Olympus set their sights on 20% DSLR Market Share

Olympus Corp have announced today (Wed Oct 17th) that they are aiming to have a global share of 20% or more in the DSLR market within the next five years. This means more than doubling its current share (5.95%) in a lucrative sector dominated by Nikon Corp and Canon Inc, who each have 33% and 46.7% shares.

“In the mid- to long-term, we will strive for a 20 percent market share or more to become one of the top three SLR makers," Olympus Imaging Corp President Masaharu Okubo told a news conference on Wednesday.

Competition for this market is ever growing. Sony and Matushita Electric Industry won their slices after the launch of their first Digital SLRs last year.

Olympus backed up their optimistic bid by unveiling its flagship DSLR camera aimed at Professionals and advanced enthusiasts. The new model, simply called E-3 will be launched Nov 23 in Japan for the asking price of 200,000 yen (aprox £843).



The E-3 boasts an array of features that challenge even the most advanced DSLRs which can cost thousands more.

A couple of exciting features include the Live-MOS view sensor chip. Sounds impressive, and by all accounts it is. Not only can you see what your image will look like on a swivel LCD screen, but you can also see how your shot will look with exposure and colour balance. Another feature is the five F-Stops for taking pictures in the dark, almost iraddicating the need for a tripod!

The E-3 looks very promising indeed. It seems to be an all round professional masterpiece, and I’m excited about its launch in the UK, which is yet to be announced

E-3 Specs: http://www.olympus-europa.com/consumer/dslr_E-3.htm

It's great to hear that manufacturers are fighting for DSLR market share - this is great news for us, as it could mean a price and feature war!

Im sure it will Azz! Im am honmestly excited about this camera and may give it a whirl in the future. Im a fan of olympus and have had some of their point and shoots n the past with no problems.

Whilst I doubt Olympus could take a 20% share of the market, the fact that they are bringing out cameras with more advanced features at a lower price than Canon/Nikon will hopefully bring the price down on those too

I am rather impressed by the fact it has a 16 image RAW buffer - certainly for that price!

GH, its going to be more expensive in the UK (as always!) Im sure its got a price tag in the reigon of £1200? But hopfully, with more competition on the market, we will see better cams with better features for a smaller price

Oh most definately, but it will still be a lot cheaper for that technolgy/spec than their rivals

Which is most definatly a deliberate act on Olympus' part! It makes me wonder wether they will be making a loss on the camera by doing that??? I know that microsoft did the same thing when they first released the Xbox - sell it cheaper to gain ground in the market...... either way, its certainly seems like more than value for money...

I don't think they'd be making a loss tbh, console manufacturers can do that because they are a long term investment, where they get money back in software sales later in the consoles life - Sony are losing bucketloads on the PS3 as it is sooooo expensive to manufacture right now.

But who knows maybe it makes financial sense for Olympus and they've factored it into their master plan

Good point Guess only time will tell...

The spec looks good K, as you say, another competitor on the marketplace might make Canon/Nikon think more about their prices, however, I've crossed my bridges and burned them behind me, so I'll have to stay "Canonised".