It's a P&S! It's a DSLR! It's the Olympus E-520!

For many moons, point-and-shoot digital cameras and digital SLRs have been on a collision course and today they collided to form the 10-megapixel Olympus E-520. The new snapper has the infrastructure of a DSLR but the trappings of a point-and-pop bytecam--features like live shooting through an LCD, scene modes and that darling of the P&S world, face-recognition. Olympus point-and-shoot pundits will recognize two other features of the 520--Shadow Adjustment Technology, for improving the dynamic range of images containing contrasting light and dark areas, and Perfect Shot Preview, for viewing on the camera's 2.7-inch display several versions of the same shot with different white balance and exposure settings.

This compact camera, which measures 5.35-by-3.6-by-2.68 inches--not much bigger than Olympus's smallest DSLR, the E-420--has triple threat mechanical image stabilization built into the body of the unit. Not only will it do the typical CCD adjustment along the X and Y axes, but it also has specialized stabilization modes for capturing moving subjects while panning with the camera and holding it either horizontally or vertically.

The E-520 is scheduled to reach retailers in July. Body-only price is pegged at $599.99 and a kit with an ED 14-42mm F/3.5/5.6 Zuiko digital zoom at $699.99.

In addition to the E-520, Olympus pulled the wraps off a new super wide-angle zoom lens.