Olympus today announced the introduction of a new line of Micro-Four-Thirds camera, the OM-D. Taking its styling cues from the legendary OM-1 and OM-2 film SLR cameras, the OM-D appears to be a very well featured camera body in a Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens (MILC) configuration.

The advantages of a MILC body are manifold: without the SLR’s mirror box, the camera may be made thinner, smaller, lighter and less complex. Within the context of visitors to the New Tricks site, I think this is a good thing, as I feel that as we become a little more mature, we are seeking to make our lives less cumbersome and to carry lighter gadgets with us. To this end, the OM-D seems to answer this call quite well.

The basic rundown is that it’s a 16 megapixel camera in the micro-four-thirds format. It has a built-in eye level viewfinder as well as a touch activated rear viewing screen that’s articulated so that you can move it to different viewing angles in order to better use it according to your needs. The touch activation means that you can touch the screen to acquire focus and make a photo, and there’s a sensor that detects when you’re placing the camera up to your eye, and will automatically switch between the rear and eye level viewfinder depending upon your mode of operation.

Although the samples on hand were pre-production versions, they felt to be of high build quality and solid construction. Focus acquisition was very quick, and image quality, as displayed on the camera, seemed to be very good too.

While this camera seems to be targeted at the high end of the micro-four-thirds system, I can’t help but feel that the current Olympus flagship cameras will be eclipsed by the functionality, form factor and just cool styling that the OM-D has.

Stated to be available in April 2012, pricing has yet to be announced.