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Back in 2020, Olympus sold its camera and imaging business after a series of rumors. In 2021, Olympus’s imaging business belonged to OM Digital Solutions, and word started to spread that the company would fully rebrand from Olympus.
And now, it’s happening, OM Digital Solutions has announced that Olympus is no more. Other than the upcoming gear, even the existing models will from now on be a part of the “OM System.”
Well, there’s been a lot of speculation about what’s going to happen to the name Olympus since its acquisition by JIP was completed at the beginning of the year. In February, the newly formed OM Digital hoped to be able to keep using the name Olympus and it looked like they might for a few years.
But in August, it was rumoured camera models were expecting to be renamed and now it looks like the brand as a whole is, too. And, yes, the two previous logo trademark registrations (here and here) were correctly assumed to be the new brand for Olympus cameras. Olympus is now OM System.
While the fate of cameras formerly produced by Olympus seems in good hands with the recently formed OM Digital Solutions, the name itself has had something of a question mark over it since the news of a takeover first broke. Initially, it looked like JIP were planning to kill off the Olympus brand name fairly quickly, with an official statement from Olympus that it will continue “for the foreseeable future”.
A short time later, OM Digital Solutions confirmed in an interview with Digitec that they had secured the use of the Olympus brand name and would continue to use it “for the next few years and for a longer time than we had originally assumed”. Now, though, it looks like that might changing speculation around the web prove to be true.
Lastolite by Manfrotto (since 2016), previously known as Lastolite when it was acquired by Vitec in 2011 is rebranding again. This time, it’s dropped the Lastolite branding completely and will now become part of the Manfrotto brand. The company says that the rebrand is “in response to industry and consumer behaviour changes over recent years as still and moving images continues to converge”.
The Lastolite by Manfrotto section of the Manfrotto website has already been modified to reflect the change, pointing users to the newly branded products. Although, for a while, they say that you may still receive products with Lastolite by Manfrotto branding.
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 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.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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