Olympus has confirmed that it is to release a new retro-styled Micro Four Thirds camera in April.
Rumours about the OM-D (or OM-D E-M5, to give it its full title) had been growing since December, when Olympus registered the name as a trademark.
The OM-D blends old-school looks with several 'world-first' functions. Styled like a classic OM series SLR, the dust- and splash-proof magnesium alloy body houses a new 16.1 million pixel Live MOS sensor.
Olympus claims that the OM-D features the world's fastest autofocus of any interchangeable lens camera, including all DSLRs. This is achieved by a development of the FAST AF (Frequency Acceleration Sensor Technology) that's also found on the Olympus PEN series.
World first
The OM-D is also said to feature the world's first 5-axis image stabilisation (IS) system. In addition for correcting yaw and pitch movement, the new IS mechanism also adjusts for horizontal shift, vertical shift and rolling.
The blur reduction effect applied to stills and movies by the camera-based system can be monitored through the 1.44 million dot high-definition electronic viewfinder.
The OM-D marks the first time an integrated EVF has been used on an Olympus interchangeable lens camera. It features a new EVF Creative Control interface which uses a tone curve overlay to enable accurate adjustment of highlight and shadow brightness.
OLED touchscreen
In addition to the high-res viewfinder, the OM-D also features a 3-inch OLED rear monitor that can be tilted from 80° upwards to 50° downwards. This monitor is also touchscreen enabled, giving fingertip focusing and shutter release controls.
A new Live Bulb feature can be used to update the live view image on the rear screen at regular intervals during long-exposure bulb shooting. This provides an opportunity to assess how the final image will appear, and enable exposure times to be adjusted accordingly.
The OM-D has a new 16.1 megapixel High-Speed Live MOS sensor, which is twinned with a TruePic VI image processing engine. The sensor's sensitivity range extends up to ISO 25,600.
Although it shares the same FAST AF system as the Olympus PEN E-P3, the OM-D's autofocus gets a bump in speed. In continuous shooting mode, the camera can hit 9fps, although this drops to 4.2fps with focus employed.
OM-D lenses and accessories
New accessories are being launched alongside the camera, including the HDL-6 two-part power battery grip holder. It can be used either as a landscape grip or (with the second part attached) as a portrait grip which accommodates an extra lithium-ion battery and enables the camera to record about 650 images (CIPA test standard). An MMF-3 Four Thirds mount adapter and FL-600R electronic flash will also be available.
Two new lenses are also under development: the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75mm 1:1.8 and the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 60mm 1:2.8 macro. These lenses will follow later in 2012, with prices to be confirmed.
The Olympus OM-D UK price is £1149.99, for the camera and 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 lens. The body only price is still to be confirmed. The OM-D is available with either a silver or black body from April 2012, and will be on show at Focus on Imaging at the Birmingham NEC from 4-7th March.
Olympus OM-D key specifications:
- 16.1 million pixel Live MOS sensor
- FAST AF autofocus system plus 3D tracking
- 1.44 million dot EVF with 100% field of view
- TruePic VI image engine
- ISO 200 - 25,600
- 5-axis image stabilisation
- 3-inch tilting 610k-dot OLED touchscreen
- Full HD 1920 x 1080
- Live Bulb feature
- New 'Key Line' Art Filter
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