Dpreview had a chat with Kazuhiro Togashi, OM System’s VP for Brand Strategy and Product Planning. The most important news is that OM System says it’s focusing on outdoor photographers but hinted that the PEN series could yet return to the North American market. As you know the PEN E-P7 is still being produced and sold for the Asian market but it’s no more sold in Europe and America. When asked about the development of new PEN cameras the manager said:
The E-P7 is small, with compact bright lenses, making it highly advantageous for travel photography. Therefore, we’ll reinforce such products in our lineup in the future.
What that “reinforce” means is a bit unclear. There might be an E-P8 for the Asian market only…or they might be seriously considering the return of PEN sales on all worldwide markets. The other statements are repetition of what we heard in the past:
- The focus is on higher end products
- The focus is on creating products for outdoor photographers.
- AI will find it’s way in cameras (like for example AI noise reduction applications)
As you know, I a am a big fan of the idea to make a new PEN-FII…let’s see if my dreams will come true !