<story><title>Olympus quits camera business after 84 years</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53165293</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>akersten</author><text>Sad to see them go - photography&amp;#x27;s such a great hobby and having competition in the space is healthy. There&amp;#x27;s a few brands out there still, but there is a noticable stigma in the professional community around equipment that isn&amp;#x27;t Canon. If you&amp;#x27;re not using L-glass, it feels like you get the same kind of judgement that Android users experience when they show up with green texts in iMessage.&lt;p&gt;As a matter of principle, I&amp;#x27;ve been buying exclusively Nikon for almost my entire time in the hobby. I always saw Canon as a large conglomerate who tacked on photography as another arm of their company, where to me Nikon feels more focused on optics as a primary business line. Honestly, I should almost start buying more Pentax gear.&lt;p&gt;I worry we&amp;#x27;re slowly approaching a monoculture in photography, but it&amp;#x27;s hard to convince folks outside of the hobby to care.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ISL</author><text>To me, the big monoculture risk is Sony&amp;#x27;s image-sensor fab. As I understand it, Sony, Fuji, Nikon and many others all rely upon the output of one company&amp;#x27;s manufacturing process.&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s a good reason for it -- they appear to make the very best sensors (edit: in terms of dynamic range and noise) in the commercial-camera market.  Canon makes their own sensors, which are good in absolute but not relative terms, which appears to hold them back in performance. I don&amp;#x27;t know if it is patent-related or process-related.&lt;p&gt;While I use Canon imaging systems, I don&amp;#x27;t see the choice to use other brands as better or worse. Each manufacturer&amp;#x27;s line has strengths and weaknesses; you pick the best tool for the job. Essentially every camera and optical system on the market, in absolute terms, is a wonderful instrument for imaging.&lt;p&gt;This reality is intensely freeing -- it means you can focus more on the image and less on the instrumentation. &amp;quot;f&amp;#x2F;8 and be there&amp;quot; is still wonderful advice.</text></comment>
<story><title>Olympus quits camera business after 84 years</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53165293</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>akersten</author><text>Sad to see them go - photography&amp;#x27;s such a great hobby and having competition in the space is healthy. There&amp;#x27;s a few brands out there still, but there is a noticable stigma in the professional community around equipment that isn&amp;#x27;t Canon. If you&amp;#x27;re not using L-glass, it feels like you get the same kind of judgement that Android users experience when they show up with green texts in iMessage.&lt;p&gt;As a matter of principle, I&amp;#x27;ve been buying exclusively Nikon for almost my entire time in the hobby. I always saw Canon as a large conglomerate who tacked on photography as another arm of their company, where to me Nikon feels more focused on optics as a primary business line. Honestly, I should almost start buying more Pentax gear.&lt;p&gt;I worry we&amp;#x27;re slowly approaching a monoculture in photography, but it&amp;#x27;s hard to convince folks outside of the hobby to care.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ben7799</author><text>Pros love Canon cause their service stomps all over everyone else, the equipment is just the cherry on top.  They&amp;#x27;re more like a partner in someone&amp;#x27;s business than just a retailer.&lt;p&gt;Seriously.. their service is so fantastic &amp;amp; easy to work with it puts you at ease shooting with their expensive stuff.&lt;p&gt;I think this has more to do with it than anything to do with sensors or almost anything else when it comes to really serious photography and especially anyone who&amp;#x27;s running a business.&lt;p&gt;No one is happy to see another option disappear though.   I agree with the sentiment that the biggest risk is too many cameras having Sony sensors inside though.   Too much of that and at some point they&amp;#x27;re all Sony, even though the design of the exterior of the camera &amp;amp; the ergonomics can still be major differentiators.</text></comment>