Olympus E-30

Opinion: I upgrade from E-510 to E-30 because the bad low light performance .... still the same... @ ISO 800 i got much noise than other cameras .
do youreself a favor ... dont buy this camera at the same price you can get the nikon D90 with kit lens that is better than my E-30 with 12-60 SWD lenses

Opinion: 12-60mm lens is superb. Used it with old E 510 where it
was a bit front heavy, now well balanced on E 30.
Viewfinder is much better, but at the cost of more
weight. Bought after price went down for less than D90,
where it belongs. High ISO performance not the best, but
f2.8 lens makes up for most of that. The only thing that
would make me consider Canon or Nikon, is that I could
control them from my iphone.

Opinion: Hello,
got the camera a few weeks now!
It works fine and gives very good photographs.
(after the Nikon-d40x, the e-520 was a little disappointing....this is much - much better!)
Olympus, keep up the good work!

Opinion: You really have to try this camera and see for yourself what it can do and how well it can do it. Image quality is fantastic when using this with the 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 Zuiko digitial lens. Just used it for a swim meet and it did a great job of catching all the action with a 5FPS coupled with one of the fastest autofocus systems available, the results were worth every penny spent. Exposure and focus was spot on. I have not used all the features of this camera, but the ones I have used have worked as advertised. The camera itself has a pro solid feel. How far can Olympus take this Four Thirds system is what I am anxious to see. You can buy a Nikon or Canon and get better noise performance in the much higher ISO range, but honestly, as long as I have been shooting, the Higher ISO settings are not all that necessary in for most of the work that I have done. The Olympus lenses are what really makes this system rock. Once you try one of their upper level lenses you will not want to trust your work with anything else. I would love to see Olympus come out with a system that gives a little more speed in the the continuous shooting mode and a system that gives a few more megapixels without sacrificing overall picture quality. The Olympus FL-50R flash and the battery holder/vertical grip really add to the performance and should not be overlooked when looking to buy this system. I was fortunate enough to find the E-30 on Ebay as a complete system, like new, for several hundred dollars less than what you could possibly find it for retail. This, of course, made the E-30 all the sweeter to own and use. The only, and I mean only, gruff I have with this camera is the viewfinder. Although it gives you a 98% field of view, it still has a slight tunnel vision like feel to it when looking through the finder. Not a biggie, but something worth noting. If you buy one, you will be surprised of its ability to perform. It may not be classified as a pro-level camera, but you can definitely get pro-level results as you discover what can be done with it.

Opinion: Although quite large including the battery hand grip it handles really well, superb design to hold and use. Also with the two batteries of the grip accessory you can shoot all day, I like the quick menu selection on the screen and the custom settings, purchased with the 12-60mm lens which is a great combination. I like the viewfinder, quite large for a 4/3rds body.

Dust management and image steady in the body for use with any lens are good advantages.

Opinion: With the drop in price and May Rebate this became a good option I do a little bit of all types of shooting, so the small hand grip of the E620 when using the 50-200mm and EC14, was not a viable option. The E30 is comfortable, ergonomic (2 wheels) and solid. And with the 14-54mm shooting in a hotel ballroom with the lights turned down for dancing, focus was faster then I thought and using an OLD Sunpak 383 in Manual on a flash bracket, the results were inpressive.

Opinion: The best Olympus Yet. Tried all Olympus cameras and this one is the best by far. Nice body, excellent image quality, especially with 12-60mm Lens.Compact and light, has all the features you will ever need!

Opinion: I own this camera several weeks now; used it extensively for bird park, model exhibition, wedding model exhibition. Used and tested in low light conditions as well. Have used and owned E510,E520, sold them, and now own e30/ Also have reviewed Canon 5DMkII, Nikon D700, Canon G10. So comparisons will be along several reference points.
...high ISO: up to 3200. Review specs bit wrong, as it has ISO 250, 300, etc up to 3200. This makes use of the camera in low light much easier, compared to E510 and E520. Low light use also problematic in 5DMkII. D700 very good. For E30, there is hunting at lower ISO. At 1600 and above, easier focus, but noise. Noise is lower for Canon 5DMkII and D700.
...focusing: very fast, with 14-54mm MkII. much faster than the MKI lens. With this camera, focusing even with 18-180mm lens, and with 70-300mm lens...no problem.
...electronic view finder: smallish compared with Canon 5DMkII, and cannot compare at all with D700, which I also own. However, the fast focusing and multipoint focus makes the view finder easy to use. Pentaprism instead of pentamirror helps in better quality images.
...good light conditions: pictures are beautiful, color combination and image quality. I go up to 1600 to 3200 in low light shoots.
...weight: much heavier than e520 or e510, lighter than the Canon or D700 models described here.
...size: could be smaller, like the e620, but ok here.
...construction: well constructed.
...creative shots: focus, spot, etc..not really useful, but it's here.
...IS: image stabiliser...very useful, compared the 70-300 in e30, and 70-300 in Nikon D700. The latter not so good without VR. Hence, the IS works well in Olympus.
...in-built flash: effective even in dark conditions.
...menu: used to Olympus menus, so easy to manipulate. Tend to use manual more often, as image focusing and exposure easier. Easier than Nikon D700 menu.
...White Balance: more accurate than e520, same as e510.
...switch: could be better placed. Sometimes difficult to switch on.
...live view: not so useful as still slow.
...battery life: shot up to 700+ pics.
...overall: good camera especially matched with 14-54mm MKII lens. Low light focusing: much better than e510 or 5210. Extreme low light focusing: noisy, with some hunting. An E3 like performance in a much smaller body, something I was looking forward to.

Opinion: This without a doubt is the best Olympus camera to date.

Packed with features, build quality is great, pure joy to use (even those art filters are very neat, especially popart, b&w).

The viewinder is big with 98% coverage, AF is much faster than in Exx cameras. LCD is sharper, more improved and is crystal clear. Image quality shines - especially when combined with great Zuiko optics. Sure, there's a bit more noise, but anyone who used any camera to make money knows that this is not a real issue in real life. What's more important is the sharpness, detail, contrast and colour. And E30 + Zuikos deliver it.

I never had so much fun playing with any camera before! And I had lots of them, from Praktica, Canon FT, Nikon F401, F80, D100, FM3a, Olympus E510.