Will there be an E-PM3?

ramcewan wrote:

Though Japan, per capita, buys a whole heck of a lot more cameras (especially mirrorless), they only make up between 14-20% of the total mirrorless cameras sold and even less when you factor in DSLRs/compacts. At this point, Oly and Panny are just selling to their base, as they have yet to find a way to break out of their humdrum sales outside of Japan. An entry level camera is normally a pretty solid way to do this, but I think the lack of proper marketing/support combined with a relatively high price to feature ratio makes it a much harder sell to a new budding enthusiast in especially the United States... much moreso than say, an A6000 (even though I personally dislike that camera).

The A6000 also benefits from being sold in most big box stores in the US, where Olympus and Panasonic don't. Further even those willing to shop at a camera store or online only fall for the spec monster with the A6000 ticking more boxes than others. It's hard to convince people that they need to look beyond the specs of the body and consider the system when they're buying that entry level camera. I found this to be true of a coworker who even though I counseled against the A6000 on strength of it's available lenses in terms of bang/buck of the whole system as compared to MFT, still was sucked into the A6000 two lens bundle by the camera store salesman. Now he's got the compact kit lens which is known to be dodgy instead of the GM5 and it's excellent 12-32mm I recommended for less.

I'm sure 75% of the A6000s sold never see another lens outside the kit and sit with low shutter counts in the closet while the owner reverts to using their smartphone. On the other hand I think the majority of MFT gear gets used.

The big box store presence is exactly the marketing/support I was referring to. And, of course the A6000 is basically glued to its kit lens because, there really isn't many options outside of a couple of sigmas or expensive full frame sony glass.

I'd like to see a shared marketing support from Panny/Oly that just sells the m43's system. One kiosk with the cameras in the middle. The left kiosk has all the Oly lenses the right kiosk has all the panny lenses. You can test each camera with any of the lenses. Then have signage that promotes m43's and both companies, with a focus on the comprehensiveness of the system through marketing taglines primarily aimed at focusing on the creative flexibility of such a great lens library. "How do you like to see the world? See the world through different lenses, try a wide angle, or a super telephoto lens right here. M43's offers the most comprehensive library of lenses for any mirrorless system." Should also have a few large posters from great m43's photogs with the exif data on them.

So now you have a clear choice... an A6000 with a kit zoom, or the entire m43's system.