New Snaps From Olympus

When do you say ‘STOP I am satisfied’ to a camera upgrade these days? They keep getting perkier, smaller, brighter, offer better megapixel resolution, have more video and editing gadgetry and have more detachable lenses and recently have also become available in fashion colours. Even mobile phones compete when it comes to taking the best shots – take the iPhone 4 at 5 megapixels vs the iPhone4Gs at 8 megapixels.Upgrades are compelling and a norm these days .. Olympus, for instance who have just launched a whole collection of new snaps which we will give you preview of.

My first pocket camera was an Olympus which I bought whilst on holiday in the US in 1997. Yes I was a late starter as a shutterbug. It was neither digital nor handy but with that little camera, I took some of the most memorable pictures ever and thats why I looked at interest at Olympus press announcement about their 4 new cameras today.

If  you are shopping for a new and reasonably-priced snap, consider the New SZ, VG or VR series.

What do the acronyms mean?

SZ stands for Super Zoom which means that the new SZ-14 has a multi-motion movie image stabilisation programme built in and also massive wide optical zoom lenses. At only S$398 in black, silver and red – the price and built-in functionality make it an instant winner.

The SZ-31MR is a more complicated camera but definitely a performer with the  lightest, smallest (and cutest) body of any compact with a 20-plus optical zoom and records (apparently) the best quality moving pictures of any pocket-sized camera today. It can capture 1080 Full HD movies and 16-Megapixel stills simultaneously and can now record movies and stills at high frame rates or play back photo slideshows with music and transition effects. It has a 24x wide optical zoom lens that currently outperforms all-comers in the lightweight travel-camera category, delivering beautiful close-ups and unparalleled flexibility in your choice of shot. Price not available at the moment.

The VG series offers good-value-for-money. A real no-brainer choice, this makes a good gift for junior if you are shopping for a first camera – the new VG-150 takes quick and easy to record high-quality still photos and movies in everyday situations and is available in black and silver at only S$138.

There is also a VG-170 which is the top of the VG range and is idiot-proof in that you just simply point and shoot. This one is slightly more at S$198 and comes in black and white.

The VR series is a little more of a sophisticate. The VR-350 in particular has an all-metal design and has a retro-looking ‘smart-grip’ at the front and comes in black, purple, silver, white or red. This model will only be available in April this year (prices not currently available).

Look out also for a few of their new-to-market cameras (coming out soon) – sorry folks no pricing available as yet.

The TG series is great for the super-rugged! A  compact camera with superb picture quality it offers a new iHS (Intelligence, High Sensitivity and High Speed) family of technologies. The TG-620 captures excellent images despite the lousy conditions great for outdoor lovers and extreme sports junkies. Has a 12-Megapixel backlit CMOS sensor and a TruePic VI image processor that dramatically improves low-light performance, speeds up camera response and enhances scene and subject recognition. Also waterproof, shockproof and freezeproof with Full HD movie capability. Available in black, blue, green, pink and white.

 

Finally, there is the Olympus-OM-D which is the world’s first dust and splash-proof capability mirrorless camera. It offers a lot of firsts and fastest including the world’s first 5-axis image stabilization to compensate for camera shake of any kind during both still photo and movie shooting and the world’s fastest FAST AF autofocusing system plus 3D tracking for improved moving object tracking performance. Then there is a built-in electronic viewfinder with high image quality and high functionality that enables real-time checking of various shooting conditions and a 16-megapixel new Live MOS Sensor and TruePic VI image processing engine for high image quality and high sensitivity.