Full-frame instead of Micro Four Thirds: OM System considered sensor upgrade

With the OM Pen ($1,099 on Amazon), OM System launched a brand-new camera with a Micro Four Thirds sensor just this September. However, after Olympus exited this market, and with Panasonic having introduced no new photography-focused cameras with an MFT mount since the Lumix G100D in 2024, the system no longer offers anywhere near as much choice as it did a few years ago.

In an interview published by OM Digital Solutions on its own Japanese YouTube channel, Setsuya Kataoka, COO of OM Digital Solutions, and Eiji Shirota, CEO of the OM System Business Unit, have now commented on the sensor format. According to them, proposals to launch a camera with an APS-C or full-frame sensor had been made several times within the company. The CEO had even considered such a switch shortly after the company acquired Olympus' camera division. After many discussions, however, he concluded that this would not be the right path for the company.

The executive emphasizes that the potential of Micro Four Thirds is still far from exhausted. While full-frame cameras have evolved more quickly over the past few years due to their larger market share, how relevant the difference between MFT and full frame is for photographers depends on the individual customer. Eiji Shirota believes that while there will always be a difference between the sensor formats, once MFT image quality reaches a level that fully satisfies users, this difference should hardly matter anymore. According to OM System, one format is not better than the other – full frame has clear advantages in image quality, while Micro Four Thirds is significantly more compact.