02/13, 11:30am
Olympus looking for partner, will post high loss
When its fiscal year ends in March, Japanese camera maker Olympus is expected to post a 32 billion yen net loss (about $412 million), BusinessWeek reported on Monday. This is worse than analysts expected and largely due to writing off equipment in the Thailand factory floods that affected camera and hard drive makers alike. Company president Shuichi Takayama said Olympus may want to find a partner in order to boost capital.
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02/08, 12:35pm
Samsung Galaxy Note ad out of top 10 for most
Samsung's Super Bowl ad for the Galaxy Note may have been one of the costliest mistakes in advertising in recent memory, based on new Nielsen data from the event. The Android phone's commercial appeared neither in the top 10 most-remembered ads of the football game nor the top 10 most-liked among Nielsen's nearly 12,000-person panel. Instead, the only technology picks went to E*Trade and to GoDaddy, whose flip-flop on SOPA still left it with the ninth most memorable spot.
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02/07, 9:00pm
Olympus OM-D boosts MFT pro credentials
Olympus ended rumors Tuesday by trotting out its highest-end Micro Four Thirds camera to date. The OM-D is consciously styled after the classic OM-4 film camera but, in place of the mirrors and optical viewfinder, has a 1.44-megapixel electronic viewfinder instead. It's billed as one of the few mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras to have its EVF in a more natural position above the lens, rather than at the corner on a camera such as the Sony NEX-7.
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02/07, 9:00pm
Olympus SZ-31MR and Tough TG-820 arrive
Olympus brought out two specialized point-and-shoot cameras ahead of the CP+ show. Leading off is the SZ-31MR, one of the longest-ranged compact ultrazoom cameras with a 24X (25-600mm equivalent) lens. The camera makes up for the blur likely at the far end of its zoom both by using a 16-megapixel, backside-illuminated CMOS sensor and two previous-generation TruePic V chips that give it better low-light performance on top of improving camera speed and image processing.
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02/07, 12:15pm
Deals on cameras, printers, and more
Today's deals from DealNN include discounted cameras, printers, and more. Ecost.com has recently lowered the price of the refurbished Olympus 14MP Digital Camera, complete with 3-inch LCD display, 5x optical zoom, 4x digital zoom, HD movie mode, and SD/SDHC memory card slot. Currently featured at DealNN, this camera has now dropped to $69.99 in price and offers savings of up to $110.
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02/06, 7:00am
Official investigations to dig up more dirt
Ex-Olympus CEO turned whistleblower Michael Woodford expects that official investigations into the massive $1.7 billion financial scandal will yield further damaging revelations, reports Reuters. Although Olympus tooks steps to have a third-party investigate the 13-year investment losses long cover-up, Woodford expects that Japanese, British and US law enforcement agencies will dig up more dirt ahead of an extraordinary shareholding meeting scheduled for April 20. The news comes at a time when Olympus may be set to enter into a new alliance with Panasonic and Samsung.
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02/04, 5:05pm
Olympus OM-D shows face early
The Olympus OM-D had some of its details spoiled after Amazon Japan (cached) briefly posted a product page with photos. True to form, the Micro Four Thirds camera will be a tribute to the OM-4 with the retro look and tall box above the lens. Instead of a mirror system, though, this space would have the rumored 1.44-megapixel electronic viewfinder, putting it in a more natural position than the corner position on other mirrorless digital cameras.
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02/01, 4:40pm
Apple takes Mac OS X 10.7.3 live
Apple on Wednesday afternoon posted Mac OS X 10.7.3 (release notes). The Lion upgrade adds several languages, including Catalan for Spaniards as well as Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, and Ukrainian. RAW photo compatibility has expanded to several new cameras, including the Nikon J1 and V1, Olympus' current PEN cameras, and current Sony Alpha and NEX cameras, such as the NEX-5N.
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01/31, 9:55pm
Leak corroborates earlier reports
Both Panasonic and Samsung are reportedly engaged in talks that may lead to a financial partnership with Olympus. Details posted in the Mainichi newspaper corroborate earlier leaks surrounding a potential deal with Samsung, while also pointing to separate negotiations with Panasonic and another Japanese company.
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01/27, 2:35pm
Sigma founder, CEO passes away at 78
CEO of camera and lens maker Sigma, sadly, has passed away. The 78-year-old Michihiro Yamaki succumbed in Tokyo, Japan on January 18 after a fight with liver cancer. Yamaki founded the company in 1961 and was heading up the company up to 2011, on its 50th anniversary.
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01/26, 11:30am
Japan's Astrodesign also joins the standard
Two Japanese camera lens manufacturers have signed onto the Micro Four Thirds standard pioneered by Olympus and Panasonic. They include Kenko Tokina and Tamron, while a third Japanese company, Astrodesign, has also jumped onboard, though it makes video measuring equipment and not lenses. This should give those how have bought into the new type of camera, which allows for interchangeable lenses on digital camera bodies that are smaller than DSLRs, more options for lenses.
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01/23, 2:20pm
Olympus turns to Sony for help in alliance
Olympus and Sony are nearly ready to make a large-scale pact, Japanese business periodical Diamond Weekly reported. No specifics were known, but Olympus was believed to be hosting a news conference later this week that should have some details. The unofficial source also said the alliance would be voted on by a dedicated shareholder's meeting in April.
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01/21, 2:05am
Olympus barely avoids stock disaster post-scandal
Olympus on Friday narrowly avoided additional threats of possible delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Officials at the trading house said they would let Olympus stay after the $1.7 billion concealment scandal but would make it pay a relatively mild fine of 10 million yen, or about $129,800. The light penalty was based on the belief that just a handful of staffers had been responsible for hiding Olympus' losses and that the core of the company was safe.
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01/20, 4:30pm
Olympus OM-D image shows quality finish
The upcoming Olympus OM-D camera, due for an official unveiling on February 8, has now been seen, at least partially. 43Rumors shared a leaked image of some of the top of the camera, which will be the first digital shooter from Olympus' flagship OM series that dates back 40 years. The Micro Four Thirds camera appears to have a high-quality metal body.
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01/18, 12:00pm
Olympus to unveil OM-D MFT camera in February?
Olympus is likely to unveil a new compact digital camera with a product called the OM-D, which was trademarked on January 3. While the camera hasn't officially been revealed, Olympus did tease its "latest Olympus masterpiece" is coming in a teaser ad. It is expected to be a modern, digital camera styled after the film OM-1 of the past and the more recent OM-2000.
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01/17, 5:00am
Olympus seeks $13 million in damages from auditors
Olympus has announced that it has sued five past and current auditors seeking $13 million in damages, according to Reuters. The company is suing the firms after each had signed off on 13 years of fraudulent accounts. Senior Olympus officials, now mostly no longer with the company, had fabricated the company’s accounts over the same period to cover $1.7 billion of losses. Although cleared of responsibility for the fraud by an independent panel, KPMG and Ernst & Young, and other auditors remain under official review.
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01/12, 5:15am
Samsung said eyeing Olympus, could partner
A new report has surfaced suggesting that Samsung may have its sights set on getting a slice of the scandal plagued Olympus. Olympus is currently picking up the pieces following one of the biggest corporate scandals to rock Japan after it was found to have concealed around $1.7 billion in losses through dodgy accounting practices. According to Reuters , Samsung is interested in investing in Olympus’s medical imaging arm with the company short of capital following revelations of its accounting fraud.
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01/08, 1:35am
Olympus panel may ask for tougher measures
An independent panel investigating Olympus might issue much harsher recommendations than its early investigation. The Kyodo News Agency had heard that the panel would advise the company suing over 10 existing and former executives for a total equivalent to $1.2 billion for hiding losses for 13 years. The move might also see current president Shuichi Takayama, who had only take over from the disgraced Tsuyoshi Kikukawa in October, resign by the end of January.
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01/05, 11:50pm
Woodford takes legal action on Olympus scandal
Ousted Olympus CEO Michael Woodford fild suit against his former employer for allegedly firing him unfairly. He contended in a presentation that there were "no grounds whatsoever" for his being let go and that the real reason was to cover up the $1.7 billion scandal of deliberately hidden finances. He took the route after being rebuffed in attempts to have large-scale investors ask for a change in the board.
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01/05, 8:50am
Canon G1X to carry large sensor and wide aperture
Wells Fargo has leaked virtually every camera designer's plans for CES and PMA next week but has provided unusually large amounts of detail for major Canon releases. The PowerShot G1X is Canon's long-awaited if indirect response to mirrorless rivals and carries a large, 1.5-inch, 14.3-megapixel CMOS sensor to let it take in more light and detail than most compacts. Although the 4X, 28-112mm equivalent lens is still non-removable, it now has a wider maximum aperture of f2.5 (better than f2.8) to improve low light and soften backgrounds.
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01/03, 10:35am
Olympus to intro weatherproof camera in February?
A new rumor originating from 43rumors maintains that Olympus will release a new weather-resistant Four Thirds camera with an integrated viewfinder next month. Next week's CES will be skipped altogether and the camera will instead be revealed between February 6 and 11. That same week is also supposed to mark the reveal of a new Fujifilm camera system with a recently patented integrated viewfinder and an organic sensor.
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12/20, 11:25pm
Olympus faces Japanese government raids
Police, regulators, and prosecutors raided Olympus' headquarters and the homes of key executives on Wednesday local time following an independent panel's determination that it had hid $1.7 billion in its 20-year-old accounting scandal. The Tokyo area raids, which included former chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa's home, were part of an unusual joint investigation. Their actions were part of an official look that could result in formal charges if the accounting shuffles had enough of an impact to make the company liable.
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12/14, 10:50am
Olympus meets deadline, stays on the TSE for now
Olympus has successfully met the December 14 deadline of filing financial results and relisting the last five years of earnings. The company earlier delayed these numbers after admitting to covering up losses. It had been cleared of immediate criminal claims but risked being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. While exonerated from claims of a yakuza link, Olympys was found o have hid nearly $1.7 billion through advisor fees and takeovers.
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12/06, 8:40am
Report on Olympus blames outsiders as well
The full text of an independent report (PDF) finding that Olympus hid $1.7 billion dollars has blamed not just the company but outside auditors and banks. While focused on VP Hisashi Mori and internal auditor Hideo Yamada, it also blamed external auditors Ernst & Young ShinNihon and KPMG AZSA for seeing Olympus try to mask losses but doing nothing to stop it. The root was still senior leadership at the camera maker, however, which was not corrupt but showed an endemic problem in Japan with companies where loyalty is more important than ethics, even if staff underneath are honest.
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12/04, 10:50pm
Olympus panel clears execs of criminal acts
Olympus won't face as grave a consequence as suspected, an investigative panel slipped out early Monday. The Reuters contact explained that the the independent team found executives had covered up about $1.67 billion, or considerably less than the possible $4.9 billion rumored earlier. Checks had also ruled out a connection to the yakuza.
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12/03, 4:45am
Olympus short on time to account for mismanagement
Japanese camera and endoscope giant Olympus has only two weeks left to report its actual financial results for the past five years, according to Reuters. After being sensationally exposed by the company’s ex-CEO Michael Woodford, who uncovered that the company had been cooking its books, Olympus must meet the deadline or face being automatically deregistered. The accounting malpractice at the company, to cover securities losses, extends back to the 1990s.
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12/01, 5:30am
Ex-CEO Woodford plans Olympus leadership challenge
Ex-CEO of the scandal rocked Olympus, Michael Woodford, has announced that he has quit his position as a board member in order orchestrate a wholesale leadership change. Woodford has told Reuters
that he does not want such a move to be aggressive, but driven by the shareholders. To this extent, he has called on the current board to initiate a shareholder meeting by at least February in order to put his plan to a vote.
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11/29, 10:35pm
Company considering significant restructuring
Olympus is reportedly considering a number of significant restructuring strategies, which may bring the company to find a buyer for its consumer camera division. The Japanese company is currently reviewing its business structure in an attempt to survive an accounting scandal that is believed to involve as much as $4.9 billion in hidden losses.
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11/24, 2:15pm
Key Olympus execs resign rather than face meeting
Olympus saw an upheaval in its corporate structure Thursday after three board members quit in the wake of its ongoing loss cover-up scandal. Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who fired the CEO after he uncovered the mismanagement, resigned in sync with auditor Hideo Yamada and Executive Vice President Hisashi Mori. They quit just a day before they were to confront ousted CEO Michael Woodford at a board meeting.
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11/18, 1:40pm
New memo points to more unaccounted Olympus money
Japanese lawmakers and other officials are concerned the financial scandal at Olympus could be tied to the yakuza. A newly discovered memo acquired by the New York Times from Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, the Tokyo prosecutor's office, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department shows that some $4.9 billion is unaccounted for, or much more than previously believed. Even the FBI is investigating the company after astronomical fees were paid to companies that have alleged links to organized crime.
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11/16, 5:50am
Olympus scrambles to restore public trust
The once proud Japanese camera and medical equipment maker Olympus is readying to take legal action against its own executives. Any executive found to have been complicit in its multi-million dollar accounting scandal will be hit with legal action as well as possible criminal complaints, according to Reuters. The company has been reeling since admitting that it used advisory fees to cover up investment losses made in the 1990s to avoid reporting them in its financial results.
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11/10, 5:25pm
Supports new cameras from Nikon, Sony, Olympus
Apple has posted a new Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update, v3.9. The patch extends support for different RAW formats within Aperture 3 and iPhoto '11. Newly supported camera lines include Nikon's 1 J1, 1 V1, and CoolPix P7100, as well as Sony's NEX-5N, Alpha SLT-A65, and Alpha SLT-A77, and Olympus' PEN E-PL1s, PEN E-PL3, and PEN E-PM1.
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11/07, 10:40pm
Olympus investigation confirms scandal
Olympus in the wake of an independent investigation confirmed late Monday that it had been engaging in questionable, if not illegal, activity surrounding its advisor fee scandal. It said investment losses made in the 1990s had been covered up by paying a supposed advisor $687 million during the buyout of Gyrus, masking the difference. It had also spent $940.1 million to buy a trio of Japanese companies between 2006 and 2008 but had promptly written off $700 million of that value.
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11/04, 3:55pm
Revealed by former CEO in confidential letter
In 2009, Olympus announced that it had replaced its auditor, KPMG with another global acccounting firm, Ernst & Young. Reuters now reports that the camera and imaging equipment manufacturer failed to tell investors that the reason behind the firing was a disagreement over how to handle a questionable $687 million consulting fee for a $1.3 billion acquisition deal. Olympus recently fired its first non-Japanese CEO, Michael Woodward. in mid-October, allegedly in retaliation for his blowing the whistle on the inordinately large advisory fee.
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11/04, 1:20pm
Olympus pushes Q2 results back amid fees scandal
Camera maker Olympus will delay reporting its financial results from the second quarter until later in November, the company revealed on Friday. It is doing so because it needs time to hear out an independent committe's investigation on a scandal involving allegedly paying excessive fees when it aquired Gyrus and other companies. The committee will look into whether there was any illegitimate or inappropriate activity or improper management decisions relating to the deals.
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10/26, 7:50am
Olympus chairman resigns, investigations ongoing
The growing scandal at Olympus over excessive advisory fees totaling over $1 billion has taken a new twist with the company's chairman sensationally resigning. The news comes just a day after the now former chairman and president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa issued a stinging rebuke at ex-CEO Michael Woodford for leaking details of financial mismanagement within the camera and medical components giant. Just days ago, Woodford revealed that he had been forced from the company by the board after discovering the gross over-payments and threatening to make them public if an explanation was not forthcoming.
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10/25, 7:45am
Olympus chairman returns fire at ex-CEO Woodford
The besieged chairman of Olympus has launched into a stinging attack on sacked Olympus CEO Michael Woodford over the company’s advisory fee scandal. Tsuyoshi Kikukawa delivered his rebuke via an internal company memo. In the memo, Kikukawa called Woodford’s actions “aberrant” and “unforgivable” in response to Woodford’s exposure of a series of exorbitant advisory fees that have totaled over $1 billion.
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10/24, 6:20am
FBI said investigating advisor fee scandal
Olympus is reportedly subject to a probe by the Federal Bureau of investigation following its recent advisory fee scandal. Its former British CEO and thirty-year veteran of Olympus Michael Woodford was sensationally sacked on October 14 after an emergency board meeting. This led to Woodford promptly turning whistleblower and revealing a massive $687 million advisory payment made following the $2.2 billion acquisition of Gyrus, a medical equipment manufacturer.
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10/19, 8:05pm
Questionable payout may be tied to organized crime
Imaging and camera maker Olympus has admitted that it paid two financial advisers $687 million in fees for a $1.3 acquisition the company made in 2008. That is twice the amount that Olympus chairman, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, acknowledged paying on Tuesday. It also is the amount that former CEO Michael Woodford on Friday had publicly claimed was involved, shortly after which he was fired.
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10/17, 10:00pm
Turns over private audit info to UK authorities
Fired Olympus CEO Michael Woodford, the only non-Japanese director of the company, now says his firing on Friday was the result of an "emergency" board meeting following his intention to accusing the chairman and former CEO of financial improprieties, according to a report in The New York Times. Woodford accuses Olympus of overpaying for financial advice and acquisitions that later were written off, and says they destroyed $1.3 billion in shareholder value.
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10/14, 5:45pm
Olympus fires Woodford over management style
Japanese camera company has fired its CEO, Michael Woodford, on Friday. The first non-Japanese Olympus CEO was let go over disputes over the strategy of the firm, which led to a 17 percent share price drop. Olympus' board unanimously dismissed Woodford as president and CEO, but has retained him as director until a suitable replacement is found through a vote at the next annual shareholders' meeting.
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09/29, 9:25am
Adds support for over 20 more cameras
Adobe has posted the final editions of the Lightroom 3.5 and Camera Raw 6.5 updates. In both circumstances the software adds support for over 20 cameras. Consumer-level additions include the Fuji FinePix F600EXR, Nikon Coolpix P7100, Pentax Q, and Ricoh GXR Mount A12, as well as Olympus' E-P3, E-PL3 and E-PM1, Panasonic's DMC-FZ150, DMC-G3 and DMC-GF3, and Sony's NEX-C3, NEX-5N, SLT-A35, SLT-A65 and SLT-A77.
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09/19, 6:50pm
Nikon I Am Coming campaign hints mirrorless
Nikon on Tuesday slipped out a teaser page giving a strong clue as to its mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. While just saying "I am coming," the page has a countdown that ends on Wednesday, coinciding neatly with the rumored launch date. The camera maker rarely ever builds up the public for a launch, either for its regular compacts or its DSLRs, supporting the notion that it's a genuinely new platform and not just a sequel.
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09/08, 11:05pm
Nikon mirrorless cam leak gets price, 2011 ship
Nikon's long rumored mirrorless interchangeable lens camera received not just a vowed release this year but also a tentative price. A report [sub. required] in Japan's Nikkei pointed to sources who understood the camera would cost the equivalent of between $900 and $1,300. At the cost level, the camera would be equivalent to higher-end mirrorless cameras like the Olympus E-P3 or Sony NEX-7, although Japanese pricing usually includes tax and tends to be higher.
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09/01, 11:40pm
Latest PEN camera brings smallest form
As Olympus prepares to ship its latest PEN, the E-PM1, the company invited Electronista to try out the upcoming camera at the US Open tennis tournament in New York City. The new PEN represents Olympus' smallest Micro Four Thirds offering, bringing many features from the flagship E-P3 but with a slimmer body and significantly lower price tag.
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08/25, 8:35am
Olympus E-PM1 PEN Mini due autumn for $500
Olympus has announced the pricing on its forthcoming E-PM1 PEN Mini. When the Micro Four Thirds camera launches in early autumn, with retail for $500. The E-PM1 PEN Mini is the smallest in the Olympus MFT range and features an ultra-fast 35-point auto-focus system.
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08/22, 10:35am
Fujifilm X10 to sit between compacts and X100
Fujifilm's plans to expand its premium cameras beyond the well-known FinePix X100. Sources maintained Monday that a new model, the X10, would sit in between the DSLR-grade X100 and compacts. The Quesabesde details gave it a two-thirds-of-an-inch sensor in between a Canon G12 and Micro Four Thirds, or enough to help quality but not to rival pro cameras.
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07/31, 10:15pm
Our review of Sony's NEX-C3 mirrorless camera
Sony was a relative latecomer to mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras, but when it arrived with the NEX line, it shot back with very small designs which were barely larger than compact cameras, although they sometimes controlled like it, too. The NEX-C3 is a second generation and brings a new 16.2-megapixel sensor, overall better performance, and an even smaller design. We'll examine in our review of the NEX-C3 if it's worth trading up from a point-and-shoot or as an alternative to rivals from Olympus and Panasonic.
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07/29, 8:05pm
Olympus SZ-11 slips out in subtle move
Olympus is a virtually unnoticed move has rolled out a new ultrazoom camera in the US. The SZ-11 builds on its predecessor with a longer-reaching but potentially dimmer 20X, f3-6.9 lens. The more current entry gets a larger 16-megapixel sensor (up from 14) as well as a higher ISO 3,200 sensitivity.
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07/27, 11:50am
Olympus adds SP-810UZ ultrazoom to mix
Olympus brought its attention back to point-and-shoot cameras later on Wednesday through its answer to the rapidly escalating fight among ultrazoom cameras. The SP-810UZ reaches an extremely long 36X (24-864mm) optical zoom, supposedly the longest for a non-interchangeable camera, even as the body itself gets smaller. The lens still musters an f2.9-5.7 aperture range and, along with better ISO sensitivity, should still be fast enough at closer ranges for regular photography.
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