dSLR Dad

Douglas Brown over at the Luminous Landscape has posted a field review of the Olympus Evolt E-3 dSLR (Available at Amazon and B&H Photo):

When you look back at the standout photos you’ve taken in a year most of the major thought process and effort that went into them had very little to do with the technology of photography. Joss Stone starts vamping at a press event, turns and shoots a look over her shoulder that’s pure, delicious trouble, then sticks her tongue out at you, and believe me you aren’t thinking shadow noise, sensor size, or dumping your current system because some other maker’s camera would be able to shoot the images 1 frame per second faster. You’ve got that camera up to your eye, unconsciously moving slightly to keep distracting background elements out of the way, while simultaneously thumbing the focus point over the eyes, firing a burst then zooming in closer for a second one (because closer is always better). You are running on muscle memory.

In too many of these kind of photographic moments the E3 stumbles over itself. Awkward positioning of major controls, buttons that are small or flush with the camera surface making it difficult to positively locate them, I constantly found myself at odds with this camera. At times it just seemed completely counter-intuitive to me.

 

That’s just me, and others will no doubt have absolutely no problems using it. The E3 is a technological tour-de-force, and much too good a camera not to appeal to many different niches within the profession. If the light is good and the scene relatively straightforward, then the astonishing performance of the new AF module, 5fps, and solid predictable metering will prove to be a winning combination.For landscape artists who have time to set up and wait for the light, for studio photographers who shoot tied to the rhythm of the 2 or 3 second recycle rate of the strobes the E3 will be a terrific choice.

For sports shooters the extra reach of the Four Thirds 2X crop factor combined with the speed and accuracy of the auto focus will give you greater capability with smaller lighter equipment.

If you need a tough, durable and very capable camera to endure harsh conditions the E3 would be near the top of my list for any camera category. I shoot in many of these situations, can see the utility of the E3 in these circumstances, and would welcome being able to use it. The camera is just not very quick on its feet for general purpose photos or when a quick capture of an elusive moment is called for. And this so perfectly mirrors the DSLR scene in general. There is no perfect camera or system. Each has its strengths and weaknesses and you have to evaluate the applicability of any one camera to your work within the larger system view.

The E3 has strengths in the areas of auto focus, implementation of live view, dust reduction, internal Image Stabilization, lens line-up, and environmental sealing. It produces great, accurate JPEG’s right out of camera with even better quality possible in RAW mode. The ability to cancel the noise filtering completely can add a whole new dimension of image sharpness to your photos. And it’s possible to assemble a smaller, lighter kit than competing systems offer.

Its deficiencies are a clumsy, poorly implemented physical interface (although that is subjective on my part) and slightly higher noise at the top end of the ISO scale.

All in all, when you weigh the positives and the negatives, the E3 is a very strong candidate in the enthusiast / pro category.

You can read the full review here.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 6:21 AM and is filed under Cameras, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.