Body Group  E-300 (US: Evolt)

The second body of the E-System was the E-300, aimed at the consumer market with a much lower introduction price as the E-1. Some professional features have been stripped: the body is part aluminium, part plastic and not splash proof; the viewfinder covers only 94% of the viewfield, the focusing screen is fixed and there is no pc flash connector. There's also no information panel on the top. The pixel size however is increased from 5MP to 8MP. Read about its (image) quality at Digital Photo Review.
The E-300 features an interesting design of the optical path, which has been borrowed from the old PEN F System from the 1960's (and which is also used in Olympus binoculars). Instead of the familiar pentaprism a porroprism is used. With the aid of four mirrors the light path is shifted sideways (see image below); the absence of the pentaprism makes the body much more compact (and not looking like a SLR at all).
The E-300 accepts most of the units from the E-System. There are some exceptions, see the compatibility list. There have also been some units developed especially for the E-300. First to be mentioned are the two low priced, lightweight kit lenses: the 14-45mm/F3.5-5.6 and the 40-150mm/F3.5-4.5. More remarkable is the underwater house PT-E01 which only fits the E-300.