(FT 4) First Olympus micro four thirds camera will come after the Olympus E-450!

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I’m waiting for more news about the upcoming Olympus E-450.I still don’t know when exactly the digital camera will be announced. Meanwhile I have got one more information. I asked one source if after the E-450 we will see another DSLR or if it will finally be the turn of a micro four thirds camera. He told me the next camera after the Olympus E-450 will definitely be a micro four thirds camera!!!

Olympus and Panasonic predictions made bythom.com

predictions

by thom is one of the big names in digital photography. His website is highly visited and his predictions often right.

http://www.bythom.com/2009predictions.htm

BUT,

His predictions for Olympus are quite bad.
“Pentax and Olympus seem particularly vulnerable to me as long term DSLR players at this point (I consider Fujifilm already gone).”

His vision about Olympus and Panasonic partnerships:

Panasonic‘s awkward 4/3 alliance with Olympus produces as much a competitor as it does an ally, and I’m pretty sure Panasonic doesn’t really like splitting whatever share 4/3 grabs with another player. With Panasonic buying Sanyo, this increases the pressure on Olympus, as now Panasonic will own the contract manufacturer Olympus has been using.”

He has positive feeling about Panasonic strategy:

“Sony and Panasonic are certainly doing well enough in compacts to survive there, the question is whether their costs at trying to expand into DSLRs are fully justified. In 2009, I think they’ll survive the cut.”

And his final prediction:

Olympus. Okay, some of my “other company” predictions have not been terribly specific. Here’s a specific one: Olympus will sell more of their first micro 4/3 compact (the one whose prototype showed up at Photokina) than they do DSLRs. And not by a small margin. Olympus will be very happy with that, perhaps even smug. But that’s the wrong reaction. If I’m right about how popular their micro 4/3 compact will be, this is actually a serious indictment of their DSLR strategy. Regular 4/3 is not particularly sustainable in the face of micro 4/3 being successful. At the high end, Olympus’ E3 will be staring down four or more 20mp+ DSLRs. In the middle, the E-5xx and baby E3 (E30) have Canon, Nikon, and Sony to contend with and aren’t making inroads. At the bottom, the E-4xx is totally canibalized by the G1 and micro 4/3. And worse still, the existing 4/3 lens lineup is simply too big and not fully ready for micro 4/3. It appears that Olympus will simply reiterate the 4/3 lenses with the new electronics needed by micro 4/3. That’s a band-aid at best. Olympus’ 4/3 bet now hinges on sensor developments. They need compact sensor sized photosites with APS or better qualities for 4/3 to live (note I didn’t say micro 4/3). The problem with that is that, if such a breakthrough did happen, it won’t be limited to 4/3. Compacts, APS, and FX will all see the same benefits, and thus 4/3 keeps falling short at the high end. This is a tough year for Olympus. Indeed, their problem is that they’re getting pulled into the gravity of the bigger planet, Panasonic. With Panasonic buying Sanyo, who assembles many of the Olympus products, there’s great risk to them becoming another P-brand

My considerations in short:

I’ll NOT agree completely! What do you think?

(FT 4) Olympus and Panasonic full frame plans

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We had some discussions with our trusted rumor sources. One of our most important questions were about sensor size.

1) Will Olympus and Panasonic ever go full frame?

First short answer, it is not the right time for them to go full frame! Why? Over 90% of the market is driven by consumer oriented models. They don’t need full frame because it is simply to expensive for the great mass of people! Secondly, in time of crisis, development resources are small and you have to focus on existent technology trying to make them better. Thirdly, the difference in quality terms between 4/3 sensor and full frame is small. If you do pixel piping and huge big prints you will see a difference but that’s all. Real improvement can be made with new concept of camera size (like the Olympus m4/3 mockup), better LCD’s (Oled screens avaiable for 2010?), and maybe video recording capabilities.

2) Why is full frame important?

It is important for companies which have a big pro-market. But to get inside the market is quite difficult and not worth it for companies like Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax (with the exception of medium format), Fuji, etc

3) Will Olympus and Panasonic ever go full frame?

They know a micro four thirds concept applied on a full frame sensor would make a lot of publicity in the techworld. Everybody would talk about it! I believe that after the financial crisis, when things will be clearer, they will try to go this way if they have enough resources.

one more thing…

Sensor development goes not only in the direction of size, but of basic sensor concept. Panasonic is working on new HDR sensors which can capture huge a dynamicrange (not so far away from the concept developed by Fuji).

Are you satisfied?


(FT 4) Danish rumor, new Olympus E-5 in June???

(This is me astonished when I got this news)
southparkwowloser

From a danish website:
http://zoom.comon.dk/index.php/news/show/id=1111
Translation:
Olympus E-3 is the world’s most weather-resistant DSLR camera. But the camera lags behind some of its competitors.

“Suddenly as an lightning from the clear blue skye, I got a hint from a normal highly credible source.
Olympus has launched the E-30 and E-620. Both cameras with more pixels than the big brother E-3 and with a lot of new features. This could therefore indicate that an successor to the E-3 is underway – a really good bet, would be that it will be launched in June, according to my source!.

So if we now put all the good stuff from Olympus E-30/E-620 into the weather-resistant housing of the E-3, we could get an E-5.

But it does not make it alone if you ask me. There must be both more megapixels in a professional camera and ISO noise needs to be fixed and there must be video in such a camera.
Do Olympus deliver this – an E-5 could very well be a success.”

Do we see the new Olympus model in June?”

(FT 4) New Canon 500D is coming! A Panasonic GH1 competitor?

canon_luke_digital_video_slr_holagraphic_imaging_camera

I bet we will see a new Canon 500D on March 25th! And of course it will do videor! The only question is if it will be a real Panasonic GH1 challenger. The camera must have variable framerate settings, high Mb/s rate, manual setting options for ISO and aperture, good codec and autofocus. The ÃœBER-feature would be 1080 60p/50p recording which I believe is NOT coming.

Im wondering if Olympus will ever come out with a camera with video capabilities…