14 DAY TRIAL // Olympus has finally made an official announcement that everyone had been waiting for. Its latest entry-level interchangeable lens camera, the OM-D E-M10, is now available for pre-order and will start shipping on February 12.
Besides the E-M10, Olympus also announced the company's first 50x superzoom bridge camera, called SP-100. Although this is a first for the Nippon manufacturer, 50x superzooms are quite common nowadays and many important players on the digital camera market have at least one model released and available for purchase.
The Olympus SP-100 comes with a 16MP 1/2.3-inch BSI CMOS sensor and is powered by the company's latest TruePic VII image processor to deliver exceptional low-light performance with a high ISO sensitivity of up to ISO6,400.
One of the most interesting new features that comes as a first to the digital camera realm is the built-in dot-sight mounted right above the EVF, which allows you to easily track moving subjects without having to zoom in.
Olympus SP-100 is a 50x superzoom camera that comes with a 35mm equivalent focal range of 24-1200mm f/2.9-6.5 lens, has a shutter speed of 1/4 to 1/1700 of a second, and is capable of shooting 7 frames per second in continuous shooting mode.
In terms of video capturing capabilities, the SP-100 can record 1080p Full HD video footage at 60 frames per second with linear PCM sound.
The back of the camera features a 920k-dot EVF with a 100 percent coverage, but if you're not familiar with this type of shooting you can always use the 3-inch 460k-dot LCD screen to frame and capture your photo. Other features worth mentioning are: manual focus, AF lock, focus-limit button, and the lens-shift image stabilization system.
The Olympus SP-100 is now available for pre-order at a price of $399.99 / €300 and, according to AmazonUS, it will start shipping on April 20, although the official press release states that the camera will hit market shelves in March.
