E-PL9 no VF port?

shinndigg wrote:

Seriously... Marketing departments screw up ALL the time.

Yes, companies are now driven by bean counters and marketing, but they do do their homework as to what their target market is. Selling E-PLx to women then viewfinders are out.

Gear-heads on photo forums usually want all the bells and whistles so are prepared (or need to be prepared) to pay bigger $$$ to get that.

Just because a tiny and vocal enthusiast group of camera users thinks they need viewfinders when their marketing research says the average customer thinks otherwise...... are they going to build for the tiny minority or for the greater market?

Personal note, I grew out of using viewfinders some time back and now am 100% happy with screen only use. But E-PL9 would never work for me, mainly because of the loss of MySets, that is a total screw-up.

Regards.... Guy

Guy Parsons wrote:

shinndigg wrote:

Seriously... Marketing departments screw up ALL the time.

Yes, companies are now driven by bean counters and marketing, but they do do their homework as to what their target market is. Selling E-PLx to women then viewfinders are out.

Gear-heads on photo forums usually want all the bells and whistles so are prepared (or need to be prepared) to pay bigger $$$ to get that.

Just because a tiny and vocal enthusiast group of camera users thinks they need viewfinders when their marketing research says the average customer thinks otherwise...... are they going to build for the tiny minority or for the greater market?

Personal note, I grew out of using viewfinders some time back and now am 100% happy with screen only use. But E-PL9 would never work for me, mainly because of the loss of MySets, that is a total screw-up.

Regards.... Guy

Camera industry is run by marketing and dinosaur management alright.

If you replace the word "camera" with "phone" or "car" in these discussions, are we really saying that items like this are now reduced in features/simplicity, because thats what women want?

I dont know any woman or anyone that want a simplified and less feature rich car or phone etc.. but thats what they want in a camera?

Are we saying just make it pink with less dials and boom we have a seller?

I'm not saying this is what you think guy. I'm just putting it out there.

maltmoose wrote:

Camera industry is run by marketing and dinosaur management alright.

They are running is a state of panic currently, as they see the market collapsing around them.

If you replace the word "camera" with "phone" or "car" in these discussions, are we really saying that items like this are now reduced in features/simplicity, because thats what women want?

That particular camera is aimed at the female Asian and particularly Japanese market, so that's what they produced.

I dont know any woman or anyone that want a simplified and less feature rich car or phone etc.. but thats what they want in a camera?

That I can't answer, but Oly would be thinking "how we can we produce the familiar E-PLx model at the lowest possible cost and still be good enough to sell to our target market?"

Are we saying just make it pink with less dials and boom we have a seller?

Well, the top selling Casio pocket cameras think that way and it has worked for them, for many years either #1 or #2 in Japan behind Canon.

For example look at the Casio ZR5100 , that page says it all about the market addressed. But I bought one from Hong Kong regardless as the 19-95mm equivalent lens small camera in a belt-pouch works for me for casual use. I didn't buy the pink model but the white one so I look like a harmless tourist.

I'm not saying this is what you think guy. I'm just putting it out there.

It's a case of addressing the market with what they think are the appropriate cameras. You see women in the E-PLx ads, but when they came out with the E-M5 we saw trendy men with two days stubble as the target audience as far as the published ads were concerned. I'm clean shaven so it was not appropriate to buy one.

So now the current marketing of Olympus M4/3 seems to be.....

• E-PL9 for women.
• Pen-F for enthusiasts.
• E-M10 Mk3 for beginners to Olympus M4/3
• E-M5 Mk2 for enthusiasts.
• E-M1 Mk2 for dedicated enthusiasts or pro use.

Pick one group and buy appropriately.

Regards..... Guy

shinndigg wrote:

I don't agree that the enthusiast group that would have been interested if it had a accessory port is "tiny".

Well, it is tiny compared to the vast numbers of Asian women they are aiming at.

Personal note, I grew out of using viewfinders some time back

Sorry Guy, but you are in the minority, at least in these forums.

I freely admit that, and ran a poll some time back to find that only around 10% of us here in this forum are screen only users.

Edit: please don't take this as an attack on you or your personal preferences. It isn't meant that way.

Don't worry, we are all still good friends, I hope.

I'm just trying to present the wider real world picture and not some myopic view of what a camera should be determined by a bunch of enthusiasts in a photo forum.

Regards..... Guy