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Love the EPL-7, hate the marketing

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Wellington100

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What a great looking little camera. Pluses are:

Metal body

Looks like a small EP5 which is a classic looking camera

Physically small

Has a programmable thumb wheel

Great launch price

Great sensor

Minuses are:

Marketing this great little camera as a selfie camera. They may as well have named it the Olympus Narcissus I, the way they are carrying on about it being a camera for selfies. What a dumb idea to send a message to keen photographers who are their market that its a camera aimed at iPhone hipsters who would not be seen dead using one to begin with. Anyway those iPhone users would take one look at the UI and chuck it away. They would tolerate Olys hopeless UI after using iPhones for years.

FYI Olympus marketing people, the last thing in the world I want to take photos of is my ugly old mug pulling faces in exotic locations. Grow up.

--
Fuji: XF1, X10, F900, F300, S100
Panasonic: LX7, GF5 with 9mm, 14mm, 20mm, 45-150mm
Canon: SX240
 
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Wellington100 said:
What a great looking little camera. Pluses are:

Metal body

Looks like a small EP5 which is a classic looking camera

Physically small

Has a programmable thumb wheel

Great launch price

Great sensor

Minuses are:

Marketing this great little camera as a selfie camera. They may as well have named it the Olympus Narcissus I, the way they are carrying on about it being a camera for selfies. What a dumb idea to send a message to keen photographers who are their market that its a camera aimed at iPhone hipsters who would not be seen dead using one to begin with. Anyway those iPhone users would take one look at the UI and chuck it away. They would tolerate Olys hopeless UI after using iPhones for years.

FYI Olympus marketing people, the last thing in the world I want to take photos of is my ugly old mug pulling faces in exotic locations. Grow up.
Click to expand...
 
Wellington100 said:
What a great looking little camera. Pluses are:

Metal body

Looks like a small EP5 which is a classic looking camera

Physically small

Has a programmable thumb wheel

Great launch price

Great sensor

Minuses are:

Marketing this great little camera as a selfie camera. They may as well have named it the Olympus Narcissus I, the way they are carrying on about it being a camera for selfies. What a dumb idea to send a message to keen photographers who are their market that its a camera aimed at iPhone hipsters who would not be seen dead using one to begin with. Anyway those iPhone users would take one look at the UI and chuck it away. They would tolerate Olys hopeless UI after using iPhones for years.

FYI Olympus marketing people, the last thing in the world I want to take photos of is my ugly old mug pulling faces in exotic locations. Grow up.
Click to expand...
 
CharlesB58 said:
CharlesB58 said:
What a great looking little camera. Pluses are:

Metal body

Looks like a small EP5 which is a classic looking camera

Physically small

Has a programmable thumb wheel

Great launch price

Great sensor

Minuses are:

Marketing this great little camera as a selfie camera. They may as well have named it the Olympus Narcissus I, the way they are carrying on about it being a camera for selfies. What a dumb idea to send a message to keen photographers who are their market that its a camera aimed at iPhone hipsters who would not be seen dead using one to begin with. Anyway those iPhone users would take one look at the UI and chuck it away. They would tolerate Olys hopeless UI after using iPhones for years.

FYI Olympus marketing people, the last thing in the world I want to take photos of is my ugly old mug pulling faces in exotic locations. Grow up.

--
Fuji: XF1, X10, F900, F300, S100
Panasonic: LX7, GF5 with 9mm, 14mm, 20mm, 45-150mm
Canon: SX240
Click to expand...
All those "keen photographers" aren't buying enougj cameras to make the consumer imaging division profitable. Olympus wants to make a profit. That means appealing to a wider range of customers.

Also, where have you been? The PEN line has regularly been marketed to hipsters and others who don't want to look like some self-proclaimed enthusiast running around with a big, clunky dslr kit hanging off them.
--
If, in my lifetime, I will have produced just one image that makes a real difference in the life of another, I will have achieved my highest goal as a photographer.

http://eyeguessphotography.com

http://livegigshots.com
Click to expand...
Just face it we live in the Selfie era

And Olympus is hardly alone in this

Canon N100 with backfacing camera early this year

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www.amazon.com

sony A5100

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www.dpreview.com
 
The problem with the "selfie" marketing concept is that, though this thing can take one, it can't upload it to a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account without the assistance of a smartphone. And doing that is not as simple as they say it is.

Unless there is a major change in how the app works, using the camera with a smartphone requires you to take the photo, then take a trip to the phone's settings panel to select the wifi source, then launch the Olympus app and then upload the photo. Gee, that's so much easier than just taking the photo with the SAME DARNED SMARTPHONE YOU HAVE TO USE TO POST AN OLYMPUS SELFIE!!!

Why would you do that? For the better image quality? Hey, these folks are taking selfies with dirty smartphone lenses and then smearing them some more with an Instragram filter. They don't care about image quality. And the people who do, don't do selfies.
 
Jim Salvas said:
The problem with the "selfie" marketing concept is that, though this thing can take one, it can't upload it to a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account without the assistance of a smartphone. And doing that is not as simple as they say it is.

Unless there is a major change in how the app works, using the camera with a smartphone requires you to take the photo, then take a trip to the phone's settings panel to select the wifi source, then launch the Olympus app and then upload the photo. Gee, that's so much easier than just taking the photo with the SAME DARNED SMARTPHONE YOU HAVE TO USE TO POST AN OLYMPUS SELFIE!!!
Click to expand...
If you're talking arm's length selfie, then yes, wifi is clunkier than just using the smartphone in the first place.

If it's a group selfie, where the camera is on a tripod or propped on a rock and the smart phone is the pre-view AND shutter-firing device... then the photo can be instantly imported to the phone and sent off to Facebook. I suppose someone could do this for arm's length shots as well — but yes: why not just use the phone for the photo?

It is very cool technology.
Jim Salvas said:
--
Click to expand...
Barry
 
I've been an Olympus user since the early 70s and except for the introduction of the OM-1, I never been impressed by Olympus marketing. In the digital years, they simply "Don't Get It".
 
Barry Stewart said:
Jim Salvas said:
The problem with the "selfie" marketing concept is that, though this thing can take one, it can't upload it to a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account without the assistance of a smartphone. And doing that is not as simple as they say it is.

Unless there is a major change in how the app works, using the camera with a smartphone requires you to take the photo, then take a trip to the phone's settings panel to select the wifi source, then launch the Olympus app and then upload the photo. Gee, that's so much easier than just taking the photo with the SAME DARNED SMARTPHONE YOU HAVE TO USE TO POST AN OLYMPUS SELFIE!!!
Click to expand...
If you're talking arm's length selfie, then yes, wifi is clunkier than just using the smartphone in the first place.
If it's a group selfie, where the camera is on a tripod or propped on a rock and the smart phone is the pre-view AND shutter-firing device... then the photo can be instantly imported to the phone and sent off to Facebook. I suppose someone could do this for arm's length shots as well — but yes: why not just use the phone for the photo?
It is very cool technology.
Click to expand...
What's heavily marketed is the arm's length selfie functionality not the control from your wifi smart device functionality, which other cameras have had for a long time (even the arm's length functionality is not new).

They are heavily concentrating on this single feature because this is a somewhat simplified E-M10 with this additional feature. Otherwise how do they explain this given the existence of the E-M10?

They perceive, perhaps correctly, a somewhat significant population who would never even consider an E-M10 but would be attracted to the E-PL7, and the marketing is concentrating on that population. Why would they spend a lot of money on marketing so that people would stop considering an E-M10 and switch their attention to the E-PL7 instead? So naturally they don't try to market this to those who are already attracted to the E-M10.

As to why take a mirrorless selfie when you can do a phone one more easily, well the marketing is heavy on bokeh and coverage, hinting that you can get wider angle (important for arm's length) and shallower DoF shots. These are admittedly very narrow applications.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xiafei/
 
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Jim Salvas said:
The problem with the "selfie" marketing concept is that, though this thing can take one, it can't upload it to a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account without the assistance of a smartphone. And doing that is not as simple as they say it is.

Unless there is a major change in how the app works, using the camera with a smartphone requires you to take the photo, then take a trip to the phone's settings panel to select the wifi source, then launch the Olympus app and then upload the photo. Gee, that's so much easier than just taking the photo with the SAME DARNED SMARTPHONE YOU HAVE TO USE TO POST AN OLYMPUS SELFIE!!!

Why would you do that? For the better image quality? Hey, these folks are taking selfies with dirty smartphone lenses and then smearing them some more with an Instragram filter. They don't care about image quality. And the people who do, don't do selfies.
Click to expand...
 
The iPhone 5 has a 35mm equivalent focal length. Considering the kit lens for the PL7 only gets you to 28mm, you're not getting much more wide angle coverage.

Maybe they should market this with the 9mm fisheye for those really big nose selfies. ;-)
 
I've been known to roll my eyes at ad campaigns, especially ones with half-naked women reclining on the latest automobile models, but this one is really repulsive, even without T&A.

In the guise of trying to make the camera appealing to its target audience, it completely reinforces every female stereotype. It's condescending in the extreme, vapid, and tries way too hard to shoehorn the product into a niche where it really does not fit.

Well done, Olympus, well done.....

-J
 
You're not alone, comments are pretty ugly on a 43Rumors article noting abysmal Amazon pre-sales:

"What’s definitely not so cool for now is the very low interest for the E-PL7 at least in USA according to Amazon sales(and presales) ranking (Click here). You will have to scroll quite a couple of sites before to find the E-PL7 :-( ."

http://www.43rumors.com/cool-e-pl7-presentation-at-oly-uk-not-so-cool-presales-at-amazon/

A $200 premium over an E-M10 to get this "adorable camera" (quoting an Olympus ad here, no joke) with a VF2 is more than a bit nutty.

The silver lining for consumers, once Olympus' "marketing strategery" completely tanks it, there should be some nice fire sales on what could make a decent back-up to an E-M series body. Not so good for their bottom line, though.
 
tt321 said:
tt321 said:
What's heavily marketed is the arm's length selfie functionality not the control from your wifi smart device functionality, which other cameras have had for a long time (even the arm's length functionality is not new).
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Wifi control has been around for a LONG time? The E-M1 was the first Oly camera that had it… now a dinosaur?

Barry
 
As for the hipsters ditching their iPhones or Android phones to race to get a PL7; forget it. Even Ashton kutcher couldn't woo them back to the compact cameras they tossed with his cool Nikon commercials.

Then it occurred to me that I remember that every Japanese tourist I saw back in the 80s and 90s had a Nikon or Canon DSLR hanging around his or her neck. So what we may well have is Olympus taking the Pen product line that is hot in Japan and giving the hometown market what will go over big with them. If they sell any in Australia, or their western markets, it's just gravy. Sadly though, if they had put an EVF into the EP7, they would have a camera that would kick Fuji's X-series butt.
 
Wellington100 said:
What a great looking little camera. Pluses are:

Metal body

Looks like a small EP5 which is a classic looking camera

Physically small

Has a programmable thumb wheel

Great launch price

Great sensor

Minuses are:

Marketing this great little camera as a selfie camera. They may as well have named it the Olympus Narcissus I, the way they are carrying on about it being a camera for selfies. What a dumb idea to send a message to keen photographers who are their market that its a camera aimed at iPhone hipsters who would not be seen dead using one to begin with. Anyway those iPhone users would take one look at the UI and chuck it away. They would tolerate Olys hopeless UI after using iPhones for years.

FYI Olympus marketing people, the last thing in the world I want to take photos of is my ugly old mug pulling faces in exotic locations. Grow up.
Click to expand...
 
sderdiarian said:
You're not alone, comments are pretty ugly on a 43Rumors article noting abysmal Amazon pre-sales:

"What’s definitely not so cool for now is the very low interest for the E-PL7 at least in USA according to Amazon sales(and presales) ranking (Click here). You will have to scroll quite a couple of sites before to find the E-PL7 :-( ."

http://www.43rumors.com/cool-e-pl7-presentation-at-oly-uk-not-so-cool-presales-at-amazon/

A $200 premium over an E-M10 to get this "adorable camera" (quoting an Olympus ad here, no joke) with a VF2 is more than a bit nutty.

The silver lining for consumers, once Olympus' "marketing strategery" completely tanks it, there should be some nice fire sales on what could make a decent back-up to an E-M series body. Not so good for their bottom line, though.

--
Sailin' Steve
Click to expand...
I can see the price crashing and dragging down the EP5 price as well.

--

Fuji: XF1, X10, F900, F300, S100
Panasonic: LX7, GF5 with 9mm, 14mm, 20mm, 45-150mm
Canon: SX240
 
Last edited:
sderdiarian said:
You're not alone, comments are pretty ugly on a 43Rumors article noting abysmal Amazon pre-sales:

"What’s definitely not so cool for now is the very low interest for the E-PL7 at least in USA according to Amazon sales(and presales) ranking (Click here). You will have to scroll quite a couple of sites before to find the E-PL7 :-( ."

http://www.43rumors.com/cool-e-pl7-presentation-at-oly-uk-not-so-cool-presales-at-amazon/

A $200 premium over an E-M10 to get this "adorable camera" (quoting an Olympus ad here, no joke) with a VF2 is more than a bit nutty.

The silver lining for consumers, once Olympus' "marketing strategery" completely tanks it, there should be some nice fire sales on what could make a decent back-up to an E-M series body. Not so good for their bottom line, though.
Click to expand...
 
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