NEWSFLASH: Hands on with Olympus' E System digital SLR By
Michael R. Tomkins, The Imaging Resource (Monday, March 3, 2003 - 18:38 EST)This afternoon, we were fortunate to have the opportunity to see Olympus' recently-announced E System producs up close and personal.
Arranged on extremely short notice, we've come straight back to the hotel to upload 22 images of the digital SLR body, two of the lenses, two flash units and the portrait grip. No new information has been provided as to specifications - for those we suggest reading our earlier item. If you're a fan of Olympus and/or the "Four Thirds" system, though, this is eye-candy of the highest order (with the exception of image quality anyway - as already noted these images were captured on very short notice, and the conditions weren't exactly ideal).
To recap (very, very briefly): the E System uses a 4/3-type image sensor (either CMOS or CCD - it hasn't been stated which Olympus is planning to use for their first E System digicam); the camera will offer interchangeable lenses, a magnesium body, focal-plane shutter, flash hot shoe, and both aperture and shutter priority modes as well as full manual, and both auto and manual focusing. Since the camera we were photographing had to be treated carefully, we were not allowed to open any of the various covers or remove the lens at this time.
