On January 26th 2006 over a year since the introduction of the E-300 Olympus revealed the 7.5 million pixel 'live view' successor, the E-330. The E-330's biggest differentiation to any other digital SLR is its capability to deliver a live view on the LCD monitor (in the same manner as a prosumer / consumer all-in-one digital camera). For those new to digital SLR's this is difficult to achieve because of the mirror / shutter mechanism, the mirror is in the light path in view mode to provide an image to the viewfinder, this means that no image can be projected onto the main sensor. Additionally most large D-SLR sensor don't have video out capability. Other changes over the E-300 include a flip-out LCD screen and a range of feature improvements inherited from the E-500.
The E-330 achieves live view in one of two ways; in A Mode ('Full-time live view') the mirror stays in place and you can continue to use the viewfinder, the live view image is produced using a small secondary CCD sensor in the viewfinder chamber (as suggested by me five years ago). In B Mode ('Macro live view') the mirror flips up, the shutter opens and the live view is provided by the E-330's unique 'Live MOS' sensor. There are significant differences between the two modes:... [read more]