DC Resource newsletter gives a little tiny hint .....

4/3rds will be too large, not too small.

Righ now an E3 will be (if they have any sense) a compacter pro camera, which is, as you say, a bit of a niche, but there are more than enough of us who want such a thing to make it profitable.
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/acam
http://www.pbase.com/acam/

insectman said:

"The E3 is the camera that has gone for good". Olympus will never,
ever produce a pro camera again. They got the format (i.e. size of
the sensor) wrong, and hence will never be able to compete with
larger-sensor cameras that will emerge within the next few years
from ALL other dslr manufacturers. 4/3 will (if it survives) become
a niche (but still lucrative) market.

Click to expand...

We will (probably) now a lot more after Photokina.

Olympus (more or less officially) said that they do work on a successor to the E-1, they just didn't say anything about the specs or the date.

Now that would stir a frenzy. A leica rangefinder would be welcomed by many I'm sure.

I'm guessing that the E-330 isn't ready to be replaced yet, but I am guessing the live view camera is 4/3rds. (It would be a shock if the S4 or 400XT had live view!). But the rumor of the E-3 (live view semi-pro) and E-5 (pro) senario is plausible I suppose. Panasonic might release a live view camera that will actually sell, and the E-500 upgrade might include live view (the ultra small DSLR?)

So is this the new Oly line?

For first timers:
E-600 (A100 challenger).

For non-conformist:
E-330 (Live view flat top).

For gearheads and pros:
E-3 (Pro match for all those Uber lenses).
OM-D (ultra small metal DSLR, live view, with manual controls).

I could live with that. We shall see.

Cheers, Seth

--
What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?

--
http://www.wallygoots.com

LJSmak said:

I don't like rangefinders at all but I am still curious how a
digital M can ever be an M... it being electronic will remove all
M-ness from it, in my opinion. What's next, a digital Rolex watch?

Lourens

Click to expand...

I have a great digital Rolex watch - I am sure it is real - at least that is what the street vendor in NYC said when I bought it for $20.
--
Ed
http://www.cbrycelea.com/photos/

LJSmak said:

Louis_Dobson said:

The E3 is the camera that has gone for good

Click to expand...

Without any doubt the "return of the camera model that I though was
gone for good" is the Leica M8.

I don't like rangefinders at all but I am still curious how a
digital M can ever be an M... it being electronic will remove all
M-ness from it, in my opinion. What's next, a digital Rolex watch?

Lourens

Click to expand...

Lourens,

You may be right, but we've known that the M8 was coming for some time, so it wasn't gone-gone. Now, the Contax G is considered gone, as is the Bronica line, the Oly Pen F & OM. Ben might be closer to home with a digital that is gone....lots of those.

The latest M8 rumors by some who have handled it (under NDAs) say that it looks, feels and smells like an M7, has mechanical frame lines, only a little heavier and a very quiet shutter. So, what makes an "M" what is that M-ness? The M name comes from a German word for rangefinder (that I forgot), according to historians. Don't tell me, it is the myth of all those gnomes working at milling machines making the clockwork gears and linkages while their wives are weaving the cloth for the shutters.....
I think we are in for an interesting fall.
--
Bob Ross
http://www.pbase.com/rossrtx

Ross said:

The M name comes from a German
word for rangefinder (that I forgot), according to historians.

Click to expand...

Messsucher.

(now with three s )

--
Bob Ross
http://www.pbase.com/rossrtx

how many more cameras do I want. Don't fret...'cause somewhere inside of you there's one of those also
--
Have a great day!

Ben

mxs said:

and the return of a camera model that I thought was gone for good.

Click to expand...

The E-10/E-20 range qualifies / Oly have ignored their market which flourishes judging by competitors' offering / if it's an Oly - well why not a smaller lighter E-20 with a similar built-in fast lens (but starting at 28mm if not wider) and bang up to date in speed etc etc? (yes, yes, yes, please).

Nonsense?

John Bunney

Turns out that my "live view" comment may not be accurate after all, despite what I was told by a manufacturer a few weeks ago. And Ben H. must have ESP...

• Jeff Keller

dcresource.com

mxs said:

*******************
-=- Comments from Jeff -=-

That is about to change, though. This September is the big
Photokina show
in Germany, and it'll bring with it many new cameras. Without
going into
specifics, I can tell you that there will be a number of 10 Megapixel
point-and-shoots (something that I'm not thrilled about), a few D-SLRs
(including one with live view), and the return of a camera model
that I
thought was gone for good.

Click to expand...

jeff@dcresource said:

Turns out that my "live view" comment may not be accurate after
all, despite what I was told by a manufacturer a few weeks ago.
And Ben H. must have ESP...

• Jeff Keller

dcresource.com

Click to expand...

thanks.

But now we know even less than before :'-(

;-)

Chinon.

Probably more likely.

Cephalotus said:

jeff@dcresource said:

Turns out that my "live view" comment may not be accurate after
all, despite what I was told by a manufacturer a few weeks ago.
And Ben H. must have ESP...

• Jeff Keller

dcresource.com

Click to expand...

thanks.

But now we know even less than before :'-(

;-)

Click to expand...

If Ben has ESP then we'll see a G7 thing from Canon and "no live view" might imply a Kodak sensored shrunken E-500 derivative.

If Panasonic's L-1 leads into the "retro" look and the star of Photokina is Leica's M8 (very retro), the Canon might try for a poorman's M8 and Oly would go for the E-OM. Maybe I am giving the marketing types more credit than they deserve....
--
Bob Ross
http://www.pbase.com/rossrtx