Robin Wong criticises Olympus

I don't disagree with most of it. Maybe the criticism of the AF is a bit harsh as most early mirrorless cameras had AF that was significantly behind DSLR's. Ironically, Panasonic had more confident AF than Olympus back in the early days of mirrorless.

He produces some good u4/3 content. While some points he makes are valid, why the camera division did not do well is more complicated as there were corporate management issues as well as overall camera market contraction as part of the divestiture.

Dale

Cafe Racer said:

I don't disagree with most of it. Maybe the criticism of the AF is a bit harsh as most early mirrorless cameras had AF that was significantly behind DSLR's. Ironically, Panasonic had more confident AF than Olympus back in the early days of mirrorless.

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Dale108 said:

He produces some good u4/3 content. While some points he makes are valid, why the camera division did not do well is more complicated as there were corporate management issues as well as overall camera market contraction as part of the divestiture.

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I agree corporate management issues added to the complications. I think we could also add the public perception of sensor size to that analysis too.

Looks like a "revenge video". Lots of material available, if so minded.

Andrew

Olympus as a company went through "one of the biggest and longest-lived loss-concealing financial scandals in the history of corporate Japan" as Wikipedia puts it ... If rising tides lift all boats, then the opposite is what happened here. Talking about the camera business as if the decisions made within that one business unit "led to its downfall" completely ignores the impact to the overall business of the financial scandal.

Sorry but Olympus camera division's "downfall" wasn't because of any of the reasons in that video. Had the parent company not gone through a financial scandal and been forced to restructure itself, you would be enjoying your Oly EM-1 Mk IV right now.

Yeah, I realised the spelling error, but too late to change it.

ahaslett said:

Looks like a "revenge video".

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That's likely the motivation.

ahaslett said:

Lots of material available, if so minded.

Andrew

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It sounds like sour grape to me. I lost all respect for Robin Wong of late. Seeing "why I am not buying the new OM-1" right after OM System decided not to extend his contract. That was the lowest of the low, regardless of his reasoning.

jkeegan said:

Olympus as a company went through "one of the biggest and longest-lived loss-concealing financial scandals in the history of corporate Japan" as Wikipedia puts it ... If rising tides lift all boats, then the opposite is what happened here. Talking about the camera business as if the decisions made within that one business unit "led to its downfall" completely ignores the impact to the overall business of the financial scandal.

Sorry but Olympus camera division's "downfall" wasn't because of any of the reasons in that video. Had the parent company not gone through a financial scandal and been forced to restructure itself, you would be enjoying your Oly EM-1 Mk IV right now.

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Interesting, any thoughts on why 4/3rds dslr's were short lived?

This is just Wong !

Cafe Racer said:

jkeegan said:

Olympus as a company went through "one of the biggest and longest-lived loss-concealing financial scandals in the history of corporate Japan" as Wikipedia puts it ... If rising tides lift all boats, then the opposite is what happened here. Talking about the camera business as if the decisions made within that one business unit "led to its downfall" completely ignores the impact to the overall business of the financial scandal.

Sorry but Olympus camera division's "downfall" wasn't because of any of the reasons in that video. Had the parent company not gone through a financial scandal and been forced to restructure itself, you would be enjoying your Oly EM-1 Mk IV right now.

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Interesting, any thoughts on why 4/3rds dslr's were short lived?

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Combination of things. Things were going relatively well, with lots of new cameras along with some lenses in the mid 2000s and then the Great Recession hit, reducing sales (for all companies, of course). Panasonic had already bailed after producing a whopping two 4/3 cameras.

In the middle of this era, Sony waded into the fray and carved out sales from everybody, Olympus included. They introduced TEN DSLRs in 2008-2009.

The Oly accounting scandal hit after the market crash and provided a double-punch. Meantime, Oly was spending their time ramping up m4/3, with new cameras and lenses, along with the usual blizzard of compact digicams. (Nineteen new cameras in 2011, six in 2014.)

The E-5, Oly's last 4/3 camera, was released in 2010. There was supposed to be an E-7, it was developed alongside the E-M1, introducing 16MP to 4/3. Oly decided on-sensor PDAF was adequate to drive the 4/3 lenses and did not release the E-7, tacitly ending the format even if a formal announcement was missing.

I think if 4/3 lenses had more data handling for video and advanced features, along with better focusing and aperture motors, they might have kept the format alive, but instead took another path. They may not have had the resources to keep both lines alive, we'll never know.

My $0.02.

Rick

Lifesucks said:

This is just Wong !

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Yes, but sometimes you just have to Wing it!

Lifesucks said:

This is just Wong !

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No need for racist comments

**** Barbour said:

Lifesucks said:

This is just Wong !

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Yes, but sometimes you just have to Wing it!

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Another racist attempt

joeletx said:

It sounds like sour grape to me. I lost all respect for Robin Wong of late. Seeing "why I am not buying the new OM-1" right after OM System decided not to extend his contract. That was the lowest of the low, regardless of his reasoning.

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I tend to agree, and doubt any of the reasons given could stand scientific and market analysis scrutiny. Mostly his personal impressions rather than factual. Olympus was never competitive in the pro market to begin with and always lacked the support infrastructure expected by that market. Small was and arguably still is the hallmark of Japanese manufacturing and engineering, and the pride of Olympus; if anything Olympus is being criticized for going away from that philosophy. Video support? Arguable (as a reason for demise) in so many ways. Surely there were some strategic decisions, I agree, that could have changed the course of Olympus history, if they could have had a crystal ball. In my unscientific equally subjective opinion though, marketing (including product distribution) was Olympus' Achilles Heel and biggest failure.

He seems bitter his moment has passed. Easy to see why. The snapshots he takes of his breakfast and his neighborhood are what people use phones for today.

Cafe Racer said:

I think we could also add the public perception of sensor size to that analysis too.

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Yeah. It baffles me why Olympus & Panasonic don’t do some kind of “Shot on m4/3” marketing campaign with huge billboard photos. If it works for 12mp iPhone photos, it will work for 20mp m4/3.

The m4/3 market is squeezed by FF from the top and mobile phones from the bottom and suffocated.

joeletx said:

It sounds like sour grape to me. I lost all respect for Robin Wong of late. Seeing "why I am not buying the new OM-1" right after OM System decided not to extend his contract. That was the lowest of the low, regardless of his reasoning.

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Personally, if I was an ambassador or visionary and got dumped unceremoniously, I certainly would not buy their latest camera either. As a matter of fact, after owning a lot of Olympus gear, I now have exactly ..... one; a 12-45 f4 lens :-|

--
"True craftsmen never blame their tools, but strive to use them properly"

joeletx said:

It sounds like sour grape to me. I lost all respect for Robin Wong of late. Seeing "why I am not buying the new OM-1" right after OM System decided not to extend his contract. That was the lowest of the low, regardless of his reasoning.

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I thought His reasoning was he didn't need it and couldn't justify the cost for himself? What's so wrong about that? I don't remember him bashing the camera or anything.

And indeed, there weren't any. Just noting the mistake the OP made in properly naming Mr. Wong and then making a pun in the remark. The fact that Mr. Wong (not Wing) is of some race or other is irrelevant.

Cafe Racer said:

Yeah, I realised the spelling error, but too late to change it.

Cafe Racer said:

Looks like a "revenge video".

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That's likely the motivation.

Cafe Racer said:

Lots of material available, if so minded.

Andrew

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I watched most of Robin's videos and learned a trememdous amount of valuable information. In the past year, he seems to have changed and I don't enjoy his videos any longer. They frequently have a negative tone.

I think it was a huge mistake for OMDS to not renew his contract. Robin didn't take that well.