Where are the Olympus cameras?....

dinoSnake wrote:

SpinOne wrote:

Are you really saying that the only thing standing between Olympus and Corporate Doom is... putting out the E-M1 iii six months sooner than they originally planned?

No, not at all.

Have you thought this through?

Yes. Very much so. And the point that is trying to be made - a reasonable point, not the far-out ones that [usually older] m43 supporters believe is being said - is that "Corporate Doom" is standing Olympus in the face if they continue to fail to inspire upgraders and potential customers to buy/stay in the system.

The old guys want to play "What we have now is good enough!" but the market does NOT play that way!! DOES NOT. Either you continue to produce new products, continue to entice and excite new customers into the fold and legacy customers to buy upgrades, or you die. Period. End of discussion.

16mpx CDAF cameras' time has passed. It was OK 4 years ago. This is 2018, quickly coming into 2019, and the game has changed - Fuji is upping the ante in crop sensor mirrorless, Sony is going full-bore speed ahead on mirrorless development, both Canon and Nikon have announced FF mirrorless systems. What was OK 4 years ago is not acceptable performance today.

And some of us want that better performance because, even as legacy users, we have issues with system abilities today that need addressing. AF performance is middling, TTL flash consistency improves with every m43 generation, 20mpx will allow more room for after-capture crop. These are not unreasonable desires for 2018 digital camera performan

"What was OK 4 years ago is not acceptable performance today."

Yes it is. However, you do have a point that it would be a good idea for them to release a newer sensor, potentially with more megapixels. But if it was good 4 years ago, it's good now. Competitively, maybe not. Overall, definitely.

jonoke wrote:

For those that missed it, there was a super boring Olympus press thing at Photokina (it's on youtube) where they basically said they were committed to staying with M43, that it's benefits haven't lessened or gone away just because the world is going FF, and that Olympus is not releasing anything this year because they will releasing something/new product? next year on their 100yr aniversary.

Jon

Thanks for this.

With all this back and forth, and speculation, an actual comment FROM Olympus.

NCV wrote:

Ben Herrmann wrote:

I loved it back in the ole' 35 MM days when camera models were on the market for years and you didn't have to worry (if insecure) about your model camera being bested by something newer (like in the digital era).

Now-a-days, if we don't see something new in let's say...6 months to a year or so, the world is perceived as coming apart.

As I said, even though I shoot with various contemporary models, there is still a certain joy in using some of the older models.

I am playing with an old D700 I bought for peanuts. I love the output from this camera.

People overreact with new cameras.

Admittedly, the do perform better in a lot of aspects. But in reality, they just make things easier. That doesn't mean the older tech was bad, or is bad now.

I know I sound like an old purist there, and I'm justifying using old cameras.....but it's true.

I actually went from a new A6300 to an Em5 mark 2 from Olympus and havent regretted it. The Em5 2 is 4 years old now, but it functions JUST fine.

Does it do phase detect autofocus so that I can film a vlog and keep myself in focus? Nope. Do I need that? Nope.

Do I have live composite? Yup. Time lapse that I didnt have to pay for, and hi-res, which the Sony didnt have? Yup.

SpinOne wrote:

dinoSnake wrote:

SpinOne wrote:

Are you really saying that the only thing standing between Olympus and Corporate Doom is... putting out the E-M1 iii six months sooner than they originally planned?

No, not at all.

Have you thought this through?

Yes. Very much so. And the point that is trying to be made - a reasonable point, not the far-out ones that [usually older] m43 supporters believe is being said - is that "Corporate Doom" is standing Olympus in the face if they continue to fail to inspire upgraders and potential customers to buy/stay in the system.

How? By putting out new cameras with changes that are all but cosmetic?

The old guys want to play "What we have now is good enough!" but the market does NOT play that way!! DOES NOT.

Actually, it does. One of the reasons that digital camera sales fell off a cliff is because photographers no longer need to replace a camera body ever 18 months. Chasing gearheads is expensive

The market also does not support a strategy of high-volume, low-margin goods.

16mpx CDAF cameras' time has passed. It was OK 4 years ago.

By that logic, 24mp 35mm sensors have passed. Yet we have multiple new high-end high-price high-margin 24mp cameras -- A9, D5, 1DX ii, Z6, A7iii, S1.

Maybe... Just maybe... MP doesn't matter much anymore. It's like clock speed on CPUs; it was once the most critical spec for a new computer. Today, other than a handful of geeks, no one cares.

This is 2018, quickly coming into 2019, and the game has changed - Fuji is upping the ante in crop sensor mirrorless....

Please. They have 1 model with IBIS, they are still stuck on X-Trans, video leaves a lot to be desired, AF is a work in progress. Having used Fuji, which is a fine system, it sounds a lot to me like the grass is greener on the other side.

Sony is going full-bore speed ahead on mirrorless development

Sony is putting out cameras with mostly cosmetic changes, because they want to sell imaging sensors.

Or perhaps you're thinking of the A9, which has much of the same tech as the E-M1 ii, and uses a 24mp sensor, was launched only a few months later, and cost $4000 new...?

both Canon and Nikon have announced FF mirrorless systems.

As already mentioned, they've launched very expensive systems that lack a lot of features (including ones on the "ancient" E-M5 ii), and with no real interest in portability.

What was OK 4 years ago is not acceptable performance today.

Really? OK then, I guess Sony should yank the A7iii, Nikon should never have launched the Z6, Canon should have included IBIS and a higher-MP sensor in the R, and Panasonic should skip on the S1.

The reality is that improvements in camera performance have slowed dramatically over the past few years. There are a few nice usability tweaks, and a few more cameras with more MP than most people actually need, but there is very little you can do with a 2018 camera that you couldn't do with a camera launched in 2015 or 2014. That's why I keep pointing out that digital cameras are mature.

And some of us want that better performance because, even as legacy users, we have issues with system abilities today that need addressing. AF performance is middling

Yet again... That's not a new issue.

TTL flash consistency improves with every m43 generation

Wow. TTL flash. HUGE!!!

20mpx will allow more room for after-capture crop.

There is almost no IQ difference between 16mp and 20mp. That's just a mathematical fact.

These are not unreasonable desires for 2018 digital camera performance.

Or, with the exception of AF (whose competitive position hasn't changed in 3 years), they are irrational desires based on mostly illusory advantages.

This is one of the most amazing (and accurate) things I've ever read.

It would be nice to see firmware updates in mean time..