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Olympus abdicating entry level ILS market?

Started Dec 26, 2014 | Discussions thread
Steve_
Steve_ Senior Member • Posts: 2,876
no huge change

Even back when Olympus put the emphasis on the EPL-1 it was still costly compared to the cheapest DSLRs. As far back as the D40 Nikon there have been good ~$500 entry-level DSLRs that strayed south of that mark with promotions. On pure-function basis it's hard to argue against the current crop, leaving m43 in a 'if it really needs to be small' niche.

There will probably be an E-PM3 at some point, but even if not I think the E-PL7 is a smarter buy. The ugrade to the E-M10-like stabilization is a big one, with better controls and a deeper feature-set. As it ages it will no doubt occupy the ~$500 class and in reality be a better deal than all the earlier low-end Pens.

The fact that it took years to run out of the apparently huge productions of E-PL1, 2, and 3s brought them down to really low prices. Great for the budget m43 shooter, but probably not so great for Olympus' bottom line. I could understand them seeing little to gain by (again) flooding the market with $250 camera-and-lens kits of unexciting specification.

All the numbers I've seen make the economics of the current camera market look pretty bleak. Olympus has decided to stay in the market, but if you're going to loose money on each unit sold I guess you might as well as focus on more glamorous products that have more image-building value.

 Steve_'s gear list:Steve_'s gear list
Olympus OM-D E-M5 Olympus E-M1 Panasonic Lumix G Vario 7-14mm F4 ASPH Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm 1:2.8-3.5 SWD Panasonic Lumix G 14mm F2.5 ASPH +13 more
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