Reuters reported that Olympus is going to issue new shares worth $1.28 billion (100 billion yen) in order to stabilize its finances after the recent reports of massive fraud inside the company. Panasonic, Sony and Fujifilm were listed as the companies interested to acquire portions of the shares:
A Xitek forum member translated he key points from the Impress Japan interviews with various camera manufacturers about their future plans – see previous post about Olympus, Pentax and Nikon (Google translation):
Digital Camera Magazine (same magazine who had the interview with the Pentax executive) published also an interview with Olympus marketing manager Mr. Ogawa who said that Olympus is working on a brand new Micro Four Thirds camera concept that will be different then the current PEN line. The key points from the interview (taken from dpreview):
Amid its financial woes, today Olympus announced a new weather sealed powerzoom M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 EZ lens (35mm equivalent: 24–100mm). The new lens will be available in mid-January 2012 for $499.99.
It seems that Bloomberg gave an answer to my question from few weeks ago – apparently Fujifilm is considered as a possible buyer of Olympus: “Fujifilm, which makes equipment for medical scans, has been reported as a possible bidder for Japanese camera maker Olympus Corp. Yamamoto, who also is a board member at Fujifilm, declined to comment on a possible buyout of […]
Olympus is rumored to announce a new powerzoom 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 macro lens on December 14th, 2011. The expected specs are: Focal length: 12-50mm Aperture: f/3.5-6.3 Close focusing: 0.35 meter (0.98 ft) Macro: 0.2 to 0.5 meter (0.66-1.6 ft) Filter size: 52 Ring: Focus and Aperture ring Zoom: Powerzoom button on the left side of the lens AF: […]
Olympus filed patent 2011-250022 in Japan for a hot shoe mounted miniature camera that will be used to capture stereo/3D images. It seems that Olympus has chosen a different 3D solution than Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds 12.5mm f/12 3D lens.
Before announcing the next PhotoRumors giveaway, a quick update on the Olympus saga: “An investigative panel has found Japan’s disgraced Olympus Corp hid up to $1.67 billion in losses from its investors, but is likely to say there is no evidence of involvement by organized crime in the cover-up, a source said Monday.” Via Reuters
Patent 2011242520 from Olympus describes several different wide angle lenses: 8mm f/3.5 fisheye, 12mm f/1.8, 12mm f/2.8, 10mm f/2.8 and 12mm f/2.0:
Today Reuters and AP reported that Olympus may have to sell off its camera division in order to survive as a company (Olympus consists of several different divisions). This should not be a surprise since the company’s stock got hammered in the past few weeks as a result of a fraud scandal. The more interesting question […]
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