Olympus Cameras, Printer Aim High

Olympus Offers Quick Pix, Printing

In many of its features and capabilities, Olympus's other new camera, the Camedia E-100 RS, resembles the soon-to-be-released C-2100 Ultra Zoom. (See "Olympus Shoots for the Serious Amateur.") It comes with the same 10x zoom lens, LCD reflex viewfinder, and assorted options for controlling how your pictures turn out.

So what's the difference? Speed. Hold down the shutter, and you can take up to 15 pictures each second. We're not talking movies--but 15 full-resolution stills. (The RS stands for rapid shot.) Speaking of movies, Olympus promises to offer 640 by 480 video at up to 30 frames per second--numbers that suggest DVD-like quality.

Of course, you pay a price for this speed. With an estimated street price of $1499, the E-100 will cost $500 more than the already expensive C-2100. The other price you pay is in resolution, which is a lackluster 1.5 megapixels. For now, that's the best you can get if you want to take 15 shots per second.

Photojournalists, as well as sports photographers--either professionals or highly devoted amateurs--are likely customers for a camera such as this. But then, neither of these cameras is for the average enthusiast. You have to really love photography--or be economically dependent on it--to pay this much for a camera.

Printing on the Fly

Digital cameras offer instant gratification in that you can view your photos in the camera's LCD display right after you take them. But you still have to wait to get prints.

Olympus may have an answer with the Camedia P-200. Also coming in October, the P-200 is a small (about the size of a double CD jewel case), portable photo printer that prints 3-by-4-inch images on A6 paper.

"Priced at $599, the P-200 uses dye-sublimation printing and has a resolution equivalent to 320 dpi," says Richard Pelkowski, an associate product manager at Olympus America. "It's designed for business people at remote locations like real estate and insurance adjusting, but it could be used by anyone."

Prints from the P-200 run around 80 cents each, Pelkowski adds. The camera comes with both a CompactFlash and a Smart Media slot for printing from memory cards.

"Or, you can connect it to the PC to use it as your regular photo printer," Pelkowski adds.

It offers a better resolution than the Olympus C-211 Zoom, also scheduled to ship in October. Olympus developed that camera with technology from Polaroid, so it can produce "instant" prints. However, the unit is about twice the size of typical digital cameras. (See "Camera, Printer Blend in Box.")

Cameron Crouch of PCWorld.com contributed to this report.