bilzmale
Hall of Famer
- Location
- Perth, Western Australia
- Name
- Bill Shinnick
It seemed as though quite a few people have been waiting for the "professional" version of the Olympus mu43 camera.
I'd be interested in a pro style rangefinder. I think Panasonic already has the traditional style SLR market, for the most part. Olympus cannot go down into the "cheap mass market" game. They don't have the buying power nor the selling power for this. Kodak even tried this and its not working well for them. Canon, Sony, and Nikon already have the cheaper consumer camera market, and to a lesser degree, Panasonic. If I were running Olympus:
100-200 dollar P&S: Two or three models at most
High end compact P&S: One model
Entry level Super Zoom: One or two models
High end level super zoom: One or two models
mFT: Entry Level, Mid-Level, and High end level rangefinder styles with significant price and performance/feature differences
It should be said that the current Olympus Pen lineup is indeed confusing. The EP2 is a "generation" behind the EPL1/2 in detail and resolution with their new rendering engine, although the EP2 is a nicer camera. The EPL1 and EPL2 are close enough as to wonder why the EPL1 is even still available. Which comes down to an outdated EP2 or more pedestrian EPL2, and having owned the EP2 and tried the EPL1 I'd favor the EPL2. What we might say that Olympus needs is a higher-end EP3. They may also need a Pen with built-in EVF. And IMO they also need higher quality optics. If those came true I'd reconsider the Olympus Pens. But as it stands now I'm too deep into my Ricoh GXR system, with its better ISO performance and excellent optics, and I'm looking forward to the anticipated APS-C zoom unit.
All that being said I'm extremely satisfied with my Olympus E5 DSLR with the outstanding 14-35mm lens.
I don't know enough to make a valuable comment but my invaluable one is that I have been surprised about their mu43 cameras. It seemed as though quite a few people have been waiting for the "professional" version of the Olympus mu43 camera.
I do not mean this in anyway as a pejorative regarding the E-PL1 or E-PL2, but I do see Mr. Hogan's points.