Japanese opto-medical instruments maker, Olympus, on Thursday launched a new generation of its PEN mirrorless compact cameras, with additions like the world's fastest auto focus and an improved image sensor.

A standard kit of PEN E-P3, the flagship model in the new series, is priced at Rs 39,999 while the dual lens kit which also includes a 40-150-mm lens will be available for Rs 44,999, the company said.

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The new range of cameras, which was launched worldwide on Thursday and also includes PEN Lite E-PL3 and PEN Mini E-PM1, will hit the Indian market starting mid-July.

"The new range has world's fastest auto focus, the TruePic VI image processor, high sensitivity and high speed live MOS Sensor and Full HD video capabilities," the company's senior manager, Asia Sales Group, Akira Fukui, told reporters in Mumbai after the launch.

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The company also felicitated celebrated photojournalist Raghu Rai and the country's first woman photojournalist Homai Vyarawala at the launch event.

Rai said being compact, this range of cameras will help photographers like him to shoot candidly in crowded places and hence help in getting the best moods, without compromising on the image quality as they produce SLR-like images.

The PEN series, which derives its name from the compact size to fit in a pocket, was first introduced by Olympus in 1959 and the series launched today is the third generation of the PEN cameras.