14 DAY TRIAL // Following the success of their OM-D E-M1 interchangeable-lens digital camera and based on their latest financial result, Nippon optics manufacturer Olympus announced that for 2014 they would shift their focus towards the MFT (Micro Four Thirds) mirrorless camera segment.
In a recent interview for the Japanese website Dcwatch, Yukihiko Sugita of the Olympus Imaging Development Division made a few interesting statements regarding the company's strategy for 2014.
While the overall DSLR and mirrorless camera sales dropped this year by 15%, the Olympus mirrorless cameras have seen only a 3% drop in comparison with their compact digital camera sales, which declined by 26.5%.
Despite that, the mirrorless segment is still in expansion thanks to Sony's latest addition, the A7 and A7R models that feature a highly-capable full frame image sensor that delivers an impressive performance comparable with Nikon's D800 and D800E.
Mr. Yukihiko also stated that the Olympus PEN and OMD series were selling very well on the Asian market, but at the same time they didn't benefit from the same success on the US and European markets.
This trend might force the large mirrorless manufacturing companies to concentrate their efforts on promoting their products on the Asian market in order to increase profits for the next fiscal year.
At the same time, the E-M5 sold very well in Europe and Mr. Yukihiko said he was also confident that the E-M1 would be a success on these two markets where DSLR cameras rule the charts.
In addition to that, Mr. Yukihiko announced that Olympus was focusing on premium products like a new OMD model as well as a few new MFT lenses to complete the already generous lens lineup.
Earlier today we discovered a new patent filed by Olympus regarding a new Zuiko 4.4-22mm f/1.4-2.4 lens that might be used in future Olympus compact cameras.