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The Olympus EP3 could be the Micro Four Thirds camera we have always been waiting for

A big day for photography news today, thanks to the folks at Olympus. First up is the Pen EP3, the fifth iteration of its PEN Micro Four Thirds line, which manages to mix up pretty much everything while keeping it in the original PEN’s retro-style body.

First, the basics. The 12.3MP sensor is almost the same, with tweaks to make it play nicer with Olympus’ own Zuiko lenses. It will shoot photos up to ISO 12,800, and capture video at 1080i (60fps), but the main difference is speed. Coupled with the new processing chip (TruePic VI), the camera can check focus 120 times per second. Speed of any kind was never the PEN’s strong point, and according to early reviews, the EP3 really is a lot faster.

The shutter is also faster, with a lag of just 60 milliseconds. Compare that to Nikon’s official lag for the D700 — 40 milliseconds — and you can see that it’s pretty quick.

What you’ll probably notice first, though, is the pop-up flash, which the original PENs lacked. These things are useful for triggering bigger, off-camera units, although they can of course be used to get that traditional “party-photo” look, complete with red eyes and washed out faces.

Then there’s the removable finger grip. Unscrew it with a coin and you can replace with a bigger grip, or none at all. I imagine a whole third-party cottage industry springing up around this.

The LCD, too, is new, with higher resolution (614,000 dot OLED) and a capacitive touch screen. You can use this to touch-to-focus like the iPhone, and to control other functions. Don’t worry, though: Olympus hasn’t gone all Panasonic on us and removed the manual switches. Lots of proper knobs and dials remain, and many can be customized to do what you want.

Finally, lenses. Also new are the Zuiko Digital ED 12m ƒ2.0 (24mm equivalent) and the Zuiko Digital ED 45mm ƒ1.8 (90mm equivalent). The second will make a great portrait lens. The first has a “snap-focus” ring that acts like a real manual-focus ring, complete with distance markings on the barrel.

If you’re a Panasonic GF-1 owner looking to upgrade, this is probably the first place you’ll look, at least until Panasonic stops pumping out skinny, dumbed-down Micro Four Thirds GF cameras. I’m certainly going to be trying one out when I can.

The EP3 will be available in August for $900 with either the Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm II R ƒ3.5/5.6 zoom or the Zuiko Digital ED 17mm ƒ2.8 prime.

EP3 product page [Olympus]

EP3 press release [Olympus]

See Also:

• Next-Gen Olympus PEN Hits the Micro Four Thirds Sweet Spot …
• Olympus Pen EP-2, Now in Retro-Tastic Silver
• New Olympus Pen Adds Flash, Loses Good Looks
• Olympus Pen E-P1 – Wired
• A Month With the Lumix GF1, And Why I No Longer Use The Nikon D700 …
• Panasonic Announces Tiny, Feature-Lacking GF3

Ad agency parasites now have even more control over poor photographers with Capture Pilot

Normally I’d complain about an iOS camera triggering app which requires a computer as well as a camera to make it work, but when that camera is loaded with the Phase One back, which pumps out 80MP images, you’re going to need somewhere bigger than the iPad to put them.

The app is Phase One’s Capture Pilot with Camera Control, and it works in tandem with Capture One Pro 6 on your computer. In its free form, the app lets you view, tag and rate images as they are snapped in-studio. This feature is aimed less at the photographer and more at those people who bother him as he tries to go about his work.

Imagine: You’re taking meticulously set-up photos of, say, the hot new cellphone, and the ad agency sends someone to look over your shoulder. Only now, instead of having to sit at your computer, they can lounge around on your couch with their iPad and order you around from there. Or worse still, thanks to the feature that allows the app to be used from “remote locations,” the parasite can sit in the coffee shop across the street and have their lackey call you and direct the shoot.

Once these morons have left for the day and gone for some egg-white sushi, or whatever the hell it is they eat, you can make a $15 in-app purchase and gain full remote access over your camera. You can control exposure settings and see on-screen readouts for ISO sensitivity, exposure mode, shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation, and so on. You can also trip the shutter.

And this will work with pretty much any Canon or Nikon SLR, along with (of course) Phase One gear, and also Leaf and Mamiya cameras.

Capture One 6 Pro costs $400. Capture Pilot with Camera Control is free, plus $15 to get the features you’re actually interested in.

Capture Pilot [Phase One. Thanks, Kathy!]

Capture One Pro 6 [Phase One]

See Also:

• What Would You Do With 80 Million Pixels?
• DSLR Camera Remote HD for iPad
• Hands-On With DSLR Remote for iPhone

Wimbledon, typically a quiet leafy suburb in the great urban sprawl of London, tends to get a little noisier around this time of the year as the world’s top tennis players descend upon it with a grunt and a huff of exertion. It’s precisely those un-British howls of effort that the BBC is offering to filter out for you with a new Wimbledon NetMix tool. It’s a simple audio mixing slider, available to BBC Radio 5 Live listeners, that adjusts the balance between ambient on-court sound and the soothing timbre of commentators’ voices. The technology’s enabled by the guys and gals at Fraunhofer, who were nice enough to do it for free, and is being introduced in response to a great many complaints received by broadcasters about the primal screaming that’s accompanied this year’s matches. If the reaction to the NetMix slider is positive, it could find further job opportunities on the Beeb’s iPlayer or in coverage of other sporting events.

Wimbledon NetMix lets you turn down on-court grunts in favor of staid commentary originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 04:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Starting today Japan’s iconic Hello Kitty character has been decked out in crystal and put on display in its own “House of Hello Kitty” in the upmarket Tokyo district of Omotesando. Having collaborated before the “Swarovski Hello Kitty Collection” event features everything from crystal encrusted Hello Kitty accessories to the pride of place center piece, an exclusive, limited edition figure adorned with 20,000 crystals and costing a cool ¥1.2 million ($14,800).

Hello Kitty fans can wander around the pink palace that is the House of Hello Kitty taking in the vast array of accessories on display from ear rings to bracelets and keychains and even a limited edition $100,000 clutch bag an Elle x Swarovski x Hello Kitty collaboration. Arranged in their own unique, plush miniature rooms the displays drew cooing and exclamations of “kawaii” a plenty.

Not to miss a trick there is also a full Hello Kitty chandelier hanging over the collections of rooms that each house a different Hello Kitty surprise, and guarded by Phantom Of The Opera inspired costumed men and iconic red bow adorned girls, designed by Japanese costume artist Hibino Kozue.

Visitors can also play with some of the digital interactive displays that are dotted around the exhibition. Just inside the entrance is a particularly cool 3D holographic display that allows users to manipulate a floating Hello Kitty and various accessories found in the main area. Visitors use a sweeping motion to switch between different holograms, as well as enlarging it and raining crystals down on it through different hand gestures.

There was also a neat digital AR photo area which lets users virtually adorn themselves with red ribbons, ear rings and a whole host of other cute Hello Kitty merchandise. Users are then displayed a QR code which they can scan to download the end photo direct to their mobile phones. CScout Japan’s intern Ron was particularly pleased with the end result which now sits pride of place on his phone as his wallpaper!

It wouldn’t be Japan without a UFO catcher display also where visitors were queuing up to have the chance to grab a limited edition Hello Kitty doll featuring a special necklace.

Tying in digital publicity with the exhibition the homepage for the Swarovski X Hello Kitty collaboration also allows users to create their personal Hello Kitty collection avatar icon. By giving the app permission to access their Facebook, their profile picture is given a unique Hello Kitty frame designed specifically for this event. Users are then allowed to replace their current profile picture with the customized one made by the app.

The organizers of the event have also incorporated an fun RFID tag “treasure hunt” style event around the streets of the area the exhibition is being held, utilizing the ubiquitous Japanese mobile phone technology. At the entrance of the building housing the exhibits, sit two life size Hello Kitty art objects. Pictured below, the left piece was designed by Rikako Nagashima, a popular art director in Japan, and the right by Azuma Makoto, a well respected Japanese flower artist.

There are a total of 9 of the Hello Kitty art pieces (each created by one of the nine artists working in collaboration with this event, including Japanese supermodel Tominaga Ai) scattered around the heart of Omotesando. Embeded in the description tag of each object was a Felica chip, in which users could gather information about the piece as well as its creator, by scanning it with their mobile phones. Public who visit all 9 of the displays and scan all of the Felica IDs are in turn rewarded special prizes for their efforts.

This campaign lasts until the 10th, after which these art objects would be auctioned off by Yahoo! Charity Auction, with all of the money being donated to the Japanese Red Cross in aid of the 3/11 earthquake.

The exhibition will certainly appeal to the millions of Hello Kitty fans in Japan, including this particular one who although nothing to do with the exhibit itself arrived in her own customized Hello Kitty decked out car!

Swarovski Hello Kitty Collection is on display in Omotesando Hills from 6/30 through to 7/10.

Related Posts:

Hello Kitty Gets Musical With Swarovski
Hello Kitty Money coming to Asakusa
Hello Kitty sexy body fashion water bottles

We’ve seemingly unearthed a whole lot of alternatronica in the past few days (not that it’s a bad thing), so you’ll understand when we enter yet another combatant into this abstract ring. Looking more like a complex game of Simon and almost playing like it too, Yamaha’s TNR-i app apes the functionality of the Tenori-on for your iOS instrument of choice. Ringing in at a hefty £11.99 (that’s $19 bills, yo), this 16 x 16 grid of orchestral lights crams six performance modes and online multiplayer functionality that more than justifies the price tag. Considering this is a CliffsNotes version of the real thing, you’ll feel right at home in that amateur robot drum circle. Hit the source to get your own melodious light bright on.

Yamaha’s TNR-i app lights up iOS with its musical stylings, dashing looks originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 02:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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