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E300 Pros & Cons

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Alastair Cassels said:
With Olympus ( I have a c5060 currently) I am a bit concerned about
the kit lense limitations although I admit I don't know enough
about it. Anyone with spare cash seems to advocate a 14-55mm F2.8
but it is about £400 here in the uk and all of a suddenthe package
cost escalates. Of course there is little or no used lens selection
yet.

My heart says Olympus but my head and wallet is thinking that Nikon
might be the more flexible way.

What would be a decent 2nd lens for the e300?
Click to expand...
Either the Olympus 45-150 lens or the Sigma 55-200 lens. See the threads about the Sigma 55-200 lens. In terms of abolute quality, yes the 14-54 and 50-200 lenses from Olympus will no doubt give the best performance, but they are also expensive (in the USA, the 50-200 is about the same price as the E-300 + kit lens or $999, and the 14-54 is about 1/2 that).

When the E-300 becomes available without the kit lens, one possibility might be the Sigma 18-125 lens if you want only one lens. I have it, and while I have not put it through its paces, it is a decent lens.
 
Thanks Michael. BTW you have a great site that helped me greatly in finding a flash for my c5060.

I will look into the sigma lens. Would it give better DOF blurring for portrait shots than the kit lens. I guess I am also concerned about the f3.5 start point as I like to do a lot of natural light indoor portaits. This iis where a $100 Nikkor 50mm F1.8 seems a big hook.
Michael Meissner said:
Alastair Cassels said:
With Olympus ( I have a c5060 currently) I am a bit concerned about
the kit lense limitations although I admit I don't know enough
about it. Anyone with spare cash seems to advocate a 14-55mm F2.8
but it is about £400 here in the uk and all of a suddenthe package
cost escalates. Of course there is little or no used lens selection
yet.

My heart says Olympus but my head and wallet is thinking that Nikon
might be the more flexible way.

What would be a decent 2nd lens for the e300?
Click to expand...
Either the Olympus 45-150 lens or the Sigma 55-200 lens. See the
threads about the Sigma 55-200 lens. In terms of abolute quality,
yes the 14-54 and 50-200 lenses from Olympus will no doubt give the
best performance, but they are also expensive (in the USA, the
50-200 is about the same price as the E-300 + kit lens or $999, and
the 14-54 is about 1/2 that).

When the E-300 becomes available without the kit lens, one
possibility might be the Sigma 18-125 lens if you want only one
lens. I have it, and while I have not put it through its paces, it
is a decent lens.
Click to expand...
 
Certainbly not to nitpick, and I may even be wrong about this. I read one review ( http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/oly-e/e300-rev.html#EXPOSURE ) that seems to indicate the E300 does in fact have a depth of field (DOF) preview function. I was happy to hear this, as I use this feature a LOT with my OM4T during macro work. (place blurry flashback waves here...) Ah, the old days of laying in a soggy bog shooting British soldier mosses and lichens with my trusty OM4T and 135mm bellows macro. I really hope to get back to this sort of work with the E300. Maybe even use my old OM Zuiko lenses! I almost had this type of photography back with the 8080, but alas it was just not the same. The focus control wasn't there, the viewfinder wasn't there, had to add a massive external accessory lens to get to 21mm...etc. The image quality was there, however, and I expect the E300 to be the same.

I doubt the DOF preview will be as good the the E300, what with the lack of a good bright focusing screen, but we'll see. Another problem I have the the E300 (no I don't own one yet, but hope to order within the month) is it's lack of on-camera cable release. When is Olympus going to stop forcing me to pay $200 for a 15" piece of wire with a switch on the end (accepting that we need to buy the HLD-3 battery grip and the remote release). This would ordinarily be a deal-killer for me as the type of imagery I like (cave photography) requires me to use the bulb setting a lot. I got pretty good at using a several-seconds-long shutter speed and accomplishing about the same thing. Which leads me to my next comment.

All of these cameras are great. As many have said, they all take great pictures, but some do it differently. I think we have to be able to conform to any particular camera we use, not the other way around. They cannot be "politically correct" all the time, that is appealing to all people all the time. I have to be able to adapt and overcome what I interpret as a short coming (like not having a cable release on my 8080). I will likewise adapt well to my E300. Can't wait to lay in the mud with it!

Rambling off now....

CG
Adam Hair said:
Second - the D70 appears to have a few extra features (like DOF
Preview)... features you may or maynot use. I would look into the
features that the D70 has, that the E-300 doesn't before making
your decision - if you have any particular needs...
Click to expand...
--
Chris Anderson
Nature, Cave, and Celestial Imagery
http://www.darklightimagery.net
C-8080 Gallery
http://www.pbase.com/darklightimagery/root
 
Alastair Cassels said:
Thanks Michael. BTW you have a great site that helped me greatly in
finding a flash for my c5060.

I will look into the sigma lens. Would it give better DOF blurring
for portrait shots than the kit lens. I guess I am also concerned
about the f3.5 start point as I like to do a lot of natural light
indoor portaits. This iis where a $100 Nikkor 50mm F1.8 seems a big
hook.
Click to expand...
Starting at f/4, the Sigma lens is going to give you slightly more depth of field than the two Olympus lenses that start at f/3.5, but then it is only 1/3 f/stop, so it may not be that much. I suspect the f/2 macro lens would be better suited for applications where you need an extreme shallow depth of field, or going to one of the other 1.5x/1.6x crop DSLRS that have a cheap 50mm prime lens. Every camera has different limitations.
 
Ben Herrmann said:
favor the Olympus line. When you look at images properly captured
by Olympus E system DSLR's you are struck by a strong sense of
immediacy - a palpable feeling that something is special here.
That feeling does not leave you.
Click to expand...
It's funny really - I loved the E10's handling, colour and that immediecy you mention but could never get around the noise and lack of resolution even by 4Mp standards, it was a lovely camera but by the time an E20 was affordable (IMO image wise way better than the E10), I got a D60 and the rest is history until recently and the E300 that is and that immediecy is back along with excellent resolution.

My absolute faves are the old Panasonic-CCD powered 4.2Mp 1D and the Mk1 "Mr Noisy" 1DS as they're positively 3 dimensional, unmatched by anything bar the funky Sigma SD9 for a sense of "being there", as it happens these three are about the noisiest but resolute for their pixel count modern DSLRs out there - I wonder if there's a link?. The E300 does it for me in a different way than those cameras but it does it , IMO the 1D-Mk2 totally does NOT in either the 1D/S/SD9 3D sense or the E300/E20/E20 Immediecy sense.. the closest to either in a non canon / Oly / Sigma body was the Fuji S2 but the camera itself was too much like hard work, it drove me nuts..

We're all different - have different standards and wants of course..

--
Please ignore the Typos, I'm the world's worst Typist

 
My previous post was cut short. I had much more to say, but Phil has his limits. But, I must admit you are very correct. I had a D70 and this was the main reason I traded up to an E-1. Later I found that the E-1 had it's inconsitencies also. However, at least I could see the focus better with the E-1 and it could manual focus very well.

I have recently spoken to an Nikon rep about the D70's and he told me that the newer models have improved AF on them. According to him they tweaked the sensitivity on them. Is this true?? Mine was from the "very" first lot in production. Did you get yours recently or in the first few months of prod?

Steve J.
hartcons said:
hartcons said:
Also make sure you try
manual focusing in both. They are quite different, both in terms of
optics/screen and in terms of the ergonomics of focus ring
placement. The Nikon is easier for some, the oly easier for others.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Adam-T said:
My absolute faves are the old Panasonic-CCD powered 4.2Mp 1D and
the Mk1 "Mr Noisy" 1DS as they're positively 3 dimensional,
unmatched by anything bar the funky Sigma SD9 for a sense of "being
there"
Click to expand...
My favorite is the (you may laugh at me) Olympus C2020z which was
a revolution in its time. Wodan only knows how many film-users I have
converted to digital believers with 2020-images. Ofcourse by now scores
of other cameras have surpassed it, but in its days it simply had that
wow-factor, depth, colourful yet not too saturated, which I hadn't
seen in any digicam up to that point.

Just last year, I sold some (2mpx) images I made with it to a travel
agency here in Holland which they used for their brochures. Can you
believe it? 2 megapixel shots (and they weren't even SHQ JPGs :-)..

Anyway.. some of my favorite pictures ever were made with that
ancient compact digicam.. Here are two of those (the compression
doesn't do them justice by the way):

Nomads in Mt. Everest area (Qomolangma, Tibet):



Gyantse Valley seen from the Dzong (Gyantse, Tibet):



--------------------------------------------------------------------
My Travel Galleries (asia, middle east, latin america)
http://www.pbase.com/brambos
 
Bram Bos said:
My favorite is the (you may laugh at me) Olympus C2020z which was
a revolution in its time.
Click to expand...
I won't laugh as my all time fave Digicam was the C2100UZ - basically the 2040 with more buttons, better mode dial and a big 10X IS lens added :) the image quality was top of the 2Mp heap as well - I guess the 2020was the same as the 2040 but with a slower lens.

--
Please ignore the Typos, I'm the world's worst Typist

 
Bram Bos said:
Just last year, I sold some (2mpx) images I made with it to a travel
agency here in Holland which they used for their brochures. Can you
believe it? 2 megapixel shots (and they weren't even SHQ JPGs :-)..

Anyway.. some of my favorite pictures ever were made with that
ancient compact digicam.. Here are two of those (the compression
doesn't do them justice by the way):

Nomads in Mt. Everest area (Qomolangma, Tibet):



Gyantse Valley seen from the Dzong (Gyantse, Tibet):

Click to expand...
--
 
I got my d70 back in June, 2004. Some of my lenses "hunt" like crazy on auto-focus, especially in low light. In general I feel like the d70 is a sunshine camera.
sej1001 said:
I have recently spoken to an Nikon rep about the D70's and he told
me that the newer models have improved AF on them. According to him
they tweaked the sensitivity on them. Is this true?? Mine was from
the "very" first lot in production. Did you get yours recently or
in the first few months of prod?
Click to expand...
 
e-300 has dof preview but you have to set it up through the menus to work off the OK button. I actually find this more convenient than trying to find the dof preview button on the front of the d70 (and for the first few weeks I had it I kept undoing my lens by accident!)

the d70 is a very customizable camera (things like being able to specify the diameter for center-weighted metering)
Adam Hair said:
Second - the D70 appears to have a few extra features (like DOF
Preview)... features you may or maynot use. I would look into the
features that the D70 has, that the E-300 doesn't before making
your decision - if you have any particular needs...
Click to expand...
 
What about the oly 40-150? I think it has had a few hiccups on the way to market but supposedly will be back soon? And on the 2005 roadmap it looks like they're planning a bigger zoom. Plus I think there's a SIGMA 50-200?

That said, I do love my Nikon 70-300 ED lens. I think I may just weld that onto the body to avoid further dust problems :-)
Alastair Cassels said:
What would be a decent 2nd lens for the e300?
Click to expand...
 
I have a lot of respect for my d70 but I love my e-300. Maybe therein lies the difference!
tpryde said:
In the end it was the E-1 salesman and the 8080 images that
combined to give me confidence in Oly, and I wasn't dissapointed. I
love my camera.
Click to expand...
 
hartcons said:
What about the oly 40-150? I think it has had a few hiccups on the
way to market but supposedly will be back soon?
Click to expand...
It's a very decent lens for the money. I'm happy with it. It seems the
delay/recall (if that isn't an urban myth) only happened in the US. In
Europe it was for sale at the same moment the E-300 was released.
Anyway.. It performs similar to the 14-45 kitlens: better than it should
for that money. Fast AF and pleasing images with plenty of sharpness.

The Sigma 55-200 also seems to be extremely good value for money
but may be equally difficult to find in stores at the moment. I'm sure
Adam will chime in with more details about this lens since he owns it
and is putting it through its paces...

cheers,

Bram

--------------------------------------------------------------------
My Travel Galleries (asia, middle east, latin america)
http://www.pbase.com/brambos
 
Hi,

Thanks for the correction. I'm glad to know that people are watching what I"m saying, and ready to kick me back in line when I say something wrong. :-)

Cheers

Adam.
hartcons said:
the d70 is a very customizable camera (things like being able to
specify the diameter for center-weighted metering)
hartcons said:
Second - the D70 appears to have a few extra features (like DOF
Preview)... features you may or maynot use. I would look into the
features that the D70 has, that the E-300 doesn't before making
your decision - if you have any particular needs...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
...but they were definitely shot in AWE mode...

Helemaal OK!!!
Bram Bos said:
Bram Bos said:
My absolute faves are the old Panasonic-CCD powered 4.2Mp 1D and
the Mk1 "Mr Noisy" 1DS as they're positively 3 dimensional,
unmatched by anything bar the funky Sigma SD9 for a sense of "being
there"
Click to expand...
My favorite is the (you may laugh at me) Olympus C2020z which was
a revolution in its time. Wodan only knows how many film-users I have
converted to digital believers with 2020-images. Ofcourse by now
scores
of other cameras have surpassed it, but in its days it simply had that
wow-factor, depth, colourful yet not too saturated, which I hadn't
seen in any digicam up to that point.

Just last year, I sold some (2mpx) images I made with it to a travel
agency here in Holland which they used for their brochures. Can you
believe it? 2 megapixel shots (and they weren't even SHQ JPGs :-)..

Anyway.. some of my favorite pictures ever were made with that
ancient compact digicam.. Here are two of those (the compression
doesn't do them justice by the way):

Nomads in Mt. Everest area (Qomolangma, Tibet):



Gyantse Valley seen from the Dzong (Gyantse, Tibet):



--------------------------------------------------------------------
My Travel Galleries (asia, middle east, latin america)
http://www.pbase.com/brambos
Click to expand...
 
**** Rijken said:
...but they were definitely shot in AWE mode...

Helemaal OK!!!
Click to expand...
Bedankt ****!

It was a lot of work to import all of them with Oly's AWE-import plugin.
The plugin wasn't too fast in those days. Luckily, they have optimized
it a lot for the E-300. AWE-import from the E-300 is almost instantaneous.

Highly recommended!

Bram

--------------------------------------------------------------------
My Travel Galleries (asia, middle east, latin america)
http://www.pbase.com/brambos
 
Thank you all for your help!

As someone who is just about to jump into the DSLR market this forum has been more help than all of the reviews I have read and all of the sales people I have talked to.

What is seems to come down to is this! It really sounds like I would be very happy with either the D70 or the E300.
  • If I am wanting to zoom and crop go with the E300
  • If I want to expand the package and save money go with the D70 as there seam to be much more glass and flash to chose from.
  • The E300 makes shaper pics with a better range of colour.
  • The D70 is a ***** because of the cleaning the CCD issue! (big issue)
  • The E300, NEW to the market (unproven) with new technology. Who know how things will be working in 6 months!
  • Will the technology of both cameras be useless in a year like computers?
I have had a few people recommend that I look at Canon or Pentax as my First DSLR. From what I can tell around here in Winnipeg, Canada the Canons (Rebel) or Pentaxs in this price range are pushed to the people with money looking for a point an shoot camera and the Nikons and Olympus models are pushed to people like me that know a little but want to know more and have room to grow.

On the subject of grow, does anyone know where Olympus is taking the E line of cameras and what we can expect to see in the near future?

The reason I ask that question is because I don't have the cash to truly play in the photography world the way I would like too. When people say go Nikon because of the glass and flash options; thats not a huge concern for me since I don't have the money to spend on glass or flash in the first place so I will be playing with the lens it ships with for the first six months to a year anyway.

I am someone who wants to learn how to take a picture and learn the lingo. I have to admit that some of what you all are talk about is a little over my head at this point but this is how one learns! I feel that I am doing a rather good job with the Dimage Z1 (people want to pay me for my work now) I have now but I am moving on and I would like to know more. Really I want to know all ther is, I love photography and to tell you the truth this is the first place I have been (including where I live) where the people talking are just as passionate about Photography as I am.

I thank you for your time, your knowledge and your work (for those who post their work to this forum or have a website of their own).

I thank the people of DPREVIEW.com for this forum! Well Done!

Please keep this thread going. As you experience the pros and cons of your camera no matter the model, share your experiences! Since the E300 is new I am sure there is much more to talk about.

I still have lots to read and lots to learn before I purchase.

Thanks again

Kelly
**** Rijken said:
hartcons said:
**** Rijken said:
In the end it was the E-1 salesman and the 8080 images that
combined to give me confidence in Oly, and I wasn't dissapointed. I
love my camera.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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