Nikon is acquiring US camera manufacturer RED

[lovelylaura23]

Nikon is acquiring RED cameras https://t.co/BQuTe2eax5
- The Verge (@verge) March 7, 2024
- RED will become a subsidiary of Nikon as it attempts to expand into the digital cinema camera market

Comments

[pseudonygma]

It's alright, lol.

Olympus sold its entire camera division to JIP. https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/news/breaking-olympus-sells-camera-division
Their marketing as always been a mess. A lot of newer photographers fell into the youtube trap of chasing after pixels and sensor sizes instead of actually thinking about what they realistically will use. Fujifilm has captured a huge part of the market because they made full use of their tech and gave the same sensor to their pro and non-pro cameras with only differences in camera body (buttons and dials layout, type of articulating screen, and water-resistance) so it was really easy to differentiate their product lines.

Olympus and Panasonic are the only two micro-four-thirds on the market and while a lot of pro photographers love using Panasonic professionally, Olympus couldn't trend beyond its very niche consumer base despite their omd lines being great cameras. I think releasing so many cameras in their E-PL line ultimately hurt its bottom line because there's too many to choose from and they're all the type of cameras that are competing with cellphones. They should've just put all their focus on developing their omd-em 10, 5 and 1 lines because those are cameras people could grow with. It might also be a mistake for them to forgo R&D for video because that's another reason why pros tend to favour Panasonic. I will never understand why Olympus never released a Pen F2 when their Pen F sold so well. Not only is the price for it holding up on ebay, it's been steadily going up because the camera is still so good.

Pentax mostly stuck with DSLR cameras when the market has been clearly moving towards mirrorless for a lighter body and video capabilities but by the time they got with the program, their R&D was far behind everyone else and could not keep up. Their DSLRs are still a great bang for your buck and some of old cameras could still rival some of the newer mirrorless cameras but they're so heavy albeit sturdy. The company got sold to Ricoh and while they don't seem to me doing much in terms of innovation, their Pentax K-3 III Monochrome kept selling out in Japan so maybe this means things might get turned around? https://petapixel.com/2023/04/21/the-pentax-k-3-iii-monochrome-is-so-popular-ricoh-cant-keep-it-in-stock/ Ricoh understands its own niche market and it's GR line consistently does well so I guess we'll see. I'm dying for them to reinvest and relaunch Pentax's Q line.

[psychoblood]

As someone who STILL uses an Olympus M43 camera (and this is my 2nd body in like 10 years), I'm lowkey glad JIP/OM Systems is still making new stuff for Olympus bodies.

Olympus is SO niche but their system is easy enough to navigate and the quality of the pictures you get (and the lenses!) for the price you pay is ridiculous. Their marketing and production line decisions really let them down. I'm still surprised no one (tbf I haven't looked at another camera since upgrading to the OMD E-M5MkIII) has done in-body stabilisation the way Olympus has just yet. The advantage of the body and lens size in the M43 size factor is too good to pass up. I use mine when travelling all the time, because it's so easy to carry around.

[pseudonygma]

I've had my eye on the M5III since it came out for exactly those reasons! The only reason I've held back was the plastic body and the swivel screen. I was hoping that M5IV would go back to having metal body and maybe a screen like the M10II since it makes the most sense if you want to do incognito street photography. But the fact that there's in-body stabilization AND it's waterproof/weatherproof?!! Idk what the hell their marketing was doing but all that combined and the form factor makes it a great camera. Sure you get sharper images with a bigger sensor size but at a certain point, your eyeballs won't be able to see the difference unless you're hoping to crop every picture you take. And if you're not into cropping then you're carrying all that heavy gear around for nothing.

I finally pulled the trigger on a Pentax Q10 with 2 zoom lenses during the pandemic when the exchange rate was too good to pass up and lemme tell you, the 83mm-249mm equivalent lens with a constant F2.8 aperture is a dream. This lens is not only so insanely good and would cost a fortune on an APSC/Full-Frame camera, it's be enormous and a huge pain to carry around. As they say, the best camera is the one you have on you and as much as I'd love a Nikon Zf or a Fujifilm X-Pro 2, I just can't see myself travelling with all those lenses and all that weight no matter how great at low-lighting or fast their auto-tracking are when the Pentax Q + 3 lenses weigh nothing and can fit in a fanny pack.

But how do you like the body and feel of the M5III? Does the plastic hold up?

[psychoblood]

I had a M10II before pulling the trigger on the M5III during Covid (irresistable sales!) and the swivel screen was the one thing I missed. Otherwise, yes! In-body stabilisation and waterproof/weatherproofing is godsend since I also use my camera for sports photography!

I have long fingers but overall, the body and the feel of the M5III is great to me, and I don't have issues with grip. The plastic doesn't feel plasticky, it's solidly built, and most of all it doesn't weigh a tonne. Most of the lenses (unless you have the Pro ones) also have plastic bodies, and it might feel a bit fragile because of how light they can be, but honestly they're so small anyway, and the look of the photos that come out are good enough to handwave any qualms one might have with it being in a plastic body. I have a 75-300mm lens that I bought for plane spotting, and it was godsend during the FIFA Women's World Cup last year when my presale tickets ended up being seats allocated up in the sky for the knockout rounds.

[pseudonygma]

Okay, you've convinced me! I'm gonna be on the lookout for sales!

[psychoblood]

It looks like OM systems has released a Mk4 (but is just calling it an M5 lol) and it has the 5Mk3 body (but with a swivel screen!) and specs closer to the M1Mk2. With the JPY being where it is now, I reckon if you could find an M5Mk3 with twin kit lens, you'd get better bang for buck there, although the M5Mk4 looks decent as well.

[pseudonygma]

Oooo...!! That sounds promising... thanks for the info, I'll look it up! :D