The two main attractions of the Olympus booth are the super-tough Olympus E-5 digital SLR and the PEN system of compact interchangeable-lens digital cameras. A fairly large area of the stand is dedicated to the E-5, with an Olympus representative demonstrating the ruggedness of the camera. When we were there he was standing on three layers of large glass plates supported by four Olympus E-5 bodies, and held a fifth one in his hands, holding it under a shower of water droplets. The camera was turned on and set to Playback mode, with the rear LCD screen showing an image, evidently unaffected by the water falling on it.

Another Olympus representative was kind enough to mount an old Zuiko OM lens on an Olympus E-5 body with the help of an adapter (see picture below), to see if the camera provides focus confirmation with legacy lenses (apparently it doesn’t). As far as the PEN series is concerned, Olympus has a range of bodies, lenses and accessories that visitors can hire for two hours to see if they like the system. We were able to snap a couple of pictures of the new M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/4-5.6 lens, which is really tiny for a telezoom. The other new Micro Four Thirds lens - the M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 - is only being shown behind glass, but it does seem to be considerably smaller than the Lumix G Vario 100-300mm f/4-5.6 MEGA O.I.S. lens announced by Panasonic two days ago. Also on display is a mock-up of the new premium Zuiko Digital compact camera as well as a host of accessories for Olympus’ interchangeable-lens and compact camera ranges, including underwater housings for PEN and mju-TOUGH cameras.

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