The S-variants are identical except they had triple the frame rate and a larger buffer.

Its unique optical system bundles the light of the full-frame lenses to the small 2/3 inch CCD sensor.

That gives approximately 4 stops more light at the small sensor, therefore delivering an exceptional (for that time) minimum sensitivity of 800 and maximum 3200 ISO, which remains usable for press and news use.

[3] The E series uses a unique additional optical system that enables the small sensor to capture the field of view of a 35mm film, with a crop factor of 1.

This comes not at the expense of the F-stop of the lenses, because the light is bundled to the 2⁄3 inch CCD sensor with approximately 16 times smaller area.

The exceptional high sensitivity up to 3200 ISO (equivalent 200 ISO, 2⁄3 inch) can be seen as an advantage for indoor or available light photography and is important for professional press and sports use, the customer target area.