E-3 "The Perfect Camera"
I own fourthirdsphoto, which we created primarily to be a site that focused on the four-thirds system. I had already sunk 25K in bodies, lenses, computers, and accessories into the system, and I really felt the need for a site like fourthirdsphoto. Which would be a source of credible information for the system, without all the junk that is so common on other sites. On all forums many speculated about the perfect camera, and for my needs I had speculated that in reality it would be years before that occurred. However, in the last four years the SLR market has changed the digital SLR cameras are now as good in my opinion as film cameras, and in some ways better. For my needs, occasional weddings, some PR work, a few catalogs, family pictures etc, I really only needed 7-8 MP, but my biggest gripe about digital was the lack of dynamic range. Really blown highlights, muted shadows do not work for me, and in fact were real issues when dealing with many scenes in real life. So I wanted a SLR that could reach at least 9 stops of Dynamic range, even though I would prefer 10 or 11 stops. Second - I want the highest quality of lenses on the market, size is a factor, but quality is first. A lens must perform at excellent standards or else it does not matter how good the body is, the images will be rubbish. Even though this really doesn't deal with a body, it was a major factor in choosing the 4/3 system for me, and selling all my Nikon gear. Third - viewfinder, really with the advanced focusing systems of today's cameras I do not have to manually focus often. However, from time to time I still must. Also a viewfinder must not only be large enough to see what I am shooting, but it also must be bright. I had used the L1 (in this respect the same as the E-330) for about 6 months, and to tell you the truth their viewfinders did not live up to my expectations. They were way too dark and small for me to effectively focus. Although Olympus and Panasonic have developed live view, in most shooting situations I still prefer optical viewfinders before live view. . But when shooting hard angle shots, or in a studio setup, live view does come in very handy. Fourth is a faster focusing system, the E-1 was a dog to focus many times. But by the time that the E-410 and E-510 were released this became less of an issue. However, a fast focusing camera is essential for me. Fifth on my list of importance would be high ISO noise. Really, I was pleased with the noise from the E-1, for all the complaints about it I found over rated. However, ISO 800 would be my limit that I would normally push it, but if I needed to I could, and I have shot weddings at ISO 1600. It would just take a lot of post processing to clean them up. However, fromthe E-300, and E-500 I never was happy with their high ISO properties. But once again, by the time we reached the E-410 and E-510 the cameras had improved quite a bit so that with the E-3 the overall system has improved that I would not hesitate to use ISO 1600 if it was needed. Sixth would be some type of Image Stabilization. Image stabilization cannot stop movement when the subject moves. However, it is essential to be able to hand hold slow shutter speed shots when you are in low light and you do not have a tripod. But in reality a good photographer should have a tripod to stop camera movement when needed, but the reality is you just can't have a tripod always with you. So basically for a camera body, those are items I thought were important. There were other items such as number of frames per second, or shutter lag, but with the E-1 I really thought that in my opinion they were non-issues. I did not need more than 3 FPS, nor did I feel that there was any unusual shutter lag with the cameras. How does the E-3 stack up to my Desires? First, I have known about the E-3 for a while. In fact, on paper I was pleasantly surprised. The viewfinder is wonderful, the dynamic range is good, and the high ISO capabilities are exceptional. The revamped focusing system is the best on the market, and even to have image stabilization 5 frames per second, lossless compression with raw files. Also, I am quite pleased with the build of the E-3. It has taken me some time to get used to it, but overall I am very happy with that. So on a first look I would say that the E-3 is a perfect camera. There are some issues that I have, but really overall I would say that even after 10,000 frames I am very happy with this camera. Olympus did take a long time to work out this camera, but I believe that they are now on the route to producing some of the best cameras on the market over the next several of years. For a comparision of the features see this PDF - comparing the E-3, D-300, and 40D.
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