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

 

[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.

 

[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.