OM Digital Solutions has made the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

[AndyS]

They changed the brand name.

Actually they didn't even do that, they copied the logo off a 1982 brochure.


Oh, and as an aside they'll make a new camera someday . . .

[hlthe2b]

1. Olympus was an irreplaceable brand name. I just don't get it.

[AndyS]

2. Olympus has never been a camera company. It has always been a medical/scientific company.

Back in 1936 they were a major microscope manufacturer when somebody said, "Hey we have all this optical equipment, why not make a camera?"

It wasn't until the early '60s that they made an impression on the photography market with the Pen series, a small, easy to use snapshot camera the really took off. That was Miatani's first design. Then in the '70s he designed the OM-1 and the rest is history.

Over time the imaging division became important to R&D for the medical products. Optics, software and manufacturing techniques & equipment all added to the medical division's bottom line. Olympus has 70% of the worldwide medical imaging market sewed up tight. If you have ever had a device look inside your body, from either end, you have been intimately acquainted with Olympus. At the time the imaging division was sold it was only 3% of total revenues for the home company. The camera division was always a red headed step child to the Medical/Scientific side of the company.

The more important part of the legacy and brand is the M. Miatani MADE the camera division. At the time he pitched the pro camera line to the company he had already envisioned almost every product in the system. Every lens, camera body, motor drive and flash existed on paper before he made his first presentation. There were 200 patents issued for the OM-2 before it went into production.

The first camera was designated the M-1 in his honor. Lieca had been using the M designation for decades and took exception to the logo, so it was modified to OM to settle the copyright suit.

With all that in mind it isn't surprising that Olympus would wish to divorce it's brand from the spin-off company.

What IS important to the brand is the legacy of Miatani.

[hlthe2b]

3. "Never a camera company" but a legacy in lenses. And what is a camera without its lenses?

I just cannot fathom losing the OLYMPUS name and all that connotes.

[AndyS]

4. I understand how you feel.

Digital Solutions has a really nice intro and inspirational video for the new brand here:
https://omsystem.com/assets/video/OM-SYSTEM_01.mp4

and here:

Incidentally, Miatani's favorite product wasn't the SLR, it was the XA. I sold a truck load of those little beauties. My pitch to the customer was to take a roll of film, draw an outline, measure over 36mm and repeat the film canister outline. Then I put the XA on top of the sketch. And another one went out the door!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. Good grief! THEY CHANGED THE NAME??? WTF???

Well, there's always tomorrow.