Their entry into af (OM-77/707) was rather anemic as Minolta had the
market sown up. The 77 had tons of problems with no fixes. An
overpowered motor driven mirror-up mechanism that depended on a sliding
clutch lubed with "sticky grease" The mirror would go up so fast, the
mech would instantly get out of sync with the shutter. Out of sync =
shutter will not fire. The OM-10, and the AFL with no filter threads on
the lens and lithium batteries soldered in (dealers REALLY loved that one).
___________________________________
John Hermanson | CPS, Inc.
21 South Ln., Huntington NY 11743
www.zuiko.com | omtech1@xxxxxxxxxxx
Olympus OM Service since 1977
On 7/19/2013 12:59 PM, Bill Pearce wrote:
> Two and four are really the same thing. They needed to move on after the
> superb OM4Ti, and the central part of that follow on most certainly would be
> AF. At that point there was simply no place for a new MF camera, the market
> demanded AF. And I did fail to mention dealer treatment, which went south
> when there were the OM 10 problems. Everything went down from there.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ken Norton
> Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 11:33 AM
> To: Olympus Camera Discussion
> Subject: Re: [OM] Need to revive OM in PDX
>
>> I agree with you to a point. The inept management didn't understand the
>> challenges of marketing in a very large country with spread out
>> population,
>> and they did not seem to be willing to learn the cultural differences
>> between americians and japanese.
>
> I think I'm going to disagree with you a little bit. I see several
> failings that I believe accounted for the majority of the issues in
> the USA market:
>
> 1. Olympus America. This was one of the most inept organizations known
> to man. I have nothing to good to say, so I'll not go any further,
> except to say that how they treated stores was just short of criminal.
> After continually being screwed, most stores just finally wouldn't put
> up with it anymore and bailed out. There is a reason why B&H is about
> the only USA store still moving Olympus cameras. Abes of Maine was one
> of the biggest culprits to destroying Olympus' integrity with sales.
>
> 2. No OM-4Ti replacement. Seriously, guys. What was so frustrating was
> that they threw all the good stuff into the IS-series and abandoned
> the OM line. My IS-3, from a technological perspective, runs circles
> around the OM system. And the lens ain't half bad either! I very much
> recall the magazines' annual current camera list and the OM-4Ti was
> listed there for years and years with editor comments of "cult camera,
> still no aperture in viewfinder, 1/60 maximum sync speed." There is no
> way you are going to have camera reviews in the magazines if you don't
> have a new camera to review. Obviously, you can go too far in the
> opposite direction, which Olympus has, but for 20 years, Olympus gave
> the stores nothing to cheer about.
>
> 3. Product Pricing. Olympus went into premium pricing mode in the last
> decade of the OM system. As the cameras got further and further
> obsolete, the more they charged. The OM-3Ti was up in Leica Nosebleed
> pricing. What a way to stop all forward momentum.
>
> 4. AF. Yes, this was a disaster. Their first two bodies were aimed at
> non-customers! Mind-boggling stupidity. Why would anybody in their
> right mind invest in a camera system that you can't even control the
> stinkin EXPOSURE! I was working camera retail when this happened. My
> boss, the owner of the store, said that this was a camera system that
> wouldn't sell. We were fortunate to eventually sell all of our basic
> required purchase stock (remember, OA forces a minimum order on the
> stores, and in their stupidity didn't allow mix-and-match with OM or
> P&S, so we had to buy a bunch of junk). But it did take a while. What
> really fries my goat is related to #2. When they did do AF, it was
> with the IS-series. They abandoned the OM mount at that time.
>
> But, what they do well, they do VERY well. Othewise, I wouldn't have
> stuck with it for all these years. Hmm. It has been a bit hit and miss
> at times, and I'm bailing out ENTIRELY from the digital products, but
> I am keeping the OM system singing.
>
>
> --
> Ken Norton
> ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
> http://www.zone-10.com
>
--
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