Olympus E-1 “replacement” specs are almost as good as true:

HUGE 100% viewfinder with 1.15x magnification! SWEET! Just what I said would be required for me to consider buying!

10 MP

5 FPS

11 AF points, claimed to have better AF than Nikon D200 and Canon 30D.

(New SSWD AF lenses akin to Canon USM and Nikon SWM, except alleged to be faster. Yikes!)

Great high ISO performance (akin to E-510 but slightly better?)

Same world’s best dust reduction / weather proofing that has always been way better than the competition

In-camera stabilization, aiding in up to FIVE stops lower shutter speed! WOW! (Something Canon and Nikon may never chose to offer on their pro bodies, because IS / VR lenses are such hot sellers…)

Wireless flash control for up to 3 “groups” of flashes (smells like Nikon’s CLS)

Live Preview on the LCD

Okay, I know this all sounds totally wild and I probably would never TRULY “switch” to the Olympus system because I’m simply too lazy to start all over from scratch, but DANG this is shaping up to be a sweet camera! I truly believe that these Olympus 2x cropped sensors are going to gain a huge share of the market, and the technology will advance such that all the nay-sayers who laughed at such a small sensor are going to quietly slink away soon.

Some day when I’m better off, (compared to flat-broke like right now) and can afford to spend a little more money on photo equipment for my hobby’s sake instead of just for business, I’ll definitely be investing in the Olympus system…

Of course it will be a while before we find out if these specs are REALLY true, but this time the “leak” looks very legit to me.

Take care all,
-Matt-

So, David Jay is starting the “Get-Free” club, right? Okay if you didn’t know, here:

http://get-free.com

I’m a huge geek, and I wish I could afford to join, but I couldn’t help but crack up when I heard him talk about the auto-ISO feature that the new Canon 1D mkIII has. He’s right, it’s an awesome feature that I love as a wedding photographer, but lol, my 3+ year old D70 has this feature. Maybe THAT’S why Canon didn’t make a big scene about it- for once, they were playing “me too”, and doing it years late.

(Hey, I’m just posting this cause I thought it was worth a giggle, not to be mean to DJ or Canon. Nikon has played “me too” with practically EVERY other important feature, including the delayed “me too” of Canon’s IS and USM technology. But it was still funny to watch.

-Matt-