Speculation running wild after the Olympus teaser :)
The video teaser you see her eon top created quite a buzz! Time to make a summary of what’s going on. First, Olympus sent out nuts to many journalists (like Techradar and Photographyblog for example). Damian Mcgillicuddy received a big mystery package from Olympus. And than we had that new teaser at http://getolympus.com/worldsfirst/ (I posted the video on top of this post).
Olympus is known to make such campaigns for important camera releases (the last one was for the Olympus E-M5 for example). So many here started to speculate that something BIG might will be announced soon. And also that “PRO image quality” statement sounds so good. There is even some chinese website listing the E-7 
But I think Olympus marketing is just playing a big game on the not so big (at least for me) Olympus TG-1 iHS camera that has been already leaked (via Photorumors). The video clearly suggest that this is a splashproof new Though camera (here is a list of these cameras on Amazon).
So should we give up all our hopes? The only thing that speaks for something really BIG is the package sent to Damian Mcgillicuddy.
He is a pro photographer and certainly not exactly the target customer for a Though camera! And looking at the size of the package he received this looks more like a big camera or big lens. I suspect he got an early production version of the 75mm f/1.8 or 60mm macro lenses. My sources told me that both lenses would arrive in early Summer. So may Olympus will soon give us the final specs and price and release date of these two jewels?
Riley
2 years ago |I think 2 things are happening at once
the video thing is about a sealed compact
the nuts thing is about 2 lenses
bilgy_no1
2 years ago |No, Olympus have used that term in relation to another compact before. It just meant that it used a BSI cmos sensor.
hifinut
2 years ago |The the 2 nuts perhaps symbolize the Olympus new board of directors have castrated the balls of the EX board of directors.
Ulli
2 years ago |very curious about the footage recorded from that location.
JimD
2 years ago |It’s a camera in a pen.
Box is just for marketing managers ego.
JimD
2 years ago |Got off your cloud. e-300 and 3-330
Jbob
2 years ago |I am certain that the teasers are for the new compact waterproof camera, however it is clear that
the m43 manufacturers are making a strategic mistake in not launching a rugged camera with
a m43 sensor. Interchangeable lenses would be great, but a 12-60 fixed zoom would be OK
I wonder how small a manufacturer could go with a m43 sensor with a “periscope-style” camera design
Perret cap Joe gear photo blogger
2 years ago |Probably the E7 they might use the m-5 sensor, and add 2 pro nuts artfilters and a Television viewfinder
John Krumm
2 years ago |The “end of an era” comment referred to the workshop, I think.
ClickRick
2 years ago |I honestly do hope those two nuts many journalists received from Olympus and the teaser means – and it is about time – the introduction of 43-system products.
For instance the worthy E-30 can use an update. A friend of mine started serious digital photography with an Olympus 410 and now an E-30. But he forced himself to buy a second hand Canon 40D with a brand new Canon f2.8 100 mm (equivalent of an 150 mm)because Olympus Zuiko did not made it’s promise to make one (100 mm) and Sigma stopped producing 43-lenses.
I bought an E-5 a couple of years a go and even in some E-5 prospect/advertorials Olympus promised to support and continue the 43-system.
Trevor
2 years ago |I agree. I bet the “pro quality” is related to a video spec. I could even imagine they stuff 1080p60 into it, which would be something to publicize. If it’s just 1080p30, it’s a little overhyped.
roger48
2 years ago |Is it not almost the ONLY m43 camera, so it must be the best?
bli
2 years ago |Note that Pekka is very specific on that he measures the DR in his own way, and that his numbers can *not* be compared to numbers in other tests. But that individual differences betwen the E-M5 and the E-P3 can be assessed.
Alfons
2 years ago |When the XZ-1 came I thought: It’s almost perfect. If it just would be waterproof…
Well, here it is! Maybe not “pro”, but something cool anyway!
Pat
2 years ago |Its a POV cam, a-la gopro, et. all. Oh well, Lets hope there is something about it that makes it a better choice than the gopro with the just announced firmware update.
blastingmills
2 years ago |I just thought of something…look at all the slo-mo in the video. That surfing clip is slow, for sure.
One way they could get an edge over a go-pro is by offering crazy fast frame rates, output as slow-motion from the camera.
Waterproof tough camera capable of shooting 1080p at 120 fps or 60 fps, output at 30p??? That would be super cool and would certainly give them an advantage over go-pro…in addition to RAW stills capture.
They do have the high frame rate technology in their video conference cameras.
David
2 years ago |I think the two walnuts is a double entendre: the camera will be tough, and it for photographers who are “nuts” (that is, into extreme sports). This is in line with the video teaser. I also think it will be a video cam because the video stressed that the offering is “in a new perspective” and the video was shot from ground level. It didn’t seem like it was handheld.
Vivek
2 years ago |EPL3 and EPM2 -two nuts.
ha
2 years ago |It may not be a different sensor but a different filter / lens package on top of it to enable PDAF
Renato S.
2 years ago |It would not make sense to announce a PRO camera just after releasing E-M5 since there would be an intersection in those two markets, you would kill the E-M5 preventing tons os users to buy it.
joesiv
2 years ago |I’m guessing tough camera with bright lens (obvious given the leak), 1080p, decent sensor (not m43 sized), and RAW file support (why they call it “professional quality IQ”.
They’ll highlight different mount options like gopro/contour.
Given the trailor, you’d be dreaming to think it’s an e7. First of all it has to be waterproof, not just splash proof, and noones going to mount a full sized dslr and lens to the end of a surf board, small and light is the name of the game here. Interchangable lens’ isn’t a great option when mounting to things that have heavy vibration and knocks.
Being “world first” they could be talking about them being the first to market with this genre of tough camera, or was Pentax first way back when? Or, maybe just first tough camera with RAW support… or 1080p?
so… tough camera (or two), with better IQ including RAW support, that’s my guess.
Caseyvannyhuis
2 years ago |Side by side comparison video of a GH2 and EM5 if anyone cares to take a look.
http://vimeo.com/41218275
Jeff_006
2 years ago |Conclusion: E-M5 has the best m43 sensor ! And is the best m43 camera for stills !?!
Jeff_006
2 years ago |“pekkapotka just published RAW dynamic range of EM-5.”
Thanks for info !
WOW !! It seems that E-M5 is very good ! Better than GH2 at base iso (+1Ev), very close to Nex-5N at 200 iso but Nex-5N has also 100 iso where it is better than E-M5 @200 iso (but not a lot).
It seems that DR improvement is not only JPeg processing ! Very happy with tese results that will be very probably confirmed by DXo (as E-P3 pekkapotka curve is near the same as DxO !!)
blastingmills
2 years ago |My guess is it’s a new tough camera designed to compete against go-pro.
I expect Olympus to eventually release a new pro camera, but i doubt this is it. I sure would like to be surprised, though.
hifinut
2 years ago |Oly didn’t even call EM-5 a pro camera. My guess is one of them must be E-7 and it would be world first waterproof, freeze-proof Pro camera.
BTY, admin, pekkapotka just published RAW dynamic range of EM-5.
TJ
2 years ago |“PRO image quality” definately means it is not a Pro camera, just one that makes good pictures.
It’s definately water/dust/and shock proof and probably tiny so you can take it easily with you to all your sports activities.
So I would sum it up as something tiny, that fits in a nutshell, which is also tough to crack: Outdoor-Pen? Why not
dzv
2 years ago |The video sure does seem to hint at a new Tough camera, but I can hardly think of anything they could have put into a point’n'shoot that would justify phrases like “World First” and “Pro Image Quality.” That sounds like a lot of hype for a point’n'shoot… but I guess you never can tell what to expect to come out of a marketer’s mouth
jules
2 years ago |haha! And the classic reaction after all this fantasy is deception, sometimes replacing all the fantasy with doom speculation
bobballoo
2 years ago |Wow, Oly is really eating Panasonic’s lunch in marketing and media coverage. Panny better announce something exciting soon, or suffer the consequences in M4/3 market share.
Mr. Reeee
2 years ago |That makes the most sense. Most of the other wild speculation borders on fantasy.
Agent00soul
2 years ago |Announcing yet another new sensor with on-sensor PDAF so soon would be very un-Olympus.
Nikku
2 years ago |TG-1 and E-7. I’m calling it now.
BLI
2 years ago |They also tend to have two cameras in the Tough series.
hifinut
2 years ago |The box has 2 tough nuts after all. One could be the Olympus TG-1 iHS and the other could be E-6 or E-7.
Mr. Reeee
2 years ago |2 point stabilization was mentioned in the specs for the Tough camera.
An EMP1 or XZ1 type of camera with the same sort of water/dust/shock-proofing of the Tough line would be great.
Mr Hipsta
2 years ago |“Pro image quality” disqualifies small sensors as in “Point n Shoot” cameras, at least for still images. Maybe Olympus made a tough compact camera with a M43 sensor, like the Canon G1X!?
DonTom
2 years ago |I agree with you Cansalt. This might be a bit big though compared to the GoPro cams, Olly would also need to work on a good range of mounts for the camera. But there are a lot of HD Hero fans out there. A good friend uses one as his only travel cam, kids love them, and skiers are crazy about them. The field I ski on in NZ has a big box of 64GB SD cards under the glass counter in the gift shop, and it empties out very fast!
Great idea from Olympus, but it would need to be a lot smaller to compete with the HD Hero. This is one area where the traditional P&S form factor ain’t gonna fly, too much wind resistance!
BLI
2 years ago |The video indicates a camera in the Tough series. To make it easy to use/share movies and pictures, they should include a simple way to upload films to YouTube and pictures to Facebook. A combo of tougher than (previous) Tough camera, faster lens, better video — perhaps with IS, and an easy way to share pictures/movies (e.g tethering via a mobile phone) would certainly be attractive to young/action oriented people.
Sunny
2 years ago |I think a new toughcam would fit to the nuts.
Cansalt
2 years ago |If I ran a camera company, I would go after a design that competed with the HD Hero by GoPro. I have seen many of them in the wild and there is a lot of talk about them. I would imagine there is big money in the adventure camera market. Olympus should go surf on the GoPro site to see what a kickass video teaser looks like. So I hope the new Olympus is a “walnut” tough and “walnut” small extreme adventure camera.
napalm
2 years ago |in line with the “end of an era”, the E-6 might be mirrorless that can use 4/3 lenses with on-sensor PDAF. maybe this is the “modular-like” camera where we can remove a 4/3 mount to use m4/3 lenses.
that would make more sense than just releasing an updated DSLR flagship
arn
2 years ago |an actioncam…
bluebox10
2 years ago |on the other hand… a tough camera with 4/3rds sensor and fixed lens. that would be something new!
bluebox10
2 years ago |well… this hint is obviously a tough nut to crack…
duh!
Bob B.
2 years ago |the above teaser is obviously all about the TG-1 iHS camera…but maybe Olympus is running more than one teaser campaign…
sneye
2 years ago |BTW, the comments on Photographyblog are quite intriguing, if just a little far fetched.
sneye
2 years ago |“World’s first”,”Pro image quality” and “A whole new perspective” could refer to the video capabilities of that new indestructible little thing (it has a wide f/2-4.9 lens, a CMOS sensor and supports 1080p). Perhaps they managed to implement a variant of their new IBIS in it too? That would make it a rather special video camera for action situations and thus worth some high profile teasing.
OTOH it could be something totally different.
Anonymous
2 years ago |@ Admin – He already had the lenses BEFORE the package arrived, and those lenses sure aren’t being shipped in 50+ cm wide boxes.
beuler
2 years ago |Notice the “end of an era” hint. This is certainly the end of the DSLR era. My guess is the package contains an E-6.
Agent00soul
2 years ago |McGillycuddy’s parcel might not be related to the teaser. The parcel might indeed contain a pre-release E-x camera, that will be released later.
WT21
2 years ago |It’s a rumored “tough” camera, the video shows mud and water flying everywhere, and the specs have already been leaked. The two nuts makes sense in the context of “tough.”
I hope it’s something else, but it certainly looks like it could be that “tough” camera, unless it’s an m43 sensor on a fixed lens “tough” camera.