Olympus announced a new camera today:

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/olympusepl1/

This looks like the perfect P&S replacement for people who don't want the size, cost or complexity of a DSLR but the flexibility of interchangeable lenses. Cost is about the same as a high-end P&S camera.

V.

So what is the cost of an average high-end P&S camera?

$500 thereabouts plus memory etc.

When I went to check on this camera Vern is noting I pulled this up from The Camera Store's site:

http://www.thecamerastore.com/olympus

A letter to our customers regarding Olympus products.
A message to our customers regarding Olympus products.
We regret to inform our valued customers that we are no longer able to
supply Olympus products at this time. We appreciate all of the
business that Olympus users have given us.

Olympus manufactures many fine products that we have been proud to
represent, yet we have frequently been at odds with the marketing
methods employed by Olympus Canada for the last few years. It remains
our philosophy that a retailer should be able to earn a consumer's
business without any advantage or influence provided by a supplier to
any other particular retailer. Our many attempts to voice our
objections throughout this time has brought no satisfactory responses.

We look forward to when we can once again sell Olympus products and
will let you know when this is possible. Please sign up here if you
wish to be notified of any changes in this situation.


Things that make me go "hmmmm." I'm sure they didn't arrive at this decision easily.

Waiting for the EP3 with in body view finder.

High end P&S
Canon S90
Canon G11
Panasonic LX3

Very interesting one. Definitely need to check this one when I start researching on my new camera. Thanks for the post!

...and enjoy using an electronic viewfinder.

Yeah - that's true. But have you used a camera with the new EVF's lately? My GH-1 has an EVF and it's really good. Not as good as an OVF for clarity but for some things it's actually better. For example, you can't use the viewfinder on most DSLR's while doing video. Also you can easily check focus by increasing the EVF image 10x - you can't do that with an OVF.

TheCameraStore is in a fight with Olympus because for some reason they didn't get to sell the EP1 when it was announced. In response to Olympus, TheCameraStore blew out all of it's Olympus gear (good for the consumer!) but that ticked Olympus off even MORE. Now I guess they're at a stalemate on the issue.

I've used 4/3 and m4/3 for years now as my main hiking cameras and while the sensor is half the size of full frame, it's still MUCH larger than a sensor like the Canon G10/G11 (5x bigger!) which means better detail and better low-light capabilities. I've enlarged 10mp images from my Olympus E410 to 24"x36" no problem.

This is more of a DSLR (interchangeable lenses in micro 4/3 format) than it is a P&S. Get the newly announced 14-140mm (28-280mm equivalent) lens and you've got a nice compact and versatile unit.

interesting:

"we have frequently been at odds with the marketing
methods employed by Olympus Canada for the last few years. It remains
our philosophy that a retailer should be able to earn a consumer's
business without any advantage or influence provided by a supplier to
any other particular retailer."

what are these marketing methods, that are so objectionable?

was it the case of the camera store being smaller, so they don't get the new announced product when it is released? is there a pecking order that they are objecting to?

would love to hear the back story to this surprising announcement.

See my reply above, but basically Olympus decided that only a select number of camera stores would get the µ4/3 cameras from them to sell and TheCameraStore wasn't one of the select few. From there it spiraled into a marketing / sales fight.

V.

Dpreview has samples up:
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/olympusepl1/page5.asp

Has anyone got their hands on this camera yet? I hear it is being sold in the States now. I am interested in hearing what people think.