14 DAY TRIAL // Although they are losing ground on the DSLR market to producers like Canon, Nikon, Pentax and even newcomer Sony, Olympus is not ready to quit the battlefield.
The makers of the four thirds system are preparing the launch of three new DSLRs aimed at replacing the professional E-1, the semi-pro E-500 and the entry-level E-400.
Olympus has also announced three new SWD (Supersonic Wave Drive) lenses, which are touted as being able to achieve the world's fastest-class autofocusing when combined with the successor of the E-1 model. These lenses are the ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-60mm (24-120mm) F2.8-4.0 SWD, the ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 50-200mm (100-400mm) F2.8-3.5 SWD and ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14-35mm (28-70mm)F2.0 SWD.
Another product is the ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 70-300mm (140-600mm) F4.0-5.6, a 4.3x telephoto zoom lens that covers the super-telephoto area equivalent to a 600 mm lens for 35 mm film cameras.
For now, Oly only has details about the replacements for the E-500 and E-400, namely, the E-510 and the E-410.
The absolute novelty is the E-510, which now features?drums please?image stabilization, enabled by the proprietary SWD system. Their new technology works just like any another in-body stabilization system and that's by shifting the sensor to counteract any camera movement.
Aside from this, the E-510 boasts a 10-million pixel Live Mos sensor, which is touted to have achieved about 80% power reduction; this means that the improved Live View function can be activated permanently.
Other improvements include the new "TruePic III" processing engine, which greatly reduces processing time and allows the continuous shooting of 3 frames per second, and the new viewfinder. Don't get carried away, the viewfinder is still small, but now it's a little bit brighter than the E-500's (0.92x compared to 0.90x)
As with all new Olympus digital single lens reflex cameras, this one also includes the dust reduction system, which eliminates dust by vibrating the sensor.
Olympus says that the EVOLT E-510 will ship in June 2007 and will be available for $799.
The second model announced today is the E-410, which is now the smallest and slimmest DSLR on the market. The E-410 sports all the features of the E-510, except for the stabilization system.
Apparently, the EVOLT E-410 will ship in May 2007 and will have a price tag of $699.
