No more Olympus. Now OM System.

[Nemrod]

From the last information I researched, Olympus was on the ropes and down for the count and had to sell off the imaging business, Nikon and Canon were bleeding cash like a stuck pig and only Sony actually made a profit in consumer imaging.

I suspect the lack of profits has more to do with the lack of new cameras in the Olympus M4:3 line up than lack of desire to do so, they just could not spend the money. I hope the M4:3 survives because the full frame stuff is just too expensive and did I say too expensive and too big. Nikon uses Sony chips, is that not correct? Well, there are some excellent lens choices in the M4:3 world compared to Sony APS offerings. Fingers crossed for Oly, uh, I mean OM Systems.

James

 

[Akimbo]

I suspect the lack of profits has more to do with the lack of new cameras in the Olympus M4:3 line up than lack of desire to do so, they just could not spend the money. I hope the M4:3 survives because the full frame stuff is just too expensive and did I say too expensive and too big.

It is always a question of time with electronics technology. The Micro Four Thirds system is likely to survive longer because several companies have cameras that follow the standard and smaller sensors are producing better images all the time — a fact not limited to M4/3.

Cannon and Nikon are both introduced incompatible proprietary mirrorless interchangeable lens digital cameras with <full frame sensors. They see the writing on the wall for DSLRs, but have to find a way to survive the transition by introducing a product line that doesn't directly compete with their major pro and semi-pro market.

My Predictions​

I think the future of digital cameras is round sensors and electronics that captures all the data projected on it by the lens. The photographer will have a "format" button that grays out edges for different formats formats to aid composition — landscape, portrait, square, HD, fisheye, etc. The RAW data will always capture everything and the final format decision(s) will be made in post-processing.

At some point the electronics will get good and cheap enough that all stills will be burst-mode video so the photographer can pick the best image(s) on both sides of the shutter release. That means the camera will always be capturing images and pushing the shutter release just tells the camera which images to save; say 2 seconds on both sides of the shutter release. No more missing the great action shots or birds in flight.

 

[bvanant]

My take is a bit different. If my current underwater camera makes photos that are good enough then it is not clear in any way what a more modern sensor will get me. More pixels might be nice but back in the days of 6MP cameras 20 MP was a dream. Now we lust after 50+MP but why?
In any case, I hope OMD makes a bunch of new cameras but in the same smaller format of the OMD-EM1 Mark II.
Bill

 

[Ardy]

At some point the electronics will get good and cheap enough that all stills will be burst-mode video so the photographer can pick the best image(s) on both sides of the shutter release. That means the camera will always be capturing images and pushing the shutter release just tells the camera which images to save; say 2 seconds on both sides of the shutter release. No more missing the great action shots or birds in flight.

Akimbo, I can already do that with Olympus EM1 Mk2 it is called Pro-Capture and it takes images before and after the action to ensure you do not miss a shot, I use it for birding. It is still no gimme and getting close-ups of birds in flight is still tough but getting sitting birds that take flight is much easier. BTW this is not video it is RAW image capture.

MIght have a use in fish shots but I don't have that camera in a housing.

Does anyone out there do this with an EM1 Mk2???

 

[Ardy]

My take is a bit different. If my current underwater camera makes photos that are good enough then it is not clear in any way what a more modern sensor will get me. More pixels might be nice but back in the days of 6MP cameras 20 MP was a dream. Now we lust after 50+MP but why?
In any case, I hope OMD makes a bunch of new cameras but in the same smaller format of the OMD-EM1 Mark II.
Bill

I agree Bill, even the EM1 is a bit large and with a kilo of lens on it for a birding trot it gets heavy but nothing compared Ni/Con. Many professional birders have moved to the system with the top lens pro lens (about US 8k) giving them up to 1600mm which many claim can be hand held due to weight 1.8kgs and features. see this comparison to Canon and Nikon long lenses.

 

[Akimbo]

I can already do that with Olympus EM1 Mk2 it is called Pro-Capture and it takes images before and after the action to ensure you do not miss a shot, I use it for birding.

Cool, how many images before does it take? Configurable?

 

[Ardy]

Hi Akimbo, it's configurable but I just do 6 prior and 8 post the action i.e. pressing the go button. It uses a fair bit of battery but fine for a morning trip with 2 batteries.

The EM1 mk 2 is a very fine camera indeed.

 

[Akimbo]

it's configurable but I just do 6 prior and 8 post the action i.e. pressing the go button.

Do you have to do something to tell it to start recording the "6 prior" images or just turn the camera on?

 

[Ardy]

No, you need to configure it in the settings like most cameras. There are plenty of vids out there covering it. You need to ensure the Mk2 is on SW release 3 (I think).

 

[bvanant]

All of the modes where there are multiple pics taken are subject to the issue that your strobe can not keep up with the photos. You can of course use CW lighting and it works at least for focus stacking (sort of) but not with strobes
Bill