Less than a week ago, OM Digital Solution released their latest flagship camera - the OM System OM-1 Mark II, which effectively superseded the original OM-1 which was launched just about 2 years ago. I am not here to comment much about the product, a lot has been said already online everywhere, whether positive or negative reaction, I believe most of them are valid, it depends on which camp you belong to, and your reasons for supporting or going against the OM-1 Mark II's product strategy. I am less interested to explore this divisive topic, but I do want to share an interesting observation about the launch of the OM-1 Mark II itself with the lack of online coverage, both from the usual mainstream photography media and independent content creators. This I believe, points to a larger issue that the company, OM Digital Solutions is facing, and not working with the media and independent photographers was a huge, huge mistake.
Every single Olympus (now OM System) product launch has always been an exciting event. There was an official announcement made in Japan, usually on Tuesday or Wednesday, at 2pm Malaysian time, this has been consistent for more than 10 years, as far as I can remember following updates or happenings from the company. When I was an Olympus Visionary (2018-2022) I clearly remembered how busy I was on the day of the product launch. I would have spent the past 2 weeks before the launch testing the new, not-yet released camera or lens, getting as many useful sample photographs as I can, putting them to various shooting scenarios to check for any issues or bugs worth reporting, and then a huge chunk of time was spent on either writing my blog article or filming a video, and sometimes both so that I can schedule up my early impression review ahead of launch date. As the embargo was lifted, and official announcement time hit, there was a flurry of activities that followed.
At 2pm, I would check the large photography sites such as DPReview and Petapixel, as well as some local media for the official press coverage. After making sure my own content was successfully published online, I'd immediately track any other early "reviews" whether in the form of article write ups or video reviews on YouTube (as time went by, less articles, more videos) and I'd consume as much of these early content as I can. I was comparing notes on my own review points versus what other creators were saying about the products, whether they were the official Olympus Ambassdors, or independent media, or photographer reviewers. The notable few were always, without fail, a video from Chris Nichols and Jordan Drake from The Camera Store (Canada)/DPReview/recently Petapixel, write ups by a staff from DPReview, early impression video from Gordon Laing from TheCameraLabs, Lenstip site, or some more fun creators like Kai Wong, just to name a few. Going through the above list thoroughly would have taken more than an hour, before going through other fellow ambassadors like Jimmy Cheng from Red35 (still active now), Peter Forsgard, and several others. I would have watched a dozen of videos continuously back to back and hoping that I did not make any mistake in my own reviews, or worse, miss anything. It was quite a ride, watching one video after another, looking at what others were doing, shooting at different parts of the world. I remember for E-M1 Mark II Olympus brought the US media to Iceland, for example.
This was not the case for the latest OM System OM-1 Mark II.
As the clock hit 2pm the official release time, I only saw a handful of videos being published online. Jimmy (Red35) did a great job for both the OM-1 Mark II and 150-600mm lens, but that was it. Any other videos other than Jimmy published on YouTube at that time were either promo videos from OM System's official channel, or random videos made by camera retailer/stores, such as B&H, Adorama or The Camera Store. Where were the independent creators, photographers and YouTubers? Why did they not provide the camera to Chris and Jordan from Petapixel, who were known to be huge supporters for Micro Four Thirds? What happened to Gordon Laing from TheCameraLabs? Why were there not many more articles available online? Why only a select few, fairly unknown YouTubers getting their hands on early samples of OM-1 Mark II and making their "reviews"?
Honestly, the fact that Chris and Jordan did not get their hands on an early sample, and make their video on time before launch speaks volumes.
Was OM Digital Solutions so desperate to control the narrative of their latest product, that they do not want independent reviewers, or the media to report their opinion truthfully? Hiding your products during release will only makes things a lot worse later. What is there that they were so scared for the others to find out? And when these people do find out, sooner or later, don't you think the consequences will be much worse?
I am not discounting the videos made by ambassadors, some of them have been around for a long time, for example, Jimmy Cheng did a great job going through the list of features and upgrade on the OM-1 Mark II. However, I only saw Jimmy, and a few other ambassadors talking about OM-1, and that was NOT enough to drive the attention to a product launch, especially a flagship level camera for a company. Nikon ZF, which was not a flagship, got 100 times more attention from the internet media than the OM-1 Mark II, and the Nikon was not even a flagship camera. Something was very wrong somewhere, and whatever the marketing department inside OM Digital Solutions is doing, or think they are doing, they better realize this was a huge mistake, and NOT repeat them ever again. Keeping the media quiet during the launch of your most important product is not making your product or company look good, especially now, after years of taking over Olympus, people are looking for reasons to either trust the company, or abandon it.
I was so disappointed there was not much to watch or consume at the time of the OM-1 Mark II's launch. Back then, I'd spend the entire afternoon, at least 2-3 hours consuming all the reviews and early content, and now, for the OM-1 Mark II, I finished everything that was available in less than 30 minutes. The absence of coverage from large, trusted names like Chris & Jordan from Petapixel, as well as Gordon Laing, also raised a lot of questions for me.
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OM Digital are not the only ones.
ReplyDeleteWhen Fujifilm launched the X-S20, Jordan and Chris did not received a unit too - they only could tested it weeks after, and (as I remember) from a unit loaned from The Camera Store. Same with DPReview. Gordon get one - but if I remember correctly, only had a unit for a few days (and a lot of other reviewers complained about that, VERY short time with the unit).
But...there was a LOT of reviews from people that I never heard of. Some Youtubers with 1000 followers had a test unit before launch.
I think that is a trend to supply test units for smaller youtubers, which are seeing ths as a opportunity to grow their audience and receive more units in the future. And, with this in mind, probably more likely to not talk bad about to problem, to keep the opportunities open...
I expect to see this trend to become bigger in the future. Yes, manufacturers are trying to control the narrative.
You can't compare OM-1 Mark II to X-S20. One is flagship, one is mid-tier level. If you are a camera company, why are you hiding your latest and greatest from the media?
DeleteI can see why Fuji did what they did, the X-S20 is targetted toward a certain crowd, but you won't see them hiding away their XT, XH and XPRO series from mainstream media.
I would not have made this blog entry if it was an OM-5 or OM-10 iteration. For your highest level, most expensive camera, I expect marketing to be done properly.
Thank you Robin for your observations regarding the "silent" launch of the OM1II. I totally agree with your views. I expected to see or hear anything on the new camera from Rob Trek. Nothing so far.
ReplyDeleteApart from the rather silent "launch" I believe it was a big mistake or at least a very unfortunate decision/communication to announce at the same time, that no FW update for OM-1 is planned. I understand that OMDS might want to keep the new features like LiveGND or 14 bit RAW exlusively for the new camera. There has been a lot of response in the past 2 years by users doing wildlife photography who have reported that AF is not reliable enough and operates with too many inconsistencies. IMO, the Mark II AF improvements are not a new feature but performance fixes that should be made available for OM-1 users as well. Especially if you look at OMDS' promise on their website:
ReplyDelete"At OM SYSTEM, we're committed to keeping the technology in your camera on the cutting edge. We offer regular, robust firmware updates to protect your investment. After all, we know you're always shooting for perfection. We are too." (https://explore.omsystem.com/us/en/firmware)
Probably not many OM-1 users will upgrade to Mark II but many will feel left behind by OMDS.