Olympus P-1 Photos

PMA 2007: The Olympus P-1 professional DSLR is on its way - that’s the message from Olympus ahead of this year’s PMA show, as official photos and a tentative “later this year” target for the DSLR camera have been released today. The much anticipated Olympus P1 was first shown in early prototype form at Photokina in the Autumn of 2006, so perhaps March 2007 was always going to be a little too early for the full launch. After news of the consumer E-510 and E-410 DSLRs yesterday, Olympus have sought to underline their committment to the professional side of the E-System by issuing these P-1 photos, which looks quite a lot different to the E-1, with a rotating/flip-out screen, chunky battery grip and lower height. There’s also news of the development of 4 new Zuiko Digital lenses, 3 of which feature the new Supersonic Wave Drive focusing system. Exciting times for pro-Olympus DSLR users, if you can bear to wait another 6 months or so…

Published: Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Reader Comments

1. at last , at long last ! a camera manufacturer who actually have paid complete and undivided attention to real-world photographic concerns of practical photographers. bravissimo , OLYMPUS ! looks like you've got yourself a CHAMP
   with your latest offering , this PI . now who would ever say AGAIN that breaking new ground in photography is NEVER FEASIBLE. from the looks of things , OLYMPUS donned its thinking cap to come up with this masterstroke - an industrial design triumph . nothing less than a bona fide DSLR WITH...a fully articulating LCD screen , control buttons that are intelligently positioned to naturally interface with the human hand , and bodily contours that would readily rival JLo's anatomical contours . i am thus moved to offer a remark to Canon...DO YOU FEEL LUCKY , PUNK !

   CARL HAMILTON at 06:04pm on Tuesday, March 06, 2007

2. and oh , yes. if OLYMPUS could just expand the P-1s LCD dimensions to cover 2.5 inches , add on environmental insulations to both the camera body and lenses , and mount a 35mm full-frame sensor then we can all consign Canon to its place in recent history.

   CARL HAMILTON at 06:15pm on Tuesday, March 06, 2007

3. That's certainly an enthusiastic response Carl!
   
   I suspect a full-frame sensor may be a request too far though...

   Mark Goldstein at 06:18pm on Tuesday, March 06, 2007

4. hi there Mark G ! call me an impossible dreamer but when it comes to documenting life as it passes by , i'd rather utilize an equipment which can render me that uniquely unquantifiable extra dimension from resultant images . something that no non-full frame sensors can ever achieve.
   besides , Canon had been resting on its laurels far too long now and have not equally reciprocated the continued patronage of its loyal customers who actually made it possible for Canon to reach that peak. It is only obvious that Canon's singular concern is that of raking undeserved profits and orchestrating planned obsolescence for its cameras. it's about time that some other camera manufacturer started to challenge Canon and beat it it at its own game .

   CARL HAMILTON at 07:16pm on Tuesday, March 06, 2007

5. I don't think Olympus want to enter the battle between Nikon/Canon, the very complete 4/3rd system they are building with Panasonic/Leica is an other history, not better not worse, just the benefits of a smaller sensor with litle super fast very useful lenses. Nikon should enter the full frame battle, and it seems they will (I hope this time the rumors are true!)
   
   I would combine a 5D with primes for detal big print work (man you can enlarge with that set up) and an Olympus set up for the road. Just like we do with 135 and 120 film. These two combine better than the irrational 1.5 - 1.6 - 1.3 - 24x36 factors. For a 1.5 little convenience I just prefere to stay with the "big" full frame, but for a Pana/leica 14-150mm (28-300mm 135 eq) of the size of a canon 28-70mm I'll start to get interested.

   Chema at 04:32am on Thursday, March 08, 2007

6. hi there Chema ! I would take that as a workable advice from you , thanks. your assumption that Nikon would enter the "full frame " arena sounds plausible since Zeiss manufactures Nikon-mountable lenses for its DSLRS. this pairing would complement the whole system very well as Nikon is equally formidable with its own photographic advances in the field. any chance SONY , who also sports Zeiss lenses , might want to join the fray ?

   CARL HAMILTON at 05:47am on Thursday, March 08, 2007

7. Hi Carl. Well, some hours after you said :
   
   "any chance SONY , who also sports Zeiss lenses , might want to join the fray ?"
   
   HOP! those pictures of the two new Sony prototypes...
   
   http://www.photographyblog.com/index.php/weblog/comments/pma_2007_sony_dslr_prototypes/
   
   have you seen that gigantic prism??? It has to be a full frame! oh if only it could be true, autofocus Zeiss lenses on a full frame DSLR.
   
   Now that I was considering seriously a full frame Canon DSLR I'll have to wait for this (and nikon to say the last word?)

   Chema at 01:49am on Friday, March 09, 2007