Micro Four Thirds bridges the great digital camera divide

Today, an announcement from Olympus and Panasonic sent shockwaves through all the photography forums. The traditional gap between point and shoot and DSLR has been crossed. High quality, compact digital camera is now possible with the Micro Four Thirds format. This format standardizes a mirrorless interchangable lens digital camera with the same sensor size as the Four Thirds system. Imagine, a digital rangefinder with perfect framing, not made by Leica. Entry-level DSLR buyers will be delighted to find a much smaller camera delivering the same quality images, with a big LCD for easy composition. How many times have you heard people complaining about the small and dark viewfinder on entry-level DSLRs? This new system has the potential to steal A LOT of sales from Canon and Nikon. Watch out!

On a side note, we will probably see a Panasonic-made Leica-branded digital rangefinder in the future, but I think it's quite obvious Leica will exist only in name from now on.

Links

• Dpreview has lots of pictures describing this new format

Olympus Stylus 770 SW

Olympus announced the Stylus 770 SW (μ Mju 770 SW) last month. It's a super compact camera with impressive toughness. The camera features a 7.1 megapixel sensor, 2.5" LCD (nice to see when underwater) and a 3x optical zoom. Normally these tough cameras are ugly, but the 770 SW looks quite stylish, coming in Silver, Bronze and Royal Blue.


The 770SW is waterproof to as deep as 33 feet (10 meters) and withstand as cold as -14F degrees (-10C). It can survive falls up to 5 feet (a very common occurrence for some people...) and heavy loads up to 220 pound pressure. What I like about it is it includes a manometer that measures air and water pressure to calculate the altitude and depth of the photos. If the 770SW comes with a GPS to record the precise location of photo capture, it really would be the perfect outdoor camera.

With a list price of $379.99, it's an awesome camera for people living the active lifestyle. Check out the hands-on preview on Digital Camera Info.

Update! Impress Watch Japan just posted sample pictures from the μ770SW.

Also, Gizmodo has a picture of the 770SW inside a block of ice at PMA 07.

Olympus SP-550 UZ Ultra Zoom Preview Roundup

As the name suggests, this is not your normal super zoom. It's called the Ultra Zoom because it has a whopping 18x optical zoom lens with a focal length of 28-504mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.8-4.5. The wide 28mm is not common with these superzooms, and it is a very useful focal length. Resolution is 7.2 megapixels, with support for RAW mode. The Olympus SP-550 UZ can capture 15 frames per seconds. It's so fast, the Pre-Capture technology even captures 5 frames in the camera buffer, BEFORE the shutter is released. Unique among manufacturers, the SP-550 has what's called Dual Image Stabilization that shifts the sensor and boosts the ISO when necessary. Normally it's either or and this is an interesting combination that could help in desperate situations. Maximum ISO is 5000! The stats really does not stop to impress. How does it stack up? Here are 5 sites with first hands-on previews for your pleasure:

• Imaging Resource - preview comparing previous Olympus superzooms with the SP-550
  
• Digital Camera resource page - extremely detailed preview
  
• Digital Camera Info - another preview
  
• Lawrence Ripsher's Photo Journal - detailed owner review with lots of sample photos
• Impress Watch - sample photos with the SP-550UZ taken at PMA 07
  
• DCFever (Chinese) - Chinese web site with several sample photos (slow)