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[I]After the success of the retro-styled Olympus Pen, another nod to the heydey of the OM film SLR, the OM-D (for digital) family.[/I]

Well, here's yet another remarkable camera for photography fans to marvel at. This year we have had the [URL="http://dpnow.com/8417.html"]Nikon D4[/URL], [URL="http://dpnow.com/forum2/blog.php?b=269"]Canon Power Shot G1X[/URL], [URL="http://dpnow.com/8437.html"]Fujfilm X-Pro1[/URL], [URL="http://dpnow.com/8519.html"]Nikon D800[/URL] and now we have the [URL="http://dpnow.com/8532.html"]Olympus OM-D E-M5[/URL].

The first Olympus Micro Four Thirds mirror-less system camera to be designed with an integrated electronic viewfinder, the OM-inspired E-M5 may be clothed in a 1970s retro skin, but this is a cutting edge camera.

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For a start there is a dust and splash-proofed magnesium alloy body and standard zoom lens, the latter zooming from 24-100mm (12-50mm in Four Thirds metrics) and with the option of power zooming for smooth video transitions, plus a switchable macro mode.

There is also a vertically tilting 3 inch OLED capacitive touch screen, with touch focus and shutter release. Olympus now moves beyond 12.3 megapixels for the first time and the E-M5 gets a 16.1 megapixel LiveMOS sensor that promises lower noise and increased dynamic range compared to older Olympus models.

The new sensor also has a hardware fix for the rolling shutter 'video wobble' characteristic of many CMOS-type sensors.

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The new sensor is also the centrepiece of a new sensor-shift image stabilisation that compensates for camera shake in five axes instead of just two, offer up to 5 EV steps of additional steadiness shutter speed headroom. It also works better for video recording.

Another first that Olympus can claim is a two-piece optional grip. The HLD-6 can be attached in two stages; the first to greatly increase the size of the integrated grip, including the provision of a secondary shutter release, and the second - batter pack for one additional batter - which also adds additional cntrols and another shutter release for use in portrait orientation.

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Olympus also says the E-M5 has the fastest single shot AF of any system camera, and that includes all DSLRs and other compact system cameras. This is when using its standard zoom lens. They also say that tracking and continuous AF, a perceived weakness of mirror-less cameras compared to DSLRs, is much improved and will work at a shooting rate of over 4 frames per second. The camera can actually shoot at 9fps but AF is locked at the start of the sequence.

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A simplified built-in tone curves adjustment tool is provided, there are even more Art Filters than ever - most of which can be used in the camera's 1080HD movie mode, plus a 1.44 million dot high-refresh electronic viewfinder which offers several information overlay view modes, and let's not forget the novel Accessory Port system that supports hot-shoe mounted modules from Bluetooth adapters to external stereo microphone ports.

The E-M5 is also tiny; not a lot larger than Olympus's Pen compact system cameras, but importantly the grip is modular so you can make the camera bigger for better handling with larger lenses when required.

While Olympus may be in turmoil from a corporate perspective after a billion dollar plus financial scandal hit the company last October, at least it seems that the camera design team didn't let that distract then from what looks like becoming a modern, if retro, classic.