dSLR Dad

Digital photography Review has published their review of the Olympus E-620 dSLR camera:

The E-620 takes most of the features from the semi-pro E-30 and fits them into a body only slightly larger than the E-420, making it the most powerful entry-level Four Thirds camera yet. It has been a little overwhelmed by the buzz about E-P1, but does the little DSLR deserve a second look?

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Popular Photography Magazine has published their review of the Olympus E-620 dSLR camera:

In all, this is a very competent little DSLR. Being little is its strength—and if you’re sensitive to noise, its weakness. This might be one of the last DSLRs not to include video capture. After all, both the new Canon EOS Rebel T1i—which costs within $100 of the E-620—and the similarly priced Nikon D5000 pack it. But many dedicated still shooters aren’t clamoring for it. For those photographers, there’s plenty in this small package already.

You can read the entire E-620 review at Pop Photo.

Photography Blog has published their review of the Olympus E-450 dSLR Camera:

The Olympus E-450 is a very compact, lightweight yet fairly robust feeling little DSLR that comes with a lot of features for an entry-level camera. Not only does it offer manual exposure and focusing modes for the advanced user; it also has features like highlight-, shadow- and midtone-based spot metering, user-configurable mirror lock-up (Anti-Shock), wireless TTL flash control, Shadow Adjustment Technology and contrast-detect auto-focus in Live View.

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Olympus has updated the the E-3 dSLR firmware to version 1.4.  This update is supposed to help improve the AF operation.  You can upgrade your camera using the OLYMPUS Master 2 software update found here.

Olympus has updated the the E-30 dSLR firmware.  This update is supposed to help:

• Reduce the sound of Image stabilizer operations when IMAGER AF and HYBRID AF are being used.
• Resolve the issue where pressing the delete button in Close-up playback occasionally caused the Card access lamp to blink.
• Resolve the issue where images with a changed aspect ratio played back with Index display sometimes had horizontal stripes.

You can download the update from Olympus here.

I’ve already compared both Best Buy and Circuit City’s Black Friday deals with B&H Photo Video.  So you already know about their various  Canon, Nikon, and Sony camera specials.  B&H Photo, however has some other deals that a dSLR Dad may be interested in:

• Canon EOS 40D SLR Digital Camera with Canon 28-135mm Lens for $1,006.95.
• Epson Stylus Photo R280 Inkjet Printer for $29.95.  This is a great value on an Epson printer that uses their long-lasting Claria Hi-Definition Inks.  Heck, a full set of ink would cost you $56.  Add some of the excellent Epson Ultra Premium Luster, Exhibition Fiber, or Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk papers and you will produce some fantastic prints.
• Sony Alpha DSLR-A700 Digital Camera Body for $999.99
• Olympus E-520 dSLR Camera with 14-42mm Lens and E510 Gadget Bag for $497.95.
• Free shipping on all Nikon Cameras.
• Up to $125 instant savings on various Canon Lenses and Flashes.
• Four Day Black Friday Special on 4GB and 8GB Sandisk Extreme III Class 6 SDHC Flash Memory.  These are the previous 15MB/s Extreme III cards, but they are still very fast and a great value.
• Samsung SyncMaster 245T 24-inch Widescreen LCD Computer Display for $619.95.

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, (more…)