Olympus sell-off

[crowecg]

Various sites are running stories this morning that Olympus is selling off its camera division.  Hopefully the buyers can restructure it into a profitable ongoing concern without too much disruption for users.

[Alan7140]

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53165293?fbclid=IwAR2tEyS4fJ_0dU1woj8gl9OBz5ydMSYJ-Etl3puv5JwZ7sWqr8fuWsfjGjE

[Hugh_3170]

Sad, but probably inevitable.

 

I just hope that the micro four thirds format will continue to survive, although it is about time some new development of backside illuminated M43 sensors is done.

Edited 25 June, 2020 by Hugh_3170

[Dallas]

I came across a few reports online about this, many of them saying it was already sold when in reality they are just making announcements about negotiations to sell it. Reporting is at its lowest, isn’t it? 

 

Anyway, not sure what this will mean for the brand going forward. There might be some good things that come out of it, but the one fear I have is that they may stop the expensive innovation that Olympus has become known for. That would be a shame. 

 

I have no doubt that MFT will continue to grow - it is a fantastic system with many supporters who have seen its capabilities and advantages. 

[crowecg]

On 25/06/2020 at 14:09, Dallas said:

Anyway, not sure what this will mean for the brand going forward. There might be some good things that come out of it, but the one fear I have is that they may stop the expensive innovation that Olympus has become known for. That would be a shame. 

 

I have no doubt that MFT will continue to grow - it is a fantastic system with many supporters who have seen its capabilities and advantages. 

I think I would agree with the analysis of this from Thom Hogan, in which he suggests that Olympus will not disappear as a camera brand, but that they may retreat from some less profitable markets - perhaps even to the extent of an Asia only brand.  

[Hugh_3170]

Whilst Olympus may or may not be looking to get out of camera manufacture, they are still pushing on with their OMD lens development plans:

 

https://shop.olympus.com.au/news/post/lens-roadmap-update?j=38877&sfmc_sub=6336217&l=321_HTML&u=576786&mid=110005977&jb=16&utm_source=Marketing%20Cloud&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=lens-update

[Dallas]

There will be lots of stories and conjecture from the internet soothsayers about the future of the brand, but honestly, it's just a brand. Whether it lives on or dies isn't really important. 

[Hugh_3170]

Agreed.  Olympus as a company is still strong and I suspect that with this sort of lens road map they will not be getting rid of anything very quickly.  A humungous lens BTW.

[ed]

The firm that took over the camera business, JIP, does not have a reputation of rehabilitating troubled companies and selling them. They're more of chop-shop, unfortunately. 

[Dallas]

There's this perception out there that this is a done deal. From what I have read it isn't a done deal. Yet.

 

The Olympus announcement was one to state that they were entering into talks with JIP about them possibly taking over the camera business, not that they had actually agreed anything yet. Whether they do or don't doesn't really bother me. I have a working system (7 years old already!) and I am still in no rush to get a new camera. If Olympus does sell to these guys and they strip down the business to nothing, my cameras and lenses will carry on working. There are still millions of them out there that I can buy if I get an itch that needs scratching. And there's still a lot of skin in the MFT format. What's to stop another company from taking up whatever slack Olympus leaves? Sigma could do well in MFT. Their lenses are already fantastic.

 

 

[Hugh_3170]

I for one would be sorry to see Olympus go, but there is still Panasonic.

[Dallas]

13 minutes ago, Hugh_3170 said:

I for one would be sorry to see Olympus go, but there is still Panasonic.

 

And Black Magic, although they are aimed at video more than stills. 

[crowecg]

I don’t think they’ll disappear completely should this deal go ahead.  There will certainly be a retreat from certain markets and if you live in one of those markets, you’ll be stuck with the hassle of a private import or the second hand market.  There will also be the risk that if they are focusing on a particular niche market, that any future products will focus on the needs of that niche and may differ from the needs of the broader market - a gross simplification, but an example might be they drop the OM-D line and just focus on the PEN line, or perhaps the other way around.