so... are there any camera-related news today???

i have (very) few rss feeds in my "photo" category in google reader and i get about 5 posts a day on average. today i got 26. and 25 of them were about the new olympus E-P1 micro four thirds camera (the 26th one was some mamiya post from dpreview).

the 43rumors.com blog has a list of links about the camera and dpreview.com has a good preview. available for purchase in july 2009 according to the olympus press release (can preorder now).

i don't like the retro styling (at all) but what can you do... have to buy one anyway. maybe i can spray-paint it black so that it looks somewhat reasonable. good to see that this olympus camera does not have that waste of space called "xD card slot."

so, did you order yours yet?

some rumors about upcoming olympus micro 4/3

there are some new/recent rumors about the upcoming Olympus micro four thirds camera. dcviews.com (may 22) points to a possible teaser on the olympus asia website which mentions the date may26 ...
gizmodo.com also had a post about this recently. let's see.

new olympus E620 and underwater housing PT-E06

The new olympus E620 dSLR camera has been annouced, with a matching underwater housing PT-E06. the housing looks very similar to the one for E520 (which i've found very pleasant to use).

Some links with more information:

• dpreview.com has a hands-on preview
• amazon lists the housing for 1,000USD
• There is a thread on scubaboard with an ongoing discussion about the new camera and the availability of the housing for the previous model the E520
• dcresource.com also has a preview

new sensor (it seems it might be the one used in E30 from what i read in the previews), 7 AF points, ISO3200, LCD rotation, 4fps, battery is the same as for the E420, expected price 699USD.

it still has that waste of space called an xD card slot ...

more on the 10bar housing for the panasonic LX3

there is a price list here, from 10bar, which mentions a price of 630 USD for the 10bar LX3 housing. also available here, but the price is ... 905 USD ("availability 3 weeks"). 

phase versus contrast detect focusing in low light (underwater)

i ve used my olympus E520 underwater only a few times so far (10 or so) and i've notice that in low light, low visibility, wide angle it has some trouble focusing. In similar situations my previous camera, the canon G7 of course wouldnt focus either, and would never be able to take a photo of any use. the olympus can take good photos but the focusing part becomes slightly noticable.

i also noticed (i think) that in such cases, switching to live-view/constrast detect focus works much faster and possibly better.

i was wondering if anyone had the same experience with similar cameras?

are there cases where contrast detect focus is better than the normal/phase detect focus especially underwater?

panasonic LX3 underwater housing from 10bar

there is a recent review on dpreview.com comparing a bunch of higher end compacts that finds the panasonic lx3 as the overall winner. the camera is probably one of the best compact options at this time for undewater use. the only problem is that there are no cheap housings for it.

there is a 10bar housing, made of aluminum, that looks quite nice (and expensive..)

there is some information about the new housing on the 10bar website, as well as this thread on wetpixel. the price is reported around 600 USD in the wetpixel forums. the camera is around 400 USD.

the canon g10 is so much cheaper, at 400USD for the camera plus 200USD for the canon housing.