According to a Yahoo Japan news story translated by a DPReview forum member (link), Olympus President Hiroyuki Sasa revealed in an interview that the sensor for the Olympus OM-D E-M5 was made by Sony! The story was also picked up by DC Watch Japan (translation).

This is big news for the Micro Four Thirds system for a few reasons:

1) Sony has been making the best sensors around for at least a couple of years now, a fact that Mr. Sasa apparently endorsed during the interview. Sony has been happy to sell these sensors to Nikon, Fuji, Pentax, and others. Now apparently Olympus users get to enjoy the benefits as well.

2) Panasonic, up until now the supplier of sensors for all Olympus Micro 4/3 cameras, wasn't sharing all their best sensors with Olympus. Recall that when asked why the excellent GH2 sensor wasn't featured in the Olympus E-5 DSLR, Panasonic Senior Product Manager Sven Dabelstein had the following to say (source):

3) Unless they are also going to buy sensors from Sony, there is now pressure for Panasonic to improve their sensor designs in order for their cameras to remain as competitive as possible with Olympus cameras.

4) If Sony can supply sensors to Olympus at a lower price point than Panasonic, it's possible that we'll see the OM-D sensor in the upcoming "entry level" Pens, ie E-PM2.

I can't really see any downside to this news as far as we consumers are concerned. Anyone see a problem?

Source: Yahoo Japan via 1001 Noisy Cameras

Edit: discussion of this story already underway in our forums: OMD EM5 Sensor Made By Sony

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Amin
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Now if Sony could "teach" focus peaking and their awesome panorama mode to Olympus m43 would be perfect.

So I was a fool to think that Sony sensors didn't support high speed CDAF, as the Sony sensor powered cameras were either PDAF or slow CDAF; now glad to see Panasonic is under the pressure. I believe Sony is also keeping their best to "develop differentiated products with unique technologies"

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Seeing as focus peaking is one of the significant features if the NEX system I would be surprised to see it come to m43 anytime soon.

I absolutely agree, but it hasn't stopped Ricoh and some others from using it. Of course Sony is going to keep some of their own good stuff....I was more talking fantasy/wishes than anything else. Focus peaking is not essential to using manual focus on m43 or adapted lenses. However, it makes using them a sheer joy.

NEX kind of sucks at fast AF, but the Sony compact cameras are blazing fast compared to competitors. I think it might be a lens problem in the NEX lineup.

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You're right focus peaking really makes using manual focus fun. I think using Sony sensors is smart move by Olympus...I wonder if this also means that Sony will invest in Olympus as well. I wonder if that also means Sony finally gets some decent native lenses. So much to think about.

Those Sony native lenses for NEX are pretty blah. I love the NEX for using with legacy glass but have zero interest in strapping on any of their native lenses. The only native lens that looks interesting is the Zeiss at $1K (and if Schneider-Kreuznach decides to do lenses for the NEX those will be mighty spendy as well).

I'll stick with my Hexanons and Super Takumars thank you.

The E-M5 sensor doesn't seem to be based on any current APS-C sensor from Sony; it has an even smaller pixel pitch than the 24 MP sensor in the NEX-7 (266 pixels/mm versus 255 pixels/mm). So Sony has designed a unique sensor for what has to be a relatively low volume customer. It's certainly low volume in comparison to the APS-C sensors Sony produces for its own cameras, as well as Nikon, Ricoh/Pentax and Fuji.

So I would expect fewer iterations of the Somy 4/3 sensor due to the relatively low volume and therefore higher development costs per unit. Not that Olympus used a lot of new and improved sensors in successive generations of PEN models (whatever the reason). This contrasts with Panasonic, who to date have used 4 different 4/3 sensors in their Lumix G cameras. I'm expecting a 5th one to be used in the upcoming GH3. Let's hope that sensor can compete with the image quality from the Sony sensor in the E-M5.

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We aren't really sure what cameras this or derivative sensors will be used in the furure. What if Sony comes out with a 26.5Mp APS-C sensor for the NEX-9? Also, how do we know what the actual order volume from Olympus actually was? OM-Ds sell like hot cakes and will continue to do so for some time, new Pens are coming by the end of 2012, and we have reason to believe they shall also use this basic sensor (perhaps with some different auxiliary parts, such as AA filter, etc).

What I'm trying to say is, there is no rational reason to assume this is a kind of bespoke, and therefore seriously expensive, sensor.

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