I agree there is a pop-up flash.

And I’m going to guess that the lens cannot be removed.

Name: EP-01

Sensor: 12.3 MP from E-P1/E-P2
Screen 2.7″ 230,000 pixel
(From E-620, which is equipped with the best 2.7″ LCD out of the E-420, E-520, and E-30)
It will have an In Body Image Stabilization system
It will have pop-up-flash
ISO from 100 to 3200
No built in EVF, but it will have the port to use the one from the E-P2 which will now be sold seperately.
All plastic body, but will not be cheap feeling, think E-30, E-620 feeling.
Price: $500 (body only)
All art filters present
720p video mode

Just my guess, we will hopefully find out the truth soon!

i hoped its not a much crippled E-P1/P2, but here’s what i’m expecting:

- pop-up flash
- no IBIS
- mono-sound on video (top is too cramped to have stereo mics, but if they can i’ll be impressed)
- limited manual functions (it will probably have intelligent auto mode(s) instead of full manual modes, that’s why it has only one dial like most compacts)
- same set of art filters from E-P1
- i hope its half the price of an E-P1

these are just my speculations… as previously said this is supposed to be a smaller, cheaper version so dont get your hopes up. anyway E-5 is coming soon, that the bigger thing to look forward to.

Weather a flash will make it stealing the required space for the IBIS, I don’t know? But I can hope, that Olympus has worked on miniaturizing the piezoelectric actuators for the In Body Image stabilization, so that all m4/3 cameras from Olympus can have IBIS. I don’t think Olympus plans on relying on Panasonic for this money.

I think that the E-4xx series will be the only Olympus series lacking IBIS.

Regarding the electronic viewfinder, It’s not possible to have that included into a small formfactor camera body – just look at how big the Panasonic G1/GH1 are in comparison, not to mention the upcoming bigger Samsung NX10.

Electronic connector adds to the manufacturing cost, so I think the E-P10 is stripped from unnecessary items, remember it’s a budget model.

The E-P20 might get an auxillary port for external electronic viewfinder and external microphones. I doubt the high performance Olympus VF-2 will be sold with it, rather we will see a new budget VF-3 with lower resolution, something like the DMW-LVF1 External Live Viewfinder for Panasonic GF1, though that one still is expensive.

Final comment. Olympus is continuing to do the right things with their new product releases. This time, after milking the early adopters with both E-P1 & E-P2, now it’s time for the tier II segement, the budget segment to appear.

It also matches the timeframe when the competitor Samsung enters the market. By setting a low price on the E-P10, this causes the competitor to get less return money for it’s new product. The market is brutal, there are winners and there are loosers. Time will tell…

Also, no manual control for video (obviously), probably no sensor shift stabilization, only one control dial so you can’t adjust aperture with one and shutter speed with the other, etc.

Otherwise, E-P1/E-P2 sales would get severely hurted.

Of course, in that body there is no room for an integrated EVF. I’m also doubting that the “crack” on the upper right corner could be a pop-up flash. Again, this body is very tiny for that.

Hope for in-body stabilization to be included in this cheaper MFT camera.

There is a noise problem from the lenses, and if anybody was trying to fix that the daftest place to place mics is next to the lens.