CP+, one of the biggest photographic events started today in Japan OM Digital Solutions is also participating.
Setsuya Kataoka, Chief Technology Officer gave a speech about the future of OMDS and Olympus.
I think the message was very optimistic. The only downside was that he did not give any timetable on new products. Good thing is that there will be new products.
My comments about Kataoka’s speech can be watched from the video I made.
The video from CP+ can be watched from below. It says in the description that the video is only available until the 31st of March 2021.
Now that the production, service, marketing, and sale of Olympus has been transferred to OM Digital Solutions is a good time to look back.
Semi-Olympus I
Semi-Olympus I, 1936
Olympus corporation started to make cameras in 1936. The first camera was Semi-Olympus I. It had a Zuiko lens.
Olympus Pen
Olympus Pen, 1959
That was the start. The next big thing was when Olympus hired Yoshihisa Maitani who became one of the legends of camera design. His first design was Olympus Pen. It was meant to be a simple camera that one could use. It was a huge success.
Olympus Pen-F
Olympus Pen-F
The next camera that is worth mentioning is Pen-F, the half-frame SLR. It was the first of its kind but was no success. Pen-F also has its digital version that was launched in 2016. It is also a great camera, but what I have heard not a commercial success either. I personally think Pen-F is something the new company should think about and launch an MKII version of it. It is a great camera for street photography.
Olympus 35SP
Olympus 35SP
One of my favorite cameras from Olympus is the 35SP. It has a superb lens. G.Zuiko 42mm f1.7. It also has a very good metering system. It was so good that even Ansel Adams had a 35SP. It was also the first camera to have both a regular light metering system and spot metering.
Olympus OM-1
Olympus OM-1
The first SLR from Olympus was the M-1. Its name was changed to OM-1. Leica did not like that Olympus used M-1 because they already had that name. The M comes from Maitani and the O is of course Olympus. OM-1 was the smallest and lightest SLR of its time. It was again one of Maintaini’s masterpieces.
Olympus OM-4 Ti
Olympus OM-4 Ti
The next great OM-series camera was OM-4Ti. It was launched in 1986. It was the first focal plane shutter that allows full speed flash sync. It also appeared in the opening scene of the James Bond movie – Licence to Kill.
Olympus Mju
Olympus Mju
The best selling Olympus camera was Mju. It sold over 5 million pieces. It was a beautiful small compact camera. It is also the first Olympus camera I have ever bought.
Digital Era
The digital era has not been the best of times for Olympus. They made still some great cameras, like the Camedia E-10. Of course, the E-M5 was a revolutionary camera, and the ones that followed, the E-M1-series particularly.
Olympus E-M5
Olympus has always been innovative. There are a lot of things that they have invented or made a lot better. The first 5-axis IBIS was in an Olympus camera. Olympus also had the first sensor cleaning system. The first 4/3 camera, E-1 had a weather-sealed body.
Olympus OM-D E-M1X
It will be interesting to see what the future brings us.
Below this text there are two videos about the history of Olympus that can be found in my YouTube channel.
You can find some more about Olympus cameras from their camera museum page. It is in Japanese, but Google Translate will help.
Insta360 One X2 is the newest 360 action camera from Insta. It is a consumer-level camera. It will capture 360 views with its two cameras. It can record video at 5,7K and images with the resolution of 6080X3040 (360) and 4320X1440 in panorama mode.
Fun features!
Even though there is a really good use of 360 cameras in many ways real estate videography is one. The Insta360 One X2 is more of a “toy”. By that, I do not mean that the quality of the image or build quality is bad. On the contrary, it is well made and the image quality is very good. By saying it is a toy it means all the fun features you can do with it. The fun features include Bullet Time, Stop Motion, Clone Trail, etc.
Some of the features are shown in my latest Sunday Shorts about Insta360 and a few of its fun features.
Is there any serious use?
Insta360 One X2 is waterproof to 10 meters. it can be used as an action cam. It can shoot of course 360, but also a 150-degree image. Also from the 360 images can be cropped any portion with Insta 360 app, Insta360 desktop app, or Premiere Pro. Premiere Pro needs a plug-in from GoPro. Yes, GoPro. It is called FX Reframe. With that, you can adjust the 360 images.
With that, it is easy to make the 360 to a 16.9 “crop” from any part of the 360 videos. It can also be keyframed so that it looks like the camera is following you. That makes the Insta360 One X2 the best action camera right now. It is almost like you have a cameraman filming you.
Most fun with the App.
With the Insta360 mobile app, you will the best out of the camera. Its app has a trick section where you can pick your effect and the app does it for you. There is also instruction on how to shoot so that the effect can be applied. On the left side, you can see a few of the effects you can do.
This blog post was not sponsored by Insta360. I bought the camera. Wanted to write a small blog post about it because I really like the camera. I will be using it for B-roll on my YouTube-videos.
![The future of Olympus – [What did Mr. Kataoka say at CP+?]](https://peterforsgard.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/aloituskuva3.jpg)
