Sony becomes main Olympus shareholder

[bakubo]

Sony has today become the largest shareholder in Olympus as the firms complete a £400m deal first announced last year.

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/ph ... hareholder

He added: ‘In the field of digital cameras, we will seek to achieve collaboration in a manner that further improves the competitiveness of the two companies.'

It will be interesting see what, if anything, comes of this for both Sony and Olympus cameras and lenses.

[KevinBarrett]

Alright! Let's hear it for five axis sensor-based image stabilization!

[bakubo]

Alright! Let's hear it for five axis sensor-based image stabilization!

It is working well for me in my E-M5.

[David Kilpatrick]

Richard (son) needed to pay some bills and sold his Leica M9 kit this month, with regret, but with a still-broken leg limiting his agility he didn't think a Leica was really going far. He took a very nice OM-D kit in part exchange with not only a zoom, but a 25mm f/1.4 and 48mm f/1.8 as well, and flash, and battery grip etc.

I have volunteered to buy it from him but so far he rather likes it as an alternative to Nikon D800E and much friendlier weight and size wise, when he's still a bit challenged by heavier kit.

David

[bakubo]

Richard (son) needed to pay some bills and sold his Leica M9 kit this month, with regret, but with a still-broken leg limiting his agility he didn't think a Leica was really going far. He took a very nice OM-D kit in part exchange with not only a zoom, but a 25mm f/1.4 and 48mm f/1.8 as well, and flash, and battery grip etc.

Sorry to hear that Richard had to sell the M9. It must have been hard to let go of it. Digital ages so fast that I just can't see myself spending so much for a Leica digital even though I know they are very nice. Film Leicas hold their value well (or at least they used to, now I don't know), but do digital Leicas also hold their value well?

By the way, it is a 45mm f1.8 and OM-D is the camera line, not the model. Of course, the E-M5 is the only one in the line at the moment. Once there is another then it will sort of be like calling a Canon 5DIII an EOS. Olympus has two camera lines: OM-D and PEN.

I don't have the 25mm or 45mm, but they are both well regarded from what I have read. Most people who own them seem to love them. I considered the 25mm f1.4 so I would have one fast lens, but decided to get the 20mm f1.7 because it is a smaller pancake lens, I preferred that FL for the purpose I had for it, and it cost less. The AF of the 25mm is a bit faster, but the 20mm is fast enough for me. The 20mm, for some unknown reason, sometimes can cause banding at high ISO. Olympus publicly acknowledged it in June 2012 and said they were looking for a solution. Since then they have been silent though. The only thing I have heard about the 25mm is a minor complaint that in some situations it can "rattlesnake." The term rattlesnake is used to mean the sound of the aperture blades constantly opening and closing in certain situations even when you aren't using the camera, but the camera is turned on. From what I have read it just happens in certain lighting conditions though and some people say they have never heard it.

By the way, if he wants to only use small prime lenses I also hear people say they really like the Olympus 12mm f2.

I have volunteered to buy it from him but so far he rather likes it as an alternative to Nikon D800E and much friendlier weight and size wise, when he's still a bit challenged by heavier kit.

I have heard of several people who have that combo: D800E/D800 and E-M5. They say that they think it takes that big a jump in order to make the IQ differences worthwhile and they skip right over APS-C since there is not much of a size/weight advantage with it compared to FF.

Depending on what Richard uses the E-M5 for he may be pretty happy with it or may be frustrated by it. Once he gets his leg healed up then he may want to go back to the D800E full-time. Let us know if he ends up selling the E-M5 to you. I mostly like mine, but I know that you often take photos (studio and other types, use flash, etc.) that I don't so you may or may not like it. For my purposes it has mostly been good with a few annoyances, but there are always a few annoyances with any camera. I do like the size/weight though and that means I am willing to live with certain things that with a bigger DSLR and lenses I might not.

By the way, isn't Sony the biggest shareholder of Tamron also?

[bakubo]

A guy over at dpreview posted a few minutes ago that he went to the Focus on Imaging show today and while there he bought an Olympus E-M5 and some lenses. I don't know what the price is in the UK, but it sounds like he got a great discount and some rather expensive freebies to go with it (45mm f1.8, extra battery):

I bought a body plus the 14-150 lens and the 9-18 lens. It was £200 cheaper than the internet and they gave me another lens, the 45, and a spare battery.

[bfitzgerald]

I know it's sometimes prudent to buy stocks of a company if they have crashed and burnt (in anticipation of things picking up quite a lot later on)
But Olympus is losing money on their imaging division, though the medical side seems solid enough for them.

I'm not sure it's the smartest move esp considering Sony's own financial problems.