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Originally Posted by Paul
Hmm, not sure about that. I use the OM lenses on an E-1, and frankly they are not as good as the current offerings.
The main reason in my view is that Oly spent a long time out of the SLR market, and so started with a clean slate which allowed them to develop a complete digital system. I personally welcome that decision, and the E-x system is really rather good and often doesn't get the attention it deserves. It's pretty popular for a new starter and seems to be growing.
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I don't dispute that Olympus may have made a legitimate decision, based on their view that the OM lenses wouldn't provide the quality and/or ergonomics that Oly was looking for in their 4/3 system. However, my comment was based on why they didn't have buzz in the marketplace. They might have made the right engineering decision, but the wrong business decision. There is no question that the E-1 was a better camera than it's sales warranted. Another marketing gaffe that Olympus made in the E-1 was in failing to realize that 5 Million really good pixels is a very tough sell against 6 million or 8 million average pixels, even when the technical merits are justifiable. They finally figured this one out, however it left them in the strange position that their top-end camera had lesser specs than their consumer cameras.
The fact that they have not followed up the E-1 with another pro body in well over 2 years seems to indicate an understanding that they can't compete in that space with Nikon and Canon. OTOH, from what I've seen, the E-500 is also a superb camera that is targeted to a market space where Oly can possibly be more successful. But, because of the lensmount decision, they don't have an installed base to build on.