Olympus E-20

Opinion: Back in the day the E 10 was my 1st. foray into the realm of digital capture, and to its credit, it's the camera that convinced me that digital was indeed the future of photography. It was equipped with an excellent noninterchangeable lens, solidly built, quiet and dependable workhorse. It was also slow in operation and saddled with a really crummy autofocus system. Still, it traveled with me to every wedding and special event that I shot because it could do one trick that not even my EOS 1v and EOS 3 film cameras could match. It had an LCD screen that allowed my customers to review their pictures on the spot, and they absolutely adored it. That one feature was a novelty at that time and proved to be a quick way to gain the customer's confidence and put them at ease about their photo experience. I used to carry a big, boxy, Polaroid 600SE instant camera to try and accomplice the same thing. The Olympus E 10 proved to be a much better tool for the job and cost less overall too. I kept it for years, and it's safe to say that the E 10 paid for my 1st. pro DSLR, the Canon 5D and 24-105L IS lens kit.

Opinion: Still used simetimes because of the handy interval timer!

High quality pictures resulting from one of the best lenses available.

Slow startup (5 s) and write times (writing a complete (5 frame) buffer can take 1 minute).

Opinion: I owned one of these for a few months, a few months ago. I was curious as to how it compared with modern cameras, especially because the feature set is surprisingly advanced for something so old (it has live view, for example, and the five megapixel resolution was near the top of the heap at the time). It is a five megapixel digital SLR with through-the-lens focusing, although unlike most other SLRs the lens is fixed. The camera uses a small 2/3-type sensor, slightly larger than most compact cameras, with something like a 4x crop factor compared to e.g. 1.6x for a Canon 350D and 6x for a modern point and shoot.

In general I used it as a back-up "beater". The body is very tough although not waterproof. The user interface model requires you to press a button and twiddle a dial simultaneously, which takes a short time to get used to but is painless once you do.

The lens was of an enclosed design that didn't extend or rotate whilst focusing. I found the autofocus to be accurate and fast. The lens was very sharp, with a touch of CA. The lack of a mirror meant that it was easy to be feather-light on the shutter. The viewfinder was a bit bare, but it was a proper through-the-lens view. The camera took standard AA batteries and used standard CompactFlash cards (with a second slot for the long-dead SmartMedia format). It was easy as cake to set custom white balance. The white balance has kelvin temperature values, which I found useful. There was an intervalometer amongst the menu settings.

Image quality was nice and sharp and detailed, although it suffered from noise at all ISO settings. In its day, I imagine the combination of good image quality, integral lens, tough body, and hotshoe would have made it a very attractive package in 2001 and 2002, bearing in mind that there were no cheap digital SLRs when the E-20 was new. On the other hand, by 2003 and 2004 something like a Canon 300D or Nikon D70 would have killed it stone dead in every respect.

The camera has one big problem and lots of little problems. ISO goes from 80 to 320, but only 80 is useful, and even then it has visible noise. The narrowest aperture is f11, and the top shutter speed is 1/640, which can be limiting on a very bright sunny day. There is a faster shutter speed mode that halves the vertical resolution of the image (by eliminating alternate lines) but the results looked awful so I never bothered with it. The body is as big and bulky as a modern SLR with a similar lens, and of course you can't separate the lens and body for easy storage. The RAW files were not compressed, and consumed more disc space than the RAW files from my 350D. The RAW files had very little extra exposure latitude, the camera seemed to have limited dynamic range compared to my 350D - pushing the shadows produced masses of grain - and so I had to make sure that the exposure was absolutely correct each time. This was a problem, because the histogram was small and crude, and the camera does not show it until the image has written fully to the card, which took around 13-14 seconds.

That was the biggest problem - slowness. The menus felt slow. It consistently took about 13 seconds to write a picture to the card; once the four-shot buffer was filled up (and there was no indication in the viewfinder that this had happened) I had to wait 13 seconds to take the next shot, and almost a minute before the buffer had cleared fully. During that time there was no way to review previous shots or check the histogram. The camera had a noise reduction menu option which sounded intriguing, but in practice it took over a minute to work on a single image and so I never used it. The live view feature was much less useful than it seemed at first (with a grainy image impinged by the exposure information).

By modern standards the camera is useful if you're taking intermittent in good light, and if you can find it cheaper than the cheapest modern digital SLR. Compared to e.g. a second-hand Canon 10D it's hampered by the limited ISO range, relatively noisy image quality, the bulk and weight, and the disturbingly slow operation. This is sad, because conceptually it's a forerunner of modern superzoom cameras; a hypothetical E-30 with a 4/3 sensor and a more powerful CPU would have been an interesting budget choice

Opinion: My first digital camera. I am satisfied about the possibilities.

Opinion: I have had the E20 for a bout 4 months now, and take about 100 photos a month.
This is the third digital SLR that I have had and by far the best with good picture quality and ease of use as all functions are at your finger tips.
Have made a few small changes which I find have helped:- like getting the rubber top off a microscope to replace the one on the E20, as it is softer rubber it fits your eye better and cuts out the chance of any light rays when shooting in bright sunlight..
As for flashguns I use the FL36 which was cheaper that the FL40 or 50 which I find compliments the camera.
The tilt on the LCD is great for shooting over the heads of people and at ground level the camera can get lower with out your body getting cramped or wet (if raining).

Opinion: Owned mine now for over 2 years and have considered changing to an SLR but with all the potential problems of dust on the imager I am not so sure.
After all the image quality seems as good as any of the mid priced SLR's

Opinion: First there was my E-10, next a Canon eos 300d. If you like to buy such a Canon, think about dust. I have changed lenses app. ten times and have now to pay a lot for cleaning the sensor! My nex camera is a E-20 for shure.
Hope to find a buyer for that tupperware Canon with that very cheap plastic body. Never, never I buy again a 300d.

Opinion: I have had this camra for about six months and I trully enjoy it. It is packed with many professional features, and is quite easy to use.

-A big plus is the LCD screen that can be turned horizontally, which is great when taking photos from ground level.

- Regular NiHm AA batteries last a long time - through at least 300 shots at SHQ resolution.

Opinion: What I can say is that "this camera is the superb and great camera in 2004".