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Archive 2015 · Olympus-Knocking it out of the Park

  
 
rattymouse
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Olympus-Knocking it out of the Park


I just got back from another 7 day trip to Japan, by far my favorite country to visit and photograph. It's always very interesting to be in the home of the camera, as 95%+ of our cameras come from that country. I made yet another trip to Kyoto photographing "my brains out". It is such a target rich environment. 7 days never goes by so fast, or so pleasantly.

Anyway, while walking through over 15 different UNESCO world heritage sites, and seeing tens of thousands of people carrying cameras, I engaged in my second hobby, which is observing what other people are shooting. I find it very interesting to see what cameras are more popular than others. The most shocking observation to me was how many Olympus cameras I ended up seeing. It was *really* an enormous amount. Far, far, far too many to count, even for a single day. I would put it up there with Canon, Nikon, and Sony. I could never keep track of how many of these brands I spotted out in the wild, simply because the number is waaay too high. My previous visits to Japan did not see so much from Olympus but this past trip was far different. I'm not an expert on the various Olympus models, so I cant make much more than the general observation, but all the ones I spotted were of the micro 4/3rd variety with interchangeable lenses.

Strangely, not much Panasonic sightings. I would have thought that Oly and Panny would be sort of on equal footing, but that was not what I saw. I certainly did see a lot of Panny's, but they were much less common than Olympus.

I brought my 3 film cameras (2 Fujifilm and 1 Nikon) and encountered only 3 other film shooters during my week in Kyoto. One Pentax, one Contax, and one Leica M6 shooter.

Regarding Fujifilm, I spotted the following:

4 X-T1's
1 X-E1
2 S5 Pros (VERY shocking to see that. Boy did I want to talk to those guys bad!)
1 X10
1 X20/30
1 INSTAX Neo 90

If you discount the SLR's and film camera, I averaged spotting a single Fujifilm X camera per day. I know Fujifilm has a miniscule marketshare, but this really drove it home in a big way.

I know that Olympus was in serious trouble a few years back, but it seems that they have the sales volume now to be at least a bit hopeful. I dont know how the profits sit with all this volume, but if anyone can carry the mirrorless flag forward along with Sony, it certainly is Olympus.












Apr 26, 2015 at 11:51 PM
Dudewithoutape
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Olympus-Knocking it out of the Park


Mirrorless is doing far better in Japan than the US or Europe.


Apr 27, 2015 at 12:35 AM
philber
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Olympus-Knocking it out of the Park


I am very surprised that you didn't see quite a few people shooting MF film. I am always amazed at how many of them there were/are, with Contax, Bronica, Hasselblad, Mamiya, etc... Have they finally all packed it in?


Apr 27, 2015 at 01:52 AM
rattymouse
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Olympus-Knocking it out of the Park


philber wrote:
I am very surprised that you didn't see quite a few people shooting MF film. I am always amazed at how many of them there were/are, with Contax, Bronica, Hasselblad, Mamiya, etc... Have they finally all packed it in?


You know, I've never seen a medium or large format film photographer while in Japan. I'm mostly in the cities, at best on the outskirts of Kyoto near the mountains. Perhaps the larger format photographers are out in the rural areas, which are quite beautiful and worthy of much film use. The attractions in the cities can make photography somewhat challenging if the gear is too cumbersome. I use two medium format rangefinder cameras which are about as small as it gets in the 6 x 7 format.

I was thrilled to run into a Contax 35mm SLR owner while out shooting. I love those cameras and lenses.




Apr 27, 2015 at 03:06 AM
millsart
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Olympus-Knocking it out of the Park


I think the area where one is shooting, how accessible it is etc, really affects camera demographics quite a bit.

We have a nice natural area here in Ohio with lots of ravines and waterfalls carved into soft sandstone cliffs.

Parts of it are quite accessible, with easy access trails from parking areas and other require hikes of a few miles.

At the easy to access parts I quite often see older guys (type that belong to photo clubs) shooting MF and sometimes even LF setups. Also obviously tons of iPhones as it is popular with tourist as well.

At the same time, the more remote area's I tend to see more guys with rigs like a 5D or D800, T/S glass etc. In addition again to all the iPhones from most hikers.

I think that (generalizing) a lot of people with MF/LF setups are simply less willing to trek as far with their gear. I also think there is a bit of an age divide, with some older shooters not as willing/able to hike as far.

40 year old guy with a nice CF tripod setup and DSLR rig probably is more likely to want to trek 2 miles to a waterfall than a 75 year old guy with a 10lb wood/metal tripod and a LF/MF setup.

Then on the total flip side, around the Ohio State University area, I actually see some MF stuff, honestly more so than guys with D800's, A7r's etc. Also plenty of midlevel DSLR's etc.

You've got younger people who either think film is cool (along with fixed gear bicycles, beards, et al.,) or that maybe purchased a DSLR, or had one as a HS graduation gift, and as they are students, aren't able to keep upgrading to the latest and greatest mirrorless stuff.

Just so many factors at play, age, SES, area of photographic interest, environment etc.



Apr 27, 2015 at 11:18 AM
riotshield
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Olympus-Knocking it out of the Park


Another couple of factors:

1. Olympus gear is very price competitive in Japan and Asia in general, while it tends to be comparatively overpriced in the U.S. and Europe. A new E-M1 and 12-40mm with full warranty costs ¥162,000 in Japan, which is the USD equivalent of $1,361. Even factoring in the strong dollar/weak yen exchange, that's still hundreds less than what it costs here ($2,100).

2. Unlike in Japan and East Asia in general, there is very little visibility of Micro Four Thirds in TV advertising or in B&M stores.

Olympus' annual report should be coming out soon, but it doesn't sound like the imaging division was profitable last year (or has been for a while).



Apr 27, 2015 at 11:42 AM
Mescalamba
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Olympus-Knocking it out of the Park


Yep, mirrorless is doing pretty good in Asian countries I think..

..given I live near one UNESCO city and literally every second or third visitor from Asia is carrying mirrorless. Suprising amount of Samsungs NXs, a lot of Sony NEX. Quite a few Fujis. Much less m4/3s than I would expect.

Recently I saw white unicorn.. asian dude carrying huge tripod with Phase One on top of it. That was really suprising.

Yea and a lot of Canon dSLRs, like A LOT. Sometimes I see even our "alt" tech, like Zeiss lenses. Never saw anyone with other alt stuff tho. Well, unless one takes film as alt. Last one I saw was Minolta Hi-Matic (E I think). But no adapted lenses.. nothing like that.

If its Canon its either one of these pocket things, or 5D/6Ds with L lenses.


Very few Nikons, let alone some higher ends (I see a lot of those small funny red ones, but otherwise nothing).

Never saw anyone here with 1D class or D3/D4. Closest to "pro" was probably A99 last week. But he had only that Tamron made "kit" lens (28-75/2.8).


Rarest digital camera owners are probably Pentaxians. Some hold that brand probably really tight.. (even some old K20Ds).



Apr 27, 2015 at 04:16 PM
rattymouse
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Olympus-Knocking it out of the Park


riotshield wrote:
Another couple of factors:

1. Olympus gear is very price competitive in Japan and Asia in general, while it tends to be comparatively overpriced in the U.S. and Europe. A new E-M1 and 12-40mm with full warranty costs ¥162,000 in Japan, which is the USD equivalent of $1,361. Even factoring in the strong dollar/weak yen exchange, that's still hundreds less than what it costs here ($2,100).

2. Unlike in Japan and East Asia in general, there is very little visibility of Micro Four Thirds in TV advertising or in B&M stores.

Olympus' annual report should be coming out soon, but it doesn't sound
...Show more

I spent quite a lot of time in Yodobashi, but didnt look at the prices of Olympus gear. It wouuld be interesting to study the differences between Oly and Panasonic.

Canon this week released the first quarterly report of the season and the results were not good. Camera sales continue their hard crash.




Apr 27, 2015 at 08:32 PM
rattymouse
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Olympus-Knocking it out of the Park


Mescalamba wrote:
Yep, mirrorless is doing pretty good in Asian countries I think..

..given I live near one UNESCO city and literally every second or third visitor from Asia is carrying mirrorless. Suprising amount of Samsungs NXs, a lot of Sony NEX. Quite a few Fujis. Much less m4/3s than I would expect.


The success of mirrorless in Asia is vastly overstated. Even in Japan, Canon and Nikon are profoundly dominate. In China (one of the largest camera markets in the world), it is even more lopsided towards SLRs. Going to Shanghai's largest camera malls, you will have to search to find the mirrorless offerings while dozens of CaNikon stores are all over the place. One thing clearly visible these days is that the majority of micro 4/3rd users that I see are female.

Mescalamba wrote:
Recently I saw white unicorn.. asian dude carrying huge tripod with Phase One on top of it. That was really suprising.

Yea and a lot of Canon dSLRs, like A LOT. Sometimes I see even our "alt" tech, like Zeiss lenses. Never saw anyone with other alt stuff tho. Well, unless one takes film as alt. Last one I saw was Minolta Hi-Matic (E I think). But no adapted lenses.. nothing like that.

If its Canon its either one of these pocket things, or 5D/6Ds with L lenses.

Very few Nikons, let alone some higher ends (I see a lot of those small
...Show more

Loads of Nikons here in Asia. Equal to or very close to Canon. Canon might still have the edge in China due to the red ring on the L glasses. Image is everything here and showing off your wealth is the national past time. Canon L glass is good for that.




Apr 27, 2015 at 08:41 PM
Mescalamba
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Olympus-Knocking it out of the Park


Guess most tourists here are Chinese then. xD

Im taking it just by what I see people using here. Maybe all of them have some nice beefy dSLR at home and take just mirrorless when they visit other countries.



Apr 28, 2015 at 08:59 AM





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