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Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

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Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#71

Post by ISL »

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 appears to hold them back in performance. I don't know if it is patent-related or process-related.

While I use Canon imaging systems, I don't see the choice to use other brands as better or worse. Each manufacturer's line has strengths and weaknesses; you pick the best tool for the job. Essentially every camera and optical system on the market, in absolute terms, is a wonderful instrument for imaging.

This reality is intensely freeing -- it means you can focus more on the image and less on the instrumentation. "f/8 and be there" is still wonderful advice.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#72

Post by unethical_ban »

stx wrote: post #37

I had thought about switching to an Olympus micro from my Canon to save in size/weight. I am not a professional. Glad I didn't now.

They take pretty standard batteries, and are part of an open standard on lenses. I am not upset at my recent purchase.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#73

Post by eropple »

cannam wrote: post #49
eropple wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point M43 is, in my neck of the woods, basically a video format anyway. I do on-site videography (my schtick being "we can run a four-camera live show from anywhere I've got Ethernet and power") and all my cameras are M43 because they hit a great spot on the price/quality curve. (Sony's APS-C cameras are very respectable too, but the glass is pricey.) Never used an Olympus, never understood the point of one.…

Not very familiar with video - what M43 camera do you use for that?

My three primary cameras right now are a LUMIX G9 (newest, the recent firmware upgrades put it on par with the GH5 for what I do and it has a full-size HDMI port which matters a lot), a GH4, and a G7; my off-cam/desk webcam is now my oldest camera, which is a GH3. The latter three all have the same sensor but the GH3 is a lot slower and has worse dynamic range and internal processing.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#74

Post by eropple »

maxnoe wrote: post #69
cannam wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not very familiar with video - what M43 camera do you use for that?

Probably the Panasonic GH Series.

There isn't a ton of value to the GH series for what I do, which is more video than film--I mostly shoot video game events (and I've been running a ton of them remotely since COVID started at https://twitch.tv/tracecomplete -- only need one camera for that, though!).

I like my GH4, but for photo it wasn't much better than the G7 and the G7 could shoot 4K60 and was about equivalent (again, for my purposes) when dumping to an external recorder.

The G9 with Firmware 2.0 has almost made the GH5 obsolete, too.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#76

Post by ISL »

lb1lf wrote: post #28
chrisseaton wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

-Oh, it is about more than just quality - say, a pro DSLR should be able to double as a hammer if you need to drive in a few nails to hang your backdrop from. Also, autofocus should be instantaneous, and should be able to lock on a bat in a coal mine. (It is a bonus if the high-ISO performance of the sensor is capable of freezing said bat in flight using only natural light.) Obviously, I exaggerate for effect - but a…

For me, the biggest questions are: Can I leave the camera powered on, always? and Can I handle it effectively with gloves on in the snow?

Those two questions drive as much of my camera choice as do technical concerns.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#77

Post by slantyyz »

cannam wrote: post #33
brendoelfrendo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is actually news to me... I bought a M43 camera a couple years ago because I thought it was a standard with staying power and a healthy ecosystem of lenses and bodies from many manufacturers. Is Panasonic the only one still producing M43 gear? I thought Fuji did as well, unless they decided to ditch it, too. I'd be upset if the standard disappeared!

I think only Panasonic and Olympus make M43 bodies, so effectively yes, Panasonic is now the only one - though there are a few other companies making lenses still. The bodies are presumably going to be the more difficult thing to replace. I have a number of M43 lenses, and I'm concerned about how long I'll be able to use them for - it's not like the simple manual-focus lens days of old when you mostly just needed the…

IIRC, Kodak and a couple of Chinese mfgs (Mi and I believe Yong Nuo has announced an M43 in a smartphone like form factor) also produced some bodies and lenses in the past decade, although I wouldn't put them in same class as Oly or Panny in terms of build and/or handling.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#78

Post by eropple »

WWLink wrote: post #61
eropple wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point M43 is, in my neck of the woods, basically a video format anyway. I do on-site videography (my schtick being "we can run a four-camera live show from anywhere I've got Ethernet and power") and all my cameras are M43 because they hit a great spot on the price/quality curve. (Sony's APS-C cameras are very respectable too, but the glass is pricey.) Never used an Olympus, never understood the point of one.…

They're cheap! You can pretty easily get an olympus body for 2-300 bucks and a m43 lens also pretty cheap. The panasonic 25mm for example is usually around $100-150. That all sounds big until you realize an a7 body is like minimum $1000.

They're definitely cheap, but so are the Panasonics, like the G7. What I'm saying is that I don't know what Olympus brings to the table given that they're more photo-forward, but not really much better than the Panasonic cameras, and much worse for video.

That 25mm Panasonic lens is a boss, though. I have two, along with the shorty 20mm Panasonic (which is not as good; it doesn't do AF-C, wtf?) and the 42.5mm Panasonic (which is the most delightful lens I own if I have enough room to use it).

I also have two of the Panasonic 14-140mm video lenses, and while I don't love shooting at like f3.5 they are invaluable when I'm working on-site.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#79

Post by ISL »

pedrovhb wrote: post #43
barbegal wrote: post #31

Photography is one of those areas where devices don't go obsolete very quickly. With a good lens from 50 years ago I can still take an excellent photo on a digital camera from 15 years ago. Sure you won't have all the bells and whistles of the latest cameras and you'll sacrifice a few stops of dynamic range but for the average hobby photographer that doesn't really matter. The only customers who will upgrade every fe…

> Photography is one of those areas where devices don't go obsolete very quickly. True, and kudos to the photography industry for that. My fully mechanical, analog, 1992 Zenit camera has the same hot shoe flash system and tripod mount as current cameras coming out. With a cheap simple adapter I can also use its original lens on any digital camera. The Canon EF mount was introduced in 1987 and new cameras are only now…

Moreover, EF is still supported through an R adaptor. They're completely backward compatible.

Re: Olympus quits camera business after 84 years

#80

Post by dheera »

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…

> If you're not using L-glass

I use almost exclusively lenses from 20-60 years ago and conveniently avoid all the Nikon vs. Canon vs. Sony, L vs. non-L ridicule and so on. It's kind of nice because when it comes to my equipment people don't know what to ask and then just start talking about actual photography as an art.

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