Olympus shows a compact camera (mockup) with Zuiko lens
Image courtesy: Quesabesde
Olympus just announced the development of the new high-end compact camera (for enthusiasts) with fixed lens.
Quesabesde has been told that it will use a fast zoom lens. Quesabesde assumes the lens will start at least at 28 mm. It will not use a MicroFourThirds sensor! It has a fixed 3 inch screen, a button to record their own video and HDMI connections. SO it looks like we have to do with a camera that is aimed to compete against the Panasonic LX5
UPDATE: CNET Asia “spoke to Olympus Singapore, who told us that this camera is expected to have a zoom lens and a large sensor like the LX5. It also confirmed this shooter won’t employ a Four Thirds sensor.”
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Comment from jose: I've seen it next to the LX5 and the Oly...
Comment from Jimson: Though I suppose that could be accomplis...- Comment from Jimson: Also, I'm not seeing a PASM dial......
- Comment from Jimson: More images avaliable at:
http://news.c...
TR
2 years ago |A LX-5 lookalike mock-up is a bit ho-hum after the Fuji announcement. Is there anything else in the bag, Olly?
Alfons
2 years ago |Price being maybe fourth of Fuji’s, this can really end up being my all-ways-with-me street camera.
Let’s just hope that it will have a small grip or atleast a leatherette and a real fast 3x zoom lens (24-72?).
CML
2 years ago |Well its a (long, overdue) step in the right directing for their compact range!
CML
2 years ago |direction
Dummy00001
2 years ago |Would it be sufficiently cheaper/smaller than E-PL1 to make sense?? I wonder.
It would be interesting to peek at the global photo-gear sales figures to understand why they release something like this.
Or profit margins on the class of cameras is better?
Reza
2 years ago |The only reason I see to replace my S90 with this would be to interchangeably use an EVF on this and a m4/3 body, and maybe share flashes (FL-14). But I have the E-P1 for now anyway…
Reza
2 years ago |Agreed Dummy00001, probably the higher profit margin is the reason.
John W King
2 years ago |nice, could be also design-wise a ‘hint’ to future m4/3 bodys, if this is w 4/3 sensor size and 1080 video, reasonably priced, it could be a winner.
but the fuji announcement is even more exciting, sorry
David
2 years ago |Looks like a lx-3, d-lux4 clone.. Nothing exciting at all. If the specs are similar to the Lx-3 with no huge diff, it’s kinda late for Oly to introduce this.
DonTom
2 years ago |Sensible move from Olympus, why let the others have all the sales from this type of camera? If the jpegs are as good as the EPL-1, a great choice for Olympus m43 users, especially as the VF2 and flashes will be interchangeable.
NativeFloridian
2 years ago |A camera to compete with the Panasonic LX5. Great, just what we need… Olympus and Panasonic producing more similar products, just like their m43 lens selections. A better camera would be a m43 compact in the vein of the Sigma DP or the new Fuji camera just announced. As of late there has been a stunning lack of innovation from Olympus.
Alfons
2 years ago |Considering the size of hotshoe, this is about the size of LX-5.
Go smaller and it will be really awkward to use the camera.
DonTom
2 years ago |I have to say: I hope it will be properly compact. It doesn’t look much smaller than my EPL-1, at least from the front. With luck, the body will be truly slim and the lens fully collapsing. Although the Fuji x100 looks great, I would like to have a small, light camera as a P&S. Otherwise I may as well use my m43 camera.
E-3 early adopter
2 years ago |Most certainly this is a Canon S95 / Panasonic LX5 competitor, certailly not a Canon G12 / Nikon P7000 competitor, since Olympus has MFT to compete with the latter two.
I therefore anticipate Olympus needs to add the “Zuiko” key benefit feature to their value proposition. The lens looks big, either due to it’s an 24mm equivalent or an f/1.7 zoom to land on the same as Samsung TL500/EX1, or both.
Sensor could be 1/1.5, 1/1.7 sized, stabilized as well.
Good job to fill this market space in your portfolio.
You once were the king of the hill with your Camedia series.
minh
2 years ago |Sorry, even without comparing with the new Fuji, it is look ugly as hell, especially its back. I get they want to show simplicity, but a high-end simplicity must look much better. less than £200 and I might consider to buy it.
Rob-L
2 years ago |It’s like putting a bow tie on a pig. At the core, it’s still going to be a small-sensor camera and that means compromising on image quality. It would be much more interesting if there was a m43 sensor in it.
WT21
2 years ago |Don’t be too fooled by the prototype. The EP1 prototype looked like an orange bar of soap! http://www.electricpig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/olympus_micro_four_thirds_prototype.jpg
It might be a while, though (like next summer or fall) before we see anything.
Still — the Fuji announcement is much more exciting. This is a camera they should have hinted at 6 months ago.
Oh, and where’s my fast portrait lens with AF!!
CML
2 years ago |True.. although the prototype pics at Quesabesde look highly finished/developed for a prototype
http://www.quesabesde.com/noticias/olympus-desarrolla-compacta-gama-alta-optica-zuiko-photokina-2010,1_6787
Tobias W.
2 years ago |Is it just me or does Olympus appear to be really slow and just trying to stay in the race rather than leading it?
This new camera is clearly positioned against Panasonic’s LX5 and Canon’s S90/S95. Samsung has a compact in that market segment as well. By the time this camera will make it to market, Olympus will already have to deal with huge existing market shares of its competitors. I wonder what they’ll include to make it stand out against already brilliant compacts.
I own the cheapest of those premium compacts, the S90, and I love it. I chose it over the LX3 and waiting for the expensive LX5 because it runs with CHDK and is smaller than the LX cameras. I just should have waited for the S95… Let’s see what Olympus can pack into its new compact.
Mark
2 years ago |Oooh “Zuiko!” Does it come in pink?
Tom
2 years ago |If it is sealed against dust/moisture (which I am sure it won’t be) I will buy it at any reasonable price. I am surprised that no one has done a water/dust resistant *good* compact camera- it seems that the whole point of cameras like this and LX5 and that new Fuji are that they are a photographer’s take-anywhere camera, and as such, we should be able to take it anywhere without worrying about it. I am not expecting it to be water-proof, of course, but the same sealing they have on an E-3 would be great, and probably really easy to do on something like this that inherently has very few areas to seal.
Reza
2 years ago |I doubt a fully retracting zoom lens would be easy to seal.
the other Rob
2 years ago |If it doesn’t come at the expense of size or cost, sure. But I wont buy it if its $200 more than an s95, just because it is weather sealed. Its not worth anything to me, because I see no situations for why I would want to take pictures in the rain. Dust, maybe, yes.
Jimson
2 years ago |More images avaliable at:
http://news.cnet.com/2300-17938_3-10004900.html?tag=mncol
To me it looks like a cheap G12 wannabe sans optical viewfinder and articulated LCD…
Jimson
2 years ago |Also, I’m not seeing a PASM dial…
Jimson
2 years ago |Though I suppose that could be accomplished E-3 style with a button press + control wheel…
jose
2 years ago |I’ve seen it next to the LX5 and the Olympus is slightly taller and thinner and roughly same width. The lens diameter is clearly larger, highlighting, for a similar sensor size (1/1,7) a faster lens. Which being Zuiko I’d bet a 24-70mm at a constant f/2.0. Now that would be a first!