Hey all, how’s your day going? To our readers in US/Canada, hope you guys had a great Canada Day + July 4th weekend. In case you missed it, we posted our review of the Olympus Stylus Tough 3000 (yup, straight out of our ‘better late than never’ file). But fear not, we’re (re)starting our engines and will be bringing you the latest in camera news and reviews.
And we’ve in fact got several reviews up and coming this week.
- Soon: Fujifilm FinePix HS20 EXR review, a prosumer fixed lens camera with a whopping 30X optical zoom lens, lots of features to satisfy enthusiasts and professionals while being easy to use enough for beginners to pick up and use.
- After that: From our ’2010 file’ again, we’ll be posting our reviews on the Panasonic Lumix ZR3 and Olympus Mju 9010, two relatively compact cameras with big zoom lenses.
- This weekend: Canon ELPH 300HS review (also known as the Canon IXUS 220HS in Asia, Europe and Australia), a very small and stylish camera announced earlier at CES 2011 this year. It packs a 5X lens that starts at a wide 24 mm and well… you’ll just have to find out our verdict when the review comes out this weekend!
With a little luck, we’re also expecting to be able to cover a bunch of compact super-zoom cameras and post reviews on them later this month.
Here’s my review of the Olympus Stylus Tough 3000 (also known as the Mju Tough 3000), the most affordable rugged camera Olympus has to offer. The camera offers 12 megapixels, 3.6X optical zoom and the ability to record 720p HD movies in a pretty stylish and durable case. Head on to the Olympus Stylus Tough 3000 photo gallery for full-sized sample photos from the camera.
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I’ve posted the Olympus Stylus Tough 3000 aka Mju Tough 3000 Photo Gallery which contains full-sized pictures taken by the camera. Be sure to check out the Olympus Stylus /Mju Tough 3000 review for details and an opinion about this rugged, waterproof camera.
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Olympus PEN E-P3
(Compact interchangeable lens camera)
Olympus released their top-tier PEN model today which now competes well with other entry-level digital SLR models of similar price.
- 12 megapixel Live MOS sensor; new sensor (Micro Four Thirds, 2.0X crop factor)
- Micro Four Thirds lens mount (adapters available for normal Four Thirds and Leica lenses)
- Sensor-shift image stabilization
- New dual-core TruePic VI image processor
- 3 inch OLED touchscreen (614k pixels)
Touchscreen use includes focusing, zooming and playback
- iAuto, Live Guide and built-in help menus for beginners
- Full manual controls with RAW mode
- New built-in popup flash and wireless flash control
Camera also has a hotshoe with accessory port for external microphone, wired remote and Bluetooth transmitter
- New 35 point autofocus system boasting “world’s fastest autofocus”
- 10 Art Filter effects
- ISO range: ISO 200 to 12800
- 3 frames per second continuous shooting mode
- 1080p Full HD (1920 x 1080 at 30 FPS) movie mode with stereo sound and continuous autofocus
- Takes SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards
- Uses a lithium-ion battery
- Available in August for $900 (with 14-42 mm f3.5-5.6 redesigned lens OR 17mm f2.8 pancake lens)
- Comes in your choice of black, silver or white
Olympus PEN ‘Lite’ E-PL3
(Compact interchangeable lens camera)
Olympus’ second PEN camera for today is the PEN ‘Lite’ E-PL3, which is a follow-up to last year’s E-PL2. The camera takes a small step back by losing the built-in popup flash (though Olympus does include an external one with the camera) but gains in other areas by adding a tiltable display and having an extremely similar feature set as the higher-end E-P3, although it does have fewer external controls than the E-P3.
- 12 megapixel Live MOS sensor; new sensor (Micro Four Thirds, 2.0X crop factor)
- Micro Four Thirds lens mount (adapters available for normal Four Thirds and Leica lenses)
- Sensor-shift image stabilization
- New dual-core TruePic VI image processor
- 3 inch LCD (460k pixels); display is mounted on a hinge so you can tilt it up/down for weird-angle shots
- iAuto, Live Guide and built-in help menus for beginners
- Full manual controls with RAW mode
- Hotshoe with accessory port for external microphone, wired remote and Bluetooth transmitter
- New 35 point autofocus system boasting “world’s fastest autofocus”
- 6 Art Filter effects
- ISO range: ISO 200 to 12800
- 4 frames per second continuous shooting mode (up to 5.5 FPS with image stabilizer disabled)
- 1080p Full HD (1920 x 1080 at 30 FPS) movie mode with stereo sound and continuous autofocus
- Takes SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards
- Uses a lithium-ion battery
- Availability and price to be announced
- Comes in your choice of black, silver, red or white
Olympus PEN ‘Mini’ E-PM1
(Compact interchangeable lens camera)
The third and final PEN camera Olympus had to announce today is a new spawn off the existing E-P and E-PL line of PEN cameras. The E-PM1 PEN “Mini” is even smaller (but still very similar) than the E-PL3 above and has fewer buttons. It’s obviously geared towards beginners looking for a portable (and possibly affordable) offering to set foot in the interchangeable lens camera market, though enthusiasts just looking for a plain and simple camera are welcome to have a look too.
The camera has a similar feature set as the PEN Lite but with even fewer buttons (notably, no mode dial), a simplified user interface and fixed-position LCD. It also comes in more colors, pick from: white, black, silver, pink, brown or purple. Price and availability also to be announced.
Pentax Q
(Compact interchangeable lens camera)
Pentax marked their entrance into the compact interchangeable lens camera market today with the announcement of the “Q” camera that uses a new Pentax Q mount (along with five strangely named “number” Q lenses). The camera is significantly smaller than competing cameras from the likes of Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and Olympus because of its 1/2.3 inch sensor (closer to the size you’d get in compact cameras rather than digital SLR models).
- 12 megapixel 1/2.3″ backlit CMOS sensor
- Q-mount (5.5X crop factor) lenses
- Sensor-shift image stabilization
- 3 inch LCD (460k pixels)
- Built-in flash and flash hotshoe
- Full manual controls with RAW mode
- 5 frames per second continuous shooting mode
- ISO range: ISO 125 to 6400
- Creative Control mode (rebranded from My Color mode) allows you to use effects on photos
- 1080p Full HD (1920 x 1080 at 30 FPS) movie mode with mono sound
- Takes SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards
- Uses a lithium-ion battery
- Available in September for $800 (with 85 mm f1.9 Pentax 01 lens)
- Comes in your choice of black or white
The new lenses include:
- Optional optical viewfinder Pentax 01 lens: $250
- Pentax 01 prime 85 mm f1.9, built-in neutral density filter
- Pentax 02 standard zoom 28 – 83 mm, built-in neutral density filter: $300
- Pentax 03 fisheye, 160 degree: $130
- Pentax 04 “toy” wide (provides a ‘faded, nostalgic’ effect to images) 35 mm: $80
- Pentax 05 “toy” telephoto (provides a ‘faded, nostalgic’ effect to images) 100 mm: $80
Panasonic Lumix GF3
(Compact interchangeable lens camera)
Panasonic announced their annual refresh to the Lumix GF-series of compact interchangeable lens cameras. This time, they’ve made the Lumix GF3 even smaller (17% smaller than the Lumix GF2) and simpler, aiming it more at the ‘average Joe consumer’ than the original GF1. Check it out:
- 12 megapixel Live MOS sensor (Micro Four Thirds, 2.0X crop factor)
- Micro Four Thirds lens mount (adapters available for normal Four Thirds and Leica lenses)
- Venus Engine FHD image processor
- 3 inch touchscreen LCD (460k pixels)
Things you can do with the touchscreen: Autofocus point selection, touch shutter, navigating menus and playback mode
- Intelligent Auto (your standard ‘camera automatically selects the right settings’ mode) and Auto Plus modes
- Full manual controls with RAW mode and flash hotshoe
- High speed autofocusing, what Panasonic calls”Light Speed AF”
- ISO range: ISO 160 to 6400
- Creative Control mode (rebranded from My Color mode) allows you to use effects on photos
- 1080p Full HD (1920 x 1080 at 30 FPS) movie mode with mono sound
- Takes SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards
- Uses a lithium-ion battery
- Available in August for $600 (with 14-42 mm f3.5-5.6 IS lens) and $700 (with 14 mm f2.5 pancake lens)
- Comes in your choice of black, white, red or brown
