First Look

Olympus has overcome many new challenges as it has entered the world of Digital SLR photography. They started from the bottom up making the best quality lenses on the market, starting with the release of the now cult camera, the E-1, in 03/04. The new E-3 promises many new features to the system that diehard users have been longing for over the last 3 years. In reality, since the E-1, the system has been missing a high-end camera. However, up to this point Olympus has only delivered the highest quality product to the market even in the consumer cameras. They do not skimp on quality, and they have chosen instead of releasing a new body every 6 months to wait for perfection. That is what the E-3 promises.

At this point Oct 16th, 2007 the preview is only about 25% done, but as for now, I wanted to get up all the information that I could out.

It all begins with the building of the camera

At PMA '07 I meet with the designers of the E-System camera, Mr Terada, whom I interviewed on Oct 15th was at the meeting, but more on that later, really it was very interesting to see how a camera was created throughout the process. At that point the camera was only 50% done. In the image below you can see the entire process. Olympus Has flown me (Tony Spore) to New York, to be part of the Press event that they are putting together. It has been a great trip. So I will try to get as much info together as possible.

From the start to the finish each step has many revisions. The Body is first sketched out. Next a wood (I believe balsa wood) model is created. After that a plastic mockup is created. For Olympus, much time is spent on not only having a technically superior camera, but also one that is a pleasure to use and hold. There are 6 different versions of the redesigned grip. Finally you can see that the camera body in the final stages. For the E-3 all of the features of the system are closely monitored for excellence.

For more info about the thought which goes into the system please also see the Passion for the best.

Table of Contents

First Look

It all begins with the building of the camera