Olympus has announced the Olympus Air, a specialist lens camera that attaches to your smartphone.
If you think that makes the Olympus Air sound rather like the Sony QX line, then you’d be right. It is.
It gives you a 16-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor with a mount that can take any of the associated lenses available for the format. It also has a physical shutter button for those who don’t naturally take to touchscreen control.
The Air also comes with a microSD card slot and a lithium battery that’s good for 320 snaps on a single charge.
In performance terms, the Olympus Air can boast an 81-point autofocus system, and it’s capable of shooting at 10 frames per second. It connects to your smartphone over Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth support will let apps connect to the camera quickly when booted up.
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As that last point suggests, perhaps the most interesting thing about the Olympus Air is its open nature. Olympus says that it will allow third party app developers to make apps that work with the device, so you won’t just have to rely on the company’s own array of art filters and shooting settings.
At the moment, the Olympus Air has only been announced for the Japanese market. It will go on sale there for 33,800 yen (about £189) on March 6. There’ll also be a bundle with an Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens for 49,800 yen (£279).
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
