[Guest]

Here is DK post contradicting the notion that this has anything to do with lenses..

Olympus is not one optical company, it's three separate lines just as much as Sony has bogstandard, Minolta-heritage G and CZ.



Olympus's main optical partner in both 4/3rds and micro4/3rds has been Sigma. Sigma produced the basic lens line, while Olympus made Pro and Top Pro. But there's a great deal of overlap and Sigma has had an increasing role in Olympus lenses, just as they have been responsible for at least one of the best-regarded Sony A-mount lenses from 5 years ago, and may well be making more than one now.



Sony has had exactly the same access to Sigma facilities as Olympus, but it was at Sony's specific request (demand) that Sigma installed their new nano-type hard multicoating line two years ago. This line enables T* coating and also enables the water and oil resistant front surface coatings. If you want to try this, get a current (not old stock!) Sigma EX DG filter, they now have a coating similar to the front element of Nikon, Canon, Pentax weathesealed lenses - the ones which claim to resist moisture and dirt. The efficiency of this new coating is exceptional.



Sony also has access to, and makes even more use of, Tamron. Tamron has just signed the deal with the FourThirds Consortium, including micro4/3rds, along with numerous other lens makers - announced at photokina. Hoya, Schneider, Cosina, Kenko, Tokina are all brands now committed to micro4/3rds products. Prior to this the ONLY optical partner in the consortium (other than camera makers, including Leica and Olympus as lens makers) was Sigma.



So, it really is not worth thinking that involvement with Olympus will transform Sony lenses. They all have access to much the same facilities and sources. Early advanced tecnologies such as Minolta's plastic-glass hybrid aspherical are not only universally used, that one is out of patent. They licensed it to Tamron for years, now anyone can make hybrid aspherical. The same for the Leitz and Sigma processes for pressing moulded asphericals - closely guarded secrets for over two decades. Now moulded asphericals are all over the place.

Having said all mergers, co-operations etc add to knowledge and progress. I would expect to see Olympus m4/3 and Sony NEX remain entirely separated and differentiated.



After all, it was only at the end of the last 'Sony year' that the barriers were taken down within Sony (according to my best information and digging) - Alpha, NEX, Handycam, Cyber-Shot and professional video divisions all given access to the technologies which each division had developed separately. At the same time Sony made many staff redundant worldwide and clearly have a vision of an integrated single 'camera imaging' operation in which the old departments/groups disappear entirely.



You have seen the results of this change in the RX100, RX1, VG-900 and in subtle aspects of the A99 and latest NEX models. But I do not think there will be any similar melding of Olympus and Sony.

David