Olympus are idiots.

In the distant past I was a keen supporter of the North Sydney Rugby League Football Club. In Australian Rugby League this is a situation that inspires sympathy and mirth in others. No other sporting team in the world had the knack of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory quite like the Bears. This made each win all the more exquisite and progressively rare. Norths supporters don’t need to say why they support them but each will nod knowingly to the other, silently affirming the choice to be a Norths man. They are gone now and Rugby League has never been the same. Some say it’s better but it really isn’t. Only Norths supporters understand why.

Owning an Olympus camera is just like being a Norths supporter and I love Olympus cameras. There’s no reason for it and as a photographer I really shouldn’t but Norths men know the excruciating disappointment of loss after loss and the orgasmic joy of a game where there might be a win followed by the satisfying agony of last minute defeat.

Olympus ought to be the most awesome camera you can buy and I’ll tell you why. You see, in film days, pros used Canon and Nikon cameras with roughly equal market share. A small percentage of pros used Leica, Olympus and other formats. When digital came along, Canon were better positioned than Nikon to make the transition which resulted in Canon now occupying the lions share of the DSLR market. The problem for Nikon and Canon was legacy. Pros with thousands of dollars invested in lenses and system had to be assured that they could migrate to digital with minimal cost and inconvenience. So both Canon and Nikon had DSLRs where original lenses could be used and sensor sizes like full frame and APS were maintained. There’s now reason in a digital world to have any legacy tech at all on a DSLR and Panasonic have started the ball rolling with the G1.

Olympus had no such commitment to the pro market and drew a line in the sand. From that point they were digital only and the fantastic OM film lenses were consigned to ebay. So be it. A good move. From here they developed the 4:3 standard which has numerous advantages over legacy systems. Of course, it is well know that the Olympus system lenses are about the best you can get. Yes, I know all about Canon’s L series and some beautiful Nikon lenses. And don’t start on Leica and Zeiss. A quick search on Google will show the magnificent Oly 50mm Macro putting the equivalent Leica to the sword at a quarter the price. Zuiko are smaller, lighter, faster, brighter and sharper than their competitors. Canon kit lenses are shit and Nikon G lenses are rubbish. In our store we routinely sold Nikon SLRs with Tamron lenses because they hammer the Gs.

Currently, the Canon EOS 450D is the most sought after SLR on the market. They are very good, have the best dynamic range, the best sharpness and are well built and reliable. They are mostly bought in the twin lens kitswith pretty average kit lenses. The punters don’t mind and mostly can’t tell. They were told by a friend ‘who is into photography’ that Canon are the best so they race off home with their prize and pretend to be real photographers.

The list price for 450Ds in Oz is A$1499. This puts them into a price band all their own as its competitors are either hundreds cheaper or hundreds dearer. The Olympus E520 is $1100, the Sony Alpha 200 about the same. Above this the Nikon D90 is $1899 and the Olympus E30, $1999. The 450D holds its own all the way up to $2000 and maybe beyond. All because of one thing…the image sensor. In all other areas Olympus is better. Take the E520. It feels better built, has superior image sensor cleaning, vastly superior ergonomics, better system lenses and best of all is body stabilized over Canon’s lens IS. The cost of ownership of the Olys is way better. For me it is an easy sell over the 450D and I sell 5 to 1 E520s over 450Ds.

The Olympus E3 and E30 are a different prospect. Both have the same advantages over Canon and the E3 even is superior to the superb 40D…except for one thing. The only thing that really counts. The image quality. It is the same thing that handicaps all Olympuses. The Panasonic image sensor has poor dynamic range and highlight clipping is prominent to the point of ruin. Some years ago they replaced the Kodak sensors with these Panasonics and there was a noticeable improvement in quality but still Olys just don’t cut it against Canons and Nikons. Even older Nikons like D70s and D100s shoot better. I waited with anticipation for the release of the E30. A mid-way camera that would crush the dominance of the 450D and its likely replacement was what was needed. Instead we got this.

Everything about it is good. Well made like all Olys, fast AF and best of all the new razor sharp Panasonic sensor. The same one Pana used in the G1 which set new benchmarks of sharpness and detail. Dynamic range on the G1 is also good. Hooray, just what we wanted. Olympus Uber Alles!

Alas, what do Olympus do? Fuck it up with a brutal AA filter and price it at $2099. Initial reviews show it as just as soft as the E520, a thousand dollars dearer and no clear advantage. At $2099, it competes with the Nikon D90, the Sony Alpha 700 and a Canon 40D. It doesn’t stand a chance. At $1500 it is a contender but there’s no way this camera can compete at ther 2 grand mark. If you read the forums for Olympus fanatics it reads like the AGM of North Sydney Rugby League Club. Oly geeks convincing themselves to remain faithful and ever hopeful that Olympus will eventually see the light. They won’t.A large portion of the Oly user base are now convinced that the E520 is a better bet than the E30 and this model is starting to look like a pariah. However it is saved from this by the complete isolation of the E3 as a viable prospect. This camera presumes to compete against the Nikon D700, the Sony Alpha A900 and a 40D with a shit-hot lens. The E3 is superior to all these cameras except for the image quality. It’s a fucking camera for god’s sake, only image quality counts.

At all levels, Olympus shoot themselves in the foot by crippling otherwise brilliant cameras. What the fuck don’t you guys understand about this. You will forever be a distant third place-getter. Maybe Fourth or Fifth since Sony and Panasonic are getting better with each model. It’s North Sydney all over again. I remain ever hopeful of an Olympus camera that dominates and impresses completely rather than having to make excuses for it. But then I always hoped the Bears would get one more Grand Final in. They didn’t.