Whilst it does appear Olympus has exited the photography business by selling off its Olympus Imaging Division to JIP which has a dubious track record for such ventures and the quality of their products, there are many reasons why I believe Micro Four Thirds will continue on for many years yet.

Micro Four Thirds sensor size is the perfect fit for most photographers in terms of size, weight, image quality and perhaps now more than ever in a global recession, potential to be produced at much lower price points than full frame equivalents.

There are many other manufacturers with a significant interest in Micro Four Thirds, not the least of which is Panasonic, given that Micro Four Thirds sensor size is optimum for most videography, particularly that the size allows it to have much reduced rolling shutter compared with most full frame sensors, and the cameras and lenses can be made much lighter for hand held vlogging.

Sharp is making a 8K Micro Four Thirds video-centric camera while drone manufacturers such as DJI will always go to MFTs before full frame.

Olympus cameras and lenses are likely to be available for some time yet and they have indeed released an updated lens roadmap that seems to support this. Nevertheless, I am not that convinced that the medium to longer term future of Olympus “JIP” manufactured gear will be up to enthusiast or pro standards as we have been used to with Olympus.

In the mean time I am in Covid lockdown with limited photographic opportunities outdoors, so here is one from last week with my favourite walk-around combo of Olympus OM-D E-M1 II with Olympus micro ZD 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens:

This lens is not my go to lens for lovely bokeh (I prefer the Olympus mZD 75mm f/1.8 for this), but still the bokeh here is lovely indeed.