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olympus

Olympus gets a video dSLR at last: Hello E-5

While professional cameras don't get updated nearly as frequently as consumer models, Olympus is still pushing it with the almost 3-year gap between its E-3 and the newly announced E-5. Given the pace of technological change, especially in that market and most notably with respect to video capture, it's a wonder that more Olympians haven't jumped ship. Don't get me wrong; there's still a lot to like about the Olympus system. If you shoot telephoto, the 2x focal-length multiplier makes for more easily achieved long-zoom shots, and the company still makes some of the best lenses. And it's well constructed, dust and splashproof. But for commercial photographers tasked with keeping up with ever more demanding clients, it must be frustrating to watch the company concentrating on its ILC (interchangeable-lens camera) market while you wait..and wait...and wait.

Was the E-5 worth the wait? While I can't really answer that until I've tested it, based on the specs I'm not very optimistic. Although it has the same autofocus system as the E-3, it's been tweaked, and the E-3 has always been pretty fast, anyway. It also retains the articulated LCD, which grows to 3 inches--definitely a plus. And of course, there's the resolution bump, and video. Here's a comparative summary:… Read more

Olympus announces new Micro Four Thirds lenses

Olympus on Tuesday unveiled two new telephoto zoom lenses for its Micro Four Thirds system, and also updated its current 17mm optics with a new color chassis.

The company is touting the M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm F4.8-5.6 lens as the smallest 600mm-equivalent lens (Micro Four Thirds cameras have a crop factor of 2x) on the market with a diameter of 2.8 inches and a length of 4.5 inches. Weight-wise, it tips the scale at less than a pound. This glass also comes with a new focusing motor that delivers silent and precise AF, which makes … Read more

Digicam deluge: New cameras from Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Samsung

As I mentioned back at the end of June, camera manufacturers are beginning to announce models for the second half of 2010. Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, and Samsung have made their announcements, three of them doing so early Wednesday morning.

Sony and Panasonic are launching mostly high-end models as well as a couple updates to older, popular models. Samsung refreshed its flagship DualView cameras and introduced a 7x zoom ultracompact for $180. And Fujifilm announced replacements to three models that were barely six months old as well as a significant update to its groundbreaking F200EXR.

Here are links to all the … Read more

Off-the-shelf digital camera sees cancer in real time

Using a $400 Olympus E-330 digital camera, Rice University biomedical engineers and University of Texas cancer researchers report in PLoS ONE this week that they are able to distinguish between healthy and cancerous cells with only a little tweaking.

"Consumer-grade cameras can serve as powerful platforms for diagnostic imaging," says lead author and Rice professor Rebecca Richards-Kortum in the school's news release. "Based on portability, performance, and cost, you could make a case for using them both to lower health care costs in developed countries and to provide services that simply aren't available in resource-poor … Read more

Olympus firmware speeds up PEN-camera autofocus. But enough?

There's lots to like about Olympus' Micro Four Thirds cameras--the E-P1, E-P2 and E-PL1--but their seriously slow autofocus performance, most notably with nonprime lenses, can be a significant drawback for many casual users who rely on AF. The firmware update released this Thursday is yet another attempt on Olympus' part to bring performance for its entire PEN series into line with competitors from Panasonic and Samsung.

In addition to addressing AF speed for still capture for all the models, the firmware upgrade also tries to get a handle on the E-P2 and E-PL1's AF tracking accuracy--that is, … Read more

Hands-on with Olympus' 9-18mm Micro Four Thirds lens

It won't be shipping for a couple of weeks, but I got a chance to shoot a bit with a production model of Olympus' new 9-18mm f4-5.6 Micro Four Thirds (MFT) mount lens. Though MFT cameras from Panasonic and Olympus have been around for a few generations, they're new enough that the companies are still actively building out their stable of lenses. The eagerly awaited $699 9-18mm, a smaller version of Olympus' full-size Four Thirds-mount lens, delivers the least expensive wide angle available to date; Panasonic's 7-14mm model runs around $1,000.

It also incorporates internal … Read more

Adobe tests new Canon, Olympus raw support

Those eyeing Canon's newest SLR, the Rebel T2i, or Olympus's new high-end compact camera, the E-P1, now can get support for those cameras' raw images in Adobe Systems' Lightroom and Photoshop--though only as a release candidate for now.

Adobe releases occasional updates so its software can decode the proprietary raw image formats from many higher-end cameras. Raw images offer greater flexibility and quality as compared with JPEG images, but they require manual processing to convert them into a useful form.

And software companies such as Adobe and Apple must stay on top of a constant stream of new … Read more