[matthew]

The wait is finally over...

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E3/E3A.HTM
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0710/07101603olympuse3.asp
http://fourthirdsphoto.com/special/e3.php

And of course, the mothership has a page up: http://www.olympusamerica.com/e3/

Here's the highlights:

10MP Live MOS sensor
2.5" articulated LCD, 'Live View'
in-body IS
11 cross-type AF points
100% viewfinder with a 1.15x magnification
shutter speeds from 60s - 1/8000s
rain and dust proof
Rated shutter life 150,000 actuations
Price estimated at $1700US

...in short, it looks like a camera roughly between the Canon 40D and Nikon D300, as interpreted by Olympus.
It also happens to be ridiculously good-looking.

[Wedding Shooter]

I like the articulated LCD. Looks like a grreat camera.

[matthew]

The Online Photographer has a great picture of it: http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com...rived.html

I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed; the camera that I envy is the Nikon D3. But, I'm certainly not willing to pay D3 prices, so that's probably for the best. For the estimated price, I can see myself buying it once a couple of image quality questions have been answered.

I'm happiest to see that they've kept the external white balance sensor, and that the rear LCD doubles as a status display.

[Irma]

It has many great features Matt. What I like a lot is the rain and dust proof...

[Wedding Shooter]

That 14-35 2.0 lens looks wonderful.

[matthew]

There are a few people who are admitting to having preview cameras, and their experiences have been very positive. Some small sample photos have been released, but it's still too early and too limited to know what the image quality will be like.

I'll be sure to post a full review when I get mine.

[matthew]

...and now the wait is finally finally over!

My camera store got three bodies in today, and mine was the first one out of the store. I've been reading every word written about this camera in English -- and then some, thanks to some amusing machine translations -- for the past month, so now it's going to take me a day or two to sort out my initial impressions from the hype.

For one thing, the camera's very well designed. Every little detail seems to have been thought through, and the build is impeccable. The feel is even better than my E-1, which I've had two years to get to know, so that takes care of a major worry of mine. Tomorrow I take it for a walk, and Sunday I should be getting together with the family for the annual Santa Claus Parade. Lightroom version 1.3 came out today, so tomorrow I'll get to see what my photos look like.

My dream camera arrives the same day my raw converter of choice is updated -- how cool is that?

[Irma]

Congratulations Matt!!

Look forward to seeing your picture and read your impressions about your new camera.

[adam]

Congrats!
I also wait for the photos

[Wedding Shooter]

Congrats Matt and the images you posted looked great.

[matthew]

Thanks, all! It's been two days and I've taken over 500 photos. I'm still learning a lot about the camera, and have been fairly careless with what I'm doing just because the camera is so much fun to use. I won't feel like I really know what the results are like until I can get a profile built for ACR/Lightroom, but I'm already really happy with the stock processing. Things are looking good.