mm, Hexanon 40mm, 50mm

Hi Marty,

I think if the Olympus sensor could get to a good enough level and I think it can .There could be a revelation in camera size I get superb results from my D3 and D700 using the fast f2.8 zooms 14-24,24-70 and the soon to be upgraded 70-200 , but it is a hefty kit . I also use LF cameras for landscape work and believe me the attraction of smaller and lighter is very appealing.

I actually think that given the processing power of modern PCs that perhaps the next big boost in high iso quality could come from advances in noise reduction software. If they could develop better software that could keep more of the detail whilst reducing noise then the playing field could be evened out. I am very far from being a software developer but it does seem a viable option, as eventually sensor advances must be limited by physics.
Jim

Re those who say HD Video will not help sell DSLRs---you guys are hilarious. Is this April Fool's Day?

Ha, you guys are yanking my chain.

Seriously, you're kidding. Right?

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Roberthd12

roberthd12 said:

Re those who say HD Video will not help sell DSLRs---you guys are hilarious. Is this April Fool's Day?

Ha, you guys are yanking my chain.

Seriously, you're kidding. Right?

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Robert,

Four days ago I wrote a post titled "HD Video won't help sell any cameras" and obviously you read the title with out reading the actual post.

Since you didn't bother to read my post, I will sumarize it for you.

HD video will not sell cameras because it will become a standard feature. And it will be expected. Just like we expect cars to have air conditioners, heaters and radios. The lack of HD video will make a camera almost impossible to sell.

Had you bothered to actually read the post you would see we agree.

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Marty
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marty4650/sets/72157606210120132/show/

Panasonic FZ30, LX2, TZ5
Olympus E-510, Zuiko 14-42mm, 40-150mm, 70-300mm, Hexanon 40mm, 50mm

No need to take offense, I was just commenting on some in the thread and forum who question HD necessity. Not directed at you personally. Jeez.

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Roberthd12