The Olympus E-30

Olympus Imaging announced on the 5th of November 2008 their third image-stablised digital SLR, the E-30.

Oly has since had a hole in its FourThirds dSLR line up, with the E-4xx and E-5xx series covering the entry level, and the E-3 being the pro-grade model.

The new E-30 fills up that hole by providing E-3 specifications in a lighter/more compact form and a lower price point. E-3-like specs include the 11-point cross-type AF system, 5 frame-per-second continuous shooting, and a flip out LCD (bigger at 2.7"). The E-30, however, does not inherit the E-3's weather-proof seals.

Significant upgrades (versus the E-5xx series) include contrast-based autofocus, Art Filters, multiple aspect ratios (9 in all!) and the ability to capture multiple exposures and combine the images in-camera. The E-30 also boasts the highest effective resolution of any FourThirds camera to date, at 12.3 megapixels.

The E-30 is expected to ship in January 2009, at an estimated retail price of USD1299.99.