Micro Four Thirds' Newest Partner Makes So-Called 'Scameras'

Micro Four Thirds has a new family member: Chinese imaging technology company Shenzen Sonida Digital Technology Co. Ltd.

OM Digital Solutions Corporation, then Olympus, and Panasonic Entertainment & Communication Co., Ltd. jointly announced the Micro Four Thirds System standard way back in 2008. Since then, including Sonida, 61 companies have joined the system. These include companies well-known to photographers, including Laowa, Zeiss, Tokina, Cosina, Sigma, Tamron, DJI, DZOFilm, Blackmagic Design, Leica, and TTArtisan. The system also includes a variety of industrial technology companies and, more recently, upstart Chinese imaging companies.

One such example is YoloLiv, which makes a fairly bizarre Micro Four Thirds camera designed for content creators, especially those using TikTok.

Sonida is not too far removed from a company like YoloLiv, as it also focuses heavily on affordable Songdian-branded cameras that appear to chase trendy specs. Many of the company’s cameras have big “4K” and “5K” logos plastered on them, for example, and market themselves based on “powerful zoom” lenses and large megapixel counts.

“Songdian is the well-known image brand of Shenzhen Sonida Digital Technology Co., Ltd. As a pioneer of national image brand, we have insisted on independent research and development for 16 years, always adhering to the spirit of craftsmanship to polish every component and every process carefully with ingenuity, wisdom and diligence so as to make more wonderful domestic products,” the company explains.

OM Digital Solutions says, on behalf of the Micro Four Thirds system, that it expects Sonida to release new Micro Four Thirds products soon, which will “further expand the enjoyment of imaging and video creation.”

Songdian cameras have gotten very little traction in western markets, but a 2024 review on Amateur Photographer calls the Songdian Sonida Digital Camera DC202, a sub-$100 Fujifilm X100 knockoff of sorts, “The worst camera I’ve ever used.” It’s not high praise at all.

All the company’s products bear the hallmarks of so-called “scameras”: very cheap cameras that make impossible promises and use subpar components. They appeal to new customers with low prices and “good” specs, such as 48-megapixel sensors, 16x zoom, and 4K video recording. Sonida also makes unbranded cameras for other companies to hawk on Amazon marketplaces and AliExpress, for what it’s worth.

At this point, it’s unclear precisely what Sonida has in mind for upcoming Micro Four Thirds products, but a safe bet is more cameras with built-in lenses, just now with Micro Four Thirds image sensors, which may genuinely boost overall imaging performance.

Longtime Micro Four Thirds supporters have been clamoring for more support and more investment in the system for years, but this is probably not quite what they had in mind.

Image credits: Micro Four Thirds, Shenzen Sonida Digital Technology Co. Ltd.