JIP confirms commitment to Olympus and the Micro Four Thirds system
Sep 10, 2020
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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JIP’s been pretty quiet since the announcement of the deal to take over the Imaging division from Olympus. It’s left a lot of doubt and uncertainty about the future of the Micro Four Thirds system – especially when there are also fears that Panasonic might be preparing to ditch MFT. But in an interview with Toyokeizai, Japan Industrial Partners has confirmed their commitment to the format and the brand.
The interview with Shinichi Inagaki, managing director at JIP raises a few main points. The first is that JIP is not planning to sell Olympus on or piece it out for its intellectual property. They say that their mission is to bring Olympus back to its former glory and playing on the strength of Olympus’ cameras and taking advantage of the features they offer. They will also be looking very closely at their target market to find out exactly who they want their customers to be.
Mr Inagaki said that Olympus still plans to sell overseas. There will be no withdrawal from the market and they will continue to support existing systems. He also says that they are still discussing production, but they have no plans to outsource and go fabless, keeping the main Olympus factory in Vietnam.
They’re also shifting from a primarily consumer-oriented market towards a more business-oriented one, with a focus on video, which Olympus hasn’t really pursued at all. This should hopefully start offering Panasonic some competition in the Micro Four Thirds video world (assuming Panasonic sticks around in the format).
It sounds like there’s still quite a bit of work to be done and details to be ironed out, but they say they haven’t had a business go bust in their last 30 acquisitions (which include companies like laptop manufacturer VAIO) and they don’t plan to start now.
You can read the complete interview here.
[via 43Rumors]
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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14 responses to “JIP confirms commitment to Olympus and the Micro Four Thirds system”
Good news. As a MFT owner I just bought a new E-M1 Mark II with free f/1.2 lens. I will be staying for a long time in this system, it just works for me.
JIP=RIP
How so?
well.. to start, most of Olympus Camera customers are today in the Consumer category… those making a living in Photography or Video with Olympus gear are a pretty small group of people… So from the interview, it sounds like they want to change direction. We will have to wait to see what that looks like.
Most of every camera company customers are today in the consumer categorie. And that is shrinking fast. Those making a living in Photography or Video with camera gear are a pretty small group of people. All camera companies are going in the direction of high end amateurs and professional. That’s where the profit is to make, because it isn’t any longer in absolute sales numbers.
That’s a big difference from “RIP”. Which means “Rest in peace”, which means it’s dead. Gone. History. So, your answer doesn’t really address my question to Ivo – which he has failed to answer himself. :)
Not a good poet.
As I’ve said for several years to all the camera alarmists, none of the major Japanese companies will vanish. They’ll do whatever it takes to adjust supply to demand. People will be purged, product lines will be slashed, names may be changed, but no one is vanishing. Just expect to pay more and wait longer in between versions. We’re well down the slope of diminishing returns with each new release anyway.
Now if they could effectively bring back some of Olympus’ earlier cameras (like the OM-2) for size and weight but with a digital back. That as a full-frame model would be nice. I already have an OM-2, I only need the digital back.
Why would you build a digital back for an OM-2? At that point you can just buy any FF mirrorless camera and stick an adapter on it to use your old lenses. You can’t make something as small and lightweight digitally.
It’s not the lenses I’m wanting to use, it’s the body. The OM-D bodies are too small and light for my comfort and I have to add the grip and other padding to make it heavier and fit my hands better. Besides, the OM-2 was in many ways much easier to use–fewer buttons and no menu diving. All the controls you needed were right out where you could access them and KNOW you were in the right setting when you captured an image.
If you think the E-M5 type of body is to small, try a E-M1 Mark II or III. It’s a huge difference.
When Olympus(JIP) talk by focus on pro video, so think i the mean same sensor so Panasonic use in GH5S for low light 4K, but also ths 41mp sensor so Sony have for use in 8K too. I mean the not is a bad idea, and them say also Pro compact rough camera. If ve look in future is maybe not so important by screen on camera, but good WIFI.
“with a focus on video”
YES PLEASE. Make a Pen-F II. Put the phase detect autofocus from the E-M1 III. Add more video features.