it’s in our NATURE is a very interesting phrase that has various interpretations, and also may be significant from a marketing perspective. In a recent M.Zuiko 150-600mm f/5-6.3 launch video, this promotional message ended with the phrase it’s in our NATURE. Watch the video until the very end to see this positioning statement.
In my view, this was no accident, but rather an important step forward in the strategic positioning of OM Digital Solutions camera business.
NOTE: Click on images to enlarge. Photographs have been added to serve as visual breaks.
Readers who have been following this blog for the past number of years will know that from time to time I comment on potential business strategy issues.
For example, back on May 21, 2020 I published an article discussing niche market differentiation. This posting outlined the reasons why this strategy would make sense of OM Digital Systems (OMDS). I believe that one of the reasons that the original Olympus camera division failed was its lack of a clear market position.
The strategic positioning of the OM-1 camera was discussed in an article published on February 15, 2022. From my perspective, the OM-1 sent a clear message about the strategic direction of OMDS.
The launch of the OM-5 was another clear statement about the strategic direction of OMDS which was covered in an article published on October 27, 2022.
A few weeks later the marketing assessment tool of conjoint analysis was discussed in another article published on November 10, 2022. This posting outlined how companies determine which product attributes are most important to their target market(s).
All of these previous articles lead us to recent events and the launch of the OM-1 Mark II and the M.Zuiko 150-600mm f/5-6.3 IS ultra zoom lens. I won’t comment on any of the coverage of the OM-1 Mark II as I have not read any of those articles or looked at any videos on that camera.
I have done some reading/viewing of the coverage of the M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 IS super zoom lens. It is difficult to be kind to some of the online reviews, as some of them are simply laughable.
For ‘reviewers’ to say that the M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 IS is ‘too large and heavy’ or not appropriate for M4/3 shows a woeful lack of understanding of the target market that OMDS is pursuing.
Many of these folks seemed lost in the past when the failed Olympus camera division focused on being small and light and tried to appeal to a broad cross section of photographers. That is not the OMDS of today.
If you follow some of the professional wildlife photographers who use Olympus/OM Systems camera gear you’ll discover that the brand is highly regarded at top professional levels. Andy Rouse was the Wild Life Photographer of the Year for 2022.
Jari Peltomaki is another celebrated nature photographer. Obviously many nature professionals have shot with a number of different systems over the years. None of them would use Olympus/OM System on a whim. They use this gear because it helps them deliver the results they need for their business.
When you watch or read reviews of the new M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 IS super zoom lens you’ll find that folks like Andy Rouse and Petr Bambousek refer to it as light and easily handholdable. Why would they say that about a lens that weighs over 2 KG?
Weight and size are relative to what someone has been using in the past. For professional wildlife photographers, OMDS gear is comparatively small and light… and has a lot of technology that they value.
I’m not an award winning nature photographer, and never will be. All my website is intended to do is share the joy of photography with my readers.
When considering the new M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 IS super zoom lens, or any of the other higher end products that OMDS offers, it is important to ask yourself where you put your trust. We all choose our sources of information… and we should do so carefully.
Are there some good reviewers out there? Of course, folks like Mat at Mirrorless Comparison come to mind…. but unfortunately there is also a lot of very poor quality stuff out there as well.
Personally I would much rather observe the work of top rated professionals like Petr Bambousek who has a history of creating award winning photographs… rather than give credence to many of the opinions of folks who might have spent 3 days to a week with a piece of gear… and then pass judgement on it. Following some respected professional photographers is what originally led me to the Olympus brand.
Why do I think that the positioning statement of “it’s in our NATURE” is so powerful from a marketing perspective? It clearly states what genre of photography OMDS is targeting. It communicates the heritage of the product line in terms of weather proofing, durability and innovation.
And, it reaches out to form an emotional bond with nature photographers. Yeah… it’s in our NATURE to grab our cameras and hike out to photograph birds and other animals. it’s in our NATURE to get excited when we capture a unique wildlife moment.
I would encourage anyone who is considering Olympus/OM System branded products to review the award winning work of Petr Bambousek. If this work doesn’t demonstrate the capability of this camera equipment to you… nothing will.
Technical Note
Photographs were captured handheld using camera gear noted in the EXIF data. Images were produced from RAW files using my standard process. A combination of Pro Capture L and Bird Detection AI, or Pro Capture H, were used for all of the images featured in this article. This is the 1,355 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.
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Thanks, Thomas, for your clear and insightful analysis, and for including references to your previous articles on Olympus and market niche. The lame-stream media (which includes most reviewers) do not really understand niche-markets, nor do most people in general.
The social norm is for people to part of a bigger group, the main stream, ‘what everyone else is and does’. As a teacher, I see it all the time; the ‘niche’ kids are always ‘picked on’ by the mainstream kids. Society constantly bombards us with messages of the importance of being ‘popular’, ‘fitting in’, ‘being part of the team’, and worse, ‘if you’re not with us you’re against us’. In tandem with this mindset are constant reminders of the ‘dangers’ of being ‘alone’ or ‘different’. The irony is that we are encouraged to be individuals, provided we fit into a mainstream group, the common assumption being, there must be something ‘wrong’ if you don’t ‘fit in’.
This is a huge, underlying and unspoken truth in society, and it’s the very reason why I felt Apple’s ‘Think Different’ campaign of the 1990s was not only on target, but also prescient.
As an Apple user for 30 years, and having used Olympus since the 1970s, I’ve always felt the stigma of ‘not fitting in’ when in the company of other photographers and computer users as they were always asking ‘why?’. They simply could not understand these niche systems. I’m sure you found the same thing, Thomas, when using the Nikon 1 system.
There is a quote from the OM SYSTEM website which resonates deeply with me. I know it’s marketing (as was Apple’s campaign) but it speaks to me more deeply than any sales numbers:
“WE ARE THE DARK HORSE
We don’t run in the race, never have, and never intend to. For over 80 years, we have blazed our own path, pushed the limits of technology, and broken barriers of common convention . . . “
— https://www.omsystem.com/en/
Hi Terry,
Thanks for adding to the discussion. I appreciated your societal references and how restricting these pressures can be as we journey through our lives.
Although I joined the Olympus/OM System family late in life, I also feel a real kinship with the company and its philosophy. “We are the dark horse” resonates strongly with me, as it did with you. Without question the Nikon 1 system was underestimated and misunderstood by many people. Nikon 1 still has a loyal following and I regularly get emails about the system from current users.
At the end of the day each of us needs to find the camera equipment that best meets our requirements. When a company’s philosophy also connects with us, we have found a home.
Tom
Good commentary Thomas. I’ll have to admit that I’m one of those who say the 150-600mm is too large and too heavy — for me. But so is the 150-400mm — for me. I’m older and don’t spend time in blinds (hides). I walk and hike so weight is a major consideration — for me. Other folks have different abilities and do their photography differently and so the heavier lenses may be just what they need. From what I’ve seen the 150-600mm is a pretty darn good lens. I really don’t care who makes a lens — Sigma, Olympus, Panasonic, … — as long as it does what I want/need it to do
I too am tired of the carping critics who want perfection when there is no perfection in any camera or lens from any manufacturer. In their complaints about JIP they seem to forget, or choose to ignore, that without JIP there my not be any Olympus cameras or lenses now or in the future. The non-camera side of Olympus has been carrying the camera division for a number of years and that was not going to continue.
Hi Woody,
Thanks for adding your perspectives to the conversation.
Every photographer has their own needs, style of shooting, and individual parameters/limitations. I haven’t used any camera gear as heavy as the M.Zuiko 150-600 for almost 9 years. My regular birding lens is the M.Zuiko 100-400 with an E-M1X so I’m very used to a set-up weighing about 4.65 lbs (~2.12 KG). I can use that all day long without too much difficulty.
For me to shoot with the 150-600 would mean another KG or so (~2.2 lbs.) of weight to my kit. That’s roughly a 50% increase in weight for someone who virtually always shoots handheld. I’ve already determined that if I went with the M.Zuiko 150-600 I would definitely have to add a Cotton Carrier G3 Harness. Even if I don’t add the 150-600 I still may get the G3 Harness to take some strain off myself with my existing birding set-up.
Everything photographic comes with some kind of trade-off. Each of us has to make the best decision we can to maximize our photographic potential while staying within a personally acceptable degree of trade-off.
I haven’t paid any attention to the ‘carping critics’ for quite a long time now. The older I get, the more I value my time… and I try not to waste it.
Tom
Hi Tom, another provocative essay on the philosophy, art, technology, R&D, business, and marketing in photography today (did I leave anything out?).
Another reason that people are immediately dismissing this lens is, like the 100-400 f/5-6.3, it’s just a rebranding of a Sigma lens. My first response would be, why does it matter? If the casing of the Sigma lenses are well designed and constructed, why not save the R&D costs on the development of a new lens casing. Second, are the lens elements that OMS is using in these lenses OM glass or Sigma glass? Third, do the Sigma branded lenses have the same level of weather sealing? Fourth, and this is a real bonus for the new 150-600 lens, is OMS giving it Sync-IS with the camera body considering it’s a non-Pro level lens. Finally, the OMS lens, at least on paper, has considerably better close-up capability than the Sigma branded lens. These differences alone could indicate some important redesign by OMS on this lens casing.
This new lens definitely provides a viable alternative for nonprofessionals who cannot afford the amazing 150-400 f/4.5. Enough said.
Of course, it’s all “in our nature”, or is it “nurture”.
Thanks…Ed S.
Hi Ed,
Thank you for your detailed comment. I’ll try to reply to the various issues you raised in it.
1) Whether a custom manufacturing agreement is involved with the production of the 150-600 is a total non-issue. Here is a link to a recent article: https://smallsensorphotography.com/contract-manufacturing-realities
2) Based on published data the Sigma 150-600 for Sony has 6 special glass elements 4 FLD and 2 SLD. The M.Zuiko 150-600 has 13 special elements including 2 ED, 4 Super ED, 6 HR and 1 HD… so the two lenses have quite different elements in them.
3) The Sigma lens does not carry an official IPX1 rating like the M.Zuiko product does.
4) The M.Zuiko 150-600 has full Sync-IS… 7 stops on the wide end and 6 stops on the telephoto end
5) I couldn’t find much info on minimum focusing distances.
It should be noted that the optical formulations of the M.Zuiko 100-400 and Sigma 100-400 are different. The Sigma has 4 SLD elements. The M.Zuiko has 4 ED, 2 HR and 2 Super HD elements.
At the end of the day the M.Zuiko 150-600 gives OM System/Olympus owners a powerful, new tool for nature and bird photography. All of the silly, uninformed bashing on the internet isn’t worth the time to even read it.
Tom
Thank you. One of the most infuriating aspects in many of the ‘reviewer’ posts, & many of the comments that follow, is the accusatory and conspiratorial tone – OM Systems is abandoning their customers base because they are greedy profiteers. As we all conspiracy theories the critics have to expend way more energy concocting contortions than just accepting the simple explanation that OM Systems is drawing on their legacy strengths & returning to a focused strategy for delivering product to a single & growing market that values those strengths & not a broad, general declining market. I for one applaud them for the discipline, but then again I’m part of the targeted market.
Hi Steve,
All of these criticisms are predictable and quite frankly boring. OMDS is not abandoning their customer base… they are creating some wonderful products to expand our photographic potential. The fact that they may be doing that through a custom manufacturing relationship is a non-issue.
Folks who don’t understand the potential appeal of the M.Zuiko 150-600 for Olympus/OM system and other M4/3 owners are irrelevant to OMDS as they are not part of the target market. They can bitch and complain all they want. At the end of the day they will never open their wallets… *shrugs* …so their opinions and silly conspiracy theories don’t deserve any attention.
Tom
Well said Thomas, can I quote this article when needed?
All the best,
Randy
Hi Randy,
Feel free…
Tom