Along with its new lime green point-and-shoot camera, Olympus also announced yesterday the latest model in its "E" line of digital SLRs. Olympus claims that its new 10 megapixel E-3 ($1699) has the world's fastest autofocus technology.

"The secret to the camera's high-speed focusing is a unique Twin cross type (fully biaxial) 11 point AF sensor, based on proprietary Olympus micro-sensing technologies, that achieves equally effective performance on both the vertical and horizontal axis," the company explains in a statement.

"With most biaxial sensors," it continues, "performance on the vertical and horizontal axes is not equal, and there is often a perceived difference in response time when using different lenses."

Highlights of the new camera include:

• Live viewing of a shot on the camera's LCD display.


• Mechanical image stabilization built into the body of the camera.


• Magnesium alloy body.


• Dual-axis, swiveling 2.5-inch LCD display.


• Optical viewfinder with 100 percent accurate view of a shot, as well as 1.15x Magnification.

Although the new autofocusing system will work with a variety of lenses, it really shines when used with a new line of optics specifically optimized for the camera. There are three new lenses in the line:

• Zuiko Digital ED 12-60mm f2.8-4.0 SWD ($999.99), which is the 35mm equivalent of a 24-120mm zoom.


• Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm f2.8-3.5 SWD ($1199.99), 100-400mm equivalent.


• Zuiko Digital ED 14-35mm f2.0 SWD ($2299.99), 28-70mm equivalent.