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

Hand held HDR, Focus Stack, High-Rez....

I don't want a 40MP camera. If I had one I'd dial the resolution back to 16MP most of the time to avoid working with gigantic files. Most of the data in the 40MP file is thrown away on prints and monitors that don't use it.

I like the idea of a 16-20MP camera that can toggle up 40MP for the very few times I need it. If it were faster, it would be more useful. I could leave the tripod home.

Tripods, not M43 is more endangered.

OLY may not have resources to refresh M43 bodies, bring out new lenses, and join L consortium.

I think the new bodies planned for 2019 release will do well. Maybe they should stick with that and see what Panasonic does. Will Panny keep making two formats? Impossible to say. If they quit M43 a flood of posts about the demise of the system will result, but also maybe a 33% sales increase for OLY which might benefit from being the only vendor in the format now that it's established and the product line is mature.

Pixel density is up to the sensor company. It could be reducing the size of the pixels to fit more on the sensor would degrade the IQ more than the benefit of higher resolution.

Makes me think about the hypocrites who buy or lease a new hybrid car every two years and claim to be saving the planet, but take no consideration of all the carbon burned to mine the materials and make the cars and recycle the old ones.

Turns out the Jeep Wrangler (in America) is the most environmentally friendly car/SUV. Even though it isn't fuel efficient, its stays on the road longer than any other vehicle in the US. If well maintained, It can last forever. Avoiding replacement is the most environmentally friendly/conservation strategy.

So keep using that old M43 camera and save the planet. Not really. Buy a new one when it wears out. The Jeep will last longer.

Depends on what the $3,000 body can do. The E-5 was the end because the new mount enabled the lens size and weight to be reduced. An E-6 and so one would have seen improvement in IQ, the sensor being good to ISO 3200+ now and 20MP - could have carried on to the Four Thirds mount, but not will a reduction in lens size and weight.

The new mount killed the old one but not the format. M43 sells better than Four Thirds ever did. Adding faster lenses and more capable bodies when you can still buy the current ones is not a bad thing, and does not necessarily mean the format is dead. Its dead only if its no longer viable or competitive. There is no evidence of it so far, just a lag in new models from a lack of more advanced technology to make them with, to make significantly better cameras with until 2019. All it means to me is the ones I could buy the last three years were very good.

I think its true the marketing department can have more impact by waiting until the buzz over Canon and Nikon FF mirrorless subsides.

You can only see 24MP M43 sensors if the sensor manufacturer can make them better than a 20MP sensor of the same size. All pixels are not equal. Bigger pixels are better. the 20MP sensor might outperform and the 24MP sensor for almost the same resolution. And it takes less processing power to move the data so everything electronic can move faster. There is a resolution sweet spot. I think its 20MP. I'm satisfied with 16MP. The lower resolution has some advantages.

Maybe the Vietnamese agreed not to force them to give up half the ownership, all the intellectual property or steal it, to do business in-country as is standard Chinese business practice. They are the PRC. Anybody forget about that? Wil they now have to pay tariffs to import cameras into China? Pay tribute to ship across the South China Sea?

WT21 wrote:

I wonder if IBIS and shutter shock are related when you are dealing with such small, lightweight bodies?

Sure. Apologize for this thread and immediately drag us kicking and screaming into another "hot topic" that is intended to keep us fixated until the takeover of Earth is complete !!!

Of course IBIS is related to SS, and especially when dealing with those lightweight bodies. I heard they were married, but Panasonic recently said they were just living together.

How long does it take them to land the Mothership and deploy the invasion force? This seems like its been going on for YEARS!!  They must be run by Olympus!

The current tariff kerfuffle has me pondering whether Oly's move to Vietnam wasn't a shrewd one in more ways than the obvious labor-cost savings. Of course, it's also not simple to follow when Thing A is made in Country B by a company HQd in Country C shipping to Country D from either Country B, C or even E.

If only our toys could talk.

Cheers,

Rick

MShot wrote:

Makes me think about the hypocrites who buy or lease a new hybrid car every two years and claim to be saving the planet, but take no consideration of all the carbon burned to mine the materials and make the cars and recycle the old ones.

Turns out the Jeep Wrangler (in America) is the most environmentally friendly car/SUV. Even though it isn't fuel efficient, its stays on the road longer than any other vehicle in the US. If well maintained, It can last forever. Avoiding replacement is the most environmentally friendly/conservation strategy.

So keep using that old M43 camera and save the planet. Not really. Buy a new one when it wears out. The Jeep will last longer.

Yup, I'll keep on using my 2013 vintage E-P5, can't see anything nicer (for my use) to replace it.

Just like I keep to the same car as long as possible, luckily my 19 year old Subaru seems to refuse to wear out.

Bad consumer = good friend of the Earth (which is doomed anyway, so why should we care?).

Regards.... Guy

Agree, well put. IIUC the PenF was also a one-off exercise and challenge to the designers to build a special camera commemorating the Pen. It would seem the camera has sold better than they anticipated and I won't be surprised if there's a follow-up model. Presuming the E-M1X is real it also may be a prestige camera and toe in the water to see whether a market exists.

To cop a term from corporatespeak, Oly has probably been "gunnysacking" new product to make a big splash for their 100th. It will be fun to watch whether we can keep our eyes on multiple shiny things at once. Will all of them foretell of doom and if so, how will they be ranked?

Cheers,

Rick

Skeeterbytes wrote:

Agree, well put. IIUC the PenF was also a one-off exercise and challenge to the designers to build a special camera commemorating the Pen. It would seem the camera has sold better than they anticipated and I won't be surprised if there's a follow-up model.

Not so sure about that. In one Olympus interview they made the statement that the "Pen-F sales almost met expectations".

It's nearing 3 years since the Pen-F so possibly a bit early to expect an update, but who knows what may happen in this significant 100th year?

Presuming the E-M1X is real it also may be a prestige camera and toe in the water to see whether a market exists.

Testing what the market will tolerate in the way of high priced cameras. I see truly absurd prices on some FF gear so why not a slice of that madness?

To cop a term from corporatespeak, Oly has probably been "gunnysacking" new product to make a big splash for their 100th. It will be fun to watch whether we can keep our eyes on multiple shiny things at once. Will all of them foretell of doom and if so, how will they be ranked?

Cheers,

Rick

James Pilcher wrote:

rurikw wrote:

JaKing 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. In tribute to the respectable history and good work done by the camera department they were allowed to make a few nice products for the 100 year anniversary. After that, silentium aeternum...

I had absolutely no idea that you had been authorised to speak on behalf of the Olympus corporation ... Congratulations ...

Thanks, I'm the official representative in our household. It took some negotiating to get there.

And its an official position very few will ever hold. I’m seriously impressed. I’m King of the Castle whenever my wife isn’t looking.

Yes, I make the occasional decision, when I'm allowed to.

Regards.... Guy

bobn2 wrote:

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.

Fair enough, I did miss the 2007 thing about Vietnam, it has been there a bit longer than I thought, but the fact remains that they closed the old and too expensive to upgrade facility in China, the demise of the compacts really helped cause that.

I did also see somewhere (lost now) that the Vietnam facility was "more modern" or that it could be updated to automation more easily. Possibly a better work ethic of the Vietnamese workforce also helped with that decision.

Regards..... Guy

MShot wrote:

..... The day will come when digital cameras will be mature and there will be no reason to replace them.

True, but I have hit that mark already. Moving from E-PL5 to E-P5 finally saw the last piece fall into place for me and I am 100% happy. The combination of MySets on the Mode dial, two control dials, good IBIS, 0 sec anti-shock, tilt screen, 12-40/2.8 plus raw shooting and DxO Photolab makes it all good.

Sure I miss out on a few features of the later image processing chips, but for all the shots that I do the E-P5 rates as perfectly useful.

Wake me up when something better for me comes along.

Regards.... Guy

Guy Parsons wrote:

bobn2 wrote:

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.

Fair enough, I did miss the 2007 thing about Vietnam, it has been there a bit longer than I thought, but the fact remains that they closed the old and too expensive to upgrade facility in China, the demise of the compacts really helped cause that.

I did also see somewhere (lost now) that the Vietnam facility was "more modern" or that it could be updated to automation more easily. Possibly a better work ethic of the Vietnamese workforce also helped with that decision.

Regards..... Guy

When a company chooses which plant to keep and which to close, it will always choose to keep the more modern, more efficient plant, unless the management is British, when they'll do it the other way round.

bobn2 wrote:

When a company chooses which plant to keep and which to close, it will always choose to keep the more modern, more efficient plant, unless the management is British, when they'll do it the other way round.

In the old days the British way was to use dumb machinery but have skilled workers. Other places went the other way and used dumb workers with smart machines.

Does Britain still have skilled workers? Or to put it another way, is anything made in Britain any more?

Regards.... Guy