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[OM] Re: Oly Woes

Subject: [OM] Re: Oly Woes
From: "Roger Key" <rogerdkey@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 15:15:02 +0100
When I bought my E-500 kit yesterday, I also picked up the autumn/winter 
sales brochure for Olympus Denmark.

There are evidently three lines that will now be sold; a compact line with 
mju 600 and mju 800 models, an SP line with SP310, SP350, and SP500 
UltraZoom models, and a DSLR line with the E-500. Other cameras can be 
ordered whilst stocks last (includes C-7070, C-8080, E-1, and E-300), but 
are not promoted.

It looks as though Wide Zoom models are now out, as the remaining non-DSLR 
cameras all seem to start at 38mm eqiv. Perhaps Olympus marketing has found 
out that most people prefer long zooms to shorter wide zooms.

Regarding the E-500, I have to say that the C-7070 feels a lot more solid, 
with better ergonomics. But they make a very good pair, as the movie 
capabilities of the 7070 were of paramount importance to my wife. Now that I 
have the E-500 two-lens kit, I have used all the money that I would 
otherwise have used on buying additional lenses for the 7070.....

>From the user comments in dpreview, the C-7070 is top-rated, so it is a real 
shame that it is on the way out already. However, as the Olympus rep told 
me, it costs the same as the E-500 (with the cheapest lens and a battery 
holder containing three CR-123 lithium batteries - the SE package..).

Roger Key

>From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Reply-To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
>To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [OM] Re: Oly Woes
>Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 20:12:09 -0800
>
>Winsor Crosby wrote:
>
> >Looking to improve the situation, the company is planning to
> >significantly change its overall product mix for the digital camera
> >market, which is currently dominated by compact models (72%), with
> >digital SLRs making up just 3% of sales, and other products the
> >remaining 25%.
> >
>Guess I wasn't the only one to buy a compact other than an Oly this
>year. As I've posted before, I find the Oly line of compacts to be
>incredibly confusing, with very different cameras with similar names,
>similar appearing models with different sounding names, just a sea of
>models with no clear differentiations between them. And don't try to
>explain it to me. I'm not in the market now. And besides, Oly had to
>make it clear before I bought a camera. Somebody else explaining it
>later is of no use to me or Oly.
>
>Not that the model number confusion is anything new to them. When I was
>once considering one of the Stylus zooms, I was shocked to discover that
>what was really two (or more...) lines, one with higher build quality
>and another pushing features and zoom range - all in one set of names
>differentiated only be zoom range. NUTS!
>
>Most of the other makes have fairly clearly differentiated lines. The
>alpha part of the name tells something about general size/function and
>the numbers go up with succeeding models.
>
>The other thing I've said before is that the Oly compact models are
>really undistinguished in features and performance. The only semi-unique
>thing they have is the splash proof models. Otherwise, everything is
>just middle of the pack. And there is a big market out there for really
>small cameras with decent performance, and Oly just doesn't do that,
>heaven knows why. When I was looking for a small camera for one son's
>birthday last year, Oly didn't have a single camera in the size feature
>range I was looking for - and Can*n and others had been making them for
>2-3 years. I put an Oly in the final three for him to pick from and it
>was rejected based on size. Oh, the one he did choose works very well.
>
>So I'm not surprised that they lost money in compacts. Without clear
>product lines, marketing becomes a disorganized mishmash. Add to that
>neither outstanding feature sets nor outstanding performance, and it's
>no wonder sales disappoint. All of these little cameras take decent pics
>under ordinary circumstances for the majority of users. So you have to
>distinguish yourself in one or more ways from the pack.

...
>
>Don't get me wrong, I wish Oly well, and wish they would make cameras
>for me, too. It's a rough world out there in commodity manufacturing and
>Oly hasn't done themselves many favors lately.
>
>Moose, fondling an OM-4



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