It looks like Olympus is on the cusp of releasing the hot Micro Four Thirds (MFT) compact camera shown in prototype form in September last year. This photo, leaked onto the Japanese site OM User. The stylingcertainlyfits in with the retro mockup, and also looks a lot like an old half-frame 35mm camera from Olympus, the Pen. The name, though, has changed toE-P1.
Thankfully for spec-watchers, the top plate shows a lot of information. First, the thumb-operated dial gives easy access to all the usual modes (manual, aperture priority, shutter priority and program) along with lame-o scene modes (beach, romantic lighting for animals, etc.), art filters and movies. The expectation is that this camera will shoot 1080p, but that’s just rumor at the moment.
Over on the left of the photo we see that this camera is meant for photographers, not just snapshooters, as there is a dedicated exposure compensation button. We also see a light marked SSWF, which is probably an indicator lamp for the Supersonic Wave Filter, Olympus’ dust reduction system. Onto the lens, we see that it has a respectable maximum aperture of 2.8 and theequivalentfocal length of 34mm (times by two, remember?). It may also have amanualfocusing ring, which would be amazing. It would be even better if there was an actual optical viewfinder to look through.
That it follows the Pen’sstylingsis significant, if only in nerdy kind of way. The MFT sensor is one half the size of a 35mm frame (and a slightlydifferentshape, too). The Pen eked 72 shots out of a 36 exposure roll of 135 film by using the same trick. I’m pretty excited about this camera. If it can bring DSLR handling and image quality to a tiny package, it could be the Leica M of the 21st century.
Top side pic of E-P1 [DP REview Forum]
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by publisher on June 8, 2009
