Archive for the ‘e-p1’ tag
Olympus’ EP-1 Is Now Official
Olympus’ E-P1 is now officially out. It comes in 3 kits: $750 for body-only, $800 for body plus zoom lens & $900 for body plus pancake lens. These are MSRP, so prices can be lower (or higher, depending on where you’re buying your unit). It’s priced as much as intermediate-level DSLRs like the Nikon D90 and Pentax K20D, but we can still expect prices to dip in a year or so when other manufacturers make their own high-end compact cameras (rumors have it that Panasonic is making their own compact micro-4/3 unit and Samsung will be producing a small, APS-C sensor camera a-la Sigma DP2).
Now comes the hard part: To buy, or not to buy? In my case, it’s this or a medium-format come next year.
More information can be found at dcresource and dpreview.
Olympus’ Micro-4/3 Camera is Almost Here
Late last year, Panasonic and Olympus announced a breakthrough in digital photography with the arrival of the micro-4/3(m43) standard. Simply put, m43 provides the advantages of DSLR technology (Interchangeable lenses & high image quality) without the bulk. However, it was Olympus which turned heads with their m43 prototype.
Unlike Panasonic’s G1, the E-P1 (Oly’s m43) took advantage of one of the main features the new standard brings. Without the mirror box, Olympus was able to create a really compact camera with the capabilities of bulkier DSLRs.
Here are some of the rumored specs for the camera:
- 12 Megapixels
- Live view
- In-camera Image Stabilization
- Same autofocus system as Panasonic’s G1
- 720p Video
- Will use SD/SDHC cards (Goodbye, proprietary xD cards!)
- First batch of lenses will include a 14-42mm and 17mm (with the x2 crop factor of m43, that translates to 28-84mm and 34mm), but adapters are already being sold for older lenses
Pretty nifty features for a small camera, and the retro look ain’t that bad either. It’s already making me think about switching systems!
The Olympus E-P1 will be released during the later half of the year, with a rumored SRP to be within the $900-1000 USD range. If you’re impatient and can’t wait for the official late June press release of Olympus (and can read Japanese), you can go to photofan’s thread about the E-P1.