Executive summary: Twelve new Olympus cameras at CES 2009

For those who are just waking up to this Olympus madness, this is an executive summary so you can quickly catch up with the TEN (10) new digital cameras Olympus introduced overnight. Here we go:

+ Olympus pushed the Super-Zoom wars further into insanity with the Olympus SP-590uz, a megazoom with a 26X optical zoom lens that starts at 26mm and goes almost to 680mm. With a 12mp sensor, not sure if it has RAW yet.

+ The theme of the day is the new 12mp 1/2.33" sensor which appears in almost all of their new announcements

+ A trio of new Stylus models offers a "fun-zoom", the Stylus 9000 with a 28-280mm lens, the Stylus 7000 with a 7x lens and the Stylus 5000 with a 5x lens. More on these.

+ Two "TOUGH" models are announced as promised, with drop-proof, freeze-proof and element-proof (but not idiot-proof) features. They are the Tough 8000 and 6000

+ In addition to the two above, there is a fun/pool camera that is only waterproof and water-colored, the Stylus 550WP which challenges the Pentax Optio W60. The "WP" is a new sub-line from Olympus.

+ Last and least, a trio of FE-series entry-level models, two of which have 12mp sensors. Really? What is an entry-level user going to do with 12mp at 1/2.33"? Make giant noisy prints of their coffee mug? ;-)

+ Two more added! The FE-25 and FE-45 are 10mp point and shoot models with a standard 3x optical zoom lens.