the daily flashkube

A few weeks back I did a short walk across the Kennedy Avenue bridge (over the Hillsborough River). The University of Tampa has a nice riverside park with tall palms, walking path, and several benches. Here are some of the photographs I made that morning. I prefer higher contrast black and whites for still life and landscapes. Lots of clarity and grit.

I remember working with this flower, moving sliders back and forth. Did I want it to look as it did when the shutter was pressed, colorful but common? Did I want it to look as my mind chooses to remember, vibrant flames dancing at the end of a translucent stem? Memory is a pattern in which mind and eye conspire against reality. It is a carnival mirror image of the world shaped by this and this and this. When the scaly skin of color finally sloughed off, what texture, what character! What rubbish. There is always next time.

UPDATES: See bottom of post.

Specs are better than I expected at a price point close to what I thought would be reasonable. A few things I am really excited about: Magnified focus assist, LCD as large as my D300, Digital leveler, HD video. Unfortunately, it won’t hit stores until next month according to the emails and press release. The product page has a shop now button but it doesn’t actually show any stores. No pre-order either. Would really, really like to see a pre-order button somewhere. Oh well, here are the specs, links, etc.

Press release: http://www.olympusamerica.com/oai_HeadlinesDetails.asp?pressNo=688

Product page: http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1461&page=overview

Availability
The Olympus E-P1 will be available in July 2009. It includes E-P1 Body, USB Cable, Video Cable, Li-Ion Battery Pack (BLS-1), Li-Ion Battery Charger (BCS-1), Shoulder Strap, OLYMPUS Master 2 Software CD-ROM, Manuals and Registration card.

U.S. Pricing / Product Configurations
E-P1 Body Estimated Street Price: $749.99
E-P1 Body with ED 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens Estimated Street Price: $799.99
E-P1 Body with ED 17mm f2.8 with optical viewfinder Estimated Street Price: $899.99

• Superior DSLR Image Quality
• In-body Image Stabilization
• Amazing 3-inch LCD
• Proven Dust Reduction System
• 12 megapixels with next-generation TruePic™ V
• HD video with high-quality stereo audio
• In-camera creative features (for still images and video)
• Multiple exposures
• Multi-aspect shooting
• Multimedia slideshows
• Digital leveler
• Magnified focus assist
• 18×18 metering modes
• Small accessories for small camera

Here is a pre-production unboxing and short review:

The final video from the Olympus PEN 50th Anniversary series:

And of course, part 2 of the Will it Blend? video:

Found this TV commercial on YouTube but not sure if it is real:

UPDATED 6/16/09 12:22PM EST:

Olympus Pen E-P1 720p testing 1 from ePrice on Vimeo.

Olympus Pen E-P1 720p testing 2 from ePrice on Vimeo.

Olympus Pen E-P1 720p testing 3 from ePrice on Vimeo.

UPDATED 6/16/2009 12:31PM EST:

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/olympusep1/

UPDATED 6/16/2009 9:25PM EST: