Olympus Mju-V 35mm compact announced

James Gooding and his new Muse - the Olympus Mju-V

Olympus have announced a collaboration with James Gooding to launch their new Olympus 35mm Mju-V camera. Olympus, well known for its association with professional photographers like David Bailey, John Swannell and Lord Snowdon, will be working with James on future projects in his career as a photographer.

James will be using cameras from the Olympus film and digital range in future photo shoots. He is currently working towards his first solo exhibition in association with Olympus.

Sara Cubitt, marketing communications manager at Olympus comments, "Olympus places as much importance on the photography as it does on the functionality of the product. We look to partner with talented photographers who can use the cameras to their full potential and demonstrate the capabilities of each model."

For the launch of the Mju-V James is photographed with the camera by Bob Carlos Clarke. The photograph can be seen for one night only at a private press launch on 20th November. It will also support the press release.

"I think it's great that Olympus are so supportive of young photographers, and I'm very flattered that they want to work with me," comments James Gooding.

The Mju-V has a 3x optical zoom consisting of eight elements arranged in seven groups, including an Extra-low Dispersion (ED) lens element usually found only in expensive SLR cameras.

The Mju-V also has an advanced combination Multi-Wide AF system and an active component utilises strobe-assisted lighting to illuminate the subject, if required. Those looking for more control can benefit from the passive auto focus that takes measurements up to 11 points. It also has a spot mode feature, and the chance to choose from six different flash modes from the built in flash.