What to Expect Next From Olympus ?

What to expect next from Olympus ? Imaging resources interviewed Senior Manager of Global Marketing Strategy for Olympus Imaging Division Masanori Sako about the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, AF improvements on OM-D E-M1X, Photograpphy Business, M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm f/4.5 TC 1.25x IS PRO Lens and more.

You can read the summary below. Best Micro Four Thirds Lenses.

Olympus has no plans to sell their photo business
The imagining division leads technological development for the company
The official position is that it is not for sale, but it isn’t possible to guarantee anything forever
The factory transition to Vietnam slowed them down, but now that is complete
COVID-19 has caused the supply issue, but demand is also down so they do not have shortages at this point
Olympus will continue to introduce new products at a time of their choosing
Wouldnt be specific about how badly demand has been affected
Olympus intends to continue the E-M1 II alongside the E-M1 III in most countries to provide a more affordable camera option
The Olympus E-M1 III has an all-new AF algorithm that improves performance overall
The new AF can recognize eyes at 1/5th the size they previously could and faces 2/3 the size
There is also human recognition and pattern recognition
Olympus Starry Sky AF works by utilizing several defocused images, and by using estimated values from those, the camera finds the image that has the highest brightness
Starry Sky AF is a unique new AF system
It looks at, Maximum brightness value, Number of pixels above the threshold, Pixel integration value above the threshold, and Average pixel luminance value above the threshold
Can’t give details about swapping in and out smart subjects AI AF for the E-M1X
Olympus is studying what additional smart subjects users might want
The E-M1X requires two quad-core processors for its AI AF
Olympus still needs two chips for AI AF, but they are working to reduce it to one
The new TruePic IX processor can do some of the things that the dual TruePic VIII chips could do like LiveND
No comment about when the Olympus 150-400mm f/4.5 Pro is coming beyond hopefully 2020, but they announced it very early because all the attention is on full-frame instead of what smaller sensors can do
The TC in the 150-400mm provides 300-1000mm of coverage
They are making more Pro lenses like the 12-45mm PRO that are more compact and lightweight
There are plans to do a 12-45mm f/4 PRO EM1 III bundle
The Olympus E-M5 III is doing well and is almost perfectly matching expectations
Olympus prioritizes Compact, lightweight, IBIS, and great glass
Olympus wants to grow its customer base, which is why they are trying to make their stuff more affordable and competitors are aggressively pricing their cameras and lenses
It is hard to get value across to consumers and some feel small sensor cameras should be cheap, but Olympus wants to stick to its values
Olympus cameras are good for bird, wildlife, mountain photography and more