Has Olydak blown it?

BrianOS 2.0 said:

I love the concept behind the Olydak. I just think they will never
have enough support for this format. None of the big lens companies
are in it. Sigma, Nikon, and Canon probably won't touch it. I think
for it to have had a chance, they should have released a camera
with these specs 6 months ago. Great concept, but too late I think.
Develop cameras around none Sigma/Nikon/Canon lenses. Who's going
to produce these lenses? How long will it take for people to start
adopting this standard? How much money will Olympus lose before it
starts to break even? I just don;t see it working. I hope I eat my
words because I like Olympus, but I think they're too little too
late. Lets hope they release stuff NOW. Then they have a better
chance.

Brianos 2.0

Click to expand...

Oly's been there, done that. Remember the OM1? One of the GREAT cameras. Brand new size, brand new lens line. Good lenses. Made a lot of us dump our over sized Canon/Pentax/whatever SLRs.

Oly has been a company that has made money by understanding and selling to the middle of the market. Over and over their 35mm P&S is what I see recommended when people are looking for a good, simple small film camera.

They can make good lenses. They understand introducing something semi-radical. If they can get Fuji, maybe Minolta, Casio, Panasonic, some other non-pro line lens companies on board we may benefit.

Of course, I'm going to have trouble buying from them after the C2100z power board problem. But, hey! That's just me.....
--
bob
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
pictures from Thailand, Myanmar(Burma), and Nepal

Member said:

Oly's been there, done that. Remember the OM1? One of the GREAT
cameras. Brand new size, brand new lens line. Good lenses. Made
a lot of us dump our over sized Canon/Pentax/whatever SLRs.

Click to expand...

Yeah, we have a snooty film ( as in film-only ) shooter in our neighborhood who uses an OM1 system, and loves to talk about how wonderful it is.

Great observations, Brian.

If Oly could come out with 2 or 3 of the "right" lenses at the outset, coupled to a quality camera at a competitive price, that could be enough to win the camera a following. It could stand alone, at least for awhile, giving the system time to grow and attract a following.

But it would have to be the right combo of lenses, from the very start.

A 100-400mm IS would certainly be nice, compatible with converters.

A 28-120mm, together with the 100-400 IS telephoto, would make for a pretty nice combo, certainly enough for my needs, as long as I can attach telephoto and wide-angle converters.

They say that longer lenses like 600mm are possible with this new system, configured smaller and less expensive than 35mm lenses. That truly has potential, if the system survives long enough to get those lenses produced (hopefully with IS). But if Oly comes out with the right lenses at the outset, it just might work.

I'm hopeful. I'm not holding my breath. But as you say, Brian, Oly certainly has the lens-making ability. And, as the E-100, UZI and E-10/20 show, Oly can produce a mighty fine camera.

Let's hope for the best!

fsw

Member said:

BrianOS 2.0 said:

I love the concept behind the Olydak. I just think they will never
have enough support for this format. None of the big lens companies
are in it. Sigma, Nikon, and Canon probably won't touch it. I think
for it to have had a chance, they should have released a camera
with these specs 6 months ago. Great concept, but too late I think.
Develop cameras around none Sigma/Nikon/Canon lenses. Who's going
to produce these lenses? How long will it take for people to start
adopting this standard? How much money will Olympus lose before it
starts to break even? I just don;t see it working. I hope I eat my
words because I like Olympus, but I think they're too little too
late. Lets hope they release stuff NOW. Then they have a better
chance.

Brianos 2.0

Click to expand...

Oly's been there, done that. Remember the OM1? One of the GREAT
cameras. Brand new size, brand new lens line. Good lenses. Made
a lot of us dump our over sized Canon/Pentax/whatever SLRs.

Oly has been a company that has made money by understanding and
selling to the middle of the market. Over and over their 35mm P&S
is what I see recommended when people are looking for a good,
simple small film camera.

They can make good lenses. They understand introducing something
semi-radical. If they can get Fuji, maybe Minolta, Casio,
Panasonic, some other non-pro line lens companies on board we may
benefit.

Of course, I'm going to have trouble buying from them after the
C2100z power board problem. But, hey! That's just me.....
--
bob
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
pictures from Thailand, Myanmar(Burma), and Nepal

Click to expand...

Forrest said:

Forrest41926 said:

Oly's been there, done that. Remember the OM1? One of the GREAT
cameras. Brand new size, brand new lens line. Good lenses. Made
a lot of us dump our over sized Canon/Pentax/whatever SLRs.

Click to expand...

Yeah, we have a snooty film ( as in film-only ) shooter in our
neighborhood who uses an OM1 system, and loves to talk about how
wonderful it is.

Click to expand...

Well, he may be snooty... But, IMHO he's right about the OM1.

I owned three of them. Wore one out, sold one to buy an OM4, had the last one stolen (the insurance bought my C2020 as a replacement).

They were real sweet machines.

--
bob
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
pictures from Thailand, Myanmar(Burma), and Nepal

I really dotn see much reason why professional digitals should or would get smaller, on the contrary the fighting between who makes the best value for the money and quality are things im looking forward too!