Last year, Olympus announced it was getting out of the camera business. And today, the company taking over Olympus’ camera division has announced a new brand name for the business going forward: OM System.
In choosing a name for its recently acquired camera brand, parent company Japan Industrial Partners looked for inspiration within Olympus’ existing products and legendary Olympus camera designer Yoshihisa Maitani, eventually settling on OM System as a way to bridge cameras from the past with new products for the future.
Because a number of Olympus cameras are still available for purchase, the Olympus and OM System brands are slated to coexist for now, with the Olympus name eventually being phased out by new devices under the OM Systems name. Notably, OM System says all existing Olympus branded products will remain the same, while OM System prepares to announce new devices sometime in the near future.
Going forward, OM System’s range of products will cover everything from cameras to lenses, binoculars, audio products, and “other services,” with OM System announcing that it is currently developing a new interchangeable lens camera based on the Micro Four Thirds format.
Without revealing too many specifics, OM System says its upcoming Micro Four Thirds camera will look to leverage the compact and portable nature of the Micro Four Thirds format while incorporating computational photography to “accelerate the improvement of image quality and photographic expression.”
As for the new company’s goals, OM System seems committed to carrying on Olympus’ camera legacy by expressing “our determination to continue to deliver unparalleled experiences to our customers through our mission of always challenging convention and a philosophy of continuous product development.”
While the OM System is a thoughtful nod to Olympus’ history, the new brand’s real test will still be the quality of products it puts out in the future.