I want the stuff zomgwtfbbq is smoking.
So you just don't want it to be true?
These are the facts we know. Sony just pumped $650m into Olympus, saving the company from certain bankruptcy. In the joint statement of intent to the shareholders it says the money will be used to shore up Oly's balance sheet and for the formation of a new JV in medical technology. Another aspect of the tie up, and again this is mentioned specifically, is that Sony and Olympus will work closely on their consumer side as well with Sony providing electronic components (such as sensors, EVF units etc...) and Olympus providing lenses and mirror cells.
Now, Sony only hold 11.5% of Olympus, and porting over Zuiko lenses to E-Mount would be a suicidal move for the remaining 88.5%, only Sony benefit from Zuiko on E-Mount. Yes Oly get to sell a few lenses, but they lose out on profits in selling camera bodies and they would be sabotaging m43 as suddenly E-Mount becomes a hell of a lot stronger in terms of available glass with Sony, Zeiss and now Oly behind it. The statement specifically mentioned that Olympus would bring lenses to Sony mounts and the only way they can do that without pissing off other shareholders is to release Sony mount bodies at the same time. An OMD class camera with the NEX7 sensor makes a lot of sense in business terms as it gives them a new market to sell to, Sony will be happy as they get the Zuiko lenses and a new E-Mount partner over which they have a decent level of control and the shareholders won't revolt as they are just selling lenses for their own system.
Sony putting money into Olympus has a lot of repercussions for us, you can either choose to ignore them (as you are currently doing) or be prepared for them. For Oly this is a win, they continue to exist and fight another day, and they get a long term partner for electronic components at a decent price (this move secures Oly's continued involvement in cameras for a long time) while giving up very little in real terms as they will still own a massive stake in the medical JV.
As for the Fuji rumours, well it all comes down to sourcing of components, they are running into to much the same problems as Olympus were until they struck the deal with Sony last quarter. Fuji don't have the resources to make their own sensors and other components so they must buy them in, this sticks a large margin onto their products and will make them uncompetitive in the long term. Fuji must strike a partnership or be bought by one of Sony, Canon or Panasonic if they are to survive the next few years as the industry transitions away from compacts. That's my theory on the market rumours about Fuji, at least. Again, it makes sense, as electronic components become more important the traditional optically stronger companies lose out to upstarts like Sony and Panasonic (not to mention Samsung).
) and available now. 60mm seems alot nicer for product photography but 45mm seems like it would be a better general purpose lens too. Plus for what I want to do I don't really need macro.
