Olympus exiting the camera business?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Looks like they are selling their business to JIP,the same company which bought the Vaio brand from Sony:
https://www.dpreview.com/news/66071...-sell-imaging-business-by-the-end-of-the-year

 

[Nazbit]

My first camera was Olympus. Remember buying it from Jessops and opening it as soon as I got back to the car. Not sure how old I would have been. Late primary school. Enjoyed that camera for a long time.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/technology-53165293

 

[EGuitarStar]

Whether or not the Olympus camera heritage will continue depends on whether JIP can turn it around and make it profitable. With camera sales in constant decline due to what the smart phone market has done, it is a difficult task.

The Vaio brand no longer exists, if that is anything to go by then we'll see more photography brands follow suit, unless they make some radical changes.

A look at the new Panasonic camera released today, it brings nothing to the market that already has not been done better, just doesn't make any sense.

 

[a1ex2001]

Such a shame I still have a Trip sat on my mantle! The camera market is pretty cut throat though and I think we will see plenty more fall by the wayside as it is basically smartphone or high end these days the middle ground has gone.

 

[Grimley]

Shame. I owned an OM10 for a few years, but I wanted a point & shoot pocket sized camera after that so I got a AZ200 Superzoom. I owned that for 12 years when I went over to Digital.

 

[john_s]

Sad news. My first SLR was an OM-40.

 

[Spleen Sauce]

Gutted because Olympus offer some fantastic kit, but with some of their recent releases (EM1x) and quite ridiculous pricing I’m not entirely surprised.

 

[sideways14a]

Maybe if they tried harder to move with the times they wouldn't be in this crap

 

[a1ex2001]

Maybe if they tried harder to move with the times they wouldn't be in this crap

They have made some bad choices but the camera market is contracting badly and we are going to see plenty of casualties over the next few years, we've already seen so many big companies either go bust or exit the camera market it is a bit of a blood bath thanks to the rise of the camera phone!

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

They have made some bad choices but the camera market is contracting badly and we are going to see plenty of casualties over the next few years, we've already seen so many big companies either go bust or exit the camera market it is a bit of a blood bath thanks to the rise of the camera phone!

The smartphone market is also contracting too,and its cheaper brands which are taking more and more sales. BTW,part of the problem with interchangeable lens cameras,is the market has grown massively,since the days of film,so is saturated,ie,there is a lot of secondhand gear available. However,even now more interchangeable lens cameras are sold each year than 25 years ago during the days of film:
https://om.co/2019/09/03/camera-sales-are-falling-sharply/

The problem is even back in the film days,most cameras sold were compact cameras,and sales of these have been mostly replaced by smartphones. This is the main reason,why so many camera companies are struggling,so now they are trying to rely on interchangeable lens cameras only,which people tend to keep for much longer.

 

[gEd]

Maybe if they tried harder to move with the times they wouldn't be in this crap

In what way do you think that they have failed to move with the times?
With their EM1 series, they have accomplished many things that few other manufacturers have achieved in the compact DSLR market place.
or do you just mean megapixels?

 

[Raymond Lin]

They went the wrong direction and collided with the explosion of computation photography in phones.

They went for small and compact which is what a phone is and a phone has caught up a lot in the last few years, especially once they start putting multi lenses in them. Phones has taken a big chunk out of camera sales over the last 10 years and what gave is the ones closest to the phones first. The pocket cameras are all but disappeared except the RX100, and m4/3 was next on the list.

 

[gEd]

I wouldn't disagree with you, heck my Pixel 3XL takes fantastic shots.

I got into the 4/3 system back in the early 2000's when the E500 came out. The keys things that drew me to the system were the compact size, relative affordability, lens quality, colour rendition, SW sensor cleaning. They also offered wider angle lenses that APC struggled to provide at the time (due to angle of incident light falling on sensor).
As you say, unfortunately with the m4/3 sensor they have backed themselves into a corner with nowhere to go when folks are nowadays wanting more than 20MP and/or better low light performance.

I've a nice selection of 4/3 and 1xm4/3 lenses that I got off ebay over the years for good money and an EM1 MK1 and I will stick with what I have for the time being. I might be tempted to get a EM1-MKIII if there is a fire-sale but I've certainly no plans to ditch what I have and spend 1000's on replacing it all. I ould also greatly miss the compactness of the system and weather sealing.

It's possible that JIP may actually help move the tech forward but just as likely that they'll asset strip it and we'll see junk cameras with the Olympus brand on them. Unfortunately JIP don't seem to have much of a track record that helps form a clear sense of their directions, besides that VAIO story which is pretty much the only other example that anyone can point at and I don't recall VAIO having had any especially interesting patented tech back in the day.

 

[The_Abyss]

Today, phones take amazing photos to be shared and viewed on other phones. DSLRs or equivalent take high quality photos that look amazing when shared and viewed online.

What's changed is our consumption. Hardly anything is printed any longer. Nobody prints to share, they only print to keep and memorialise, and that's very, very selective. Nobody needs a top end digital camera, unless it is a hobby or your livelihood. Phones, in 99% of situations, are good enough.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Well phones wouldn't work with the telephoto work I do as the form factor is not ideal!

The problem is also camera companies just regurgitated the same mainstream cameras for years,so it didn't also entice people to upgrade.