Compared to... (contd.)

Olympus E-1 vs. Nikon D2H (@ ISO 200)

The D2H is Nikon's latest professional digital SLR, it's so new we haven't started to review it yet! However it landed here just in time to be included in this review as a 'true' professional digital SLR. The four megapixel D2H has a vertical disadvantage of 288 pixels (about 15%) compared to the E-1. Because of the D2H's minimum sensitivity of ISO 200 we have increased the E-1's sensitivity to ISO 200 for this comparison.

Camera settings:

• Olympus E-1: Olympus ED 50 mm F2.0, Aperture Priority, ISO 200, JPEG SHQ,
  Manual WB, Default Parameters, Anti-Shock 2 secs
   
• Nikon D2H: Nikkor 50 mm F1.4 D, Aperture Priority, ISO 200, JPEG Large/Fine,
  Manual WB, Default Parameters, Self-Timer 2 secs

Olympus E-1	Nikon D2H
ISO 200, 1/4 sec, F7.1	ISO 200, 1/3 sec, F10
3,158 KB JPEG (2560 x 1920)	1,639 KB JPEG (2464 x 1632)

The D2H's sRGB (I) default color balance does appear to to produce stronger (more saturated) color than the E-1, especially reds. The E-1's extra resolution does seem to deliver a little more detail than the D2H but it's really not as noticeable as it should be. As we noted earlier the E-1 doesn't appear to have as sophisticated a Bayer interpolation algorithm as the more mature digital SLR's. It exhibits artifacts which are simply not visible in the D2H image. That said the D2H does have a few 'bridge pixel' artifacts which can be seen in the bar-code crop. From a noise point of view there seems to be little between these two cameras at ISO 200.

Also available for download

• Olympus E-1 ISO 100, Sharpness +2 - 3,071 KB
• Olympus E-1 ISO 100, Aperture F10 - 2,942 KB