Olympus Interview, Part One:
Part One contains the genesis of the technology, why the E-330’s approach is unique, the target market for this camera, and how it will impact the industry.

DCI: To begin, if you wouldn’t mind Richard, would you give us a bit of background on your career and how you’ve come to this point?

Richard Pelkowski: Oh sure, I’d be happy to. I’ve been with Olympus for 12 years this spring. I started with them in service actually, before digital cameras actually hit the scene back in the early 90s. When I saw them coming I knew that was where I wanted to really be, working with the products. I worked in technical support for Olympus and then got into marketing about 5 years ago and now work with John Knaur, one of our senior product managers here, and I co-manage the E system products.

DCI: And how long has this actual technology on the E-330 been in development?

Pelkowski: I would say roughly about 2 years. You’re probably thinking, “My God, it took them a long time.”

DCI: Was the idea [for a live view] already in its inception when the E-300 was originally announced.

Pelkowski: Exactly. At that time people asked us why we were coming out with a flat top camera. We did state at the time that this design would give us a little room in the future for new and innovative designs, live view being one of them. We actually did allude to that.

DCI: Would you mind giving us a little background on how the technology works? And what were the major obstacles that had to be overcome to implement that?

Pelkowski: Sure. But before telling you the nuts and bolts of how it works: you can easily get a live view camera with an interchangeable lens without having a reflex mirror, but what we’ve done on this product [the E-330] is different. We still retained the mirror box, the reflex mirror and the optical viewfinder path and still have enabled a true live view camera. So you still retain the SLR type phase detection autofocus system, which is very fast and very accurate. You still have an optical viewfinder. And you have a true live view. And when I say true live view, I mean true; the camera can be in that mode, not for just a couple of minutes or 30 seconds and not just in monochrome--but it’s a true live view as you’d have with an ultra zoom camera with a EVF viewfinder, but you still have all the benefits of the optical viewfinder.

DCI: Going with what you just said… in 2000-2001, Olympus put out the E-10 and the E-20. They used beam splitter technology…

Pelkowski: They did use beam splitter technology. The drawback with that design was actually the type of focus system that was used, which was contrast detection as opposed to phase detection [because of insufficient amounts of light]. So, while that camera did offer live view… well, it wasn’t an interchangeable lens product; it didn’t have a reflex mirror, it didn’t use a phase detection auto focus system. It was a bit of a slow camera, too. And the viewfinder could be a bit dimmer, because you are sending some of the light in one direction and some in the other.

DCI: Looking at the diagram for the E-330, I see that the light hits the autofocus mechanism prior to being split.

Pelkowski: That’s correct. The main mirror, the reflex mirror and the autofocus system are really the same as [the system in] anyone else’s SLR, except that it’s turned sideways… The main mirror, the reflex mirror, has a semi-transmissive portion, like a one-way part.

Smith Clemens: Like a one-way mirror, right?

Richard Pelkowski: Exactly, like a one-way security mirror. Now, behind that there is actually what you call a sub mirror. And if you lift up the mirror on any of these cameras very slowly you’ll actually see the sub mirror before it pops up tight to the main mirror. Anyway, before exposure that sub mirror picks up what’s being focused on the mirror from the lens and actually shoots it down at a little AF sensor. This is the phase detection auto focus sensor that’s in the bottom of the mirror box. On other SLRs it’ll be sitting on the bottom, but on this camera it’ll be sitting on the side.

DCI: Would this technology be possible without a porro mirror?

Pelkowski: It would be, but I don’t think we would have been able to do it at this price point. We could in fact do it with a pentamirror or a pentaprism product in the future.

DCI: So the design will not affect the autofocus because the light beam doesn’t split until after it gets directed there?

Pelkowski: Exactly. In the live view A mode, we don’t have any split or divergence of the light path until we get right up near the viewfinder diopter.

DCI: Do you expect the optical viewfinder to offer the same illumination as the E-500 [viewfinder]?

Pelkowski: I think it’s going to be a little bit off. It is in fact an 80/20 split. 80 percent [of the light] to the viewfinder diopter, about 20 percent of the light focused on that secondary small CCD. Having said that though, for most of your photographic situations I really don’t see that as something that’s very noticeable. Comparing different manufacturers, you get diminishes in the viewfinder brightness that can be due to your mirror design, whether its pentamirror, whether its pentaprism; your focus screen, the lens that’s on the camera and so on and so forth--a smaller lens is going to make it darker. But I don’t think it significantly detracts from the optical viewfinder in this product.

DCI: That actually brings us to an interesting point… Do you think this camera is different from the rest in terms of its target audience? Because of the live view LCD, it seems that it’s not trying to interest people who are comfortable with film SLRs, but people who have grown up or evolved from compact digital cameras and are now moving up to a DSLR.

Pelkowski: With target markets it’s never 100 percent one way or the other, but I would absolutely agree with you. That’s a very good analysis that you make. That is definitely part of the customer that we see for this camera. Our earlier products, the E-10 and the E-20 you mentioned, were very popular with certain types of photographers because of the optical viewfinder and live view LCD. So we also think many people that bought into that product are going to be interested in this new E-330.

DCI: How do you see it impacting the entry level DSLR ranks?

Pelkowski: I think that’s going be a smaller customer segment with this product. But the reason I say that is really because of price point. We’re not so sure because it’s really new territory for us. We know it’s not going to be a product with mass units for us, as the E-500 might be for instance.

DCI: Where do you see the largest impact? What would you guess the eventual user base is shooting with now?

Pelkowski: E-10s and E-20s and more advanced digital SLRs right now. I think the E-330 will mostly impact those who have the need for extremely fine focusing capability at macro distances.

Smith Clemens: Can I interject? We’ve learned that 32% of the people that are currently buying a DSLR are purchasing their very first camera period. That means they’ve never even had a film camera before and they’re starting with a DSLR; there will always be that segment of user that is interested in the versatility that an SLR offers. Now, when you hand an SLR to somebody that’s on the novice side, or it’s their first camera, they ask, “Well, why can’t I see the picture on the LCD?” and then you have to go into the whole explanation; “Well, it’s a single lens reflex camera etc….” So I think the appeal of the live view is going to be very attractive to the mass consumer, but that’s the first half. The second half is the level of functionality that the E-330 offers in terms of sophisticated features, like a live view A mode and B mode that Richard mentioned for macro work. So you’re also appealing to the much more technically savvy person, such as someone coming from an industrial or medical background. For forensic photography for example, when live view is more practical in a clinical setting for close-up work. For environments that are not conducive to getting too close physically to the subject or looking directly through the optical viewfinder. Probably about 80 percent of the people who purchase this camera are going to be the mass consumer who like the whole live view aspect, and they’ll never take it out of live view A mode--which is going to be the default, out of the box setting.

Intro Page 2 of 4 Part Two Interview With Olympus Product Managers Richard Pelkowski and Sally Smith Clemens Navigation