Is olypmus DSLR dead?

ecphotoman

I ask only out of curiosity to see what others think. My first D-slr was a olympus e500 and I've since then moved on to other cameras. I haven't seen too much out of the Olympus camp lately, does this mean that they are giving up on their DSLR users that have money invested in accessories and lenses? I see a lot of they Pen series of cameras but that's about it.

Just want to see what everyone else thinks.

fldspringer

I guess no one can guess if they replace the E-5, but the standard 4/3 lens system, as well as the lower end bodies are done as far as development is concerned.

The system doesn't seem well suited for use side by side. Any investment in the lower end micro system cannot be used if one upgrades to the DSLR system. It would require a full re-investment it glass. I don't see it happening long term. If its not dead yet, it won't be long.

I used to have the e-3, e-5, 35-100 f2, 7-14, 300 f2.8, 50-200 (x20), 50 f2, 35 macro, 14-54 and a few more. I had the OM system before that. Two abandoned mounts is enough for me. I now shoot Nikon.

There are things that Olympus just couldn't do in their DSLRs. Autofocus of the other players just simply outpaced their ability to keep up. When the micro mount started sucking up the R&D money, I just cut my losses and made the move. I have not regretted it, but I do miss some of the Zuikos. They could make a lens, that's for sure.

ziggy53

Sadly, the camera division of Olympus is in deep financial and legal trouble. From today (but this has been ongoing):

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-27/olympus-nominates-new-board-after-cover-up.html

The highlights from above (emphasis mine):

"Olympus Corp. (7733) proposed an 11-member board to replace President Shuichi Takayama and other directors following the Japanese camera maker’s admission of a 13-year cover-up of investment losses."

"Former Olympus Chief Executive Officer Michael Woodford dropped his plan to put forward a new slate of candidates and fight for control of the company in a proxy battle. Woodford’s public questioning of past acquisitions after he was fired in October forced Olympus to admit to a $1.7 billion accounting fraud, prompted a criminal probe of the company and led to the dismissal of senior management implicated in the cover-up.
Olympus slid 3.3 percent today to 1,373 yen, narrowing its gain this year to 36 percent. The stock has plunged 45 percent since the Oct. 14 dismissal of Woodford, its first non-Japanese president."

"The camera maker ... is facing shareholder lawsuits and may be subject to further criminal investigation after admitting to covering up investment losses from the 1990s. The company restated past securities reports and took a $1.3 billion reduction in net assets in December."

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While it's too early to make any firm predictions, it's doubtful that Olympus will recover quickly against these losses. I suggest that Olympus will probably not be innovating in their camera division for the foreseeable future. I expect them to capitalize on their medical component, especially microscopes and endoscopes, since that division is still doing well.

Richard

I haven't followed the story closely, but after the massive accounting fraud that was reported late last year the survival of the company was in doubt. Proceed with caution.

Don Kondra

We can speculate all we like but the successor to the E-5 isn't due for the better part of two years...

For now, I'm quite happy using the gear I have.

E-3/E-30/50mm/7-14mm/14-54mm/12-60mm/50-200mm/ec20

Cheers, Don

MarkR

On the other hand their latest "bridge" camera the OM-D EM5 appears to be getting all kinds of positive, pre-release buzz.

And unlike, say, Kodak, Olympus seems to have a number of suitors willing to take a stake in the business: Sony, Fuji, Panasonic and others have been mentioned as partners.

I do believe that the PEN/OMD cameras represent the future of their company, and that they have mostly written off the traditional DSLR market. This is a smart move on their part, IMHO, and plays to the strengths of the 4/3 sensor.

So, short answer: Olympus DSLR is, if not dead, then on life support.
Olympus as a company still has a lot of life left in it. In fact, the worst thing that could happen to Olympus already happened to Pentax: get bought for medical/imaging technology, and then get the camera side ignored/dumped for as long as possible before being spun off/sold off.

Grainbelt

MarkR wrote: »

I do believe that the PEN/OMD cameras represent the future of their company, and that they have mostly written off the traditional DSLR market. This is a smart move on their part, IMHO, and plays to the strengths of the 4/3 sensor.

I tend to agree. Outside of Canikon we're seeing other players try to hit a niche - Fuji has gone rangefinder, µ4/3 has the best mirrorless lens lineup. Not sure what Pentax is doing, though they do have some waterproof consumer lenses

ecphotoman

That's pretty much what I thought, just wanted to test the waters and see what others thought.

Lightweaver

Olympus has indicated they haven't given up on the DSLR market (yet) but I don't expect to see a lot of innovation there unless they came up with something very special for an E-5 replacement. I would expect to see most of their R&D going into micro 4/3 development. Never cared for the PEN series, preferring the Panasonic's there but the new OM-D EM5, intrigues me a lot. And they have some really good glass now and coming out for m4/3. Have owned Olympus E500, E510 and E-3. Still have my E510. But will watch OM-D EM5 very closely, it is looking good and could be the line that saves Olympus. Cautious but hopeful in that respect. When I worked professionally as a biomedical photographer (long time ago) the OM-1 and the impressive medical speciality lenses and macros from Olympus were mainstays. Their medical image department is still going strong.

As for Pentax they of course were bought up by Ricoh. Ricoh, apparently is turning over all camera development (even under the Ricoh name) to Pentax division. The K-5 has been a good success for them so if they can build on that they will be around for a while.