“Retro” is the new “New”
by andreu ~ March 10th, 2011. Filed under: Clothing, Technology.I recently browsed through some old pictures my grandma has stored in a shoe box. Everyone kept telling me how much I look like my father in his 20’s, but I couldn’t help but notice the similarities were not only in the obvious consequences of parenthood but also in the clothes and accessories.
I recently bought an Olympus E-PL1 camera, my very first one (at least the first one I chose and payed for entirely), and many factors came into the decision of buying this particular model and brand. I know you must be thinking what does this have to do with the previous paragraph, but please bear with me until the end. First of all, I had good previous experience with the brand, both my father and uncle have Oly DSLR’s and my sister has a compact. They are reliable, have good lenses (we are talking about real photography so forget about megapixels) and give the best for the buck. The competition paled in comparison: Sony (NEX Series) doesn’t know the first thing about lenses and Panasonic (DMC-G Series) built a similar camera with lenses fully compatible. Nikon and Canon didn’t even bother with this sub-market. So look at them both:
Now you must know where I am getting at. Retro feel. Those cameras were designed after a concept: imagine the quickness and spontaneity of Polaroids and Leicas with digital storage instead of film. Instant classic! And the Olympus looks and feels retro, not modern at all. It has sharp angles and sturdy feel. Just look at the prototype:
It screams: welcome back to the 70’s! Ryan Chan has also blogged about this, it is a strong “new” trend, and you can find out more about it in his post and this one from the marketing blog Cool Hunting Project (yes, I “stole” the post title from there). Have I mentioned you can also use old manual lenses on this little electronic wonder? As if I needed another reason, now I can also use my family’s old expensive lenses as well. I think I’m in love…
March 18th, 2011 at 12:35 pm
Another interesting post. Why do you think Olympus has chosen to go with this trend though? Do you think it was risky? What is general consumer opinion on this product’s looks? Like it?? Dislike it?
Interesting theme to your blog.
E
March 28th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
Olympus has been always willing to take a chance in new markets. They are innovators mostly because they do not have the brand equity Nikon or Canon have to compete for a big share in mature markets. Sony and Panasonic, the other brands that joined the market, find themselves in the same position. Olympus though has more expertise and reputation thanks to their great value/price ratio in the DSLR market.
I am really satisfied with the performance of the camera but what it surprises me every day is the reaction of people to the design of the camera. I already have to friends that are in love with it and one even thought it was and old camera, which is great because that’s what Oly and I were aiming for.
It was risky for sure that’s why they joined forces with Panasonic (you can use both brand’s lenses in both brand’s cameras) to collude while the market grows. They also used a industry standard bayonet, the 4/3 format, to assure that users could use their old lenses which are the most expensive part of the camera (the body of the E-PL1 costs less than 500 dollars)
Andreu