Rumors (now denied): Olympus to shut down camera division in less than 8 months

[WaltP]

Ok, so threads like this ARE useful to the averasge photo enthusiast. They provide something to smile about over coffee until I get fully awake.

We need to discuss that alien invasion spotted last week. Oly is not the ONLY one closing it's doors; looks like this planet is going to be lunch for hungry alien spiders. That is unless the IC (Intergalactic Council) finally approves that bypass. Then we'll just be space dust (with dreams of heaven).

Should I use a fast prime or a pro zoom to cover the End of Humankind? Don't they usually hunt at night? Should I switch to FF for the low light shots of the spiders? Can M43 be blown up big enough to print a life sized picture of a Vogon poet?

Peace. Out.
I feel the coffee working.

 

[hoodlum]

Here is one more slightly different response from Olympus. I will be watching for PRO lens announcements over the new few months as Olympus had committed in April to multiple lens releases every year and we have only had 1 new lens in the last 12 months.

https://photofocus.com/photography/no-olympus-isnt-shutting-its-doors/

“Olympus Imaging products play an important role as technology drivers for all Olympus business lines, including the advanced digital technologies used in Olympus’ Medical, Industrial and Scientific businesses. Olympus does indeed plan to continue to develop its imaging product lines, bringing products to life that embody Olympus’ core benefits, including system compactness and superior lens optics.”

 

[whumber]

Sony will get there. At least they've ditched that stupid app store on the earlier A7's.

The app store was pretty good though. The older Sony cameras, Gen2 and earlier, had something like LiveND through an app that you can't get on the newer bodies. The app store implementation was a bit clunky but the idea wasn't terrible.

 

[Eirik]

I would like to add to this that it's a really interesting coincidence that this BS-rumor starts spreading the very same week that the E-M5 mk.III starts shipping world wide. I think someone out there is very intimidated by what is essentially the (more or less universally praised) E-M1 mk.II packaged into a slightly smaller, lighter, and more reasonably priced camera body.

I remember something a bit similar happened way back when the E-M5 classic was introduced in 2012. In general, my impression was that topics regarding Olympus cameras previously never got that much attention, then suddenly, after the E-M5 was launched, droves of trolls came in to slander Olympus, micro-4/3, the whole OM-D-thing, and the E-M5 in particular.

 

[lucanus81]

Here is one more slightly different response from Olympus. I will be watching for PRO lens announcements over the new few months as Olympus had committed in April to multiple lens releases every year and we have only had 1 new lens in the last 12 months.

https://photofocus.com/photography/no-olympus-isnt-shutting-its-doors/

Exactly. That’s the only thing that scares me. They showed us their lenses’ roadmap in January and up until today just a single lens was announced. We’ll see.

 

[Ross the fiddler]

Exactly. That’s the only thing that scares me. They showed us their lenses’ roadmap in January and up until today just a single lens was announced. We’ll see.

That just means you are falling for the scare campaign from the BS rumour & they are succeeding with their intent.

 

[lucanus81]

That just means you are falling for the scare campaign from the BS rumour & they are succeeding with their intent.

No no, you got me wrong. I have moved to Olympus six months ago and with the exception of only a “sufficient eye AF” Inam in general very happy. I have recently printed my photos 40x30cm and guess what? The quality blown me away. I don’t believe in this BS, however the only thing I am wondering about is a lenses’ roadmap without a single date. But this is not a topic for this thread.

 

[Ross the fiddler]

No no, you got me wrong. I have moved to Olympus six months ago and with the exception of only a “sufficient eye AF” Inam in general very happy. I have recently printed my photos 40x30cm and guess what? The quality blown me away. I don’t believe in this BS, however the only thing I am wondering about is a lenses’ roadmap without a single date. But this is not a topic for this thread.

Fair enough. I just get annoyed that people can come up with these sort of rumours with obvious malicious intent which can make buyers nervous & cautious, to the extent they buy a different brand camera etc. I shouldn't be surprised as politicians do it all the time.

 

[retiredfromlife]

No no, you got me wrong. I have moved to Olympus six months ago and with the exception of only a “sufficient eye AF” Inam in general very happy. I have recently printed my photos 40x30cm and guess what? The quality blown me away. I don’t believe in this BS, however the only thing I am wondering about is a lenses’ roadmap without a single date. But this is not a topic for this thread.

I agree regarding the lens road map. A bit odd when you consider they are loosing sales to the Panasonic 100-400, and the upcoming 150-400 is probably not going to be for the general user. Bit long at the short end starting at 150 as well.
Other companies are letting you know what they are working on, why not Olympus

 

[whumber]

Nevermind the Samsung parallels, I completely forgot about this classic.

Olympus is denying reports that it is ceasing its production of DSLR cameras. In its official statement Olympus says there is no truth to these reports and the company will continue to offer DSLR cameras alongside its popular mirrorless camera range. The reports came as Olympus promised 'extensive business restructuring' in its imaging division, above and beyond the downsizing already taking place as part of its 'medium term vision.' The company announced that it expects its camera business to lose around ¥16 billion (~$170 million) in this financial year - double its forecasts.

In our recent interview with Olympus' Toshi Terada, Manager, Product Planning SLR products, had confirmed the company's commitment to its existing DSLR owners stating, 'There are people using E-400, 500 and 600-series DSLRs, we have to provide products for them to keep enjoying their photography.'

 

[Ross the fiddler]

Nevermind the Samsung parallels, I completely forgot about this classic.

You forgot to add a date for context. Remember, there was an E-7 DSLR alongside the E-M1 & it was a final decision to go with one or the other. They decided to go with the E-M1 instead, believing it would suitably serve to go with the DSLR lenses, which it did (more or less). It was from there that the decision to fully go with the M4/3's line instead of DSLRs basically happened & it made sense to not keep producing DSLR lenses but produce more lenses for the M4/3's mount instead.

 

[lucanus81]

I agree regarding the lens road map. A bit odd when you consider they are loosing sales to the Panasonic 100-400, and the upcoming 150-400 is probably not going to be for the general user. Bit long at the short end starting at 150 as well.
Other companies are letting you know what they are working on, why not Olympus

And don’t forget the price: that lens won’t be cheap (“cheap” = “<= 2500$”) and I am sure I won’t be able to afford it.
I don’t really understand why they didn’t specify exactly what they were working on. What’s the meaning of “bright primes”? I hope they will expand their f1.2 line. We’ll see in the next few months.

 

[Pluttis]

I agree regarding the lens road map. A bit odd when you consider they are loosing sales to the Panasonic 100-400, and the upcoming 150-400 is probably not going to be for the general user. Bit long at the short end starting at 150 as well.
Other companies are letting you know what they are working on, why not Olympus

I would not be that worried about Olympus only released one lens and TC this year...they have quite mature lens line up and dont have to rush out with new lenses. How many lenses have Fuji release this year? Two.

I bet that the non pro "super tele photo zoom lens" on the road map is something similar to the Panasonic 100-400.
Olympus have let us know, they just dont specify exact focal range or aperure early on as others are doing.

Panasonic dont always say exact focal range or aperture in their lens road maps, they just recently told us that two of the five planned and unspecified l-mount lenses on the road map are 85mm f1.8 and 100mm f2.8 macro...the other three still just say standard zoom, telephoto lens and wide fixed focal range

A lens road map is not something cut in stone...for example look at Fuji... Announced and had 33mm f1.0 on the lens road map, then this year they announced it was scrapped and replaced by 50mm f1.0

 

[Pluttis]

You forgot to add a date for context. Remember, there was an E-7 DSLR alongside the E-M1 & it was a final decision to go with one or the other. They decided to go with the E-M1 instead, believing it would suitably serve to go with the DSLR lenses, which it did (more or less). It was from there that the decision to fully go with the M4/3's line instead of DSLRs basically happened & it made sense to not keep producing DSLR lenses but produce more lenses for the M4/3's mount instead.

True...And Sony have basically made the same thing with thier A-Mount, they say they will continue to develop it but in reality they just slowly let it die in silence...both Canon and Nikon will probably go the same way with ther EF and F mounts.

 

[MichailK]

Since 2022 only E-M1 and E-M5 lines might continue because there will be no market for < $1000 cameras; yes, there will be, but margin on these cameras will be so small and the volume so low that it will be unprofitable for a camera vendor such as Olympus

a few days ago the one car manufacturer known for being The Small Car maker, FIAT, announced they will be exiting the small car segment due to too low profit margins to make it worth it - over here, that is UNHEARD OF for anybody interested in cars in most of Europe, and yes they did announce that!

hey, you, USA based reader! by small cars over here we mean something like the FIAT 500 and not the Toyota Corolla...

 

[MichailK]

Well we cant really know but Olympus have a corporate strategy that stretches to fiscal year 2023, in wich the imaging division remain as a crucial component to the overall business.

https://www.olympus-global.com/news/2019/nr01439.html

reading this,
I see they are downscaling the camera business in favor to the currently much more profitable medical business

my gut tells me they are surely not exiting the camera sector but definetely streamlining and moving upstairs where margins are higher looking to better harvest what they can from then not few people willing to pay the premium for mighty able compactness - most probably scale down and slow down the lens roadmap as well as they move R7D resources towards medical

as I see it, if someone is heavily interested in best compactness & lightness even at a cost in a plenty capable system I see no real alternatives - I read the fellow member answers and articles suggesting that the competitive APS-C systems are bigger and heavier at their high end lens/bodies combinations so there is an established customer base looking for what the higher end m43 system has to offer and willing to pay for it so plenty of milk there for a streamlined higher end lineup for the following years (or at least until an ground braking competitor move like what the Sigma FP or the Nikon fresnel lenses are)

at the bottom line, given how the market is moving, I expect all camera systems to move higher in prices so the price difference will still favor the m43 system compactness

as for me, I favor compactness a lot but my weak wallet makes the decisions and the total system value for me may not point towards the m43 system in the future - as is Olympus target group is moving away from my territory

 

[Aristophanes]

I agree regarding the lens road map. A bit odd when you consider they are loosing sales to the Panasonic 100-400, and the upcoming 150-400 is probably not going to be for the general user. Bit long at the short end starting at 150 as well.
Other companies are letting you know what they are working on, why not Olympus

Speciousness of the rumour aside, one has to wonder if m43 can support two manufacturers, certainly of stills cameras. With the transition of Olympus towards being totally dominated by its growing medical products, it may only be a matter of time before they shop their Imaging investments to Panasonic, a more natural “home” given the consumer-centric profile of the larger corporate entity. Olympus could literally transfer their Imaging segment to Panasonic for $1 simply to avoid continual losses. Every now and then rumours pop up about BlackMagic in the same context.

 

[Will Focus]

Reading from one of the articles posted in defense of Olympus not closing it's doors, this nugget jumped off the page at me.

"The company also relocated operations away from China and to its Vietnam plant in Spring 2018, as it had upgraded equipment, allowing Olympus to maintain its competitiveness."

Of course, the fact that although Olympus relocating "away from China" has been in the public domain for quite some time it may point to both motive for someone or some state concocting disparaging anti-Olympus rumors, and the identity of the original author/s.

Perhaps someone is simply miffed about the fly in their egg drop soup.

 

[MichailK]

hmm, Αριστοφάνη, time for some ... badge engineering?

 

[PakkyT]

reading this,
I see they are downscaling the camera business in favor to the currently much more profitable medical business

Well it isn't like their imaging business was much of a percentage of their corporate catalog anyway and medical is already most of their business. With imaging being only 6% of their revenue and medical making up 80% of their revenue, I don't see them downsizing the camera business as key to increase their medical business. Instead if they downsize cameras then it will simply be to downsize it. The saving are not going to some big boost to their medical side.