nickbaum.com

My buddy Tom from Ex Post Facto sent me a link to this good-looking new Olympus camera. I love the retro styling, it feels straight out of the 70s (and I like the 70s!). If only the trim were leather, as on the (much, much more expensive) Leica M9.

As for replacing entry-level SLRs, they still have a few advantages: 

1. Very fast startup and shutter speed
2. Large selection of lenses at all price/quality points
3. Even bigger sensors for better low light performance
4. Optical viewfinder for precise composition

Of those, (1) is typically the big thing that makes people switch to SLRs – they just feel better. However, if this camera performs well in that regard, I could see a lot of people opting for it over a bulkier SLR.

In general, I believe the camera market will split in two very distinct segments. On one end camera phones will replace any camera that can fit in your pocket. Phones aren't going to get much smaller due to screen-size usability constraints, so as internals shrink and battery performance improves, there will increasingly be space for larger, better photo sensors. On the other end will be large pro and semi-pro SLRs with top-quality performance and interchangeable lenses.

Update: as my friend German Bauer pointed out, this was unfortunately just a concept design. The final model ended up looking much blander. Sigh.