Songdian – the making or the end of Micro Four Thirds?

OM System announced that Songdian’s parent company, Sonida, has joined the Micro Four Thirds System
Songdian is a Chinese company that makes cheap digital cameras
New M43 Songdian-branded products are expected imminently

If you are a Micro Four Thirds system user, you might have felt a little ignored lately. While there have been some new cameras from OM System such as the fantastic OM-3 and OM-5 Mark II, plus genuinely progressive lenses including the 50-200mm F2.8 IS Pro, there have been concerns that Panasonic might be winding down its M43 division.

Lumix models like the Panasonic Lumix G9 II and Lumix GH7 are still very popular, but there hasn’t been a significant announcement from the company that kicked off the M43 mirrorless format since 2024.

concerned about how much of a future it has, if one of the two biggest players in the market is withdrawing.

If that’s you, then one piece of news that might pick up your spirits is the rumor that camera manufacturer Songdian is about to release a new Micro Four Thirds model.

If you’ve never heard of Songdian, I won’t blame you. The mysterious Chinese company is one of a raft of new players seeking a foothold in the low-cost camera market. It’s a division of the Shenzhen-based Sonida Technology Company which, despite proudly touting itself as having produced cameras for 16 years on its website, is largely limited to the domestic Chinese market.

It does sell cameras internationally, but not at the scale of other Chinese brands like Yongnuo, Laowa, and Viltrox, which make some of the best third-party lenses for major camera systems. So what could this obscure company offer established M43 shooters?

Screenshot of the Sonida website

The Sonida website (complete with spelling errors) showing off its range of cheap digital cameras (Image credit: Sonida)

The new cheap Micro Four Thirds camera?

While details are still somewhat scarce, we can expect a new M43 model from Songdian soon. According to OM Digital Solutions, speaking on behalf of the Micro Four Thirds alliance, Songdian has joined the group and is expected to launch new products shortly. It might not be worth getting too excited, however, as Songdian products aren’t known for their mind-blowing quality.

‘fake X100’ by reviewers and failed to impress many photography journalists on any metric. The image quality was pretty bad, the autofocus was exceptionally slow, and there wasn’t even much information given about the sensor size used. At least we can be sure of the latter detail on the new camera.

Exactly why the M43 alliance accepted Sonida and its Songdian-branded cameras into the fold is also a mystery. However, forever one to be positive about these things, I see an indirect benefit of increasing investment in the system, even from companies that are, themselves, unlikely to bring with them a huge amount of useful technology.

This news alone maintains interest in the M43 sensor format and its many (potential) advantages, when correctly applied, may encourage other more experienced brands like the aforementioned Laowa and Viltrox to increase their offering of lenses and accessories.

The company released a new teaser for the camera, which also didn’t give away many details other than the appearance of the Micro Four Thirds logo, confirming what we already knew. It’ll be interesting to see if Sonida goes all-in and produces an interchangeable lens camera, which would open up access to the fairly hefty range of high-quality optics from Lumix and OM System, or if it will be a fixed-lens model like the DC202. The former would obviously be the preferred choice since the lens on that camera also didn’t win any awards.

It’s hard to know what this new partnership can bring to the table. Speaking honestly, I can only really see there being an immediate advantage to Sonida, who can add the logo to their website and advertise a new range of ‘large sensor’ cameras (they will be compared to their other cheap compact cameras). For the other M43 system members and, by extension, the buying public, I haven’t got my breath held for a camera that will revolutionize photography.

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