In a stunning new product announcement, Olympus today launched the Olympus Air A01, a finderless 16MP Micro Four Thirds interchangeable-lens camera that looks like a lens but is a full-featured camera. It clips onto and pairs with smartphones via wireless connectivity, can save images directly to the cloud automatically via Amazon Cloud Drive, and accepts all Micro Four Thirds-mount lenses. The smart phone LED acts as a viewfinder and gives users both automatic and full manual control over the video- and picture-taking process.
Thanks to its compact size, promised high image quality, and compatibility with the ubiquitous smart phone, the revolutionary Olympus Air could appeal to travel photographers and others who care about image quality and want control over their images.
Olympus Air A01Key Features:
•LCD monitor, storage, camera operation via Smart Phone
• 16MP Four Thirds Live MOS Sensor
• RAW + JPEG image capture
• AF, MF options
• 324-area multi-pattern TTL image sensor metering
• ISO range 200-12,800
• +/-5EV exposure compensation
• Shutter speeds 4-1/16,000 sec
• Full HD video
• Art Filters, color control, clips, more
• USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity
• Connects to Smart Phones via OA CENTRAL APP and Bluetooth
Full Integration Between Camera and Phone
Like the recently-announced DxO One and the Sony QX lens/camera combinations, the Olympus Air effectively turns smart phones such as the Apple iPhone into picture-taking devices with the image quality and flexibility of a DSLR, and signals the possible beginning of a new trend in digital photography. Like the Sony QX1, the Olympus Air takes the concept a step further by accepting interchangeable lenses.
The camera consists of the sensor unit, which clips onto the back of a smart phone, features a lens mount, and holds the Micro Four Thirds MOS sensor; clip it to the camera or keep them separate. Mount a lens to the front and, using the Olympus OA Central app, you pair the two via Bluetooth and operate the camera unit via the smart phone. The sensor unit can be purchased alone or with a kit lens; if you already own an Olympus or Panasonic MFT camera, you can use your existing lenses. Since Olympus, Panasonic and third party manufacturers have created dozens of lenses ranging from fisheye to long telephoto, this gives smart phone photographers the widest selection of viewing angles ever.
Traditional Camera Functions
Once the Olympus Air is paired to your smart phone, it operates much like any entry-level MILC. It has an 81-area focusing point AF system with face and eye detection AF as well as manual focus. Exposure can established via iAuto, Program AE, Aperture priority, shutter priority or manual modes, or by adjusting exposure compensation, which is an impressive 5-stop range in either direction (3 stops in either direction when shooting movies) in adjustable increments.
The Olympus Air A01 offers full HD movie recording in up to 30fps, but does not yet transfer videos direct to the cloud. It will, however, store it on the removable Micro SD card.
Olympus OA Central App
The Olympus OA Central enables initial set-up, then lets you control all shooting and playback operations. It also lets you upload still RAW and JPEG image files to the cloud. There are six shooting functions, most of which we’ve seen on standard Olympus Digital Pen cameras: Art Filter, which combines 14 art filter options and 9 art effects for a wider range of image options; Color Creator, which gives you fine control over color, saturation and brightness via a color ring and tone curve interface. Photostory lets you combine multiple viewpoints into a single scene, which Clips links multiple short movies and effects to create a single movie. Finally Genius automatically applies optimal (according to the camera’s on-board algorithms) as well as color, brightness and other effects.
Olympus tells us they’ve worked with Amazon Cloud Drive for direct-to-cloud integration, and that they plan to expand to additional services, including Google Cloud, iCloud, Dropbox and others.
The Olympus Air A01 will be available from Adorama in July, in the following configurations:
• Black Body, $299.99
• White Body, $299.99
• Black with matching kit lens,$499.99
• White with matching kit lens, $499.99
The bad news? At the time of the announcement Olympus noted that the App that allows control over the Air will only be available in the United States or Canada, so this product is for North American users only—for now.
