| Fact of life: when you're the dominant company in | | | | operation) or have it cleaned professionally. |
| your industry you no longer have to innovate. | | | | Canon in Comparison |
| It makes sense - with the lion's share of the | | | | Canon's new camera release this year is the 30D. |
| market, why change anything? If it's not broken | | | | Despite the addition of some new features, this |
| don't fix it. | | | | camera is virtually identical to the 20D, released in |
| It's the little guys who must be creative to get | | | | 2004. |
| noticed. | | | | While the 20D broke a lot of ground for digital |
| The Olympus Edge | | | | SLR cameras, the 30D is wholly unremarkable. It's |
| Many will agree that Olympus is not exactly a | | | | a minor upgrade to a camera that sold |
| "little guy". But they are when it comes to the | | | | exceptionally well. |
| digital SLR market. | | | | The 30D doesn't have unique features like the |
| Olympus trails behind both Canon and Nikon in the | | | | Olympus E330. |
| distribution and sales of digital Single Lens Reflex | | | | Does this mean that everyone will go rushing out |
| cameras. | | | | to purchase Olympus cameras and drop Canon's |
| This makes Olympus a company primed for | | | | sales like a brick? |
| innovation - and that's exactly what they've done. | | | | I doubt it. |
| In March of 2006, Olympus released the EVOLT | | | | Too many photographers already have an |
| E330, a camera that is one-of-a-kind: it's the only | | | | investment in Canon lenses, so a Canon digital |
| digital SLR with a live preview mode on the LCD. | | | | SLR is the natural choice, regardless of whether |
| This may not sound like an innovation to you. | | | | or not the camera is innovative. |
| After all, every compact digital camera out there | | | | Still, it seems a shame that a market leader can |
| shows you what picture you're about to take on | | | | establish a position and grind out products with |
| the LCD. | | | | nothing new to offer. |
| But it's not standard on digital SLR cameras. | | | | Time will tell whether this approach is successful. |
| With any other SLR you must look through the | | | | Eventually Canon may have to adopt the new |
| viewfinder to compose a photo. You can only use | | | | technology pioneered by their competition. |
| the LCD to review photos and change menus. | | | | While this may only occur due to a loss of |
| That's it. | | | | market share, I hope that it doesn't have to |
| The live LCD makes the EVOLT E330 a unique | | | | come to that. |
| camera. It's made even more so by a vibrating | | | | As a digital SLR enthusiast I enjoy innovation, |
| sensor that clears itself of dust every time you | | | | since I believe that digital SLR technology still has |
| turn the camera on. | | | | some secrets that have yet to be revealed. |
| This feature is also exclusive to Olympus cameras | | | | What remains to be seen is which company finds |
| - if dust gets on the sensor of your Canon or | | | | them first. |
| Nikon, you have to clean it yourself (a tricky | | | | |