Mapcamera interviewed a bunch of Olympus managers present at the “Olympus Photo Festa 2019” in Tokyo. The main hint about their future strategy was the following statement:
“We will use this to develop products at the pace of 2 bodies and 3 lenses every year.”
Olympus did also show the new Zuiko 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO lens behind glass. The lens will be released in 2020:
Today Chief Executive Officer Yasuo Takeuchi said:
“The issue of personnel will naturally need to be addressed. It’s a strategy to improve performance, and something that will come about in due course.”
And Bloomberg writes:
Takeuchi also backtracked on some of his comments in the past that the camera business was not for sale, saying that may not be the case anymore. The imaging unit, which makes up 6% of sales, is the lowest margin and lowest growth businesses in Olympus’s portfolio, according to past company presentations. Olympus is working to stabilize the imaging business by focusing on its main markets, a spokeswoman said.
As suspected Olympus will keep trying to cut costs and personnel to reduce the imaging business losses. Not an exciting business strategy :( But again, it’s something nearly all companies have to do to survive the shrinking market.
And as I reported in these weeks there is no valid evidence for the “rumor” saying they will sell the business within 8 months. I am actually certain that in the short-mid term Olympus will keep the Imaging Business. And that statement they made today may be just a way to please certain US investors…
The new firmware update programs for LUMIX S1R, S1, GH5, GH5S and G9 allows use of Profoto wireless transmitters “Air Remote TTL-O/P” and “Profoto Connect-O/P“, enabling wireless connection and control of external strobes for professional shooting. Here’s the first impression from LUMIX US Ambassadors Charles and Jennifer Maring
An impressive work from Panasonic! They improved all current camera models sometimes also by a huge margin. Here are all links:
LUMIX Tether : Operation with macOS 10.15 Catalina
DC-S1 Firmware update service
DC-S1R Firmware update service
DC-GH5 Firmware update service
DC-GH5S Firmware update service
DC-G9 Firmware update service
DC-GF10 / GX880 Firmware update service
DC-GF9 / GX800 / GX850 Firmware update service
DMC-GX80 / GX85 Firmware update service
DC-TZ90 / TZ91 / TZ92 / TZ93 / ZS70 Firmware update service
DC-TZ200 / TZ202 / TZ220 / ZS200 / ZS220 Firmware update service
DMC-LX10 / LX15 Firmware update service
All firmware updates will be available at the LUMIX Global Customer Support website https://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/dsc/ few hours from now on 19 November,2019!
The new Meyer Optik management announced they will start to produce new lenses again:
We are currently revising the entire portfolio and are expected to release the first optimized lens at the end of November. This is the Trioplan 100 f2.8 II. The other lenses such as Trioplan 50, Lydith 30 or Primoplan 75 will follow (presumably) in monthly intervals.
