Olympus pleases US investors and says all options are on the table…also selling the camera business

Since months U.S. hedge fund ValueAct Capital Management, which owns 5% of Olympus is pushing  Olympus to sell their camera business. Today Bloomberg writes:

Takeuchi also backtracked on some of his comments in the past that the camera business was not for sale, saying that may not be the case anymore. The imaging unit, which makes up 6% of sales, is the lowest margin and lowest growth businesses in Olympus’s portfolio, according to past company presentations. Olympus is working to stabilize the imaging business by focusing on its main markets, a spokeswoman said.

Years ago we had a similar situation with Sony  where another US investor tried to push Sony to sell their electronic business. Sony was open to discuss the idea but than dismissed it. My  guess is that Olympus is doing a similar play here. They have to say they are open for discussion but will do everything to keep their Imaging Business.

Still, it  is damaging for Olympus to have to make such a statement as it creates confusion and mistrust. So even if they keep the camera business people will have a hard time trusting  joining MFT.

Likely wrong Canon EOS-M specs making their round on the web…

A set of Canon EOS-M rumors is going around the web. But as I know the source of them very well I give it 0,0001% chance these are correct. So why post them here? Because everyone is posting them and some of you asked me what I thought about them. So here is my gentle answer: these are likely BS  :)

Canon EOS M50 Mark II / EOS M60

  • 32.5mp APS-C CMOS sensor
  • DIGIC 8
  • UHD 4K 30p / 24p
  • Full HD 120p
  • Rear monitor 3 inches 1.04 million dots Vari-angle touch panel
  • Announcement date September 2020

Another Canon EOS M camera

  • 24mp APS-C CMOS sensor
  • 3rd generation Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology / Eye AF compatible
  • Rear monitor 3-inch vari-angle touch panel
  • Announcement date Before July 2020
  • Price $849 with kit lens

via CanonWatch (and via TheOneSourceThatAlwaysGetsItWrong).

Panasonic releases firmware updates for nearly all their current FF, MFT and fixed lens cameras!

You don’t see it often that a company  updates nearly all of their current camera models. Check out what they improved on them:

LUMIX Tether : Operation with macOS 10.15 Catalina
DC-S1 Firmware update service
DC-S1R Firmware update service
DC-GH5 Firmware update service
DC-GH5S Firmware update service
DC-G9 Firmware update service
DC-GF10 / GX880 Firmware update service
DC-GF9 / GX800 / GX850 Firmware update service
DMC-GX80 / GX85 Firmware update service
DC-TZ90 / TZ91 / TZ92 / TZ93 / ZS70 Firmware update service
DC-TZ200 / TZ202 / TZ220 / ZS200 / ZS220 Firmware update service
DMC-LX10 / LX15 Firmware update service

Meyer Optik is back and will start re-releasing lenses by end of November

The new Meyer Optik management announced they will start to produce new lenses again:

We are currently revising the entire portfolio and are expected to release the first optimized lens at the end of November. This is the Trioplan 100 f2.8 II. The other lenses such as Trioplan 50, Lydith 30 or Primoplan 75 will follow (presumably) in monthly intervals.

These lenses will be available for Canon EF, Fuji X, Leica L, Leica M, M42, MFT, Nikon F, Pentax K, Sony E