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| Panasonic G7. I noticed on reviewing this image that the message on the pale blue banner mid left reads "A curious world of nostalgia awaits". I thought this vaguely appropriate to head this post. If Olympus was a little less concerned with nostalgia and substantially more concerned with improving ergonomics and the user experience, their cameras might have wider appeal. By the way this casual indoor snapshot illustrates that the M43 format sensor need no longer be regarded as second best in any way. Both the sensor and the $100 kit lens perform very well indeed. |
The main business at Olympus and the source of profitable operations is medical imaging equipment.
However the company has a long and continuing tradition of camera making.
Like other camera makers Olympus has drastically cut its output of compacts to concentrate on the Micro Four Thirds system of ILCs.
This has apparently been successful with the camera division posting a profit recently for the first time in years.
I think it is fair to say that Olympus has long sought to present cameras which have been deliberately “different” in some way to the mainstream CanoNikonPentax SLR style models. In the film days Olympus strove to make its cameras smaller than others with some success particularly from the “Pen” half frame film compacts.
In the digital era Olympus dared to be different with its “Four Thirds” DSLRs which used a smaller sensor than the market leaders. This failed basically because sensor technology at the time made the 21.5mm diagonal sensors uncompetitive with the more popular 27-28mm ones from other DSLR makers.
In 2008 Olympus teamed up with Panasonic to introduce the Micro Four Thirds system. This is a Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens camera system also using the 21.5mm sensor. This has had more success but the going has been hard for Olympus.
Part of the problem has of course been the burden of introducing a totally new system right at the start of the global financial crisis. But I think part of it is Olympus’ ongoing determination to be different from the opposition yet romantically wedded to the myth of past glories. One manifestation of this was a long string of digital Pen cameras none of which had a built in EVF.
No thanks.
My first foray into the Olympus M43 system was the purchase of an EM-5 when it was released, together with several lenses and the accessory handle which I discovered I needed in order to hold the thing securely.
The EM-5 polarised opinion among those who used it.
It was hailed by some owners as the best camera they had ever used.
Others including myself were less enthusiastic. I found the menus incomprehensible and I have a great deal of experience decoding camera menus. I found the HMI (Human Machine Interface) awkward and un-necessarily fussy to use.
So I sold the EM-5 and have not returned to Olympus since.
I notice from reviews of the latest models that the menu mess is still in place and possibly worse with new items having been added without consolidating previous items. The only model with a handle fully incorporated into the body is the EM-1.
Would I buy an EM-1 ? I have certainly given it some consideration. But almost 2 years after release and presumably near the end of its model cycle, the EM-1 is still more expensive, even with cashbacks, than the new G7 which I did buy and which in my view has better ergonomics together with at least equal image quality and performance.
Olympus also makes the Stylus-1, a fixed zoom lens camera (FZLC) which looks really interesting on the specification sheet with a 10.7x zoom in a very compact yet well appointed body. Unfortunately according to all the reviews I have read, picture quality is not up to expectations for the 9.3mm sensor size.
They also make waterproof/shock proof/tough cameras which would have obvious appeal for users with specific requirements.
So, no Olympus for me this year.
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