One thing I missed from my Canon G5 when I went to my Nikon D70 was the live preview in the LCD screen. I was forced to look through the viewfinder, which was fine, but there are times that just couldn’t be done. If you’re holding your camera high above a crowd of people to get a shot in front of you, you’re basically doing so on fate that you’re pointing the lens in the right direction. With my G5, I just adjusted the LCD so I could see if I was getting my subject in the lens and then I snapped away.

Now Olympus is the first to claim the honors of having live preview for a Digital SLR. The E-330 (EVOLT) is equipped with a 2.5″ LCD screen that can be tilted, “or swiveled to virtually any angle,” to get that picture above the crowd. Olympus also suggests the camera will make sports photography as well as underwater shots much easier since your eye isn’t constrained to the little hole on the camera’s body. With 7.5 million pixels and compatibility with a, “…full range of Olympus E-System accessories,” you’ll be able to pick one up in March. Its English street price (in the U.K., where the camera was announced today) will be £900.

Tags: digital, dslr, live preview, olympus, slr, evolt, e-330