Seattle photographer Charles Krebs won first place in the 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition, the world's foremost forum for showcasing microscope photos and movies of life science subjects. His winning image enlarges the amazing movements of a rotifer, a tiny underwater creature that sweep at lightning speed to move food into its mouth. Krebs used a special flash to freeze the cilia's...

Housed in a body reminiscent of Olympus' old film cameras, the E-M5 is the first in the camera manufacturer's OM-D (OM Digital) series of digital micro four-thirds products. Modeled after the Olympus PEN line, the E-M5 is tailored with a built-in electronic viewfinder that offers a 100 percent field of view, a fast 120-fps refresh rate and 1.15x magnification (meant to reduce eyestrain). Images can be played back on the 3-inch, tilting, touch OLED screen...

Packed with a 24x wide angle zoom lens (a 25-600mm range), the new Olympus SZ-31MR iHS camera packs a wide zoom range into a relatively affordable compact camera. Like its predecessor, the SZ-31MR iHS can capture 1080p HD video and 16-megapixel still images simultaneously. Features new to this model include a touch-panel LCD and...

Olympus has shipped its first micro four-thirds lens with electronic zoom — the M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 EZ (35mm equivalent 24–100mm). Its main features include a 4.2x zoom ratio and a dust- and splash-proof body. In macro mode, focusing is pushed between 8 and 20 inches for close-up shooting with a maximum image magnification of 0.72X (35mm camera equivalent)...

Touting itself as the micro four-thirds camera with the fastest autofocus on the market today, Olympus’ new PEN E-P3 features a bright, 614,000-pixel, high-resolution OLED touch screen. In addition, Olympus released the PEN E-PL3, which is essentially a shrunken version of the E-P3: a more portable point-and-shoot — yet flexible — interchangeable lens camera with a swivel LCD screen.

The E-P3 is outfitted with a FAST (Frequency Acceleration Sensor Technology) autofocus tracking system and 35 focus points, and a 60-millisecond shutter response time. Selectable 3x3 focal groups within the 35-point area can also be set when shooting active subjects...

Olympus has surpassed its compact zoom lens capabilities with the SP-810Z. The lightweight camera can reach magnification of up to 36x with its ultra-wide zoom.

The SP-810Z is outfitted with a 3.0-inch LCD and offers users several new “magic” filters, including the miniature filter (which narrows the depth of focus and saturates color) and the reflection filter.,,

The E-PM1 is the lightest and smallest of Olympus’ PEN line. Dubbed the “PEN Mini,” the PM1’s 4.3 x 2.5 x 1.5-inch body houses a 12.3-megapixel sensor and a super luminosity AF Illuminator LED beam, which allows the camera to focus faster in low light up to ISO 12800.

Attracting new PEN users, Olympus has also focused on making this the most intuitive PEN camera. A step up from a point-and-shoot camera, the E-PM1 features a one-touch button for up to 29 minutes of 1080i HD video, iAuto and scene select modes, and six built-in art filters...

Tough cameras are taking off in the consumer camera sphere, and Olympus's new TG-810 — a shockproof, waterproof, freezeproof, crushproof 14-megapixel camera — is at the forefront.

Though this model doesn't feature any complex manual functions or interchangeable accessories, it does offer many features of interest to an outdoor junkie. One of the first of its kind to offer 3D still shots, the TG-810 boasts the capability of shooting in the third dimension both on land and under water. Another perk for underwater photographers...

Tapping into the all-in-one niche, Olympus has debuted a new line of compact cameras with the SZ-30MR — a full-feature, super-zoom camera with 16-megapixel resolution and a 24x optical wide-angle (25-600mm equivalent) zoom lens.

Olympus has specialized this model with a dual engine processor and a multi-recording function that captures full 1080p HD and still images simultaneously...

With Japan producing 14 percent of the world’s electronics and manufacturing equipment, the shock waves from the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and ongoing nuclear crisis are still being felt two months later in the photography industry.

Camera front-runners such as Canon, Nikon and Sony had dozens of plants based near the earthquake epicenter in northern Japan...