olympus

Tamron, Kenko Tokina boost Micro Four Thirds lens alliance

Tamron and Kenko Tokina, two third-party lens manufacturers, have thrown their weight behind the Micro Four Thirds alliance, helping Olympus and Panasonic during a major shift in the camera industry.

Olympus and Panasonic were the early entrants to a new class of interchangeable-lens cameras much more compact than traditional SLRs. They're both members of the Micro Four Thirds partnership that governs image sensors and lenses, meaning that Micro Four Thirds lenses can be used on either company's camera bodies.

The new membership, like that of third-party lensmaker Sigma before, means photographers can expect more variety for Micro Four … Read more

Olympus going even more retro with OM-D camera

Olympus looks set to debut a new compact, high-end camera model whose OM-D name capitalizes on the company's old camera brand.

Olympus teased about an "OMG" camera in recent ads, emphasizing the O and M letters, 43 Rumors reported. And it more recently trademarked OM-D, the site said, adding a February 8 launch, a $1,100 price tag, and a March date for worldwide shipping.

In the film days, Olympus' OM line was one of the majors in the SLR (single-lens reflex) world--indeed, I learned photography with my first camera, an OM-10 I used for many years. … Read more

Best mirrorless cameras for less than $1,000

Editors' note: This story was originally published in January 2012. The latest update reflects the addition of the Sony Alpha NEX-6 and NEX-5R.

The category of interchangeable-lens cameras subsumes a variety of capabilities and designs. There's the familiar dSLRs, large-bodied models that use a reflex mirror to enable the use of a through-the-lens optical viewfinder. Then there are Sony's SLT (Single Lens Translucent) models, which incorporate the same phase-detection autofocus system as dSLRs, but whose fixed mirror requires the use of an electronic viewfinder (EVF) rather than an optical one. And then there are the mirrorless models, which … Read more

Olympus goes fat and skinny with latest megazooms

LAS VEGAS--Whether you like your megazooms slender or with a little something to grab on to, one of Olympus' new models might make you happy.

The 16-megapixel SP-620UZ packs a 21x 25-525mm lens and a 3-inch LCD. It gets its extra weight and size from the four AA-size batteries it uses for power. It's pretty much the same camera as 2011's 610UZ, but with a wider lens and more megapixels.

The 14-megapixel SZ-12 uses a lithium ion battery, so it's much smaller despite actually having a longer 24x 25-600mm lens and the same size LCD as the 620UZ. It is also very similar to its predecessor, the SZ-10, but with a wider and longer lens.

Both will sell for $199.99 with the 620UZ available in January and the SZ-12 in March.

Neither of these are pocketable, though, so if you're looking for something a little more slender, but still with a versatile lens, there's the VR-340. For $149.99, this 16-megapixel camera gives you an ultrawide-angle 24mm lens with a 10x zoom and a 3-inch LCD. … Read more

Road-tripping with the Olympus PEN E-PM1

You are slightly less likely to be given a free Olympus camera by a stranger these days as the Olympus PEN Ready Project giveaway is in the books. Now, it's time to see the photographic results.

Olympus rolled out its $500 PEN E-PM1 camera earlier this year by giving more than 1,000 free cams to random people around North America. The recipients were asked to take pictures wherever they went. Olympus continues to collect those shots for display online.

I was asked to play along with the big promotion by testing the PEN Ready E-PM1's capabilities along with those 1,000 fortunate winners. I couldn't ask for a better way to review a camera than to take it on the freelance-journalism road from a Harley-Davidson event in Milwaukee, to a NASCAR race in Charlotte, N.C., to a Yamaha scooter ride in San Francisco. … Read more

Olympus debuts PEN E-PM1 with lots of free cams

Olympus is rolling out its new PEN E-PM1 camera by asking random consumers to demonstrate how easy the latest PEN Ready camera is to use.

The PEN Ready Project looks to give more than 1,000 free PEN Ready E-PM1 cams to random people around North America. Those fortunate folks in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Miami, and Lehigh Valley, Penn., (Olympus' hometown) can go anywhere they like and take any pictures or HD videos they like (Olympus is asking them to shoot at least 20 still images or vids; those who do will be entered in a sweepstakes).

Olympus is collecting those works of would-be art for showcasing on a new custom-designed Tumblr blog. The company's hope is that people around the world will visit the PEN Ready site to see what the E-PM1 can do, thus wanting one for themselves. … Read more

The first drops of the fall camera deluge

Only one week's worth of camera announcements and already it feels as overwhelming as CES. But never fear: Here they are all summarized (in alphabetical order by manufacturer) for easy reading. And remember, we've got a few more weeks of them coming up, so stay tuned.… Read more

Olympus reveals specs, prices for its smallest PEN camera

First announced at the end of June, today Olympus delivered the final specifications and pricing for its most compact interchangeable-lens camera, the E-PM1. Though at $499.99 it's the least expensive of Olympus' 2011 models, two of the first-generation models, the E-PL1 and E-P1, remain in the product line at the same price. There's no doubt that the PM1 is the smallest and lightest of the group, though.

Here's Olympus' current PEN lineup. (Sorry, no room in table for E-P2 specs.)… Read more

Olympus XZ-1 review: Fast and fun

Though ILCs may be the more interesting enthusiast cameras, the more popular market seems to be compact, fixed-lens models, such as the Canon PowerShot S95 and Nikon Coolpix P7000. Olympus forges into that market with its XZ-1, a promising-looking model that's not quite as compact as the S95, but with an exceptionally fast f1.8 lens and a sleek design that rivals models like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 in size and operation.

Its photo quality falls short of excellent, though. While the JPEG processing is a problem, it seems like the images don't come off the sensor clean … Read more

How small should ILC sensors get?

To me, one of the defining characteristics of a mirrorless ILC--like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 or Olympus PEN E-P3, just to name two recent ones--aside from the interchangeable lens, is that it produces better photos than a point and shoot. As far as I can tell, people see the lens flexibility as a bonus, but for the extra couple hundred dollars they want better photos.

Which is why I'm confused by the trend toward even smaller sensor sizes in this space as evidenced by Pentax's Q with its 5.5x multiplier and the rumored forthcoming 2.7x-multiplier size from Nikon. (As an aside, I find the easiest way to internalize differences in sensor sizes is by the multipliers and assume that pixels shrink correspondingly. For a comprehensive visualization, check out this Sensor Size Cheat Sheet.)

Some people complain that even the Four Thirds sensor (2x), which uses the Micro Four Thirds mount in Panasonic and Olympus' ILCs, is too small. … Read more