Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 384 posts

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#131

Post by meowzero »

chrisseaton wrote: post #7
akersten wrote: post #5

Sad to see them go - photography's such a great hobby and having competition in the space is healthy. There's a few brands out there still, but there is a noticable stigma in the professional community around equipment that isn't Canon. If you're not using L-glass, it feels like you get the same kind of judgement that Android users experience when they show up with green texts in iMessage. As a matter of principle, I…

> There's a few brands out there still, but there is a noticable stigma in the professional community around equipment that isn't Canon Really? I had no idea (as an outsider.) I thought Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, etc were all pretty much equal in terms of serious quality. I thought their DLSs all looked pretty much the same. Is that not the case?

Maybe it depends on the industry? I've dabbled part-time, almost went full-time. Photographers were intrigued I used a Fuji, but they didn't care beyond that. Clients didn't care either as long as you delivered results.

And you're right, most high-end photos take amazing photos. There's some variance in their color science, but most can take near-identical photos. I think the main differentiator among the camera is haptics.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#132

Post by reaperducer »

chrisseaton wrote: post #7
akersten wrote: post #5

Sad to see them go - photography's such a great hobby and having competition in the space is healthy. There's a few brands out there still, but there is a noticable stigma in the professional community around equipment that isn't Canon. If you're not using L-glass, it feels like you get the same kind of judgement that Android users experience when they show up with green texts in iMessage. As a matter of principle, I…

> There's a few brands out there still, but there is a noticable stigma in the professional community around equipment that isn't Canon Really? I had no idea (as an outsider.) I thought Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, etc were all pretty much equal in terms of serious quality. I thought their DLSs all looked pretty much the same. Is that not the case?

When I was in journalism, one of the city's big newspapers shot all on Nikon gear, and the other big newspaper shot all on Canon gear. Anything else, and you were a blogger.

As a point of humor, the Nikon paper was the working man's paper for city dwellers. The Canon paper was for suburban commuter suits.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#134

Post by renewiltord »

sudosysgen wrote: post #21
renewiltord wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh, it's funny. I didn't know this either as someone who only dabbles. The only reason I bought Canon is that the community has aftermarket firmware. Honestly, I wouldn't buy Nikon or Pentax or whatever just because no aftermarket firmware.

Sony doesn't have aftermarket firmware but the firmware up to the A7ii has been hacked so you can run Android apps and control the camera that way. As far as photography is concerned there's no need for flashed firmware beyond that.

Oh interesting, thanks for sharing that.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#135

Post by Derbasti »

Someone1234 wrote: post #14

That's a legitimate shame for open standards. M43 has its proponents and critics, but either way it is rare to see a somewhat successful multi-vendor standard in photography that actually worked . The main problem is that the market itself has been shrinking, and there's just not enough room to have so much competition (Olympus, Panasonic, Sony, Fuji, Canon, and Nikon). M43 was successful, but it succeeded in an area…

But where are those small cameras?

Panasonic's GM series is all but abandoned, and the E-M10 is hardly small compared to a Fuji X-E3 or Canon M50.

To me, that always felt like M43's Achilles heel; it promises to be small and light, yet most kits actually end up just as big as APS-C.

I still love my GM1, though.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#136

Post by slantyyz »

ISL wrote: post #71
akersten wrote: post #5

Sad to see them go - photography's such a great hobby and having competition in the space is healthy. There's a few brands out there still, but there is a noticable stigma in the professional community around equipment that isn't Canon. If you're not using L-glass, it feels like you get the same kind of judgement that Android users experience when they show up with green texts in iMessage. As a matter of principle, I…

To me, the big monoculture risk is Sony's image-sensor fab. As I understand it, Sony, Fuji, Nikon and many others all rely upon the output of one company's manufacturing process. There's a good reason for it -- they appear to make the very best sensors (edit: in terms of dynamic range and noise) in the commercial-camera market. Canon makes their own sensors, which are good in absolute but not relative terms, which ap…

IIRC, Canon's 1" sensor cameras use Sony sensors too. Don't know if their smaller sensor cameras are home made or not though.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#137

Post by Yhippa »

mc32 wrote: post #67
noncoml wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there is a noticable stigma in the professional community around equipment that isn't Canon. If you're not using L-glass, it feels like you get the same kind of judgement that Android users experience when they show up with green texts in iMessage. Especially for Cameras and Lenses that's solely on user's mind. Your photos speak for themselves. You absolutely don't need Canon or L glass. BTW, maybe you are not up t…

>Especially for Cameras and Lenses that's solely on user's mind. Tell that to Ken Rockwell!

Wow, that's a name I haven't heard in years!

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#138

Post by Someone1234 »

Derbasti wrote: post #135
Someone1234 wrote: post #14

That's a legitimate shame for open standards. M43 has its proponents and critics, but either way it is rare to see a somewhat successful multi-vendor standard in photography that actually worked . The main problem is that the market itself has been shrinking, and there's just not enough room to have so much competition (Olympus, Panasonic, Sony, Fuji, Canon, and Nikon). M43 was successful, but it succeeded in an area…

But where are those small cameras? Panasonic's GM series is all but abandoned, and the E-M10 is hardly small compared to a Fuji X-E3 or Canon M50. To me, that always felt like M43's Achilles heel; it promises to be small and light, yet most kits actually end up just as big as APS-C. I still love my GM1, though.

That's only true when comparing lens-less cameras, which isn't that meaningful when lenses are required to use the body. An X-E3 with lens isn't a similar size to an E-M10.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#139

Post by renewiltord »

chrisseaton wrote: post #130
geerlingguy wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost all photojournalists I knew used Canon (70%) or Nikon (30%) exclusively up until 5 or so years ago. And when you're talking about camera systems, the camera itself (which is where Sony currently has the lead in mirrorless) is not the biggest factor in choosing a brand. Canon and Nikon both have tons of specialist lenses that are still not available (or only have one flavor specializing in one space, at one ver…

Are the lenses not compatible between cameras?

They are not. An explanation here https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/57625/can-i-use-ca...

Short version: optical physics, proprietary link for autofocus, capability differences

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#140

Post by ptero »

jagger27 wrote: post #97
ptero wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with 90% of your points: competition is healthy and sad to see a company go. The market today is a duopoly, with Canon and Nikon as two pillars of high-end DSLR world. This, sadly, is unlikely to change because high quality lenses are very hard to make. Development takes years and the market is relatively small. And as glass, even for a serious hobbyist, ends up being much more expensive than the camera body,…

They might control the DSLR space, but they certainly hold no candle to Sony, Fujifilm, and co in the mirrorless space. There’s no shortage of extremely high quality lenses there too. I thought mirrorless cameras were already outselling DSLRs.

> They might control the DSLR space, but they certainly hold no candle to Sony, Fujifilm, and co in the mirrorless space.

Agreed, but mirrorless is not a full replacement for DSLR, at least not yet. For static scenes in good light my phone camera is already all I need. For static scenes (or slow motion) in lower light mirrorless seems now just as good as DSLR (so they eat some of DSLR market). But for fast motion or long ranges DSLRs still excel. I tried mirrorless but did not like it -- if I am carrying something that does not fit in my pocket I might as well take a bigger DSLR (and enjoy better autofocus and optical viewfinder that does not kill my night vision). But that's just me.

Post reply on HN