Olympus just published the Financial Results for the 3rd Quarter of Fiscal Year 2017. And for the first time in many years Olympus Imaging Business had a small profit! Despite a -13% net sales operating income increased by 1.1% with a net profit of 0,7 Bilion Yen. This has been possible because of two reasons:
1) Profitability achieved on 9-month basis following earnings improvement resulting from introducing new mirrorless cameras and maintaining prices of readily affordable mirrorless cameras 2) Inventory expenses effectively managed
Also the Operating income forecast raised based on 3Q business recovery.
Olympus managers at the DPreview interview (image by Dpreview).
Dpreview interviewed a very large crowd of Olympus engineers and managers. Olympus said it will be improving and evolving the E-M1 Mark II with firmware upgrades. This is what they are working on:
Adding ‘Auto ISO’ capability to manual video shooting
Allowing for control of autofocus racking speed while shooting video
Clarifying and enhancing customizability of continuous autofocus behavior beyond the current -2 to +2 ‘tight to loose’ scale
Working on the AF algorithm to improve tracking performance
Enable the ability to enter playback and menus while the buffer is clearing
Subal announced a new housing for the Panasonic GX85. Full info at subal.com:
The SUBAL GX80 housing provides access to all camera functions including the ability to open and close the built-in flash unit. A clip-on visor prevents distracting reflections and light on the monitor. The back cover closes using new SUBAL easy locking system.
Technical data Seawater-resistant aluminum alloy carved from a solid block finished with a hard-coating surface and corrosion resistance. All parts made of hard-anodized light alloy, acid-resistant stainless steel and high-quality plastics. Seamless precision O-rings seals.
Width x height x depth: approx. 183 x 136 x 92 mm
Strobe connection: 2 x Sea & Sea fiber optic ports 2 x 5-pin standard connector (optional)
Lighting Gear for Outdoor Portraits (Explora).
Photo Composition and Contrast: Leading the Eye to Your Subject (Adorama Learning Center)
A New Look For One of the World’s Great Brands – CES 2017 (Panasonic at Converge).
Wolfgang: “Olympus EM-1 mark II: Some urgent wishes for a firmware update After using this wunderful camera for different projects for a month or so, I have some urgent wishes for a quick firmware update:
1. Repair the UHS-II-slot (slot 1) at once! There are lots of issues with UHS-II-cards in slot 1: Cards of some brands are not recognized, the camera freezes when transferring data to the card, etc. This is not acceptable with a professional camera and ruins the good reputation of this camera and Olympus.
2. Change some parts of the user interface for video: This camera produces very high quality professional looking footage in C4K-mode (which was a surprise to me, always hearing from Olympus, that this is mainly a camera for stills!). The stabilisation does an excellent job and the C4K-footage looks just great, but… – there should be the possibility to store video settings as a custum mode under a C-button. So you could prepare for some different video modes to use in the field. – in M(anual) video mode there should be the possibility of automatic ISO!!! Then you could choose your special shutter speed AND aperture and the right metering could be done in the camera. – in every video mode there should be the possibility to ALWAYS show the actual used shutter and aperture during video shooting on the display and the EVF as well. It is much annoying, when the display of vital data always blacks out after some seconds! – the „flat“ picture mode should be customizable (like Panasonic does with their Cine-Modes in the GH4/5) You should be able to switch sharpness, contrast, denoising and saturation to a wanted level.
With these issues gone, the EM-1 mark II would be not only a great stills camera, but also a wonderful tool for videographers.“
Howard Oates The Sea Tunnel. OMD EM5II 12-40mm f2.8 PRO. Nanjizal cove in Cornwall, UK
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Jack: “Not sure how many Olympus users know this already. You can make Olympus’s charger smaller by replacing the power plug with Apple’s adapter plug. https://youtu.be/-PtCI3_Wp6w“
