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Latest Olympus FE cameras use microSD

Olympus' trio of Fall FE cameras, the company's budget snapshooters, don't break any new ground but they're shiny and come in bright colors. Most notably, they all offer dual card slots so that your not forced to use Olympus'/Fujifilm's xD-Picture cards. However, instead of using SD, they incorporate microSD; it's fine for phones, where you leave it in, but is really too physically small to be a good media type for devices where you frequently handle it. It's simply too easy to lose.

All three use 12-megapixel sensors and 2.7-inch LCDs, plus … Read more

What's long, wide, and thin and takes xD cards?

In case you haven't been paying attention, the gotta-have-it trend in compact cameras is a wide-angle, longzoom lens, such as the one in the 1-inch-thick Olympus Stylus-7010. Available in August in a choice of dark gray, silver, or pink, the 7010 has just about every feature I look for in a pocket camera in its class:

12 megapixels 7x f3-5.9 28-196mm-equivalent lens 2.7-inch LCD Dual image stabilization xD memory cards (microSD with adapter) VGA movie capture 3.8 inches by 2.2 inches by 1 inches (WHD)

The lack of HD movie capture and its dependence on … Read more

Olympus' compact E-P1: A breath of fresh air

The Olympus E-P1 camera, a hybrid designed to combine advantages of both compact cameras and SLRs, is a welcome arrival in a digital camera market struggling to find new directions.

The small and light camera that debuted Tuesday features interchangeable lenses and relatively large sensor that endow SLRs with flexibility and higher image quality, but it's also got a small body of a compact camera. It has the potential to appeal to SLR owners who want something smaller and to compact camera owners who want something better, if Olympus can convince people to surmount a significant obstacle, price.

Like most hybrids--gaming laptops, for example, or bicycles with aspects of both road bikes and mountain bikes--the E-P1 sacrifices specialization for versatility. But the digital camera market is saturated, and the E-P1 is a promising member of a newer camera breed.

There are a handful of competitors with similar aspirations. Canon's G10, the newest in its G series of high-end compact cameras, is one example. Nikon's GPS-enabled P6000 is another, though, like the G10, it doesn't have an interchangeable lens. And Panasonic's G1 and GH1, which employ the same Micro Four Thirds lens and sensor standard as the E-P1, are probably closest.

The biggest knock against these cameras is price. Their relatively large sensors--especially those in the Micro Four Thirds cameras--cost a lot to manufacture, and fast electronics and high complexity just make things worse. Few people are willing to spend more than $300 on a camera, much less the hybrid cameras.

Brace yourself for some sticker shock.… Read more

A romp through the camera rumor mill

While none of these seem verifiable, there are simply too many rumors about new dSLRs and interchangeable-lens cameras floating around on the Web to ignore. So here, for your delectation, is a summary of all the bits that are fit to post.

The most frequent topic playing Ring Around the Web is for a Canon EOS 1D Mark IV. A host of sites have repeated a set of specs first posted at Northlight Images by a supposed tester of the aforementioned model. He specifies the following:

Same 1.3x multiplier (APS-H) as previous models. 16-megapixel sensor with 8-megapixel sRAW ISO 50 to ISO 26,500 Same video and display as the 5D Mark II Slight redesign of button layout and grips

Said tester reports good high ISO photo quality (as you'd expect), faster continuous shooting than the 1D Mark III, "Nikon fast AF", usable Live View AF, and an overall better feel.

Supposedly there'll be a late summer announcement and end-of-year ship. Start saving those pennies now. Use a really big jar.… Read more

Olympus' E-P1 message: It's not your father's Olympus, but remember that he had one

Looking only a bit like the original Micro Four Thirds concept design Olympus floated last September at Photokina, the company's retro interchangeable lens E-P1 debuts this year to ride the coattails of the 50th anniversary of the company's PEN film camera.

From the name, to the design, to the tagline etched on its top--"Olympus PEN since 1959"--it feels like a cross between an homage and a desperate reminder that Olympus was in the camera biz long before most digital photographers were born. That said, after a few days with a preproduction model, I think the design works, and if Olympus can pull off decent performance and photo quality (you can never tell from an early unit), it will probably carve itself a nice sized niche among style-, but not budget-conscious, enthusiasts.… Read more

For Olympus, the proof is in the videos

It's always nice when a company is willing to put up its products against its marketing claims. In this case, the strengths of Olympus' Tough series of digital cameras.

Earlier in 2009, Olympus stopped designating its series of shock- and waterproof cameras with a mere SW and started calling them Tough, since the cameras were also dustproof, crushproof, and freezeproof. To prove just how much punishment they can take, it turned over a bunch of Tough-series cameras to some kids and let them have at 'em in a series of tests, which Olympus made videos of and posted to YouTube.

The "best of" video is above while the nine individual trials--including Tricycleproof and Icecreamproof--are after the break. … Read more