Sharing supply and distribution chains is a fairly smart thing for both companies, as the camera market is definitely contracting.
On the downside, if Sony starts trying to call the shots with Oly imaging (not likely, as Oly uses camera imaging to feed tech to their very profitable medical imaging business, so they don't necessarily have to profit from that line), I can't see that they'll do any better than they have in the past. There is, however, another possibility.
I've been watching all the hype over the A7, and wondering how that will end up. All Sony has right now is promise, a hot body with sexy sensor specs, and not much else. Especially, not much glass, large or small. And Sony hasn't been very good about supporting it's non APS Alpha ILC's with glass.
Their plan seems to be - adapt existing C/N FF glass, which isn't going to work very well without C/N's cooperation, which Sony will not get. With the few Zeiss lenses planned, Sony has another FF Alpha with marginal handling. That's what really hurt Alpha FF - not much FF glass.
Without full integration of lens and body electronics, the result will be slow and clumsy to operate. Which leads to the question - what's the point? Small body, a few big lenses, a few small lenses, made by a company that has a history of not making lenses. I suspect that, once the novelty wears off, people will quickly tire of using adapted glass on the A7, much as most people didn't want to use ZD glass on the EM5, and all it had was poky AF, otherwise ZD's were fully integrated with aperture control and focal length reporting.
The same is true, somewhat, of NEX: interesting platform, elegant body design, not much glass, and what exists isn't particularly small. Outside of the Zeiss primes, it isn't particularly outstanding, either - Sony doesn't make a PL25 or a 12-40 or a 75 1.8, lenses that really dazzle.
Still, Sony is on to an interesting idea: a multi aspect sensor, carried to the next step. What they're missing is a really good lens system to go with it, and they don't appear to have the ability to design and implement that glass. Certainly didn't with Alpha FF, not really with NEX.
What if... an A7 like body could be developed with access to a full line of size optimized lenses, like... µ43? And, at the same time, by changing the flange, put on FF glass for the times that higher ISO and shallow DOF control are desired? Very small when you want it, very capable when you want it, and C/N have nothing to compete with that?
Trouble for Sony is - they can't field a µ43 capable body without getting the approval of Panasonic, and they won't get that.
But... Olympus could do that. With Sony's help, or as an offshoot of developing FF lenses for the A7.
Interesting possibility, isn't it?
