Panasonic future looks doubtful

[Franglais]

Faced with huge losses, the new Panasonic boss says the company will be getting out of consumer electronics. Doesn't sound very good for the camera business

Panasonic chairman plans company shift away from TVs ? and consumer electronics. But is it too little too late? | whathifi.com

[Greg McCary]

That's sad to hear. I think their sensor development had ground to a halt any way. Olympus went to Sony for a reason.

[Franglais]

Olympus is also losing money in the camera business:

Olympus to Drop Cheap Point-And-Shoot Cameras - Digits - WSJ

The low-end camera market (point-and-shoots) is very competetive but mostly it's being eaten away by smartphones. The one market that manufacturers are likely to keep going is mirrorless because it's higher value and they can make money on it.

[Greg McCary]

If Olympus would have partnered with Sony sooner maybe with the E5 and they hadn't miss managed all of that money they might be in a much better position.
I truly enjoyed using the E5 even as it was and short on dynamic range.
The Olympus 12-60mm lens is as good as my Carl Zeiss lenses. But once I saw the dynamic range and high ISO out put of the D800 and a99 there was just no turning back.
For years I fought keeping highlights under control. Using strong ND grads and even stacking them. With the D800 I don't even need a filter unless I am in extreme lighting.
It's sad especially since Olympus is so innovative.

[KeithDray]

good post......................

[GB1]

Charles - that article's a bit old (2012), but in general, all the Japanese TV makers are having a very very hard time. Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp are all experiencing massive loses and will probably have to get out of that biz completely, leaving it to the Koreans.

As far as Olympus, Sony, Panasonic, Pentax, etc. cameras, I've been wondering how they're doing as that I hardly ever see a serious photog with a non-Nikon or Canon system... Less sales for them means less R&D funds, which can be a a viscous circle. There may be a shake out in the industry soon ...