Olympus, Pentax and Sony revealed preliminary details of their next generation DSLR cameras at the Photo Imaging Expo 2007 in Tokyo, which closes tomorrow.

 

March 24, 2007: Olympus, Pentax and Sony revealed preliminary details of their next generation DSLR cameras at the Photo Imaging Expo 2007 in Tokyo, which closes tomorrow.
Olympus has already announced its intention to release a “successor to the E-1” camera by the end of this year and had a mock-up model on display. The new camera will include the Fulltime Live View function that was introduced in the E-330 model. It is also expected to feature the Olympus SSWF Dust Reduction System. The company says detailed specifications for this product will be announced this year.

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Olympus_E1_succ

A prototype of the successor to the Olympus E-1 with some of the new lenses the company has unveiled.
Pentax displayed a prototype of its coming 645 Digital, which will use smc Pentax 645 lenses. The company has tentative plans to use a Kodak-developed extra-large CCD image sensor with 31.6 total megapixels The new camera will have dual slots for SD and CF memory cards. Pentax also unveiled three top-of-the-line Star-series lenses (200mm f/2.8, 300mm f/4 and 60-250mm f/4) and a compact, lightweight 35mm f/2.8 macro lens for its current DSLR cameras.

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Pentax_645Digital

Front and rear views of the prototype Pentax 645 Digital camera.
Sony unveiled plans to release two high-end versions of its popular Alpha 100 digital camera, one targeted at the “high amateur user” and the other, the “flagship model” for professionals. Both will feature the same image stabilisation system as the A100, along with BIONZ image processing. One model is scheduled for release by the end of the year but Sony has not disclosed which. Both models are expected to offer higher resolution and be larger and heavier than the A100. Sony also displayed eight new lenses for the A100 and announced plans to release five more by the end of the year.
Photographers were also given the opportunity to try out Canon’s new EOS-1D Mark III, which will go on sale in Japan by the end of May. Designed for sports photographers and photojournalists, this camera has a 10-megapixel imager and burst rate of 10 fps.