Olympus shows off the E-620

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Olympus does a fine line in mid-range DSLRs, and this is the latest addition to the family. It’s the E-620, a 12.3-megapixel jobby with a 2.7″ LCD, that doesn’t appear to be a touchscreen. Akihabaranews suggests that it’s a cheaper alternative to the E-30 and E3 cameras.

You have the choice of aspect ratios – 16:9, 3:3 and 6:6 are all offered – and ISO goes up to 3200. Size-wise, it measures 30 x 60 x 94mm, and it weighs 475g. We’ve got not pricing or release date info, but I’d expect it to be cheaper than the aforementioned E30 and E3, which pegs it in the sub-£1,000 region.

(via Akihabaranews)

Jessops announces two Olympus cameras

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Olympus has just announced two digital cameras that’ll be exclusive to photo retailer Jessops. One’s pictured over there to the right – that’s the X915 – and then there’s the X890 too.

The X915 wears the trousers, so let’s examine him first. A 12-megapixel sensor, 2.7″ LCD screen and 5x optical zoom are packed into a 137g body. It’s XD and MicroSD compatible, and there’s a red eye editing feature, too.

It’s slightly younger brother is the X890, which has to make do with its older brothers cast-offs. A 10-megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom and the same 2.7″ LCD are in the offing, as well as the aforementioned compatibility and editing settings.

The X915 costs £300 and the X890 costs £260. Both will be available on 21st February from your local Jessops.

Olympus gets in on the Micro Four Thirds scene with its compact SLR concept

Things are ALL GO on the hot Micro Four Thirds SLR scene right now. Panasonic revealed its Lumix G1 just last week, shrinking the traditional SLR into a very fancy-looking body.

Olympus, Panasonic’s partner in the new system, has different plans. It’s using the shrunken optical internals to create a compact-styled camera that boasts the power and lens connectivity of an SLR. And a lovely little orange faux-leather band. To be honest, we’re only mentioning this because of the leather band.

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The unnamed Olympus device is, sadly, just at concept stage at the moment, so there’s a very real risk that that leather detailing will be replaced with a cheaper plastic…

Olympus and Panasonic set the standard for smaller SLR cameras

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I always feel intimidated when I go on to the photo sharing website Flickr. Whereas I can feel a smug sense of superiority towards commentators on YouTube, as they’re mostly idiotic fundamentalists or 9/11 conspiracy theorists, on Flickr, the comments don’t talk about what’s actually in the photos: it could be a kitten, or even incontrivertable photographic evidence for the existence of the Loch Ness Monster – and yet they’re always about how good or bad the composition of a photo is.

Because my digital camera is of the cheap “point and shoot” variety, I always feel rubbish in comparison to the Flickrati and their £1000 SLR beasts and their beautifully framed shots of, well, mostly artsy cityscapes. This could all be about to change though thanks to a new technology developed by Olympus and Matsushita…

Digital Summer Special: Olympus compact and DSLR cameras

Olympus was out in force at Digital Summer, showing off a line of their recent digital compact and SLR cameras. We’ve covered some of them already on Tech Digest, and most have been out for at least a couple of months, but it’s still worth taking a closer look.

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Olympus SP-570 UZ

This DSLR offers up a 20x wide optical zoom, 10 megapixel sensor, dual image stabilisation, sequential shooting at up to 13.5 fps, super macro mode, face detection, shadow adjustment, BrightCapture technology for low-light shooting, 23 preset scene modes, automated and manual settings. Unusually for a DSLR it runs on four AA batteries.

Available now priced £389.99.

Cor! Get a load of these snazzy limited edition mju µ 1020 digital cameras from Olympus

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It’s a very slooooow news day today, which is why I’m showing you these limited edition µ [mju:] 1020 digital cameras from Olympus, which is basically the 1010 with funky skins.

Wildly exciting news, obviously.

Designed by a Hungarian artist, Matei Apostolescu, they’re limited to just 5,000 units, and have 10.1-megapixel sensors, a very tidy 7x optical zoom,…