Olympus

Although information on the E1 successor is still fairly scant there is at least a more finalised mockup on show, with Olympus promising the camera will arrive 'sometime this year'. For those more interested in what's available here and now the two new E-system SLRs get a lot of booth space, and are attracting a lot of attention. The E-410 and E-510 are surprisingly compact and are well-specified and nicely built - and could be just the shot in the arm the 4/3 system needs in the face of such tough competition from the 'big two'. On the compact side the star of the booth - and one of the undoubted highlights of the show - is the SP-550UZ, the world's first (and so far only) stills camera with an 18x zoom. Also seen for the first time in public are the other recently-announced additions to the Olympus compact range, including four new entry-level FE models (one of which boasts an ISO 10,000 option) and three upgrades to the Mju/Stylus range (the 760, 770SW and 780). To prove the 770SW's all-weather credentials visitors can see a couple of them frozen in the center of a slowly-melting ice sculpture. We'll pop back at the end of the show and find out if they're still working...