OM-System OM-3.... Um!

[John Matthews]

Yeah, I won't buy the OM-3 at this price.

[fuzzynormal]

9 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

I'd have taken the PEN-F with updated OM-1 innards anyday

We could only be so lucky. 

I was really rooting for Olympus/OM because I enjoyed the EM5II and EM10III, and always wanted a PenF when it was released, but could never spend the $$ knowing I'd never have a use for it when it came to video.

[Andrew Reid]

I'm still rooting for Olympus, it's just that OM is a very different company.

Sony's highly respected VAIO laptops ended up with them... and where are those now?

OM-1 all the way for me. OM System will never be able to better it.

The Japanese private equity firm inherited Olympus OM cameras in 2020. Since then 5 years have passed and they have not been able to do anything meaningful. The OM-5 was a rebadged E-M5 Mark III, and the OM-1 Mark II was a firmware update. Now the OM-3 is a parts-bin raid with the top dials from the E-M5 Mark III bin and the colour mode filter from the PEN-F!

How much longer can they continue to recycle the old stuff, rather than make their own cameras, with new ideas, news sensors and technology?

The crazy thing is that JIP just bought Toshiba for $15bn. They are not short of funds.

JIP are a bank with megabucks.

And they cannot even be bothered to spend peanuts for some much needed camera development.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Industrial_Partners

[IronFilm]

14 hours ago, Davide DB said:

In addition to the camera, three lenses were upgraded. Version II of their 100-400 zoom lens was introduced, which I was very interested in.

I guess the other two lens upgrades you are talking about are these:

https://www.dpreview.com/news/9864806631/om-system-updates-17mm-and-25mm-f1-8-lenses-for-micro-four-thirds

Small updates with adding weather proofing. Am glad that OM is not just releasing bodies but doing "something" for their lenses too. But it's very minimal. 

  

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

Sony's highly respected VAIO laptops ended up with them... and where are those now?

Is interesting what happened with sony vaio laptops vs what happened with IBM's Thinkpads when they sold them off

Would be worthy of a Masters' dissertation or a research paper to dig deeply into how differently each of these two went, and others in related areas like Olympus vs OM

  

11 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Why the fuck would you get the OM-3 instead of a Nikon Zf or Olympus OM-1 for less money?

Or a Fujifilm X-M5 / X-T50 or Zfc with an APS-C sensor for way less money. 

  

10 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

There is only so far the "well they've got the lenses so we've locked them in to the format" thinking will stretch when you are charging more for less.

That thinking really doesn't work when you could just buy a Panasonic GH7 for the same price, or a G9 II for a lot less, or a secondhand OG G9 for waaaaay less. And still be using your MFT lenses. 

 

 

[MrSMW]

7 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

always wanted a PenF when it was released

I always wanted the 'next gen' one, but of course it never appeared and the OG's were so over-priced until recently 😏

[ac6000cw]

7 hours ago, IronFilm said:

That thinking really doesn't work when you could just buy a Panasonic GH7 for the same price, or a G9 II for a lot less, or a secondhand OG G9 for waaaaay less. And still be using your MFT lenses. 

But anyone seriously interested in an OM-3 isn't likely to consider those as alternatives - they are larger and heavier (and not retro-looking) cameras.

[IronFilm]

Just now, ac6000cw said:

But anyone seriously interested in an OM-3 isn't likely to consider those as alternatives - they are larger and heavier (and not retro-looking) cameras.

I guess it depends on the buyer. But yeah, it's a pity there isn't a GX9 mk2, as that would likely be a better fit for covering any gap with that niche 

[Davide DB]

9 hours ago, IronFilm said:

I guess the other two lens upgrades you are talking about are these:

https://www.dpreview.com/news/9864806631/om-system-updates-17mm-and-25mm-f1-8-lenses-for-micro-four-thirds

Small updates with adding weather proofing. Am glad that OM is not just releasing bodies but doing "something" for their lenses too. But it's very minimal. 

Yes, but I think Andrew is right, OM is rummaging the basement retrieving the last designs left by the original Olympus team and occasionally combing through and polishing old products here and there. For this lens they only managed to make the stabilization compatible with their camera bodies (!) and little more. It's amazing, they redesigned the tripod collar, WOW.  Farewell Olympus, it's a shame because especially in wildlife photography they have a very solid user base. In this field, small, lightweight, high-performance cameras and lenses really make a difference.

[newfoundmass]

I actually think the camera body itself looks quite decent (I hate the logo/name though) but the reviews all seem to indicate that it shares a lot (if not most) of the same internals as the OM-5. Other than a cash grab I don't really understand why this camera exists.

[ac6000cw]

2 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

I actually think the camera body itself looks quite decent (I hate the logo/name though) but the reviews all seem to indicate that it shares a lot (if not most) of the same internals as the OM-5. Other than a cash grab I don't really understand why this camera exists.

It basically shares its internals with the OM-1 ii (including the fast stacked sensor), but looses a card slot, the joystick, has a lower-res EVF and fewer function buttons.

(The older and cheaper OM-5 basically reuses the internals from the E-M1 iii).

[John Matthews]

6 hours ago, ac6000cw said:

It basically shares its internals with the OM-1 ii (including the fast stacked sensor), but looses a card slot, the joystick, has a lower-res EVF and fewer function buttons.

(The older and cheaper OM-5 basically reuses the internals from the E-M1 iii).

Yeah, this OM-3 seems like it's several generations ahead of the OM-5 (which was practically an E-M5iii, a camera I bought twice- it was great!). So, what's the rub? The competition is off the wall when considering the money, but if you're not looking for extreme value. I could take 98% of my shots with this camera, a 17mm f/1.8, and a 40-150mm kit lens.

My problem is I simply have too many vintage lenses to ignore and now FF makes more sense as I want better coverage of my lenses, not just the center. Also, this camera only makes sense if you're really into M43 (like I was), but for $2k, I'd rather pick up a S5 and a ton of vintage lenses and an L-mount kit lens.

[ac6000cw]

As the OM-3 is now on camerasize.com, this is the OM-1, OM-3 and OM-5 compared (weights are around 600g, 500g and 410g):

[John Matthews]

6 hours ago, ac6000cw said:

As the OM-3 is now on camerasize.com, this is the OM-1, OM-3 and OM-5 compared (weights are around 600g, 500g and 410g):

This line-up seems quite reasonable to me. OM-1 (latest and greatest tech), OM-3 (a mix of the latest and greatest but with full-metal, stylish-hipster build), and the OM-5 (does almost everything, but super small and light and utilitarian).

[Andrew Reid]

The one in the middle doesn't need to exist though because it has no grip, costs $2000, has a tiny EVF from 10 years ago, and the OM-1 is much better for half the price (used, mint).

Still would take a PEN-F updated with OM-1 specs but they have to stick a proper EVF in it, as the PEN-F is all about the rangefinder style handling.

[eatstoomuchjam]

It's also not super inspiring to say that a camera from 2022 is "latest and greatest tech."  😅

[Andrew Reid]

1 hour ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

It's also not super inspiring to say that a camera from 2022 is "latest and greatest tech."  😅

Actually it's the camera from 2021... the sony a1.

We have peaked!

[John Matthews]

So the OM-3 isn't bringing anything new to the table other than subjective beauty?

It just so happens there are many features that still, to this day, are not being done in other camera systems that Olympus/OM System have perfected. With the exceptions of Pentax and Panasonic, no one else offers High-res Shot Mode. With the exception of Panasonic, no one does Live Composite. What about Live ND? No one does that. How about Focus Stacking in-camera? Nope, no one does that either.

"In-camera" is an essential point. Why? Because you get another chance at taking the image if you muck it up. With other brands, you might get it right, but there's no way to check.

• Is the OM-3 revolutionary? No.
• Is it expensive? Yes, for now.
• Is it unique? Yes, because it's stylish. (with a IP53 rating, a huge deal for some)

No other camera on the market offers these unique selling points in a stylish body that weighs only 496g. Actually, I think it's a bit of a marvel in that it weighs only 82g more than the E-M5iii/OM-5, you get a more advanced processor, a new sensor, a metal body, and a bigger, more advanced battery. Not bad.

Will it sell? Not great at $2000, but like with all of their previous releases, it'll go down $200-400 in the next 6 months. Also, Fuji production is late. Also, M43 users were waiting for something like this. It will sell out, I suspect.

[eatstoomuchjam]

1 hour ago, John Matthews said:

With the exceptions of Pentax and Panasonic, no one else offers High-res Shot Mode

Are you talking about a higher-resolution mode using sensor shift?  Fuji does this too, at least on the GFX 100 series.  Though if the Olympus/Panasonic/Pentax implementations support doing it handheld, that's an improvement over Fuji's which requires a very stable tripod.

The original Canon R5 could do it too - no idea how well it worked, but I think I read that they removed the mode from the R5 II in favor of "AI" upscaling...  a place where "progress" isn't.

[ac6000cw]

42 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Are you talking about a higher-resolution mode using sensor shift?  Fuji does this too, at least on the GFX 100 series.

I don't think Fuji (or Sony) does the processing in-camera to produce the final high-res image though? AFAIK they supply software to post-process the images.

I think that was the point John was making - Oly/OMDS and Panasonic do that processing in-camera (I don't know about Pentax).

[Andrew Reid]

4 hours ago, John Matthews said:

So the OM-3 isn't bringing anything new to the table other than subjective beauty?

It just so happens there are many features that still, to this day, are not being done in other camera systems that Olympus/OM System have perfected.

Olympus perfected it and OM System inherited it, big difference.

OM system have not implemented anything big and new since 2020.

Because they are an investment bank, not a camera company and certainly not a Japanese engineering company.

4 hours ago, John Matthews said:

With the exceptions of Pentax and Panasonic, no one else offers High-res Shot Mode.

Wrong, Fujifilm has this on the X-T5 and more.

Sony has a 160MP pixel shift high-res mode.

Canon has had a 400 megapixel pixel shift IBIS mode on the EOS R5 since 2020.

And now Nikon with the Z8 has a 180MP mode from 47mp.

How hard is it to do a bit of research my friend on Google...

4 hours ago, John Matthews said:

With the exception of Panasonic, no one does Live Composite. What about Live ND? No one does that. How about Focus Stacking in-camera? Nope, no one does that either.

These are great features by Olympus, not OM System. They are inherited from a group of engineers who OM System effectively fired.

How do they intend to carry these features forwards and develop them without a proper engineering team?

4 hours ago, John Matthews said:

"In-camera" is an essential point. Why? Because you get another chance at taking the image if you muck it up. With other brands, you might get it right, but there's no way to check.

• Is the OM-3 revolutionary? No.
• Is it expensive? Yes, for now.
• Is it unique? Yes, because it's stylish. (with a IP53 rating, a huge deal for some)

No other camera on the market offers these unique selling points in a stylish body that weighs only 496g. Actually, I think it's a bit of a marvel in that it weighs only 82g more than the E-M5iii/OM-5, you get a more advanced processor, a new sensor, a metal body, and a bigger, more advanced battery. Not bad.

Will it sell? Not great at $2000, but like with all of their previous releases, it'll go down $200-400 in the next 6 months. Also, Fuji production is late. Also, M43 users were waiting for something like this. It will sell out, I suspect.

It's by no means a bad camera.

I just don't see any reason at all to buy it over the OM-1.

The styling is subjective, I think it's fake looking and fugly.

If you want a powerful retro styled camera for $2000 you can get a full frame Nikon Zf or some of the best APS-C cameras on the market from Fujifilm.

If you want the unique Olympus features and IBIS, with a much better EVF and better ergonomics and better grip and more... you can spend as little as $1000 on a used OM-1.

So the OM-3, you'd have to really really really like the way it looks to spend double for a worse camera.