WHATS NEXT FOR M43, after Olympus, what future is left?

[Pitachu]

The Olympus 300mm F4 is actually equal to a FF 600mm F4 costing about S$18K from Nikon, Canon and Sony.
The Olympus 300mm F4 is about S$3800. That is the reason a log of wildlife photographer start off with this lenses. It is good value for money.

unfortunately the 300 is f4

 

[Pitachu]

News from OMDS..... finally:

Surprise: The CEO of OM Digital announces the launch of a new OM camera and a new weatherproof bright lenses! – 43 Rumors

www.43rumors.com

 

[ricohflex]

Set aside brand loyalties.
Just let the camera situation evolve naturally.
Camera brands will come and go. It is part & parcel of progress.

Old brands die and new brands emerge.
The changeover from film to digital was cataclysmic for some manufacturers.

Overall, I have to say digital is a good thing.
Just think of the $$$ we saved.
Previously we had to buy film, take the photos, send them for processing, and printing.
Then choose enlargements of some prints.
It cost us a mountain of money.
Now we can just shoot away and we have many extra memory cards to stanndby.

Whether MFT dies will depend on the overall global market of consumers.
There will always be die hard fans of any brand/format/genre.
Die hard fans do not feature/matter in the overall scheme of things.

A few die hard fans cannot prop up a losing battle with a brand/format that CANNOT sell.

This is not to denigrate MFT.
MFT had its glory days.
It was wonderful in 2008.
Just like the Seagate ST225 20 Megabyte hard disk was great in its time in 1984.

Can OM Systems and Panasonic continue to lose a lot of money and make MFT cameras and lenses?
Yes.
They have the financial backing to continue losing money. If that is what they like to do, then please carry on.

 

[Pitachu]

Ha Ha Ricohflex, you have have lost touch with the market if you are comparing M43 cameras with film and 20Mb HDD.
It is only last year Sony is able to come up with a 120FPS camera with ProCapture after Olympus have it a few years back even before the OM-1.
I am not a Panasonic user or videographer but you can also go and read up on the Panasonic G9ii and GH7.
All these are definitely not obsolete technology!

OMDS is now on contract manufacturing without a factory and with a very lean marketing team.
Not sure about Panasonic but since Panasonic is keeping its imaging division compared to other divisions it has cut, I believe it is still profitable.
Having a small market share does not mean that it is losing money and burning cash.
Leica and Pentax have even smaller market share and is still surviving.

Set aside brand loyalties.
Just let the camera situation evolve naturally.
Camera brands will come and go. It is part & parcel of progress.

Old brands die and new brands emerge.
The changeover from film to digital was cataclysmic for some manufacturers.

Overall, I have to say digital is a good thing.
Just think of the $$$ we saved.
Previously we had to buy film, take the photos, send them for processing, and printing.
Then choose enlargements of some prints.
It cost us a mountain of money.
Now we can just shoot away and we have many extra memory cards to stanndby.

Whether MFT dies will depend on the overall global market of consumers.
There will always be die hard fans of any brand/format/genre.
Die hard fans do not feature/matter in the overall scheme of things.

A few die hard fans cannot prop up a losing battle with a brand/format that CANNOT sell.

This is not to denigrate MFT.
MFT had its glory days.
It was wonderful in 2008.
Just like the Seagate ST225 20 Megabyte hard disk was great in its time in 1984.

Can OM Systems and Panasonic continue to lose a lot of money and make MFT cameras and lenses?
Yes.
They have the financial backing to continue losing money. If that is what they like to do, then please carry on.

 

[ricohflex]

Actually that was Olympus the parent company.
Olympus has 40,000 employees world wide.
Those people they fired in past may come from a combination of foreign and Japan-local subdivisions.

But good news as Olympus Malaysia has hinted on a new model.
Let us see if MFT can make it through next few years.
World economy is down, so if they are smart they should aim for Small, Light, Cheap to sell cameras.

 

[one eye jack]

@ricohflex, in my opinion the images of retro omds camera are photoshopped of Olympus om1 film camera. He is a YouTuber so he has to keep people clicking on his channel. Camera supposed to be announced during lunar New year. Let's see if it becomes reality.

 

[ricohflex]

I really like the film Olympus OM-1 designed by Maitani.
I have a few film Olympus OM-1 camera bodies.
Which I keep out of respect for the designer.

I do not like the current crop of digital OM Systems mirrorless ILC.

In 1973 when Maitani designed OM-1, he was not small minded about the format.
Actually by that time Olympus had already made its name making half frame cameras.
Maitani designed OM-1 to be Full Frame 35mm. i.e. 24 x 36.

Maintani knew that if Olympus wanted to compete with the big names Canon/Nikon.
He knew that he cannot be small-minded about the format.
Unfortunately his successors in Olympus were far below his quality as a designer.

Thus in 2008 they chose the MFT format.
Which in 2008 seemed great.
In reality this was just like the proverbial dwarf DNA cast in stone in the MFT design.

It can grow for a while in popularity and world wide sales initially after 2008.
But thereafter like a dwarf, it stops growing.
Other brands with Full Frame surpassed it and left Olympus in the dust and to die in the rubbish heap.

 

[Pitachu]

Pentax and Leica went into Full Frame Digital Cameras.
Their market share is much smaller than OM and Panasonic.
Fujifilm etc went into Medium Format
Again their market share is much smaller than OM & Panasonic.

Points to note:
1) Larger sensor size does not mean higher market share
2) Going into Full Frame does not guarantee any manufacturer market size or success
3) Having smaller market share than Full Frame does not mean they will die off.

Pentax, Leica, Fujifilm Medium Format are still surviving even though they have a smaller market share than Olympus.
You don't need a huge market share to survive, it is all about management, marketing and planning.
Small market have their niches too.
Don't buy a camera based on its popularity.
Buy one that meet your needs.

For example, a group of us was at the Rugged Coast on St John's Island to shoot Corals.
The Corals are less than knee deep, so we do not need to go underwater and you can bring along a
popular brand mirrorless if you choose popularity over practicality.

Almost all of us have a mirrorless slr, but none of us brought. 4 out of 8 of us
brought our Insta360 cameras instead. Insta360 actually have a 50% market share
yesterday evening! Simply because it meet our needs better.

p.s. The Insta360 sensor is less than M43 and 1 in.

I really like the film Olympus OM-1 designed by Maitani.
I have a few film Olympus OM-1 camera bodies.
Which I keep out of respect for the designer.

I do not like the current crop of digital OM Systems mirrorless ILC.

In 1973 when Maitani designed OM-1, he was not small minded about the format.
Actually by that time Olympus had already made its name making half frame cameras.
Maitani designed OM-1 to be Full Frame 35mm. i.e. 24 x 36.

Maintani knew that if Olympus wanted to compete with the big names Canon/Nikon.
He knew that he cannot be small-minded about the format.
Unfortunately his successors in Olympus were far below his quality as a designer.

Thus in 2008 they chose the MFT format.
Which in 2008 seemed great.
But in reality this was just like the proverbial dwarf DNA cast in stone in the MFT design.

It can grow for a while in popularity and world wide sales initially after 2008.
Bu thereafter like a dwarf, it stops growing.
Other brands with Full Frame surpassed it and left Olympus in the dust and to die in the rubbish heap.

 

[one eye jack]

@ricohflex you have got your m43 timeline wrong. Before m43 there was 4/3rd. sensor which is same size as m43 and was Olympus E1 DSLR in 2003, with mirror. 4/3rd. was in collaboration with KODAK and announced at Photokina. Meaning 4/3 existed for 5 years before m43 mirrorless cameras.

Four Thirds system - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ricohflex]

Aiyah you never read my comment at 11.18am.
I said MFT.
Not FT. Who in this thread does not know about FT and MFT?

 

[one eye jack]

Aiyah you never read my comment at 11.18am.
I said MFT.
Not FT. Who in this thread does not know about FT and MFT?

What I mean is the sensor format already started in 2003 with Olympus dSLR and then to m43. The sensor size remains the same.