Olympus CAMEDIA E-10, CAMEDIA E-10 4x Zoom Executive Overview
An Executive Overview on the Olympus
CAMEDIA E-10 4x Zoom SLR
Olympus America, Inc.
Two Corporate Drive
Melville, N.Y. 11747-3157
Copyright 2000 Olympus America Inc. are registered trade marks of Olympus Inc.
ForewordForeword
Foreword
ForewordForeword
Its not often that a digital camera is introduced to the market that is distinctive
enough that it can be considered a bellwether product, a product apart from all the
rest. Every year Olympus users set the expectation bar higher and higher and
consumers have grown to expect progressive technology and feature enhancements from Olympus with each new product introduction. Olympus’ goal is to meet
and exceed this challenge.
In our development of the Olympus CAMEDIA E-10 SLR and 4X ED glass zoom,
we set out to provide a trend setting product in form and function. The CAMEDIA E10 SLR is a camera that provides many of the best professional features available,
from the exclusive ED glass Zoom to the all-in-one zoom design. The ease of use
and control of the E-10 offers a feature rich solution at a price that is affordable for
serious amateurs and pros alike. The price, quality, and functionality are in large
part due to the unique design and rethinking of traditional camera design. In-fact at
the publication of this overview, the Olympus CAMEDIA E-10 SLR provides the
highest sensor resolution (4.0 million pixels) of any digital camera selling for less
than $7,000 and the best 4X zoom lens on a digital camera today.
But the resolution-to-price advantage of the CAMEDIA E-10 4x Zoom SLR only
represents a portion of the total professional-quality features provided by this camera. The precision of the lens and all-in-one design, providing a dust free environment for the CCD and optical precision, the E-10 is truly a new step in quality digital
photography. When all it’s features are taken into account, there is no doubt that
this camera is a breakthrough product in the digital camera industry.
This executive overview is provided to give you a better understanding of the technology, features and ultimate benefits that are associated with the CAMEDIA E-10
4x Zoom SLR. We conducted interviews with three well known professional photographers who used the CAMEDIA E-10 4x Zoom SLR for a two-week period. This
overview provides their comments and illustrates the benefits to entry-level pros
and existing professionals who might use the CAMEDIA E-10 4x Zoom SLR in
professional or semi-professional circumstances.
We encourage you to read further to see why we believe the CAMEDIA E-10 all-inone SLR design sets the new standard for digital camera features and performance.
John Knaur
Olympus America, Inc.
For More Information about the CAMEDIA E-10 SLR Pro go to:
http://e-10.olympus.com or http://www.olympus.com
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Digital Camera Market OverviewDigital Camera Market Overview
Digital Camera Market Overview
Digital Camera Market OverviewDigital Camera Market Overview
Recently, digital camera vendors and industry watchers have noticed that consumer adoption of digital cameras, as a replacement for film cameras is progressing at a much faster pace than many suspected just one year ago. In past years, the Japan
market has led consumer adoption trends and the U.S. has been approximately one year behind. In many cases, this has
allowed the Japan market to become a model of adoption to other regional markets. The primary difference between the U.S.
and Japan markets is the extent of Internet adoption and we know that the Internet has been a primary driver of digital camera
adoption in the U.S. For the first time since consumer digital cameras were introduced, the U.S. market in 1999 outsold all
other regional markets.
This past summer, an online survey conducted in Japan among digital camera users, indicated that in most cases, the use of
digital cameras leads to a corresponding reduced use of conventional cameras and film. According to this independent survey,
sixty percent of respondents stated that they were using film cameras less since acquiring a digital camera.
Adoption of digital cameras over the past four years has been astounding and dwarfs the adoption growth rate of other
ubiquitous devices such as inkjet printers and scanners. By 2002, consumer digital cameras will surpass flatbed scanners in
yearly worldwide adoption and this will have taken just seven years in comparison to twelve years for flatbed scanners to reach
this equivalent adoption rate. The Imerge Consulting Group worldwide forecast now puts consumer digital camera shipments
at over 50 million units by 2005. It took PC’s over fourteen years to reach this level of penetration. By comparison, digital
cameras will reach this same penetration in nine years.
In 1999 alone, worldwide consumer digital camera shipments, excluding toy cameras exceeded 5.8 million units and represented over $2.9 billion in street valued revenue. In the U.S., unit shipments exceeded 2.5 million representing over $1.3 billion
in street valued revenue with a projected five-year compound average growth rate, (CAGR) out to 2005 of 39.8%. (All sources:
Imerge Consulting Group - 2000)
Plateaus of Adoption
Unit shipments and revenue only tell part of the dynamic story
of digital cameras. The adoption of digital cameras has occurred in stages or plateaus, driven entirely upon technical
advances. The first plateau occurred with the introduction of a
viewable color LCD, providing instant gratification to consumers in 1995.
With the second plateau of adoption in 1996, Olympus set out
to move digital cameras away from being just novelty products
for viewing images, to products people could actually benefit
from, by providing the industry’s most regarded “optical path”.
The optical path is a combination of lens quality, internal optoelectronics, image processing (algorithms), and color science,
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all working in tandem to provide users sharper, more accurate
images. Olympus has now taken this a step further by provid-
Light from Film¤
Camera Lens
Light from Digital¤
Camera Lens
ing digital camera-specific lens assemblies, which direct light
in a straight line across the CCD sensor and improves the
over-all image quality.
Olympus also led the third plateau of adoption with the introduction of 1.3 mega-pixel resolution in a consumer digital camera. This resolution ceiling would later become the industry
CCD
CCD
benchmark for representing “photo-quality”. Photo-quality images are simply the equivalent in image quality to a consumer film camera when output to a 4” x 6” print on photo-grade paper.
But resolution alone cannot provide photo-quality images. It is the resolution provided by the CCD sensor in tandem to the
camera’s internal opto-electronics and entire optical path.
The upper ceiling of digital camera resolution has increased incrementally over the past three years from 1.3 MP to 2.1 MP, from
2.1 MP to 2.5 MP and has shown an average of 45% growth over the past five years. Olympus has pushed this resolution ceiling
for the second year in a row from 2.5 MP as seen in the C-2500L to 4.0 MP as seen in the CAMEDIA E-10 Zoom SLR.
New Era of Purchasing
We are entering into a new era of adoption where many consumers are now purchasing entry level digital cameras instead of
film cameras while other more sophisticated users are considering the purchase of their second or third digital camera.
Resolution and other advanced features are enhancing digital cameras well beyond film camera capabilities and digital
cameras are getting much easier to use. As a result, digital camera vendors are expected to provide an entire spectrum of
products to meet the needs of users, from entry-level novices to professionals. Currently, Olympus is one of the few digital
camera vendors that provide a full line of digital cameras for every type of user.
The Cost-to-Benefit Decision
Pro-sumers, entry-level pros and professionals shooting weddings, events and portraits in the past have had a difficult costto-benefit decision to make regarding their purchase of a SLR digital camera instead of a film camera SLR. Often the features
of a particular digital camera met their needs but the cost of a pro-quality digital camera presented a barrier to their purchase.
Olympus has finally solved this problem by providing a camera with the greatest features/lowest cost of any pro-level SLR
digital camera currently on the market. From this point forward, there is absolutely no barrier to adoption for entry-level pros and
professional digital photographers. Many of these photographers that have been augmenting their equipment arsenal with a
digital camera as a novelty item can now provide an all-digital service for weddings, portraits and events and provide quality that
is in many cases superior to film.
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CAMEDIA E-10 4x Zoom SLR’sCAMEDIA E-10 4x Zoom SLR’s
CAMEDIA E-10 4x Zoom SLR’s
CAMEDIA E-10 4x Zoom SLR’sCAMEDIA E-10 4x Zoom SLR’s
Value PropositionValue Proposition
Value Proposition
Value PropositionValue Proposition
High Resolution All-In-One SLR at 4.0
Mega Pixels
The Olympus CAMEDIA E-10 Zoom SLR provides a maximum
resolution of 2240 x 1680 pixels with its 2/3” Interlaced CCD
and creates 11.7 Mb uncompressed TIFF images. For the prosumer, entry-level pro and professionals photographers, this is a
quantum leap for a digital camera to provide this level of resolution. Now photographers can work as large as they want, or as
small as they want. The benefit of providing this high of resolution is manifest for those who need to output to photo-reproduc-
Walter Urie - ©2000
The E-10 also has a 32 Mb SD-RAM buffer, which allows a 3fps burst mode for four photos, for sequential shooting.
Joel Meyerowitz a professional location photographer based in New York comments on the resolution and image quality of the
CAMEDIA E-10 SLR: “From what I‘ve seen of the E-10, it’s brilliant and its images are sharp. Its images are also very balanced.
It makes overall exposures, in some ways, better than film exposures. There is plenty information or details in the shadow areas
and there’s tone in the highlights. Not all film performs this well. I made prints of these images up to 11” x 14” (the format of the
camera file), on 13” x 19” photo-grade paper. The output has real photographic quality and looks like film. I can’t see any
difference between film and digital at this level.”
tion quality at 11” x 14”, or a double page spread in a magazine.
Traditional Film Camera SLR Ergonomics
Olympus designed the CAMEDIA E-10 SLR with the goal of replicating the look and feel of a professional film camera SLR. It
has a distinctive all black body that pros enjoy because it’s less
intrusive. All buttons and dials are an easy motion away from the
base holding position and are easily obtainable on-the-fly. The
CAMEDIA E-10 Zoom SLR even provides a realistic sounding
shutter click from its speaker so you know exactly when the image is captured.
Another New York based professional photographer, Douglas Dubler explains, “the E-10 reminds me somewhat of the
Olympus IS-3 film camera that goes back about 10 years ago. It was a transitional camera, and the E-10 has that same great
of feel to it. The E-10 has great ergonomics, the buttons are situated in the right place for quick access. The E-10 is very tight
and precise and feels really good in your hand.”
Photographer Joel Meyerowitz adds, “the E-10 is absolutely in harmony with my hand. What’s nice is that this camera has hest.
Hest is when you pick something up, you feel the weight of it in your hand and it feels very solid. The E-10 has a good solid
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