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

Zoonami wrote:

From a pure performance perspective the e-m10 III actually did advance considerably from the mk ii. Better measured resolution, faster af, faster single and continuous shooting than even the e-m5 ii. Better iso performance too. I made a post about it .

Faster single shooting.  Hmmm.

Zoonami wrote:

nevada5 wrote:

Zoonami wrote:

From a pure performance perspective the e-m10 III actually did advance considerably from the mk ii. Better measured resolution, faster af, faster single and continuous shooting than even the e-m5 ii. Better iso performance too. I made a post about it .

Faster single shooting. Hmmm.

Basically twice as fast and 3x faster than an e-m5 ii. Burst also has no buffer in jpeg. So straight up 8.6 fps until you run out of memory card storage. Raw at 6fps is also about 2x as fast as e-m10 ii and e-m5 ii. And yes, I think most people appreciate being able to take fast shot to shot single shots.

I read through the E-M5 II review but I couldn't find any shot-to-shot times (I think they used to call it lag time.)  Where is that spec located?

So you already know what's going to happen after they release their cameras and lenses in 2019? Silence? That's what's gonna happen? OK, I guess Olympus is going down. 100 years after being in business and recently recovering from huge scandal / crime problems, they're gonna release their "swan song" products and then fold and die. All that major new logistic / manufacturing operation they've been working on, I guess they were also allowed to do it just so that the swan song would sound nice. Go out with a bang. Now it makes sense.

rurikw wrote:

that if you want to develop medical products it's more efficient to do R&D on medical products than on consumer cameras and then try to find out whether there is anything applicable to the medical line.

Given the rumours about the size of the E-M1 X, I really, really hope I never have to attend a hospital equipped with an endoscope based on it.

bobn2 wrote:

rurikw wrote:

that if you want to develop medical products it's more efficient to do R&D on medical products than on consumer cameras and then try to find out whether there is anything applicable to the medical line.

Given the rumours about the size of the E-M1 X, I really, really hope I never have to attend a hospital equipped with an endoscope based on it.

It's not the size of the sensor that is the problem, it's the IBIS wobbling it all about that smarts.

Regards.... Guy

rurikw wrote:

Adielle wrote:

So you already know what's going to happen after they release their cameras and lenses in 2019? Silence? That's what's gonna happen? OK, I guess Olympus is going down. 100 years after being in business and recently recovering from huge scandal / crime problems, they're gonna release their "swan song" products and then fold and die. All that major new logistic / manufacturing operation they've been working on, I guess they were also allowed to do it just so that the swan song would sound nice. Go out with a bang. Now it makes sense.

Yeah the Vietnam thing is a headscratcher. Maybe secret agreement with Sony or whoever will take over...

The Vietnam thing is all about closing an old and outdated facility in China and moving to a new more automated and cheaper labour factory in Vietnam.

Regards..... Guy

PlumShots wrote:

On tap for 2019:

• 4 Cameras
  • improved base sensor performance

Does that mean a return of native ISO 100?

• • mproved IBIS
  • improved autofocus
  • newer EVFs

• • model-specific enhancements/features
  • emphasis on best hybrid (stills/video) solutions
• Software updates
  • to support new features

Any chance we will get a rewritten version of Olympus viewer into a modern code thus the SW will finally be usable and smooth on current multicore PCs?

• Firmware updates

They should deliver another one for the E-M1.2. People are waiting for it. I was quite pleased they added a lot of features to the E-M5.2 (a spot metering with any of 81 selectable points is now possible, even the E-M1.1 doesnt have that).

rurikw wrote:

Adielle wrote:

So you already know what's going to happen after they release their cameras and lenses in 2019? Silence? That's what's gonna happen? OK, I guess Olympus is going down. 100 years after being in business and recently recovering from huge scandal / crime problems, they're gonna release their "swan song" products and then fold and die. All that major new logistic / manufacturing operation they've been working on, I guess they were also allowed to do it just so that the swan song would sound nice. Go out with a bang. Now it makes sense.

Yeah the Vietnam thing is a headscratcher. Maybe secret agreement with Sony or whoever will take over...

It's not really much of a headscratcher, they are just closing a plant. They aren't opening a new one, just shifting some production to their existing (since 2007) plant in Vietnam. The announcement is here:

https://www.olympus-global.com/ir/data/announcement/2018/contents/ir00003.pdf

This kind of thing happens all the time when a company's business is contracting (and sometimes when it isn't). If they have more production capacity than they need, they reduce overheads by closing plants and consolidating to the newer/more efficient plants.

The announcement gives the reasons:

Olympus Corporation established OSZ in Shenzhen, China, in December 1991, for the manufacture of products relating to the digital camera business. However, the digital camera market suffered a rapid contraction due to the rise of smartphones, leading to a marked decline in OSZ's operating rate. OSZ's equipment had also deteriorated after 26 years of operation. It would be extremely difficult to maintain the competitiveness of OSZ.
Up until now Olympus Corporation manufactured products relating to the digital camera business at OSZ and at Olympus Vietnam Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Olympus Vietnam") located in Dong Nai Province in Vietnam, but in light of the above-mentioned facts, we have decided to discontinue operations of OSZ and concentrate this production at Olympus Vietnam. This will enhance our production efficiency and profitability, enhancing the global competitiveness of our digital camera business.

Closing plants invariably involves expense. Relocation of equipment, retraining of personnel in the plants taking on new work, disposal of the unused equipment and property, write-down of capital assets and very often in locations such as China, reimbursement of grants and loans which were given as incentives to locate there in the first place.

John King and Tom Caldwell are accountants with long and deep experience of such corporate matters. Doubtless they could shed more light on this.

Guy Parsons wrote:

rurikw wrote:

Adielle wrote:

So you already know what's going to happen after they release their cameras and lenses in 2019? Silence? That's what's gonna happen? OK, I guess Olympus is going down. 100 years after being in business and recently recovering from huge scandal / crime problems, they're gonna release their "swan song" products and then fold and die. All that major new logistic / manufacturing operation they've been working on, I guess they were also allowed to do it just so that the swan song would sound nice. Go out with a bang. Now it makes sense.

Yeah the Vietnam thing is a headscratcher. Maybe secret agreement with Sony or whoever will take over...

The Vietnam thing is all about closing an old and outdated facility in China and moving to a new more automated and cheaper labour factory in Vietnam.

They aren't moving to a new factory in Vietnam. The Vietnam factory has been operational since 2007. They are just consolidating production around the Vietnam factory. Essentially, all they are doing is closing one of their factories.