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Olympus Adds New Pen Line with Pen Mini E-PM1

Finishing out Olympus’ announcement of three Pen bodies today is the new “Mini” line, which since it’s the first year for this gets called the E-PM1.

All of the bodies feature the same basic guts and are differentiated by body and control options instead. Not to say that’s a bad thing. While the sensor sticks at the same 12ish megapixels that Olympus thinks is the sweet-spot for these types of cameras, the processor has been upgraded to new TruePic VI processor, and the AF has been improved with a new Frequency Acceleration Sensor Technology (FAST) system. And by “improved” I mean I’ve heard tell it can check AF 120 times a second and Olympus is already talking about it rivaling many DSLR AF systems. There’re 35 AF areas, and you can group them into 3×3 areas for tracking active subjects.

Other features across all models include ISO support up to 12,800, 1080i HD video, three-mode in-body Image Stabilization, the most effective dust-reduction system I’ve ever used, multiple aspect ratios, multiple exposure, and the Pen series’ infamous Art Filters.

The E-PM1 sits as the most consumer/point-and-shoot step-up oriented of the three brothers. The controls are pretty minimal compared to the two models above it, and the reward for that is that the body is right about the same size as Olympus’ fairly tiny XZ-1 compact.

So,what’s the difference between this body and the next step up, the E-PL3? Well, luckily, the advanced hotshoe port isn’t one of them. It’s still sitting there, inviting you to use the external viewfinder or nifty macro light Oly makes for the Pen bodies. Three more buttons (delete, zoom, and Fn) have disappeared, as has the mode dial. The screen is back to being fixed, and is downgraded to a more pedestrian 460,000 pixel LCD. It’ll be available in a bunch of colors: black, white, silver, red, purple, and brown. For a shot around back and the press release, hit the jump.

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Olympus E-PL3 Fills Out Middle Of New Pen Line-Up

So, continuing Olympus’ Pen revival today we come to the middle body, the Pen Lite E-PL3. Which of course replaces the E-PL2 in the line-up.

All of the bodies feature the same basic guts and are differentiated by body and control options instead. Not to say that’s a bad thing. While the sensor sticks at the same 12ish megapixels that Olympus thinks is the sweet-spot for these types of cameras, the processor has been upgraded to new TruePic VI processor, and the AF has been improved with a new Frequency Acceleration Sensor Technology (FAST) system. And by “improved” I mean I’ve heard tell it can check AF 120 times a second and Olympus is already talking about it rivaling many DSLR AF systems. There’re 35 AF areas, and you can group them into 3×3 areas for tracking active subjects.

Other features across all models include ISO support up to 12,800, 1080i HD video, three-mode in-body Image Stabilization, the most effective dust-reduction system I’ve ever used, multiple aspect ratios, multiple exposure, and the Pen series’ infamous Art Filters.

The E-PL2 was the bottom of the Pen line, but this new E-PL3 moves up to the middle of the line. Either way, as you’d expect, there are some things the bigger bro has that this model doesn’t. The E-PL3 has a smaller, slimmer body than the E-P3, and will come in black, white, red, or silver. The built-in popup flash (although a small external one is included in the box) , secondary control wheel, and dedicated EV comp button are gone, leaving a more point-and-shoot feeling control scheme using a combined four-way controller and jog wheel. The touchscreen is gone, and the resolution is down to 460,000 dots, but it’s still OLED. And, to ease the sting a little, the E-PL3′s screen is articulated, although tilt only. No swivel here, loyal fans of articulated displays.

It’s worth pointing out real quick that while the controls are simplified, the Pen series is now in its third year of looking absolutely gorgeous in all its incarnations. Check out more pics of the Pen Lite E-PL3 and the press release after the jump.

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Olympus Updates Pen Line With E-P3

Olympus announced three cameras in its Pen series of interchangeable lens compacts today. Two are replacements for existing models, and one is a new ultra-compact to compete with the increasingly tiny Sony NEX series and Panasonic’s new smaller GF bodies. All of the bodies feature the same basic guts and are differentiated by body and control options instead. Not to say that’s a bad thing. While the sensor sticks at the same 12ish megapixels that Olympus thinks is the sweet-spot for these types of cameras, the processor has been upgraded to new TruePic VI processor, and the AF has been improved with a new Frequency Acceleration Sensor Technology (FAST) system. And by “improved” I mean I’ve heard tell it can check AF 120 times a second and Olympus is already talking about it rivaling many DSLR AF systems. There’re 35 AF areas, and you can group them into 3×3 areas for tracking active subjects.

Other features across all models include ISO support up to 12,800, 1080i HD video, three-mode in-body Image Stabilization, the most effective dust-reduction system I’ve ever used, multiple aspect ratios, multiple exposure, and the Pen series’ infamous Art Filters.

The E-P3 sits on top of this new line-up as the flagship. It looks largely like the E-P2 before it, so, no surprises there. It’s still got a bunch of physical buttons and a mode dial, and it has the advanced hotshoe port to support the external viewfinder or the nifty macro light. In enhancement news, the grip is now removable via a thumb-screw mechanic, so you can use it or not as suits you. Also, the 3″ OLED display is up to 614,000 dots resolution and is touch-enabled, including touch to focus. The E-P3, being the top of the Pen line, also has a built-in flash, for what that’s worth to you out there. Looks like it’ll come in black, silver, and that cool retro white and tan that I continue to love so much. For more pictures and the full press release, hit the jump.

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Olympus Also Announces SX20, Way Fewer Blogs Seem to Care

Because it lacks the “MR” of its bigger brother, the poor SZ20 doesn’t appear to be getting much love or coverage today, but, it’s still a real thing destined for this market, so we at Raw aren’t going to glaze over it. It keeps the striking good looks and metal body of it’s bigger buddy, but the zoom tops out at a shorter 12.5x (24-300mm equiv f3-5.9) zoom. There’s still a 16 megapixel CMOS sensor and 3″ LCD, though, and the 1080HD, sweep panorama, 3D,9 frames-per-second, and magic filters haven’t gone anywhere either. Top ISO is down to 3,200, though, and as mentioned the Multi-Recording isn’t to be found. But, otherwise this camera does a good imitation of its bigger compadre for $100 less, and will hit the market in black or silver for right at $300.



Olympus Tough TG-810 Doesn’t Muck Up Long Record of Good-Looking Toughs

This handsome devil is the Tough TG-810, which is Olympus’ first camera with built-in GPS (which it boldly reminds you on top of that bump you see in the middle up top). So, what’s in the new king of toughs? 5x optical zoom (28 – 140mm f3.9 – 5.9), a 3″ LCD with the full 920,000 dots resolution, real IS, built-in GPS, compass, and manomoeter, 720 HD video, oh, and it can survive drops of 6.6′, water up to 33′ deep, and temperatures down to 14 degrees F. And, if you weight less than 214 pounds, you can just stand on it at parties to show off. It’s OK, it can take it.

It’ll come in silver and black (who picked these colors? Jody?), and run $400. But we dare you to break it.



Olympus SZ-30MR Does Everything, Looks Fabulous


Olympus has come clean with it’s super-tastic Sz-30MR digital compact, which basically seems like an effort to shove every mainstream feature imaginable into one well-sculpted metal body. On the basic specs end, you’ve got a 16 megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor, a 24x 25-600mm equiv f3-6.9 lens, real image stabilization, a 3″ 460,000 dot LCD, 1080 HD video, continuous shooting up to 9 frames per second, and magic filters. Oh, and it continues to take SD/SDHC/SDXC like a real camera (OK, so, I’m still a little bitter about the xD slot on my Olympus, sue me).

Now, getting more exciting, it has #D capabilities, and panorama sweep. And, it has this new-fangled “Multi-Recording (MR)” thing. What the MR means is it can process two streams at once. And you can pick between a lot of combinations, apparently. Want to record a movie in HD and standard def at the same time? No problem. Same with wide-angle and telephoto. Or how about regular video and magic filtered video? Easy. Movies and still at the same time? Done. And, wewere told (but can’t verify) you can take stills both regular and magic filtered simultaneously, as well. Choices appears to be what MR means. Or rather, not having to choose.

The only things it doesn’t have are manual controls and RAW. If you can live without those, this is the kitchen sink of modern camera technology.

It’ll be a bit pricey at right around $400 when it comes out, but it’ll be in all metal, we remind you, and available in black or silver. Me, I’m excited (though, for my own needs I’m still eyeballing that XZ-1…)

Hit the jump for more pictures and a press release, y’all.

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Olympus adds three new point and shoots for less than $250 each

Today Olympus announced three new compact point and shoots aimed at the sub-$250 market.
The first and most modest of this addition is the VG-110, (to be available in black, silver, and red) with a 4x optical zoom starting at 27mm equivalent over a 12MP sensor. Like nearly every compact digital these days you do all of your composing on rear panel LCD -in this case it’s 2.7″ with 230K dots. The VG110 will record your stills or VGA video to an SD/SDHC card, can connect to your computer via MiniB USB, and operates from a rechargable Lithium Ion battery.
Next up, the VR-320. -after the break -


Olympus Stylus VG-120

So, it’s not that Olympus’ Stylus VG-120 is a boring camera, rather, it seems pretty solid. It’s just, after the wake of everything else today, it comes off a bit flat, so, I’d like to help you to get to know the real VG-210.

The VG-210 has a slim metal body wrapped around 14 megapixels. It allows us a gaze into its soul through a 5x zoom, 26 – 130 mm equiv, and a 3″ LCD. It enjoys long walks on summer evenings, and tying sheets down to furniture to make little tents when the AC comes on. It sees the world in color. Or in black-and-white. Or through one of 7 magic filters. Because, for the VG-120, the world is always magical. The VG-120 is also considerate, and it wants to help you remember not just in snapshots, but in flowing minutes of time with its 720p video. It likes puppies, and kittens, and is unsure about polar bears. It may sound down-to-earth, but it shows its bold streak in silver, red, or black. It likes SD, but really yearns to someday know the company of an SDHC card. It’ll run about $149.99.



Super-zooms Still Exist: The Olympus Stylus SP-610 Ultra Zoom

So, this just in, the superzoom point-and-shoot market isn’t dead, it seems. Olympus has announced a new entry to their SP- UZ series of ‘superzoom,’ ‘ultrazoom,’ or ‘bridge’ style cameras. The bodies have gotten much smaller these days, but with their still notable lens barrels these cameras look a bit more like a DSLR, and pack in way more zoom than is probably healthy. This year, we’re looking at a 22x zoom lens here, covering 28 – 616 mm and ranging from f2.8- 5.6. So, pretty respectable there. And, er, it’s got like, 14 megapixels, and 8 art filters, and 3″ LCD with sadly low resolution, and it shoots 720 p and you totally stop caring about the other details after that zoom, didn’t you? It’s OK, it’s an impressive zoom, and it’s really the selling point for this camera.

“Why, hello sir, do you need an obscene amount of zoom to revel and romp in?”

“Why, actually, I do.”

“Aha! Well, the Olympus Sp-610 UZ it is for you then, sir! Right this way…”

It’ll be about $230ish, and should come out “soon.”



Olympus Toughs Get New Updates, New Nomenclature

Alright, working our way backwards through Oly’s announcements from top-of-the-line down, next up is the Stylus Tough series of point-and-shoots. While the “survive even my life” camera market has been ballooning lately, and might be getting close to saturated, Olympus was pretty much the first name in the game, and their Toughs have proven again and again to be just that.

This year’s updates get a slight tweak to the name, the “Tough” moniker is still there, but the model numbers now have a “TG-” prepended, presumably for quicker model recognition. So, this year we have the TG-310 and the TG-610 in the chute.

The Tough TG-310 is the entry-point here. It’s waterproof to 10 feet, shockproof to 5 feet, and freezeproof to 14 degrees F. As far as actually being a camera goes, you’re looking at 14 megapixels, a 3.6x 28 – 102 mm zoom, sensor-shift IS, a 2.7″ LCD, “Magic” filters, in-camera panorama, and 720p video. And, unlike the Toughs and Styluses of yore, it takes SD/SDHC/SDXC, making it imminently more likable from a market standpoint. Street price should start at just under $200.

It’s bigger brother, the TG-610, is pretty much all that, but with upgrades. As you might expect these days. The lens is upgraded to a 5x 28 – 140 mm, the LCD moves up to 3″ with the crisply high resolution of 961,000 dots, and the waterproofiness gets extended to 16 feet. A housing that’ll likely cost you as much as the camera will let you take it down to 131 feet underwater, though, so hardcore scuba fans rejoice. I’d say the few changes to this model are actually more than substantial enough to warrant the 100 bucks price jump, and the TG-610 will hit shelves at a smidge under $300.

More pictures after ze jump.

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