Where the heck is Olympus? 3 cameras in 2+ years?

I was thinking about adding a compact camera to complement my Panasonic G85. I decided to look at Olympus, and I was shocked to see only 3 models since Sept 2016, and one is a Tough compact camera! (another was the E-PL9, which is a reskin of the EPL8 which was a reskin of the EPL7 AFAIK)

https://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/cameras?subcategoryId=cameras&page=1

Panasonic has had 11 in that time, Fuji 12, Sony 9, Canon 15 and Nikon 18 (that includes DSLR, Mirrorless and compacts, for all makers). Heck even Pentax/Ricoh has had 5 in that time. Leica has had 8.

So, I checked lenses. In 2017/18

• Oly: 2
• Panny: 8
• Sony: 9
• Fuji: 16
• Leica: 6(!)

I just can't bare to look anymore.

What is Olympus doing?? Are these DPR counts correct? I know there's a new one coming in January, with a couple of lenses, but WTH?

Leaving aside your questionable 'logic', so what?

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along ...

Next year is the 100th Anniversary, so it makes sense that nothing big was announced this year.

Corel isn't interested in the cameras, they just want to sell Olympus Viewer. They are a little PO'ed at not being able to buy NIK or Motorola Mobility from Google, and intend to turn OV4 into the new Picassa. I hear Canadians never forget, and never forgive. (All that free healthcare makes them reckless) Google, Corel will shut you DOWN!

Hey, it's just what I heard. I don't know if it's true, or not. The voices in my head are not always reliable.

WT21 wrote:

I was thinking about adding a compact camera to complement my Panasonic G85. I decided to look at Olympus, and I was shocked to see only 3 models since Sept 2016, and one is a Tough compact camera! (another was the E-PL9, which is a reskin of the EPL8 which was a reskin of the EPL7 AFAIK)

https://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/cameras?subcategoryId=cameras&page=1

Panasonic has had 11 in that time, Fuji 12, Sony 9, Canon 15 and Nikon 18 (that includes DSLR, Mirrorless and compacts, for all makers). Heck even Pentax/Ricoh has had 5 in that time. Leica has had 8.

So, I checked lenses. In 2017/18

• Oly: 2
• Panny: 8
• Sony: 9
• Fuji: 16
• Leica: 6(!)

I just can't bare to look anymore.

What is Olympus doing?? Are these DPR counts correct? I know there's a new one coming in January, with a couple of lenses, but WTH?

There are some truth in what you posted, at least from high level observation. But I have some comments to add, to provide a better picture.

• Half of what Panny released in 2017 are revisions for lens. Whilst I also wish that Oly did some lens revisions, releasing a lens revision is very different from releasing a completely new lens.
• Fuji's release may look outstanding, but dig into it, what we hare are 4 cinematography lens, 7 medium format lens and only 5 lens that are actually designed for our intended camera. The former 11 lenses are not compatible in any way to cameras such as X-T2.
• Sony is probably the only company on the roll for the past 2 years in releasing lenses.

I have also gone through the list of lenses both Sony and Fuji has. Their ecosystem is way more underdeveloped compared to MFT. For example, in Fuji, there are actually very limited choices in wide-angle lenses.

If you go back further in years, you will notice that both Panny and Oly's 'lens release speed' (if there's such a term) are roughly almost the same of about 3-4 lenses a year in a normal year. I wouldn't be too alarmed for now, but I also wish that Oly would come out with lens revisions more often.

nevada5 wrote:

JaKing wrote:

Leaving aside your questionable 'logic', so what?

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along ...

Back when I was shooting with the Samsung NX system, there was no announcement from the company. There was a steep slowdown, then nothing new, then nothing at all.

If Olympus releases nothing for a year, will you be concerned? If not, at what point would you say they pulled a Samsung?

The OP demonstrated with facts that Oly has put out a fraction of what other manufacturers have released in 2 years. He's rightfully concerned with "nothing to see here, folks."

Olympus is a Japanese company. Totally different societal and corporate attitudes from the Koreans.

What I see is:

1. EM5.3 - long awaited, but they choose to make a EM1X. I don't see the logic in this move, but I hope they know what they are doing.
2. Revamp their not always convincing F1.8and F2 prime series: add WR and closer focus and improve IQ of the 17mm lens. - Would  anyone except a few (like myself) get excited about that? And who would buy the fat, expensive F1,2 primes then?
3. Produce a F1.8 6-8mm recitilinear UWA with AF, WR, focus down to 0,1m - this is one niche that is not occupied already, since the 2/7.5 Loawa it MF only.
4. They seem to concentrate on wildlife photography with another huge and very long tele zoom lens. I wonder how often they sell this sort of thing.

Some people here rely on the assumption, that Olympus knows what they are doing. But I see a dangerous parallel to the 43 DSLR debacle.

Again they try to make small sensor cameras that are a serious competition for FF. No doubt technically great bodies and (still) outstanding lenses like the F2/150 and 2.8/300. But it all ended in a financial disaster, because only the die hard Olympus fans would buy this miraculous technology.

I had the suspicion Olympus is going to try this again, when the large 2.8/40-150 came out (I love this lens but for every day use I take a 2.8/60 macro and wait for the 56mm Sigma). My fear was confirmed with the F1.2 prime series: large heavy beautiful expensive technology to prove, M43 can produce the bohek of a F2.4 FF lens.
The rumored EM1X seems proof to me, that Olympus is going that way again. Who wants a large body (with 2 grips!) with a tiny sensor? It would be a good laugh, it it wasn't so sad for M43.

I seriously hope, I am wrong in all these speculations.

Peter

WT21 wrote:

I was thinking about adding a compact camera to complement my Panasonic G85. I decided to look at Olympus, and I was shocked to see only 3 models since Sept 2016, and one is a Tough compact camera! (another was the E-PL9, which is a reskin of the EPL8 which was a reskin of the EPL7 AFAIK)

https://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/cameras?subcategoryId=cameras&page=1

Panasonic has had 11 in that time, Fuji 12, Sony 9, Canon 15 and Nikon 18 (that includes DSLR, Mirrorless and compacts, for all makers). Heck even Pentax/Ricoh has had 5 in that time. Leica has had 8.

So, I checked lenses. In 2017/18

• Oly: 2
• Panny: 8
• Sony: 9
• Fuji: 16
• Leica: 6(!)

I just can't bare to look anymore.

What is Olympus doing?? Are these DPR counts correct? I know there's a new one coming in January, with a couple of lenses, but WTH?

Are you living under a rock? 3 new cameras next year.

JaKing wrote:

nevada5 wrote:

JaKing wrote:

Leaving aside your questionable 'logic', so what?

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along ...

Back when I was shooting with the Samsung NX system, there was no announcement from the company. There was a steep slowdown, then nothing new, then nothing at all.

If Olympus releases nothing for a year, will you be concerned? If not, at what point would you say they pulled a Samsung?

The OP demonstrated with facts that Oly has put out a fraction of what other manufacturers have released in 2 years. He's rightfully concerned with "nothing to see here, folks."

Olympus is a Japanese company. Totally different societal and corporate attitudes from the Koreans.

Just throwing this out there. As a corporation Olympus don't exactly have a fully honourable record....

"By 2012 the scandal had developed into one of the biggest and longest-lived loss-concealing financial scandals in the history of corporate Japan; it had wiped 75–80% off the company's stock market valuation, led to the resignation of much of the board, investigations across Japan, the UK and US, the arrest of 11 past or present Japanese directors, senior managers, auditors and bankers of Olympus for alleged criminal activities or cover-up, and raised considerable turmoil and concern over Japan's prevailing corporate governance and transparency"

Corporations are like people.  It matters not where they are from.

It's not incumbent on me to defend the corporate behaviour of the directors of Olympus dating back to the early 1990s. In Woodford's place, I would also have blown the whistle - as I did when I was employed by one of Australia's then biggest companies ...

However, I stand by my comment that different cultures approach these things differently. An example: no Australian company would have bailed out Olympus the way Sony did.