- OM System has said a new camera is coming ‘shortly’
- A now-deleted OM System post hinted at a retro model
- Rumors suggest an all-new series for OM System, but details are sparse
OM System appears set to have a bumper year if rumors, plus words directly from the horse’s mouth, are anything to go by. That’s great news for the fans who have patiently been waiting for something truly new since OM System acquired Olympus and its camera portfolio four years ago.
First we reported about a letter for 2025 from OM System’s Representative Director and CEO, Shigemi Sugimoto, who says that a new camera and compact single-focal length lenses are coming ‘shortly’.
We speculated that the new camera could most likely be a successor to the popular OM-5, our favorite travel camera, and it would probably be called an OM-5 II. Given a recent history of modest updates, we’ve struggled to get too excited about upcoming OM System models, but fresh rumors could change all that.
After that letter, a since-deleted post on OM System Malaysia’s Facebook account, which remains on Reddit, bears the image of a vintage Olympus camera alongside the year 1972, with a disguised reflection and 2025, plus the slogan ‘Revive the Past, Create the Future’.
Enthusiasts will know that the camera image in the post is 1972’s Olympus OM-1, a 35mm analog camera that has already been reimagined in digital form, it’s most current iteration being the OM-1 II.
If the OM-1 is already spoken for, what can we expect the potential upcoming vintage-inspired digital model to be? 43Rumors thinks it has the answer from a ‘new source’, and that the new camera will be called the OM-3. If true, that would be an all-new model, and one that could be a compelling Fujifilm X100VI alternative. Let’s take a closer look at why…
How new will new be?
The Olympus OM-3, which presumably is the inspiration for a potential digital OM-3, was first produced in 1983. The professional analog camera with metal body and mechanical shutter was an updated version of the original OM-1, with a fairly similar design. So how will a digital OM-3 be any different?
Today’s OM System digital camera lineup is led by flagship OM-1 series models, then there’s the OM-5 series for enthusiasts, and an OM-10 series for beginners, all of which feature a micro four thirds (MFT) sensor and lens mount. A new OM-3 series suggests something between the pro- and enthusiast-level models – I’d expect excellent build quality and slightly slimmed down featureset compared to the OM-1.
Price-wise, that means something roughly halfway between $1,200 / £1,000 (the OM5) and $2,200 / £2,100 (the OM-1) – so perhaps around $1,700 / £1,600. That pits a would-be OM-3 against the likes of the wildly popular and perpetually-on-back-order Fujifilm X100VI compact camera.
But will the new OM System camera simply be another interchangeable lens camera with micro four thirds mount but at a different price point, or something a little more exciting? In today’s market, a fixed lens compact camera with retro design makes most sense – Fujifilm has enjoyed huge success with its X100VI –and would be something truly new for OM System, even if Olympus was the real retro-style digital camera pioneer.
I could get really behind a retro OM System camera with micro four thirds sensor and a fixed lens, in a similar mold to the X100VI. It could be smaller than the X100VI and include an optimized version of a lens like the tiny Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8. That’s the camera that 2025 needs, and if its closer to the $1,400 / £1,250 mark then OM System could really be onto a winner. I think it’s still more likely to be an interchangeable lens camera, and if that’s the case, OM System is set to miss a huge opportunity.
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