More “Woodfoord” news. He is a big fan of the E-P3 :)
Amateur Photographer is keeping us daily updated about the Olympus fee scandal. Today they report that “Two members of the Olympus board and the company’s auditor have quit the scandal-hit camera maker”
Yesterday Former Olympus CEO Michael Woodford was mobbed by photographers and TV crews on his first return to Japan (Read more at Amateur Photographer). And Olympus officially said that there is no evidence of “crime syndicates” link (Source: AP).
Amateur Photographer also posted another Woodford article where he says that he is a big fan of the E-P3 and says: “The problem for Olympus has always been the dominance of Canon and Nikon in the DSLR market. Their dominance was rather like our business in endoscopes, but the advent of mirrorless cameras has brought about a renaissance.”
Something else:
Photographyreview just posted a new E-P3 review. Shop links: Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay
DPreview posted a new E-Pm1 review. Shop links: Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay
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Mr. Reeee
6 months ago |Here’s a good article in the NY Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/business/michael-woodford-would-like-a-chance-to-redeem-olympus.html?_r=1&hpw
peter
6 months ago |Woodfoord…
seems like at this point he just wants to maintain his newfound celebrity
DonTom
6 months ago |Easy to say that Peter. Have you given 31 years of your life to a company, just to be shown the door by a bunch of crooks when you reach the top?
From the many Japanese workers I’ve known over the years, they truly hate a corrupt manager. I imagine that Woodford is currently the only Director that the productive staff of Olympus actually trust. The rest of the board needs to go. Within two weeks of Woodford being sacked, I predicted that the board would be gone by years end. I’d still put money on that.
http://www.43rumors.com/olympus-chairman-and-president-kikukawa-resigns-and-attacks-woodford-he-did-not-like-japan/#comments
thevoiceoverman
6 months ago |Well said.
peter
6 months ago |ok, I take it back, point taken.
Just hoping that all of this will make Olympus stronger.
tmrgrs
6 months ago |If he does regain his CEO position at Olympus, it’s good to know that Woodford is appreciative of the E-P3 which hopefully means that he would try to keep the Imaging Division going in its current direction of lens and camera upgrading to counter the competition. I wish someone would ask him what he thinks about the possibility of a flagship PEN Pro body with a built-in EVF & new sensor arriving sometime soon.
Boooo!
6 months ago |Someone should show him the E-5. He needs to be a fan of that camera, not of an almost-pocketable optically-sub-par-prime-holder.
zune
6 months ago |Yes, we need a E-5 fan in CEO position at Olympus also.
spam
6 months ago |Someone should show him a G3, or a NEX-7
Boooo!
6 months ago |No, those are all little mirrorless toys. We need some real cameras now, something that can use existing quality lenses, instead of the “-1.5EV vignetting” 12mm, “I looked at it wrong, and now it’s scratched” 45mm, “is this our sixth?” 14-42 kit, etc.
tmrgrs
6 months ago |You real camera guys are just a herd of dinosaurs on the brink of extinction. Go buy a Pentax 645D and be happy.
Boooo!
6 months ago |Go buy a cellphone with a decent camera. It’s going to be in your pocket anyway.
Why do you insist on having even tinier cameras with even tinier lenses so you could fit those in your pocket, and then realize they cannot be used for anything even remotely resembling serious photography?
You hipster camera guys are annoying. Get the new iEPL, sorry, iPhone, or the Nokia M8 – those are very, very decent – and be happy.
DonTom
6 months ago |@Boooo: Any chance you could give us a link to some samples of your “serious” photography. You just sound so professional, I’m sure we will be in awe of your work…..taken on an E5, with its “I’m so serious” sensor….
thevoiceoverman
6 months ago |Boooo!
6 months ago |I could, but I won’t, because you’re just trolling here.
Also, I have the E-3. I don’t consider the E-5 to be an upgrade.
thevoiceoverman
6 months ago |So why should Woodford be a fan of the E5 when apparently you’re not?
spam
6 months ago |E-3 is discontinued, E-5 is not.
DonTom
6 months ago |@Boooo! SO you don’t think the E-5 is better than the E-3, but you think that all the m43 Olly cameras are toys? Surely, the only practical differences between the E-3/5 and m4/3 cameras (apart from size) is (1)-the ability to take photos in the rain, (2)-PDAF, which I agree is better for rapidly moving subjects. Neither of which I need.
Exactly how do you define “serious” photography? Big fast zooms in the rain with rapidly moving thingies?
Sounds like you’re a bit miffed over Olly abandoning 4/3….
Mr. Reeee
6 months ago |+11
No kidding. If I were looking at a camera of the size and weight of an E5, I walk over to the Nikon counter and get a full-frame D700. Y’know what, I did. Laughed at both and bought a GH2, knowing full well the the compromises I was making, but not willing to give up the portability of M4/3.
Boooo!
6 months ago |Of course I’m miffed. I invested money – and lots of it – into a healthy and blooming system, and the lenses I bought are useless on m4/3, both because of ergonomics and horrible focusing speed. I’m not from the western world; our salaries are lower and our purchasing power as well. I don’t even have the money to switch to a different system. I’m stuck with Olympus and 4/3.
The E-5 is better than the E-3. It’s just not “three monthly salaries, meaning nine months of saving money” better, and therefore not an upgrade for me.
m4/3 doesn’t do telephoto, m4/3 doesn’t do action photography, m4/3 doesn’t even do IS as well as 4/3 because you can’t stabilize the camera properly with your body.
I like shooting bugs, birds, horses and skateboarders – I can do that with my E-3, but I couldn’t do that even with an E-P3. I also shoot the occasional wedding, but again, I couldn’t do that with an E-P3, either.
What I can do with an E-P3 is snapshots, street photography and pretending to be a tourist. I understand the appeal, but I personally like doing something a little bit extra.
spam
6 months ago |Serious photo is sports in good light and bad weather, and not too far away. Perfect for the E-3/E-5 with it’s poor high Iso performance and lack of (really) long focal length lenses (but excellent weather proofing).
Karen G.
6 months ago |We need sensation like Olimpus OM line.
Miroslav
6 months ago |+1 completely agree
Isaac ali
6 months ago |Classic 4/3 was not profitable and therefore is dead for all intents and purposes. E-5 was released to keep the loyalty. What we need is a mirrorless E-7.
Boooo!
6 months ago |I can deal with that, as long as it can use my existing 4/3 lenses properly, through PDAF-on-sensor (or something else) and camera physical size. I’m not opposed to mirrorless, I’m opposed to throwing everyone who bought non-kit-4/3 lenses into the garbage disposal.
thevoiceoverman
6 months ago |I understand how annoyed you must feel, and what you said just now makes sense.
But dismissing all the M43 cameras as toys was a bit irrational. You would need a magnifying glass to tell the difference between a print from an EPM1 and an E5.
I hope they manage to merge the two systems one day. For the people in your position, not mine.
Esa Tuunanen
6 months ago |Aptina sensor using Nikon 1 has full AF functionality with Nikon’s DSLR lenses so by getting same sensor using same tech Olympus should be able to make high end mirrorless body capable to using also 4/3 lenses.
I don’t need magnifying glass to tell that even supposedly highest end m4/3 bodies have worser ergonomy than even the absolutely lowest end 4/3 bodies like E-420. And that’s not because of technical impossibility but because of them being designed by marketroids.
And for EPM1 vs. E5 difference would start to show when automatics doesn’t cut it because when controls are at Point&Shoot’s bullet-point engineering level you don’t even want to start messing with them.
Nelson
6 months ago |E-PL1 probably grab most of the market shares for Olympus, it is always in the top 10 position alongside GF2 and occasionally GF3 in Japan
spam
6 months ago |Maybe that’s were all the money went, a huge warehouse somewhere with E-Pl1s. They seem to never run out.
DonTom
6 months ago |LOL! You’re right there. Still, the only massive advantage I’ve seen so far to upgrade my E-PL1 is to get a faster shutter speed. The other improvements still leave the E-PL1 as “good enough”, for me.
If they give me a body with a built in EVF, that will be a different story. Will still keep the PL1 in my bag tho….
blastingmills
6 months ago |Hopefully he’s a fan of the Olympus SHG lenses, like some of us… As long as Olympus provides a body to control these lenses, such as the E-5, I will be a loyal Olympus customer. Those SHG lenses are in a league of their own. If they offered some black friday deals, I would buy another one instantly.
Renze
6 months ago |the E-PL1 is a fine camera, but that kitlens makes an awful noise at focusing!!
thevoiceoverman
6 months ago |I had an E-PL1. Now I have an EP3. The focus speed alone was reason enough. But i could understand if you were perfectly happy were you are…
DonTom
6 months ago |Renze: yep, the kit lens is a piece of rubbish! Only keep it because I don’t have anything else at the wide end, and so that it’s easier to sell/ give away the camera eventually.
thevoiceoverman: I’ve drooled over the E-P3, and thought hard about the E-PM1. But I have never really felt disadvantaged by the focus speed (felt very jealous seeing the DigitalRev E-P3 review tho!). The shutter speed is more of an issue. For me, the thing I love and hate about the PL1 is the VF2. Works so well, looks like shit, like a weird barnacle on top of the camera. Would happily have a similar shape body that is a 1/2 inch taller to include an EVF. Doesn’t have to tilt.
And anyone that says that the way a camera looks doesn’t matter, try explaining that to my wife!
thevoiceoverman
6 months ago |Another thing about the VF2 that is seldom mentioned is the fact that it is so high and sits so far back from the screen that your nose doesn’t foul the body, which is the reason so many people seem to want a rangefinder offset viewfinder. Except of course the VF2 works for lefties and righties whereas rangefinders do not.
Rr
6 months ago |When all this over, I would like to see M Woodford back as CEO, m43 strategy clear and robust, Fuji sensor adopted and Leica acquired by Olympus.
Miroslav
6 months ago |He seems to be a fan of mirrorless as a whole. It would be very good to have him back.
Elf
6 months ago |Pro’s like Mr. Woodford are paid to tell people what they want to hear. And in his position he is using media to establish good public relations with consumer base. To establish a positive relationship with shareholders. Nothing he says at this time, has any bearing on what he will do.
Blah
6 months ago |Woodford was just a caucasian put as a puppet figure head to make a nice impression to western businesses. That guy probably didn’t do squat. He probably overheard what the big boys were doing and wanted a piece of the pie. When they told him to bail, he made a big stink like a little baby and now is trying to get attention using the media. He can disappear for all I care.
DJS
6 months ago |#blah, Mr Woodford had worked for Olympus for 30 years. He wasn’t just installed as CEO as a puppet.
DonParrot
6 months ago |I think his current behaviour is embarassing. Nobody has offered him a leading position but he talks about rescuing Olympus as if he already was the new CEO. I’d rather see an engineer such as Terada San at the helm.
Miroslav
6 months ago |Nothing against Terada, but I can tell you from my personal experience that engineers are not good CEOs. Keep them on board or as advisers, but not at the top…
Cob
6 months ago |Engineers are terrible managers because they don”t want to be managers. They can be good managers if they embrace the dark side and stop being engineers. Japanese engineers are terrible managers because they don” t want to manage and end up working and working to death and getting nothing done. I always yell at my counterparts to stop trying to still engineer when they need to manage
.
shep
6 months ago |It is exellent for the future of the camera business that Woodford is a fan, and knows the E-P3 exists and what its potential is. This is the best news for the survival of Olympus’ camera division all year.
Joni
6 months ago |TYVM you\’ve solved all my problmes