Bye-bye, Olympus! :(

[ElFenix]

Praktica from the 70-80s

made in GDR. takes screwmount lenses.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

i have a praktica, so this hits close to home

You, I have one as well. Actually two of them, but one is defective.
But what's the connection to Olympus?

 

[undertaker101]

First digicam was a D-360 back in 2001 with a serial port, was such a relief to get a USB 1.1 card reader and be amazed at the transfer speed lol...brings back memories though haven't thought of the brand in years tbh.

 

[ElFenix]

Whereas "Olympus" logo would attract the kind of client who doesn't follow the camera business that much. Just like Praktica and Kodak did.

You, I have one as well. Actually two of them, but one is defective.
But what's the connection to Olympus?

 

[Colorama]

That's sad. I like my Olympus Air A01, especially when I pair it with my iPad so I can see a big image for easy composition of shots. Wasn't fond of the lag in the screen image, but you can't have everything.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Essentially, mainstream camera making is not something that can "feed" a large company anymore - that's obvious.

I don't see Nikon jumping into a new market at this point - they don't have the money nor leadership quality.
So IMO they can either accept the role of small, high-end camera maker (somewhere between Fuji and Leica) or they can try to diversify by merger or selling into a larger company (but keeping the brand).

Aside from cameras and optics, the only thing they have expertise in is semiconductor lithography. They're years behind ASML, but good enough for less cutting edge solutions. Maybe they could focus on that... who knows...

Anyway, as of 2020 Nikon is still a major manufacturer, with skilled workforce and a very good brand. And they were very successful and profitable even few years back - unlike Olympus, who was a business failure for nearly 2 decades (albeit making very good products).

nikon's scientific solutions are pretty good, though i dont know how profitable that division is. they even have a desktop SEM, which is pretty cool. small chamber size, but desktop nonetheless.

same with olympus, i really liked their inverted metallograph and software.

leica stuff is excellent, but god they can't make a friendly UI if their life depended on it. great hardware, terrible software.