Olympus E-330: first DSLR with live LCD
Olympus has managed to carve out a niche in the competitive DSLR market by including features that you won't find on cameras from Canon or Nikon, such as its ultrasonic dust-removal system. With the new E-330, the company has added something you won't find on any other DSLR: continuous live color previews via the LCD, enabling SLR shooters to skip the viewfinder, just as point-and-shooters have done for years. According to Olympus, the continuous live preview via the camera's tilt-and-swivel 2.5-inch LCD provides 92% coverage for autofocus shooting; a separate preview mode provides 100% coverage for manual focusing. The camera's other specs look decent as well: 7.1 megapixel resolution, 3 fps shooting and a new low-power CMOS that Olympus claims reduces noise at high ISO settings. But it's the live preview that will set this one apart (at least until Canon, Nikon or Sony catch up) -- and either make you rush out to buy it, or make you turn up your nose in disdain. The E-330 is expected to be available in March for about $1,100.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in.]
