With dimensions of 5.6" x 4.2" x 3.0" (142 x 108 x 75mm), the Olympus E-30's body is almost identical to that of the company's existing E-3 model in terms of width and depth, but just slightly (0.3" / 10mm) less tall. The Olympus E-30's body is made of structural plastic rather than the magnesium alloy build of the E-3, and it also lacks the splashproof / dustproof environmental sealing of its pro sibling, but on the positive side these changes (amongst others) also mean it's quite a bit lighter than its pro-oriented sibling, with a body-only weight of 23.1oz (655g), the Olympus E-30 places almost exactly midway between the heft of the E-520 and E-3 models. The Olympus E-30 features a Four Thirds-format lens mount, compatible with lenses from Olympus, as well as from Four Thirds partners Panasonic / Leica and Sigma.

The E-30's sensor resolution of 12.3 effective megapixels is a little higher than the 10 megapixels offered by the E-3 and E-520. The Olympus E-30 uses a newly developed Four Thirds-format Live MOS image sensor which we're told should yield similar noise levels to the previous generation (despite the necessarily smaller pixels), thanks to improvements in the microlens and photo diode design. Burst shooting is possible at up to five frames per second with a burst depth of up to 12 Raw frames, and lower burst speeds can also be set between 1 and 4 frames per second. The number of JPEG frames which can be recorded in burst mode wasn't stated in the preliminary specifications we received.


Olympus has developed a new prism for the E-30's optical viewfinder, which has a fixed focusing screen and offers 98% accuracy / 1.02x magnification, along with an unusually high 24.2mm eyepoint. (That high eyepoint will be welcomed by many eyeglass wearers.) The view isn't quite as large, nor the framing quite as accurate as that from the Olympus E-3, which offers 100% coverage and 1.15x magnification.