Well its been quite a wait but Olympus have finally announced a few new cameras and lenses for Micro Four Thirds which will enthrall many and hopefully lay to rest some concerns of their previously slowish AF performance.

Olympus Pen E-P3 camera:

• similar physical design to the initial E-P1 including its built-in image stabiliser but added a rotational dial, sub-dial and two new function buttons to the back
• adds built-in pop up flash
• revised 12mp sensor with new Fine Detail Processing Technology for greater detail in the photograph
• a 3″ 614,000 dot 3:2 VGA-equivalent fixed OLED touch-sensitive screen
• new FAST AF Tracking System with 35 AF areas – “world’s fastest AF” (I presume for contrast detect AF  although apparently rivals Olympus E5 dSLR AF speed)
• fast shutter response time < 60msec shutter lag
• new faster and better dual-core  TruePic VI image processing engine
• AF Illuminator
• ISO to 12,800
• up to 29 minutes of full 1080i HD video in either AVCHD or AVI formats
• 10 Art Filters: Diorama, Pop Art, Soft Focus, Pale & Light Color, Light Tone, Grainy Film, Pin Hole, Cross Process, Gentle Sepia and Dramatic Tone
• 9 Art Filter variations and enhancements, including new Pale & Light Color II, and five Art Filter Effects, including new Star Light and White Edge
• new Art Filter Bracketing function helps you develop multiple pictures utilizing different Art Filters with a single shot
• 3D photos using a pan mode feature to produce a .MPO file, the universal industry 3D format for easy display on 3D televisions or laptop
• compatible with SDHC, SDXC and UHS-1 memory cards
• can be utilized with the Olympus PENPAL® or various Eye-Fi™ cards for instant wireless uploads to your favorite social or photo sharing websites
• electronic level gauge
• stereo mics
• 3fps burst rate

Olympus Pen Lite (E-PL3):

• similar to E-P3 but lighter, slimmer, more modern looking body and tiltable 16:9 460,000 dot LCD screen (not OLED), and loses a front dial and the 2nd function button, and comes with a clip-on flash instead of having a popup flash.
• for some reason it actually has a faster burst rate (5.5fps) than the E-p3
• it also does not have these E-p3 Art Filters: Loses Pale Light & Color, Light Tone, Gentle Sepia and Cross-Process, and no level gauge.

Olympus Pen Mini (E-PM1):

• similar features to E-PL3 but loses the flip-out screen and mode dial, along with several of the buttons but essentially all of the camera’s features and functions are maintained in a simplified body that weighs roughly 50g less than the E-PL3.
• burst rate is 4.1fps but can do 5.5fps with IS turned off

Olympus 12mm f/2.0 lens:

• at long last a premium quality, fast wide angle prime to give an effective field of view of a 24mm lens on a 35mm camera
• even better, Olympus has listened to its users and added a “Snap Focus”manual focus ring and scale with DOF markings for manual zone focusing
• this should be a fantastic lens for street photography, low light photography as well as travel and landscape photography
• near silent AF for video
• pricing expected to be $US799

Olympus 45mm f/1.8 portrait lens:

• at long last Olympus has added a relatively affordable portrait lens with a wide aperture and 90mm equivalent “portrait” field of view which will allow nice blurred backgrounds for your portraiture.
• near silent AF for video
• “The MSC mechanism is great for tracking a moving child or pet, and provides a quick and silent focus mechanism for movies and still photography”
• pricing expected to be $US399

These 2 lenses along with the recently announced Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 lenses will be fantastic additions to the lens line up – now we need to see the new f/2.0 macro lenses from Olympus.

Lastly, Olympus has added a new compact flash for bounce flash – the Olympus FL-300R flash with remote TTL capability which can be used in tandem with the E-PL3 pop up flash or instead of it.

All very nice Mr Olympus, but personally I would prefer one with a built-in EVF similar to the Panasonic GH-2 which I am sure you must be working on and announcing soon.