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| click image to see more photos of the Olympus FE-190 |
The Olympus line of digital cameras spans the range from affordable entry level units all the way up to single-lens reflex models aimed at professional users. The FE-series, launched with three models in late 2005, emphasizes competitive pricing and ease of use in a compact body. A year after its debut, Olympus has announced four new additions to the FE line.
First up is the Olympus FE-170, featuring an Olympus-branded 3x optical zoom with a 38 - 114mm equivalent focal length range and F3.1 - 5.9 maximum aperture. The Olympus FE-120 couples this with a 6.0 megapixel imager and 2.5-inch LCD display that has 150,000 pixels.
Likely to help keep price and complexity down, this camera's LCD is the sole method of framing images, as the FE-120 forgoes any form of optical viewfinder. As you might expect from an entry level $150 camera aimed at beginners, the FE-120 keeps things simple by retaining automatic control of most image parameters. Autofocus is via contrast detection, while ISO sensitivity ranges from 64 to 400 equivalent under automatic control. Exposures are determined with Olympus' Digital ESP multi-pattern metering, although the user can tweak the exposure with +/-2.0EVof exposure compensation, in 1/3EV steps.
Stepping up slightly in price to $180, there's the Olympus FE-180. With a slightly smaller and lighter body, most specifications are similar to the FE-170, but with the maximum ISO sensitivity boosted to 1000, a more capable 30fps VGA movie mode with sound, somewhat reduced flash range, a lower resolution LCD display (but of the same 2.5" size), and internal memory increased to 22MB. The Olympus FE-180 also replaces the FE-170's bundled alkaline batteries with NiMH rechargeables, plus a charger.
Next up is the $200 Olympus FE-190, which has a significantly slimmer and slightly lighter body, and uses a CCD with a slightly higher total resolution than the previous two models (although imager size and effective resolution are identical). The FE-190 retains the lower resolution LCD used in the FE-180, but includes a 30fps video mode with sound at a reduced QVGA resolution, and switches the AA batteries to a proprietary Lithium Ion rechargeable.
Finally, the Olympus FE-200 tops out the current FE-series lineup with a price tag of $250. It retains the same image sensor used in the FE-190, but couples it with a f3.3 - f4.8, 5x optical zoom lens with a useful 28mm wide angle. The Olympus FE-200 features the higher resolution LCD used in the FE-170, and offers ISO sensitivity to a maximum of 640. Flash range is reduced just slightly compared to the FE-180 and FE-190, and internal memory expanded just a touch to 24MB. Also of note is that the FE-200 uses a different LiIon battery from that used in the FE-190. The FE-200 fits all these into a body that is larger than all but the FE-170, and at 155 grams is the heaviest of the group.
All four cameras ship in the USA beginning in September 2006.
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