[luftfluss]

Not that one would expect the Marketing Brand Manager for Olympus to say anthing else, but here it is...

"Don't panic... business is pretty strong." Olympus UK's Mark Thackara gives a wide-ranging interview and as you can imagine, there is a lot to talk about

Olympus has NOT fallen: exclusive Olympus UK interview - Amateur Photographer

[Paul the Sunman]

Not that one would expect the Marketing Brand Manager for Olympus to say anthing else, but here it is...

Olympus has NOT fallen: exclusive Olympus UK interview - Amateur Photographer

Let's hope so. But I don't buy everything he says. If portability is the central raison d'être of Olympus mirrorless, why the gigantic E-M1X? It's bigger and heavier than the K1 but mirrorless with an m43 sensor. Their strategies didn't always make sense.

[clackers]

Not that one would expect the Marketing Brand Manager for Olympus to say anthing else, but here it is...

Olympus has NOT fallen: exclusive Olympus UK interview - Amateur Photographer

Thanks for the link, Luftfluss!

Sadly, he'd be one of the first people to go if I was his new boss.

If he's been with them for 35 years and is senior enough to be head of UK marketing, he was there through a decade of financial failure and lack of product diversity (these days, products are proposed by marketing teams, then engineers carry out their plans, rather than engineers designing a product and then others advertise it).

That bloke and his international counterparts are part of the problem for sure, unlikely to be part of the solution.

[Astro-Baby]

Actually, just dragged my OM1 out of the cupboard yesterday. Must get some film. Beautifully made camera.

And it was all downhill from the OM1

Maybe with the retro market they could start OM1 production up again

[Lord Lucan]

Not that one would expect the Marketing Brand Manager for Olympus to say anthing else, but here it is...
Olympus has NOT fallen: exclusive Olympus UK interview - Amateur Photographer

Interesting, but of course he is a salesman. This got me:-

The division was making money, but it was loss making

????

As far as we are concerned it is business as usual.

Well of course it is. This is only days after the announcement that something might happen in 6 months time. I have been in companies which have changed hands, and apart from some longer than usual conferences around the coffee machine when it was announced, we have gone back to our desks and carried on with what we were doing : what else can you do? It is no indication of what will happen subsequently.

... we have seen the product road map, including the new lens one, and it’s very exciting. The company wouldn’t be bringing out news lenses if they didn’t believe in the system.

What matters for the future is what JIP believe in, not what the present Olympus company thinks.

The burning question in my mind is will the new camera making company (currently referred to as "NewCo") be able to use the Olympus name? The interview did not raise this question. I think if they cannot use the Olympus name they are definitely finished.

[Rondec]

Interesting, but of course he is a salesman. This got me:-
????
Well of course it is. This is only days after the announcement that something might happen in 6 months time. I have been in companies which have changed hands, and apart from some longer than usual conferences around the coffee machine when it was announced, we have gone back to our desks and carried on with what we were doing : what else can you do? It is no indication of what will happen subsequently.
What matters for the future is what JIP believe in, not what the present Olympus company thinks.

The burning question in my mind is will the new camera making company (currently referred to as "NewCo") be able to use the Olympus name? The interview did not raise this question. I think if they cannot use the Olympus name they are definitely finished.

One thing is certain is that it won't be "business as usual," if by usual it means that Olympus can lose millions of dollars a year and have no one really care. At the same time, what else are they supposed to say?

I was working at a hospital that was part of a hospital system that was for sale. The hospital was in a poor part of the city and didn't really make money, but we were told that things were going to be fine, there were lots of suitors interested in the hospital. Then, every other hospital in the system sold except for that one and they announced that they were shutting it down in 6 months time. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to any of us, but it did because we had all told ourselves that everything was going to be fine in the end, which it wasn't.

I'm sure JIP is telling them that everything is going to be fine, but if everything is the same in the six months you mention, I would be shocked.

[boriscleto]

Thanks for the link, Luftfluss!

Sadly, he'd be one of the first people to go if I was his new boss.

If he's been with them for 35 years and is senior enough to be head of UK marketing, he was there through a decade of financial failure and lack of product diversity (these days, products are proposed by marketing teams, then engineers carry out their plans, rather than engineers designing a product and then others advertise it).

That bloke and his international counterparts are part of the problem for sure, unlikely to be part of the solution.

I'm sure he nodded his way through meetings where things like "We lose money on every unit sold, but we'll make it up in volume." were said.

[Lord Lucan]

.
Someone recently gave a link to this website for comparing camera sizes.

Compare camera dimensions side by side

I tried an Olympus OM-D E-M1X against a Sony A7R IV, the flagships. Especially considering the size of the sensors, which you can clearly see, the Olympus looks ridiculous. Could this have anything to do with Olympus's demise?

[Rondec]

.
Someone recently gave a link to this website for comparing camera sizes.

Compare camera dimensions side by side

I tried an Olympus OM-D E-M1X against a Sony A7R IV, the flagships. Especially considering the size of the sensors, which you can clearly see, the Olympus looks ridiculous. Could this have anything to do with Olympus's demise?

I don't think so. Olympus had lots of very small cameras as will as this huge one. The overall tech in EM1X is very good. When you factor in lens sizes, most Olympus cameras are pretty small with excellent functionality.

Olympus had just put all of their eggs in the micro four thirds basket and at the end of the day, while they sold a lot of cameras, they had trouble doing so for a profit.

Consumers don't understand that it really takes the same R and D money and manufacturing expense to design and produce a micro four thirds camera as a full frame camera -- maybe more in some cases due to the need for miniaturization. So as price of full frame cameras dropped, it squeezed Olympus really hard, to the point that their board finally decided to sell out.

Falconeye and others predicted this day would come and that when full frame cameras were around a thousand dollars, smaller sensors would be squeezed out. Certainly you see that most camera brands are releasing far fewer micro four thirds and APS-C cameras these days.

[MetalUndivided]

.
Someone recently gave a link to this website for comparing camera sizes.

Compare camera dimensions side by side

I tried an Olympus OM-D E-M1X against a Sony A7R IV, the flagships. Especially considering the size of the sensors, which you can clearly see, the Olympus looks ridiculous. Could this have anything to do with Olympus's demise?

Slap a battery grip onto the Sonya and you'll get comparable size. Besides, it's a human that's going to be holding the camera and human hands are fingers are only this small.

---------- Post added 08-01-20 at 03:27 AM ----------

Not that one would expect the Marketing Brand Manager for Olympus to say anthing else, but here it is...



Olympus has NOT fallen: exclusive Olympus UK interview - Amateur Photographer

Well what do you expect a marketing big cheese to say? That the company will be shut down in half a year time? Can you imagine how much money they would be losing by saying so?

[Serkevan]

.
Someone recently gave a link to this website for comparing camera sizes.

Compare camera dimensions side by side

I tried an Olympus OM-D E-M1X against a Sony A7R IV, the flagships. Especially considering the size of the sensors, which you can clearly see, the Olympus looks ridiculous. Could this have anything to do with Olympus's demise?

Put a 3-400mm-equivalent lens on each of them and suddenly the Oly is a very maneuverable camera while the A7 is a wristwrecker because weight disttibution is terrible

[surfar]

Put a 3-400mm-equivalent lens on each of them and suddenly the Oly is a very maneuverable camera while the A7 is a wristwrecker because weight disttibution is terrible

PenF with the 75-300,for a 20mp,more than enough for most people,600mm FOV.

---------- Post added 08-02-20 at 07:45 AM ----------

Olympus had lots of very small cameras as will as this huge one.

Looking back,this huge one really wasnt necessary.A lot of R&D $ probably went into it that could have been diverted to the 1/5/10 OMDs.

Is It the business decision that sunk them? I think it definitely contributed,the attitude amongst various forum commentators was,its tech is nice but such a departure from the small compactness that OLY is renowned for.

Consumers don't understand that it really takes the same R and D money and manufacturing expense to design and produce a micro four thirds camera as a full frame camera -- maybe more in some cases

Yes,their stabilisation has only just been surpassed and the weathersealing has an actual official rating that no other main company has.Its a shame their business side doesnt match the engineering.

[Rondec]

PenF with the 75-300,for a 20mp,more than enough for most people,600mm FOV.

---------- Post added 08-02-20 at 07:45 AM ----------



Looking back,this huge one really wasnt necessary.A lot of R&D $ probably went into it that could have been diverted to the 1/5/10 OMDs.

Is It the business decision that sunk them? I think it definitely contributed,the attitude amongst various forum commentators was,its tech is nice but such a departure from the small compactness that OLY is renowned for.



Yes,their stabilisation has only just been surpassed and the weathersealing has an actual official rating that no other main company has.Its a shame their business side doesnt match the engineering.

I think out of the last ten years, Olympus lost money on the imaging side in nine of them -- lots of money. Clearly continuing the same path wasn't getting them where they wanted to be and so as a final shot, they tried this. I don't think it really sank them though. The basic problem was that consumers weren't willing to pay the prices that were necessary for Olympus Imaging to turn a profit.

When you sell every camera at a loss, it doesn't matter how many you sell.

[surfar]

When you sell every camera at a loss, it doesn't matter how many you sell.

Ha HA! good point.Their cameras were always overpriced too.But of course high quality as well.

as a final shot, they tried this. I don't think it really sank them though.

I think it contributed,HUGE price scared lots of brand loyal consumers away.The X model only had incremental features and an extra battery in a bigger form factor,that OLY aimed at their "pros"(however many there are???).Then not so long after they issued a firmware update that brought the specs of EM1mk2 up to almost the level of the X.Imagine(back at that time)being a top of the line Oly shooter,the X comes out,you trade the old body for an X for halfish(1000)rrp,fork out U$ 3000 and then your old body gets updated.Not the greatest PR exercise.

Buyers of used EM1 ii must have been overjoyed!

[texandrews]

Oly was ok until the prices for FF cameras cascaded down, Sony leading the charge. I was a happy Oly user! But then I switched to Sony FF, and A850, and after that an NEX7 and an A7R. It was one thing for folks to be deciding between apsc and 4/3---the differences weren't so so great. But between 4/3 and FF they are, and when the prices got close enough then that was it.