Olympus is showing a prototype at (P)hotokina of a future camera called the E-A1. Due in 2009, the new camera is said to be intermediate between the E-520 and the E-3. However, "in terms of quality and performance," says Olympus, "there is nothing mid-level about this model. It will inherit all the outstanding features of the E-3."
Read more at FourThirdsPhoto.com.
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Mike (Thanks to Robin P.)
I love Olympus' new micro 4/3 prototype: it's a little silver box with two buttons.
Posted by: Richard | Monday, 22 September 2008 at 08:02 AM
I have said before, probably on these "pages", that a good 35 mm film camera system would have been 3 Stylus Epics: one with a 28 mm lens, one with a 35 mm lens, and one with a 50 mm lens (all f2.8 or so). Those three cameras would have taken up less room than a Pentax MX with 3 primes, and although the Epic system would not be as flexible as the MX-based system, it would do in a lot of cases.
A small m4/3s system with three tiny primes might be the modern equivalent, or as close as we're likely to get. (Or why not three separate bodies with fixed lenses, for that matter?) To people who care, this development means that all small sensor digicams are now history, aren't they? I mean, why buy one of those when you can have a camera that's nearly as small with large sensor image qualities.
Taken together, as a whole so to speak, the Oly 4/3s system (regular and micro) amounts to a well-thought out integrated package, doesn't it? They have a family of products, at varying but reasonable prices, based on a common sensor platform that delivers sufficient image quality for most photographers.
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Monday, 22 September 2008 at 10:17 AM
I'm with Richard on the Micro 4/3 prototype, it looks fantastic and I want one.
Posted by: Antony Shepherd | Monday, 22 September 2008 at 10:58 AM
For dyslexic lovers of Canon.
Posted by: Bob Bidurski | Monday, 22 September 2008 at 02:43 PM
An AE-1 was my first camera.
The m4/3 oly prototype is fantastic.
Posted by: M | Tuesday, 23 September 2008 at 01:36 AM
Virtually every response here so far is about the micro 4/3 rather than the E-A1. Says a lot about what people think the best use of the smaller 4/3 sensor is.
Posted by: AndrewG NY | Tuesday, 23 September 2008 at 11:23 AM
Andrew,
You're right, of course. But the E-A1 doesn't have that "newsy" attraction. It seems to be an upgrade camera for people in the 4/3s camp who maybe owned one the 8 mpix E generation like the E-300 or E-500. I guess just being useful and competent ain't enough anymore, you gotta have sex appeal.
I only just bought my E-500 so it will be some time before I upgrade, since I believe in using the old camera before buying its replacement. When I picked up the E-500 a couple of weeks ago, I wondered if its deficiencies would annoy me, but what I did was to NOT go read all the old internet posts about those deficiencies. Not knowing what they are makes them less troublesome, somehow.
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Tuesday, 23 September 2008 at 12:26 PM