Olympus sells Imaging Business

[John Matthews]

Interesting points were made by Robin Wong.

[Video Hummus]

Sad news. I guess the next Olympus camera will be a toy camera in McDonalds Happy meals.

It does put a huge question mark over the entire MFT consortium now.

[John Matthews]

More interesting remarks by Peter Forsgård.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

The Vaio part was being said as hope everywhere. Could be, but notebooks are a VERY different market.

Most of the expensive tech of the notebooks are developed by the larger companies - Intel, AMD, display manufacturers, chipset companies. Most of the research in the notebook business is in design, cooling and some exclusive features. They are most integrators - get the processor, chipset, display, connectors from vendors, integrate it in circuit boards, add some batteries and assembly the notebook.

Cameras are the exact opposite of it. Each brand develops its chipset, that only could be used in their cameras - and it is hard to recoup these costs in a shrinking market. The camera software was not used in other products too.

Camera companies have to spend a lot of money to research, develop and build new techonologies, only to be used by themselves in a market that sell fewer units each year.

[Amazeballs]

Who will get Olympus IBIS?

Would be cool if they'd just licence it to everyone who wants. 

[newfoundmass]

If I was Panasonic I'd have done everything in my power to purchase this. I imagine a lot of the tech could be used across their MFT and FF lines. 

If it's too late for that, then I'd make a hard play for the engineers and staff. 

[gt3rs]

Market is shrinking massively and will continue so, too many players. This is the first of many to come... covid probably will just accelerate this.

Pro market and serious hobbits are the only markets that will exist and are much smaller than consumer one.  

[Video Hummus]

9 minutes ago, gt3rs said:

Pro market and serious hobbits are the only markets that will exist and are much smaller than consumer one.  

Exactly.

I think we should prepare ourselves for $4000-$6000 camera bodies going forward. The consumer camera market is shrinking fast to cellphones. Lower cost bodies and lenses don’t sell enough volume.

Sad part is Olympus was innovating the stills side with very useful features like HHHR and IBIS.

There might still be viable life for MFT in video with blackmagic and Panasonic. But I have a feeling blackmagic won’t produce another MFT camera. It will be super35 and up for them.

Doesnt help that Sony innovation on 4/3 sensors stalled or was abandoned except for industrial surveillance.

[fuzzynormal]

1 hour ago, gt3rs said:

serious hobbits are...much smaller.

They don't call them halflings for no reason.

[Super8]

7 hours ago, John Matthews said:

MFT will continue to produce fantastic images and videos for many years to come (indefinitely?). With such a rich ecosystem, it's hard to believe that it'll ever be "dead".

I suppose Olympus selling its imaging business is way better than them just closing it. Maybe, there's hope.

I currently have a lot of Olympus gear and I'm quite happy with it. I got away from full-frame stuff due to it being too big, heavy, and expensive for the results it got me. Not much better than MFT (for the money).

Why?  The G7 was great, the GH5 was great. Investing in MFT in the future will be difficult to sell to people. The industry is moving toward full frame with super35 being preferred over MFT.   At this point it's all up to the manufactures and what direction they move toward.  I just don't see the new MFT camera releases to make it a viable product.  The market has shifted away from the GH5 model.

[Rinad Amir]

1 hour ago, newfoundmass said:

If I was Panasonic I'd have done everything in my power to purchase this. I imagine a lot of the tech could be used across their MFT and FF lines. 

If it's too late for that, then I'd make a hard play for the engineers and staff. 

More other players needs to buy Olympus and implement their ibis tech

Pannasonic is fine at their tech sections other than autofocus.

[thebrothersthre3]

Would be great if Panasonic got their AF and IBIS tech. Really the two things holding pana back right now. 

There is nothing like Pana/Olympus IBIS for vlogging 

[fuzzynormal]

31 minutes ago, Super8 said:

it's all up to the manufactures and what direction they move toward.

I wonder what we'd all be saying if it was Nikon that decided the market has shrunk too much to keep going.  Is it just about MFT?  Nah.  Personally I don't think size matters as much. It's how you use it.

[Super8]

6 minutes ago, fuzzynormal said:

I wonder what we'd all be saying if it was Nikon that decided the market has shrunk too much to keep going.  Is it just about MFT?  Nah.  Personally I don't think size matters as much. It's how you use it.

Nikon could very well do that. 

What's with the innuendos ? "Size doesn't mater it's how you use it"?   Really?

Nikon like Panasonic have moved into full frame mirror less.  We have Nikon, Canon, Sony and Panasonic.  Is this a crowded market?   I have and would own cameras from each brand if the value is right.

I could see Sony backing off of really supporting it's camera line up. Why?  The PS5 will get a major push this year and that's the money train for them.  Sony has also been dormant since the A7III and I think they feel they don't have to lead the market anymore with the latest and greatest.  Sony's marketing machine is better than it's product.

Canon and Panasonic have moved it's mirror less product toward it's cinema line up and that's future proofing the product line up. 

Nikon's marketing sucks but the product don't. 

MFT is just about dead.

 

 

[sanveer]

3 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

Well, I've often said I see no big reason, for me, to chase the latest and greatest when it comes to cameras, so maybe that's a bit why I was more forgiving of Olympus than other people.  Their products have been behind the curve in all regards except IBIS, and they only strongly held that niche for a short while about 6 years ago.

Shame they didn't have the resources to get their stuff into 10-bit and 60p4K, but that's how it goes.

I initially thought its Sony. But while Panasonic has 10-bit video and No PDAF, Olympus had PDAF and No 10-bit video. Which makes me suddenly wonder, whether its Sony putting those restrictions or Panasonic and Olympus, themselves.

Fuji has 10-bit video, but its 4-2-0, though it isn't as big a difference as one would imagine. And everyone else using Sony Sensors seems to have External 10-bit video, including Sony themselves.

 

 

About the Sale of the Imaging Division, I am curious why Olympus wants to sell it, to be set up as a completely new entity, unless it plans to further sell it or allow such prospects. It's at an MoU stage, right now, so a miracle could still save Plympus. Though a company would want to buy into M43, if it offered something above other ILCs, and a roadmap for noticeable further improvements and innovations. I am also guessing that Olympus may want to only sell their division to a Japanese company. 

 

I am suddenly wondering Panasonic's M43 division would also announce something equally shocking, sooner than later? 

[thebrothersthre3]

7 minutes ago, sanveer said:

I initially thought its Sony. But while Panasonic has 10-bit video and No PDAF, Olympus had PDAF and No 10-bit video. Which makes me suddenly wonder, whether its Sony putting those restrictions or Panasonic and Olympus, themselves.

Fuji has 10-bit video, but its 4-2-0, though it isn't as big a difference as one would imagine. And everyone else using Sony Sensors seems to have External 10-bit video, including Sony themselves.

 

 

About the Sale of the Imaging Division, I am curious why Olympus wants to sell it, to be set up as a completely new entity, unless it plans to further sell it or allow such prospects. It's at an MoU stage, right now, so a miracle could still save Plympus. Though a company would want to buy into M43, if it offered something above other ILCs, and a roadmap for noticeable further improvements and innovations. I am also guessing that Olympus may want to only sell their division to a Japanese company. 

 

I am suddenly wondering Panasonic's M43 division would also announce something equally shocking, sooner than later? 

Sony doesn't even have external 10 bit video lol. Panasonic claims they don't do PDAF as it degrades IQ. 

Fuji 10 bit holds up pretty darn well though.

[John Matthews]

Personally, I'm going to be on the lookout for cheap MFT gear. I don't need or want much more. I did the FF thing and went back as fast as I could.

[fuzzynormal]

45 minutes ago, Super8 said:

"Size doesn't mater it's how you use it"?   Really?

It's a dumb joke.  The point I'm making is that it's not the format, it's the market.  Somehow I don't see MFT going away too fast, actually.  Just a hunch.  It'll carry on as a legacy thing.  Lots of good lenses out there.

10 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

on the lookout for cheap MFT gear. I don't need or want much more

Same. 

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

33 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

Personally, I'm going to be on the lookout for cheap MFT gear. I don't need or want much more. I did the FF thing and went back as fast as I could.

I wll probably always have some m43 gear, even when the format ends. For travel, it is an almost perfect format.

But have a lot of stuff to offload (most kit lenses and old bodies), the financial hit is somewhat significant.

If I switch to another system (only Fuji is in my sight - the mirrorless FF lenses are much bigger to my tastes), will wait until the market settles. Probably more companies will go down or merge.

[Video Hummus]

Olympus won’t be the last. The camera market is collapsing like a 5 day old party ballon.

I just hope one of my favorite formats, MFT, can survive the storm.