I'm not terribly surprised. I used to be a big fan of Olympus back in the 80's, but I've since switched to Canon so far as cameras are concerned.

On the other hand, I'm not too happy with anybody these days when it comes to photographic equipment. Quality is down, and support is about as random as it can be. Any suggestions?

Story developing, film at 11?

/camera obscura

So, if I had my eye on an Olympus Pen, should I buy now before they run out, or wait for a sale?

This is the cultural differences they cited in firing their last CEO. Why they didn't just promote from within, I don't know. They could have kept this concealed a lot longer that way. If you got a bunch of skeletons in the closet, you make sure everyone has a piece of it, you don't go outside to bring in a new head. You'd think that after 20 years of hiding losses they would be halfway competent at it.

My first digital camera was an Olympus. It was a very nice camera, but it used a memory card no other camera used: SmartMedia which was never available in capacities over 128MB. I got sick of carrying around four or five of those cards and switching them constantly.

When I wanted a new camera couple of years ago, I looked at Olympus' lineup, and they all used a proprietary memory card called xD... which no other camera company used, which will never be made with a capacity over 2GB.

They've learned their lesson and as of now all Olympus cameras use SD like they should have all along, but this memory card fiasco left me with the distinct impression that Olympus is run by morons. Meanwhile, I bought a Nikon dSLR.

As seems to be the case, from waaaaaay before Watergate to Paterno to this, the cover-up is always worse than the crime.

Whomever buys an Olympus these days? Just shows they were hiding their loses.

/Canon Rebel T3i owner here.

FuturePastNow: My first digital camera was an Olympus. It was a very nice camera, but it used a memory card no other camera used: SmartMedia which was never available in capacities over 128MB. I got sick of carrying around four or five of those cards and switching them constantly.

When I wanted a new camera couple of years ago, I looked at Olympus' lineup, and they all used a proprietary memory card called xD... which no other camera company used, which will never be made with a capacity over 2GB.

They've learned their lesson and as of now all Olympus cameras use SD like they should have all along, but this memory card fiasco left me with the distinct impression that Olympus is run by morons. Meanwhile, I bought a Nikon dSLR.

I really liked the pictures my Olympus camera took but the xD card sucked! It was difficult to find card readers that accommodated xD back then too. The one upside of xD is after I changed cameras, I had a new laptop running Vista (at the time) and it had a card reader on the side. I put my 2GB xD card in there and used it for ReadyBoost. It stuck out so little from the reader you barely noticed it. It lasted about a year I think.

Funk Brothers: Whomever buys an Olympus these days? Just shows they were hiding their loses.

/Canon Rebel T3i owner here.

I have an E-P3, like it a lot. Sold all my clunker Canon stuff because I found that I wasn't taking it everywhere because of the size.

JonZoidberg: FuturePastNow: My first digital camera was an Olympus. It was a very nice camera, but it used a memory card no other camera used: SmartMedia which was never available in capacities over 128MB. I got sick of carrying around four or five of those cards and switching them constantly.

When I wanted a new camera couple of years ago, I looked at Olympus' lineup, and they all used a proprietary memory card called xD... which no other camera company used, which will never be made with a capacity over 2GB.

They've learned their lesson and as of now all Olympus cameras use SD like they should have all along, but this memory card fiasco left me with the distinct impression that Olympus is run by morons. Meanwhile, I bought a Nikon dSLR.

I really liked the pictures my Olympus camera took but the xD card sucked! It was difficult to find card readers that accommodated xD back then too. The one upside of xD is after I changed cameras, I had a new laptop running Vista (at the time) and it had a card reader on the side. I put my 2GB xD card in there and used it for ReadyBoost. It stuck out so little from the reader you barely noticed it. It lasted about a year I think.


Olympus has not used xD cards for some time now. Just like Sony needs to give up on the "memory stick", they are morons too I guess.

"Investment losses"? Shouldn't a camera company be making cameras.

exvaxman: I was stuck in a position where I needed a P&S digital camera ASAP. I went into a local retailer and picked up a mid-range Olympus for about $100 ( I was getting the cash back in an expense report). I give it an OK at best. Not on my list anymore as a company I would buy from.
(for a little more - a Fuji 2/3 unit that is a lot bigger gives far better pictures).

You bought a low end $100 camera, and surprise, it didn't take very good pictures, then you paid more and got a better camera, so the manufacturer of the first camera is bad. That makes sense. It is a blood bath at the low end, and paying a little more gets you a lot more camera in almost every case. I would not judge any manufacturer by their lowest end cameras, including for example Samsung and Nikon who have absolutely horrible low end cameras. I would not buy a low end Olympus either, or any low end camera for that matter.

ISO what you did there, subby.

My EP-2 does great night shots at ISO 3,200 and 6,400, equals Nikon D300s.

DON.MAC: When Kodak can't make it with all their digital camera patents, how do you expect a company that is way behind to make it?

/Been using Ricoh lately

Are you......

suave?

(YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH)

jmsvrsn: "Investment losses"? Shouldn't a camera company be making cameras.

It sure would be nice if people had at least a little bit of an idea about a business operates before they commented.

FuturePastNow: My first digital camera was an Olympus. It was a very nice camera, but it used a memory card no other camera used: SmartMedia which was never available in capacities over 128MB. I got sick of carrying around four or five of those cards and switching them constantly.

This was my exact experience. Back in fall of 2002. I spent $150 on a 128MB card and a 2MP Olympus. I had it until 2005. The interface sucked. When the flash was used it would occasionally put little light 'bubbles' on the screen. Like there was a heavy dust in the air. I always heard about "Shutter Lag". So I just got used to 1-2 seconds and a top of 2 photos in a row before I had to wait.

Then I got a Canon SD550. Holy hell. It was a night and day difference. I went and played around with some Olympus of the same era. They still had a horrible interface. I've owned nothing but Canon since. SD550, XT, XSI, SD780. Interface is all the same (even though they have different features). Canon & and Nikon seem to have cameras designed by photographers. Sony, Olympus, Kodak have cameras designed by engineers & execs.
-
Being Japan I'm expecting at least one suicide out of this. I only wish American execs had the same sense of honor.

KarmicDisaster: Olympus has not used xD cards for some time now. Just like Sony needs to give up on the "memory stick", they are morons too I guess.

Sony is a big enough company to A) force Memory Stick capacities to at the same pace as its non-proprietary competitors and B) eat the loss if one of their proprietary formats fails.

...Which I think has happened. Every camera Sony sells now uses SD cards (some still have a MS slot as well). In another year, Memory Stick will be as dead as SM and xD.

FuturePastNow: to increase at

forgot a word

This goes way beyond simply hiding losses. Hundreds of millions of dollars were paid to "consultant" firms based in the Caymans with opaque ownership. There's open speculation that the Yakuza was involved. Here's a Reuters story on the subject.

So, it seems.... the fixer is in.

The best 35mm camera I've ever used.

BolloxReader: This is the cultural differences they cited in firing their last CEO. Why they didn't just promote from within, I don't know. They could have kept this concealed a lot longer that way. If you got a bunch of skeletons in the closet, you make sure everyone has a piece of it, you don't go outside to bring in a new head. You'd think that after 20 years of hiding losses they would be halfway competent at it.

They did, the guy had been with the company in some form or other for well over a decade. My theory is that once he realized the extent of the quagmire that his name now represented he took issues right to the top officials (who already knew about it) and got fired. If he hadn't he would have been on the hook. They spin it as a cultural difference, but he was a company man for a long time before that.