Here is the first of our on-site Photokina show reports
The big news from yesterday, press day here at Photokina 2004 in Cologne, Germany was the announcement of a mass-market E-System DSLR from Olympus,
the E-300. Olympus also revealed a new concept camera, the M:Robe.We also had an opportunity to try out Minolta's new Dynax (Maxxum) 7D.
Olympus E-300 update
Let's start with Olympus. The E-300 is the E-System's entry into the more affordable mass-market pioneered by the Canon EOS-300D. Olympus has been making broad hints that even though the E-300 has eight megapixels compard to its rival's six, it will closely match Canon's price.
Above is yours truly with a working pre-production E-300, fitted with the new lower-cost 14-45 (28-90 equiv) f/3.5-5.6 standard zoom lens. Note the high deployed position of the pop-up flash. The good news is that the lens seems to be built to much the same mechanical robustness as the original 14-54 f/2.8.
The body is metal, as is the lens mount. It feels substantial without being too heavy. Cost savings centred on replacing expensive ED lens elements with cheaper glass and there is no distance scale on the lens barrel.
This lens and the new 40-150mm (80-300 equiv) f/3.5-4.5, which is also designed to be more affordable, are expected to ship in November, in advance of the E-300 which will ship in small quantities from late December. It looks like we can expect some E-1 bundling deals with the new lens which is good news for those for whom the E-1+14-54 f/2.8 kit was just out of reach.
The picture above shows the new FL-36 flash, which is a compact alternative to the FL-50. It's possible to use both the built-in and the FL-36 at the same time.
Believe it or not, the above is a camera. It is also a personal multimedia device that can store, display and play still images, digital music files and video. You can see visual content on its own screen or connect it to a TV. It's Olympus' new concept device called the M:Robe. On the other side is a huge screen (see below).
The Minimalism is the key word – there isn't even a shutter button. Everything is controlled by the touch sensitive screen that dominates the other side of the unit (above). Although this is a concept exhibit, I'd put money on the M:Robe going into production.
Konica Minolta Dynax (Maxxum) 7D – seeing is believing
After the lengthy wait since PMA in February, when Konica Minolta announced their intention to produce their first DSLR, the Dynax (Maxxum) 7D and then the press release two weeks ago – the proof is here that it really does exist now – we've actually had one in our mits (see below).
First impressions are very good – it feels right, it's not too heavy, the size is not the most compact but it's not a monster. The viewfinder is nice – overall it's a nice looking camera.
That big 2.5 inch screen is a key distinguishing feature (above). The cameras being handed around at the Photokina press event yesterday were not final production models, so we weren't allowed to put our own cards in the cameras, but they seemed to function properly and certainly looked production-line quality.
The picture above gives a useful sense of scale of the camera against the hands of the person holding it. In fact the camera looks larger in pictures than it actually is in real life.
The picture above is rather interesting. Not because it's a picture of the anti-shake control switch on the 7D, but because if you look closely, the picture exhibits… camera shake! We're certainly looking forward to putting a production camera through its paces and hope to update you on this very soon.
Look out for more updates from Photokina 2004 here in Cologne coming soon!
To keep up to day with the many announcements being made this week, check out our September news release archive index.
