Andrew Reid

It's not even fucking close.

There are definitely loyal Micro Four Thirds folk out there, but even for them it is a stretch isn't it! The other problem is you can now get an OM-1 for about £900 Which is definitely the better option. Bonus is that you get the much nicer Olympus badge, not to mention much better EVF, grip and ergonomics. I think the OM-1 makes sense with a small Pana 15mm 1.7 or Olympus 17mm 1.8 as an alternative to something like a Ricoh GR III or X100 for street photography. It's mega fast, great AF, great IBIS, small and light, with proper non-Sony ergonomics. The other issue with the OM-3 is that the X-Pro series exists. So if you want the retro style ergonomics, and small lenses that's definitely an option. There's also the Panasonic GX8 and GX85. Needless to say they are far short of 2 grand, which is nice! Then there's the 75 full frame and APS-C cameras as competition, for the people who prefer larger sensors - which is almost everybody. Personally I like to have both MFT and FF because of my unusual selection of lenses, some of which i bought twice by accident. I also like APS-C Fuji cameras as I am an addict. Then there's the Sony RX1 for 600 quid on eBay, which fulfils the small camera role quite well I think. It has a Leica M quality lens and is smaller than the Leica Q. The OM-3 is just yet another re-housing job on the E-M5 Mark III. They are trying to get the parts to last for about 10 years before they sell up or something. We are talking about a bank here not a camera company. If Chris Nichols and dime was asking for a retro OM-system camera, I think that shows the extent of it, creativity wise... Had he heard of the PEN-F? Fujifilm X-Pro 3? Nikon Zf? Nikon Zf-C? X100 IV? It is hardly a gap in the market is it? The YouTuber's also seem to really like the design aesthetically, which tells you everything you need to know about salespeople.

I really enjoy my OM-1, it's the final Olympus camera. OM-System works with contractors and parts bins, I don't think they have a single engineer. If you look closely the OM-3 even has pre-existing dials, no new moulds. So the OM-1 for me is even more special as it will never be obsolete. It is the Micro Four Thirds swan-song and the format will always have a place, because in many ways it offers more creative possibilities than full frame and better ergonomics. Love the way the OM-1 handles and the new menus, fantastic EVF, a proper flagship Olympus. The OM-3 will fail due to the Fuji X-T5 and Nikon Zf existing for less money. It's a real pity they didn't just put the OM-1 in the PEN-F body if they wanted to reuse an Olympus design. Maybe they will do a PEN-F another time, with 4K, updated EVF and suchlike. But I have a real problem with accepting bland third party China OEM substitutions in place of Japanese R&D, which the OM-1 was a result of. They will not be able to innovate in the way Olympus did up to the OM-1.

Olympus already had a digital retro line, the PEN series and the flagship F. So the OM-3 re-design is a waste of time, I'd have taken the PEN-F with updated OM-1 innards anyday over the trash they have re-imagined. The OM film cameras are much prettier, of course. The Olympus badge is a key part of that... "OM-System" makes it look like a Chinese rip off from TEMU. Which of course it isn't far off. I just think they have done an exceptionally poor job of taking over the Olympus crown jewels. What a massive opportunity it was... Instead they have cut costs and corners at every opportunity. Why the fuck would you get the OM-3 instead of a Nikon Zf or Olympus OM-1 for less money?

So you know when the famous lead singer dies but the band wants to carry on... Olympus cameras were some of the most beautiful ever. Both in terms of feel, build quality and looks - they were all very lovely. Better, in my opinion, than many of Fuji's attempt at 'classic' style cameras. The PEN-F was a lovely design... here's a reminder of that... I still have mine, and even though the OLYMPUS OM-1 (the final true Olympus camera by their Japan engineering team) has surpassed it in every way, I'll never part with it for stills. (Such a shame they never did a 4K 10bit PEN-F). Well the PEN-F and OM-1 are even more special now because we know they were the last goodbye, the sunset over Mount Olympus, the pinnacle of 75 years of camera history and the best evolution of the entire species, which is now extinct. So the OM-3 after all these years since Olympus fell, is the first 'real' OM System camera as in a fresh concept, new body, a new camera from the Japanese investment bank or whatever the fuck they are. Clearly it shares none of the DNA design with the Olympus cameras, it looks like a contractor on Blackmagic street, Singapore, at best a design office of 5 accountants have raided the parts bin of an E-M5. Where's the fucking grip? Have they even tried this thing with their own lenses especially the larger zooms? Why isn't it a rangefinder style body like the PEN-F, where does it sit in the range between the OM-5 and OM-1 (as it seems to offer nothing different to either of them in terms of specs)? Why does it have a viewfinder hump when it's supposed to be different conceptually to the OM-5 / E-M5 III? As an aside I really hate the design language of all the text, "OM SYSTEM" is far too much to be cramming onto the front of the viewfinder, and the OM-3 logo is too far over with a huge negative space at the edge making the horrible square shoulder look even more drawn out than it is. And the back is also really 'off' in terms of proportions...the layout upsets my eyes. So we can safely say the OM-1 was the peak, also the E-M1 X. This is a different company, not the same designers, not the same Olympus staff, maybe not even one engineer carried over. Very sad to say, but OM System are history, they will not be able to survive with sup-par products and designs in such a competitive camera market. How can they even compete with Fuji let alone with the rest? RIP! Proof that camera design... indeed all design... is art... and cannot simply be mimicked by the talentless.

I think Sony and Fuji are doing pretty well with APS-C sales? Think I saw a store chart on one of the camera sites that showed almost all the top 10 best sellers being APS-C bodies... Map Camera in Japan I think... I really do think Pana are missing a trick. Micro Four Thirds is basically just two cameras now, the GH7 and G9 II, and neither of them are what you'd call Sony A6400 or Fuji X-M5 level of affordable. Why are camera companies so afraid of introducing new formats... L-mount APS-C is basically just the Leica CL! Fuji have... what, 25 different bodies? Sony... at least 15? Panasonic should axe Micro Four Thirds and go all in on L-mount... and that means crop sensor options, not just the mid-range stuff like S5 II and S9. I have nothin against Micro Four Thirds by the way, our old fav It's a great creative system with a fun factor that usually goes far beyond the worktool arena of full frame bores. In fact I may just get an OM-1 and sign off... the system is dead, the peak of it was the last Olympus camera, the OM-1... The OM System rebadges are never going to be anything much more than a firmware update or slight tweak to the casing designs... And Panasonic G9 II / GH7 are too worktool focused to be very much fun or very different to the more expensive stuff.

I think APS-C makes sense for Panasonic. For a start it will be L-mount whereas Micro Four Thirds will never be. That means a secondary, potentially very big customer-base for their current and future lenses! With APS-C they have a higher-margin on the camera side, and can make smaller systems. With the S9 they have tried to do that... But the S9 doesn't make sense with the higher-end full frame lenses being so massive, and massively expensive for that target market. With a high-end APS-C camera, Sigma already has fast APS-C primes and zooms. I can see Sigma coming out with an APS-C camera as what is the point of having a nice range of APS-C L-mount lenses with no APS-C camera for them? Not everyone wants to buy a full frame camera. I am reminded of that when I see the success of the OM-1 and X-T5!

The A/V companies have already recently been restructured which is partly why the pro-AV releases are so low key, and there's no cinema camera line-up any more - this part of the business was essentially nuked and anything remaining merged into the consumer side. At least as I understand it, Panasonic will continue in consumer cameras... for now... but the professional side of things is ending. And the consumer cameras will be a very low priority compared to the higher-margin parts of the business like batteries and whatever the fuck they think AI is useful for. In the report the exec. uttered a very taboo word in the corporate world, which was "sentimental"... Shareholders don't get rich from sentimentality and culturally important products like TVs, cameras or hifi. They want the big growth areas and bubbles to rise up and take over, and for anything else to fade away including LUMIX. The top Japanese execs at Panasonic attach a high sentimental value to their top consumer products of the past like TVs and cameras. They want to continue. They are one activist shareholder away from being forced to back down on that and then we will see the end of LUMIX altogether.

All this AI stuff is going to be open source. Why is the US investing so much into closed source? It's a huge bubble and will burst. On the chipmaking side, I think China will have the capability to make their own. It won't be the Nvidia monopoly the stockmarket bros think it will be.

Yeah and although you can mimic the same look with a CCD camera app and the flash on your smartphone, Gen Z does not want to "fake" it, they want the authenticity aspect. It's more fun that way, and I agree with em!

Interesting fact for you... Sony RX100 VII is now 6 years old. https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/compact-cameras/the-sony-rx100-vii-is-now-more-than-five-years-old-but-is-sony-even-planning-to-upgrade-the-beloved-compact I remember when Sony updated this popular model every year. They were throwing everything at it... pop-up EVFs, stacked sensors, 960fps slow-motion. Fuji had a high-end compact, the X10, X20 and X30... Very ripe for an update, we may see one this year in fact. And the Canon G7X has seen a revival in popularity like the Fuji X100. In fact the G7X Mark II now commands close to $1000 on eBay. However something is strange... Smartphone cameras have never been better... Especially in terms of sensor size and zoom capabilities. Although a lot of the options outside of the duopoly (Apple and Samsung) reserve their Ultra models with best cameras only for the Chinese market. And the retro-CCD cameras are also doing well (check the Canon Powershot G10 prices!), so it can't really all be about the appeal of a larger 1" sensor, or fancy features like 960fps and RAW. So right now the camera product planners at Canon, Fuji and Sony must be quite confused. Do they come out with a high-spec or affordable compact line, or not bother at all? I think what is happening, is that: A) Social media has reminded a very large audience that compact cameras are FUN B) What you can get up to with one, the shoots - the simplicity - it all looks cool on social media which further draws people in C) There's a lot of affordable compacts D) The top premium compacts with exception of X100 series have not had updates for AGES so the previous models are still in demand So if I were a Canon or Fuji manager... I'd be tempted to make a right mess of things and do a 'FUN' camera. When what actually people want is a very capable small camera with serious photography pedigree, that produces pure art with cutting edge specs. It is time for Sony to revive the RX1 series with 60mp A7R V sensor, and do the best RX100 ever with retro style body like a smaller X100 VI. It is time for Canon to bring the G7X up to date with latest stacked sensor tech. And Fuji should make a smaller X100, plus one with a zoom lens but similar form factor. And they will fly off the shelves. But I bet they won't get it, or understand this new "accidental" market 🙂

It is ready. Everyone who replied here so far, will get it free and I'll be sending you all a direct message and email this week.

A great portrait of a great man. And he finally found some comfortable pants.

Potato AI.

Maybe the Leica SL line hasn't sold very well they were non-committal to it hence the old sensors. I agree any higher-end Panasonic from now on has to be at least as good as a Z6 III, and that is being generous as the Nikon doesn't cost $3.5k

All confirms what I have been saying about Panasonic soft-quit of high-end camera market! Leica are charging $5300 for essentially same sensor as a 2018 Sony a7 iii (the 'basic model' at the time, and 7 years old now). Panasonic have been unwilling or unable to find a replacement better spec / faster 24 megapixel sensor in all of those 7 years since the original S1 which again has the same fundamental sensor as the a7 iii, with phase-detect AF turned off via licensing agreement. The SL3-S is another me-too full frame mirrorless camera which cannot stand apart from the competition in any meaningful way. If Panasonic could design a proper camera body, they'd do an SL3-S with lighter materials and a bit smaller, like Sony do, but for half the price. Then it would be fine. As it is, whole thing is a mess and I don't think it's going to sell. Also on the SL3, the 60mp Sigma Fp-L and Sony a7 IV sensor is from a similar era, 2018-19. So unless Panasonic is reserving the latest sensor technology for their cameras and Leica in the region of $5-7k gets the old shit, which doesn't seem to make much sense, I don't think we'll be seeing any high-end cameras from Panasonic this year or potentially ever.

I use the word in jest of course but there is some truth to it Why is a camera as powerful and obviously NOT obsolete as GFX 100 worth only 2k? It is the largest and highest resolution sensor on the market in a 'normal' mirrorless camera, and the best built body with best EVF, and so on... a true $10k professional photographic masterpiece. Whereas the X100 VI is a very cool pocket camera, I don't understand why the image quality of the GFX 100 is worth $0 premium over it... Alas, I will never understand the average photog.

This is a bit like how SLR Magic started off isn't it? I agree it would be a very nice thing... would they sell? Hard to say. C-mount seems to have been a bit like the vintage anamorphic bubble... The early adopters and adventurous production houses gobbled them all up, created a price bubble, but then abandoned beauty for practicality and easily replaced professional Chinese cine lenses. It would be great if Pentax could get their act together and do a Pentax Q size body with a GH7 sensor in it. And market two versions... one for photographers, and one in a slightly different but also very tiny form factor as a Digital Bolex type cinema camera for pros...

The GFX100 devaluation is hard to understand. This was a $10k camera, and although nearly 5 years old, nobody seems to want one. Hence the crazy low prices. They all want the crappy GFX100S which feels cheapo, with a much worse viewfinder and build quality. Something I will never understand about the used market is how a GFX 100 can be worth X100 VI prices and that something as ordinary and humdrum as a Canon Powershot G7X from 10 years ago can be in such demand that it regularly goes for over $800. You have to say the average customer is a bit of an idiot. Good for us though, with all these bargain 100 megapixel 4K cameras!

The SL3-S spec will be interesting because it will show us if Panasonic has been able to get a new sensor supply in their current drought. The Panasonic SL3 has the old Sony 60mp chip, which is slow and has a lot of rolling shutter. It doesn't have the latest stacked sensors of the Canon,Nikon,Sony flagships. Will the SL3-S reuse the same old a7 III / Z6 II / Nikon Zf / S1H / S5 II sensor (with phase-detect enabled)? Or will it finally go beyond to at least a partially stacked chip aka Z6 III? Or will it be something completely different like a Panasonic Organic MOS chip?

Leica have to pretend that their cameras are Leica, not Lumix rebadges.

Oh yes I forgot he was complicit as well in hyping it.

Who remembers when DPReview platformed his "camera" https://www.dpreview.com/news/2936447826/cinemartin-launches-fran-cameras-with-8k-global-shutter-and-raw-support Not a shred of journalism to find out about the guy before they encouraged us all to hand over our cash.

He wants a crash to happen to benefit his rich pals. He won't think twice about upending the economy on a global scale. Get your nice smartphones now before the next round of inflation hits!