Olympus goes point-and-shoot crazy with nine new compact cameras
By Donald Melanson 
posted January 7th 2010 11:02AM
posted January 7th 2010 11:02AM
It's always tough for a plain-old point-and-shoot camera to stand-out at CES, so Olympus has wisely gone and played the tried-and-true move of dumping a whole slew of them at once to avoid getting lost in the shuffle . Leading those off are four new 14-megapixel FE Series cameras -- the FE-5030, FE-4040, FE-4030, and FE-47 -- which all pack either a 4x or 5x optical zoom, a 2.7-inch LCD, digital image stabilization (and added mechanical stabilization in the FE-4040), and a double-layered Crystal Shell finish in your choice of a range of colors. Those are complemented by the µ-5010, µ-7030, µ-7040, and µ-9010, which all pack the same 14 megapixels but expand your optical zoom options to 5x, 7x and 10x -- plus some HD video recording on the µ-7030. Rounding things out all by its lonesome is the 12-megapixel µ Tough 3000, which packs a 3.6x wide angle zoom, a 2.7-inch LCD and, most importantly to live up to its name, some water-proofing, shock-proofing and freeze-proofing measures. Dive into the links below for the complete details, and look for the whole lot to be available in March.
Read - DP Review, Olympus FE Series
Read - DP Review, Olympus µ- Series
Read - DP Review, Olympus µ Tough 3000
Read - DP Review, Olympus FE Series
Read - DP Review, Olympus µ- Series
Read - DP Review, Olympus µ Tough 3000
Are compact digicams any good in low-light conditions yet?
this is one market that has become a bit oversaturated
I wish they'd make cameras with fewer megapixels but much more compact. Ideally I'd like a nice 5 megapixel shooter (with good image quality) about the size of a pack of gum (the standard 5 stick pack, not the jumbo packs.) Yes I know you can get camera phones, but that pretty much always ties you to a particular service provider and either the cameras suck, or the phone gets much bigger.
14 MPix... sigh. Doesn't look like the megapixel race is abating much, though I'm glad not to see "14 Megapix" plastered across the front of the thing.
When can we get some single-number, John-Q-Public-understandable specs for signal to noise, dynamic range, and color fidelity... and start competing on those, instead of this now-inane Megapixel race?
I bought a well-reviewed compact camera from a well respected brand last year, and honestly... the image quality is little better than a cell phone. Just lots more pixels... of trash.
That's the last camera I buy until either the Micro Four Thirds market fills out, or they take compact camera IQ back to where it was at the 6-8 MPix level.
Really, a little consumer education shouldn't be that difficult for this industry.