New Olympus DSLR on 1/26?

[Rex914]

Sorry if this has been mentioned somewhere before, but I actually haven't seen it in DPR or here. Supposedly, Olympus is releasing some mystery product on January 26 (1 week from today), and all they keep releasing are these teaser images like this one.

The pictures are showing a photographer trying to use an SLR in some awkward situations. The captions read: Do you really enjoy making a fool of your self in public, Don't lose the sight of the big picture and Want to know what's on "the other sisde?". All are followed by Olympus presents the solution on January 26th.

http://www.4-3system.com/imgdata/frontpage/CHRIS_E-330_Teaser.jpg

Now that you've read that, here are a few more clues.

1) TRUTH - It's almost certainly going to be called the E-330 since the images bore that name on them.

2) SHOULD BE TRUE - Because its name is close to the E-300, I doubt that this will be a replacement to the E-1 but rather another consumer oriented DSLR.

3) MAYBE TRUE - Design may be based off the E-300. An interview with Olympus yielded a reply along the lines of "we wish to continue to offer DSLR's that use both designs." What confirms this is the next point...

4) MAYBE TRUE - This is the big one. It's supposed to have an EVF, and you know what that means (besides lower fidelity). That means true live preview. Consequently, the back LCD should also display a live preview.

Put 3 and 4 together, and you may see that the 3XX line is their experimental line kind of like how Fuji experiments with its F-series of cameras.

[jeisner]

Based on the teaser pictures it does seem to be a swivel live preview on their lower end DSLR... That is the strong rumour and it makes sense... I don't see why it isn't possible, the sensor is smaller than any of the competition, so it would make sense for them to be the first to do it...

If true: It will most likely sell well to prosumer users moving to DSLR, for myself it is not a huge buying point, but I understand why it will be a major point for others...

[coldrain]

Their e-10 and e-20 used a prisma instead of a mirror to provide live preview and redirect the light to the view finder. Maybe they will use the same idea again.

[Norm in Fujino]

Boy you really missed things if you haven't seen the talk flying on DPR. That's seems to have been the heaviest topic of conversation in the Oly dSLR forum for the last couple of months (not just the ads, but a few leaks based on claims of having seen prototypes of a possible E-1 replacement). I think that most people don't believe the Jan 26 announcement will be for an E-1 replacement, though--that'll probably have to wait for PMA. But there have been some intriguing hints that this one will be based on the E-300, probably with some kind of live preview EVF.
--Only the shadow knows. . .

[Rex914]

As I said a few weeks ago, I've completely cut myself off DP Review and all other photo sites besides this one, and when I did look last night, the discussion was without a trace. So to be consistent with your statement, I'll say that the discussions happened, but they've died down, which is why they were nowhere to be seen last night.

[Norm in Fujino]

As I said a few weeks ago, I've completely cut myself off DP Review and all other photo sites besides this one, and when I did look last night, the discussion was without a trace. So to be consistent with your statement, I'll say that the discussions happened, but they've died down, which is why they were nowhere to be seen last night.

The DPR forum has become excessively active recently due to the influx of some E-500 newbies (read: without a clue), so messages get pushed off the front page within a matter of hours in some cases. The speculation threads rise and fall with the phase of the moon, it seems.