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Shame as they made great cameras but it’s an oversaturated market and smartphones are getting better, if not up to dSLR standards by a long way.
Minolta sold their camera division to Sony some dozen years ago. Sony needed the rights to the Minolta AF mount to be able to immediately tap into millions of lenses and get people to step up from Minolta body’s to Sony body’s and new lenses.
I liked my Minolta (still have it) but I decided not to make that step and switched to Canon because the Canon (and Nikon) accessories market is ten times that of anyone else.
Mine too, it was a great camera. After maybe 20 years of solid service, the light meter broke so I got a second hand one.
I have given up on SLRs and now take most of my pics on a Sony HX60 compact superzoom. It has a 30x optical zoom yet fits in your pocket. The newer Sony compacts are even better because you can use the control ring round the lens as a traditional focusing ring.
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
I've covered Japanese industry for thirty years in fund management, and it is fascinating and shocking what has happened to some of the big consumer brands that were so dominant a few decades ago. They have been the victims of their own refusal to merge into national champions until it was too late, and what they call in Japan the "Galapagos" effect - coming up with what appeals to Japanese consumers doesn't help them become successful in the rest of the world.
Japanese customers prize quality and the latest technology over branding, ease of use and low prices, while the opposite is the case in the US, China and increasingly the rest of the world. Think about cameras - photography is a national obsession in Japan, as a hobby, for collectors and as a source of national pride. If you go into a big Japanese electronics store (eg Bic Camera or Yodobashi Camera, there's a tip), you see acres of space devoted to the latest models form a huge number of makers.
The rest of the world? Stick it in a phone - it may not be the best picture but it does the job of friends, family and increasingly social media snaps and videos, it's one less thing to carry, no need to read a 140 page manual to learn how to use it and it's cheap. And when I lose/break my phone in a few years, I'll have an even better camera thrown in as a bonus.
Pursuing the standard that works best in Japan rather than what the world wanted saw them drop the ball in phones and PCs - NEC was the world's biggest producer of both 25 years ago, and now Japan is nowhere in huge consumer markets. Japan had about 20 companies making TVs 20 years ago, but their drive to distinguish themselves in a murderously competitive market with expensive, innovative technology that no-one loved enough to allow them to recover their investment, such as Plasma screens, Blu Ray, etc was a financial disaster that even the Japanese couldn't sustain.
While it's sad that some of the companies I fondly remember from the past - Pioneer, Sanyo, Sharp, JVC - have either disappeared, are a tiny fragment of what they were or are just a badge bought from the receivers for a made in China product, others have retreated from consumer brands into more profitable industrial or components areas based on their core technologies, helped by the fact that they were able to protect the money they made in the good times from being pillaged by asset strippers.
So, Olympus and Fuji have taken their knowledge of imaging into medical monitoring, Canon and Nikon into semiconductor manufacturing (though that's a tough business too). Hitachi have given up TVs and vibrators to focus on trains, auto parts and power stations, Toshiba relies on memory chips, Mitsubishi on factory automation. Panasonic is still going as an across-the board electronics company, but depends for its profits on rechargeable batteries (inc those sold to Tesla), TDK makes the magnetic recording materials in big data centre servers. Sony (and Nintendo) still have relatively successful consumer brands (though dwarved by Samsung, Apple and even LG), but their life-saver is Charge-Coupled Devices, the tiny light-sensitive components that pick up light inside digital cameras. They sell billions of these to everyone.
A particularly strange journey was taken by Noritsu Koki. You almost certainly won't have heard of them, but they made small photo-developing machines that meant you could get your pictures back in minutes rather than having to send them off to a lab and wait weeks. They went from greatness to near oblivion in less than a decade (like Kodak), but had enough money left over from the glory days to throw at a load of other areas until they came up with a few winners.
In their case, they bought into a medical database company that sells patient data to drug and insurance companies, but a few months ago, they bought the old Pioneer DJ business from a local private equity company, the last part of that once proud company that helped invent laser discs and DVDs. I think Private Equity are also buying Olympus cameras - Japanese practice doesn't let otherwise profitable companies shut loss-making divisions, they pay someone else to take the continuing liability of a money-loser off their hands. Think of a corporate version of Steven Caulker. What happens next is anyone's guess.
I've covered Japanese industry for thirty years in fund management, and it is fascinating and shocking what has happened to some of the big consumer brands that were so dominant a few decades ago. They have been the victims of their own refusal to merge into national champions until it was too late, and what they call in Japan the "Galapagos" effect - coming up with what appeals to Japanese consumers doesn't help them become successful in the rest of the world.
Japanese customers prize quality and the latest technology over branding, ease of use and low prices, while the opposite is the case in the US, China and increasingly the rest of the world. Think about cameras - photography is a national obsession in Japan, as a hobby, for collectors and as a source of national pride. If you go into a big Japanese electronics store (eg Bic Camera or Yodobashi Camera, there's a tip), you see acres of space devoted to the latest models form a huge number of makers.
The rest of the world? Stick it in a phone - it may not be the best picture but it does the job of friends, family and increasingly social media snaps and videos, it's one less thing to carry, no need to read a 140 page manual to learn how to use it and it's cheap. And when I lose/break my phone in a few years, I'll have an even better camera thrown in as a bonus.
Pursuing the standard that works best in Japan rather than what the world wanted saw them drop the ball in phones and PCs - NEC was the world's biggest producer of both 25 years ago, and now Japan is nowhere in huge consumer markets. Japan had about 20 companies making TVs 20 years ago, but their drive to distinguish themselves in a murderously competitive market with expensive, innovative technology that no-one loved enough to allow them to recover their investment, such as Plasma screens, Blu Ray, etc was a financial disaster that even the Japanese couldn't sustain.
While it's sad that some of the companies I fondly remember from the past - Pioneer, Sanyo, Sharp, JVC - have either disappeared, are a tiny fragment of what they were or are just a badge bought from the receivers for a made in China product, others have retreated from consumer brands into more profitable industrial or components areas based on their core technologies, helped by the fact that they were able to protect the money they made in the good times from being pillaged by asset strippers.
So, Olympus and Fuji have taken their knowledge of imaging into medical monitoring, Canon and Nikon into semiconductor manufacturing (though that's a tough business too). Hitachi have given up TVs and vibrators to focus on trains, auto parts and power stations, Toshiba relies on memory chips, Mitsubishi on factory automation. Panasonic is still going as an across-the board electronics company, but depends for its profits on rechargeable batteries (inc those sold to Tesla), TDK makes the magnetic recording materials in big data centre servers. Sony (and Nintendo) still have relatively successful consumer brands (though dwarved by Samsung, Apple and even LG), but their life-saver is Charge-Coupled Devices, the tiny light-sensitive components that pick up light inside digital cameras. They sell billions of these to everyone.
A particularly strange journey was taken by Noritsu Koki. You almost certainly won't have heard of them, but they made small photo-developing machines that meant you could get your pictures back in minutes rather than having to send them off to a lab and wait weeks. They went from greatness to near oblivion in less than a decade (like Kodak), but had enough money left over from the glory days to throw at a load of other areas until they came up with a few winners.
In their case, they bought into a medical database company that sells patient data to drug and insurance companies, but a few months ago, they bought the old Pioneer DJ business from a local private equity company, the last part of that once proud company that helped invent laser discs and DVDs. I think Private Equity are also buying Olympus cameras - Japanese practice doesn't let otherwise profitable companies shut loss-making divisions, they pay someone else to take the continuing liability of a money-loser off their hands. Think of a corporate version of Steven Caulker. What happens next is anyone's guess.
I work for a Japanese imaging company (hopefully not going to be sold off any time soon). There's a lot to be said for Japanese companies on the whole (stability, organisation, dedication to quality) but they are incredibly conservative and take for ever to change direction. Especially when compared to Korean companies who are lot more willing to take risks, throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks - but then I also hear they're a nightmare to work for and micro-manage to extremes.
Apparently the Olympus brand will live on, but I suppose it will be interesting to see what their product development will look like, or if in time it will just be shuffled out the door.
Very insightful & interesting MrSheen. Whilst I agree with and applaud the notion of quality over all else, you simply have to adapt to what the global demand wants however much it doesn't fit with your own mantra. I guess you have to choose between being sustainable but not liking what you're selling or stick to your guns and eventually go kaput or at best sell to a competitor and retire gracefully.
I work for a Japanese imaging company (hopefully not going to be sold off any time soon). There's a lot to be said for Japanese companies on the whole (stability, organisation, dedication to quality) but they are incredibly conservative and take for ever to change direction. Especially when compared to Korean companies who are lot more willing to take risks, throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks - but then I also hear they're a nightmare to work for and micro-manage to extremes.
Apparently the Olympus brand will live on, but I suppose it will be interesting to see what their product development will look like, or if in time it will just be shuffled out the door.
It's not Canon, is it? I saw they sacked their President and replaced him with the man who is currently also Chairman and CEO...he's 84 and been CEO since 1995! Don't go changing, to try to please me...
I've covered Japanese industry for thirty years in fund management, and it is fascinating and shocking what has happened to some of the big consumer brands that were so dominant a few decades ago. They have been the victims of their own refusal to merge into national champions until it was too late, and what they call in Japan the "Galapagos" effect - coming up with what appeals to Japanese consumers doesn't help them become successful in the rest of the world.
Japanese customers prize quality and the latest technology over branding, ease of use and low prices, while the opposite is the case in the US, China and increasingly the rest of the world. Think about cameras - photography is a national obsession in Japan, as a hobby, for collectors and as a source of national pride. If you go into a big Japanese electronics store (eg Bic Camera or Yodobashi Camera, there's a tip), you see acres of space devoted to the latest models form a huge number of makers.
The rest of the world? Stick it in a phone - it may not be the best picture but it does the job of friends, family and increasingly social media snaps and videos, it's one less thing to carry, no need to read a 140 page manual to learn how to use it and it's cheap. And when I lose/break my phone in a few years, I'll have an even better camera thrown in as a bonus.
Pursuing the standard that works best in Japan rather than what the world wanted saw them drop the ball in phones and PCs - NEC was the world's biggest producer of both 25 years ago, and now Japan is nowhere in huge consumer markets. Japan had about 20 companies making TVs 20 years ago, but their drive to distinguish themselves in a murderously competitive market with expensive, innovative technology that no-one loved enough to allow them to recover their investment, such as Plasma screens, Blu Ray, etc was a financial disaster that even the Japanese couldn't sustain.
While it's sad that some of the companies I fondly remember from the past - Pioneer, Sanyo, Sharp, JVC - have either disappeared, are a tiny fragment of what they were or are just a badge bought from the receivers for a made in China product, others have retreated from consumer brands into more profitable industrial or components areas based on their core technologies, helped by the fact that they were able to protect the money they made in the good times from being pillaged by asset strippers.
So, Olympus and Fuji have taken their knowledge of imaging into medical monitoring, Canon and Nikon into semiconductor manufacturing (though that's a tough business too). Hitachi have given up TVs and vibrators to focus on trains, auto parts and power stations, Toshiba relies on memory chips, Mitsubishi on factory automation. Panasonic is still going as an across-the board electronics company, but depends for its profits on rechargeable batteries (inc those sold to Tesla), TDK makes the magnetic recording materials in big data centre servers. Sony (and Nintendo) still have relatively successful consumer brands (though dwarved by Samsung, Apple and even LG), but their life-saver is Charge-Coupled Devices, the tiny light-sensitive components that pick up light inside digital cameras. They sell billions of these to everyone.
A particularly strange journey was taken by Noritsu Koki. You almost certainly won't have heard of them, but they made small photo-developing machines that meant you could get your pictures back in minutes rather than having to send them off to a lab and wait weeks. They went from greatness to near oblivion in less than a decade (like Kodak), but had enough money left over from the glory days to throw at a load of other areas until they came up with a few winners.
In their case, they bought into a medical database company that sells patient data to drug and insurance companies, but a few months ago, they bought the old Pioneer DJ business from a local private equity company, the last part of that once proud company that helped invent laser discs and DVDs. I think Private Equity are also buying Olympus cameras - Japanese practice doesn't let otherwise profitable companies shut loss-making divisions, they pay someone else to take the continuing liability of a money-loser off their hands. Think of a corporate version of Steven Caulker. What happens next is anyone's guess.
It's not Canon, is it? I saw they sacked their President and replaced him with the man who is currently also Chairman and CEO...he's 84 and been CEO since 1995! Don't go changing, to try to please me...
Funnily enough, yes ;)
Experience counts for a lot in senior management, apparently...
Really interesting stuff there Mr Sheen, deserves a proper long form article.
I hope Olympus do continue one way or another, and retain their name. Camera wise, from my point of view, sticking to their guns over the smaller M43 sensor was always going to be difficult with phones challenging them harder every year on the difference in image quality.
I've had a couple of their cameras and have been keeping a 17mm and a 45mm for if they ever get a new sensor - same or very similar one, with same or very similar dynamic range, for a while now. Still holding out a shred of hope. Handling and speed of focus has always been great. Have gone Fuji mad in the meantime...
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