Three years after launching its E-3 digital SLR, Olympus has unveiled its successor - the E-5. The camera is Olympus' third flagship DSLR to come out since the introduction of the E-1 more than seven years ago.

While the E-3 featured a 10-megapixel sensor, the E-5 now uses a 12.3-megapixel High-Speed Live MOS sensor - the same used in the E-PL1 Micro FourThirds camera - and is complemented with a TruePic V+ engine. The camera also uses a new algorithm "to give more detail and sharpness by exhaustively processing each pixel," claims Olympus.

The E-5's sensitivity can extend to ISO 6400. It also has a 11-point full twin cross auto-focus system, a shutter speed of 1/8000s and a burst rate of 5fps. The E-5 also features a 3-inch VGA swivel LCD screen with 921,000 dots resolution.

However, a new addition to the camera is a 720p 30fps high-definition movie mode. While the camera lacks a 24fps movie mode, it does include a stereo microphone jack and HDMI interface. The E-5 can also accept both SD and CompactFlash memory cards - providing "extra storage capacity for the data-rich film files."

The E-5 wil lretail from late October at £1500. For more details, visit olympus.co.uk.

Speaking to Amateur Photographer magazine, Olympus has hinted that the E-5 could be the last camera to feature a mirror-based design. "We will continue to do these [Four Thirds cameras] until micro cameras can do what other products can," Olympus UK's Consumer Products marketing manager Mark Thackara told Amateur Photographer. "All cameras will be mirrorless in the future.' 'At some point someone has to draw a line in the sand… We will continue to support that [E-system] until other technology catches up."

Read more at Amateur Photographer.