Patrick H Lockwood
Leading Member
I've been faithfully using two E1s for the last 50 weddings.
It's a capable camera, beautiful colors, and it, for the most part, is up to the job.
However, out of fustration in low llight, I have decided to get the 20D.
It's a well-known fact that 20D is not as noisey as the E1, so I'm not going to rub salt in that wound, well, not too much, but here goes:
On the noise front, though it is hard to tell in print, but the truth is in the shadows, and even I've often thought the E1 did a pretty good job at ISO 400, the 20D files are much cleaner in the shadows. These artifacts are hardly visible in prints with E1, and that is what counts, but how nice it is, when I'm making zoomed in edits, with 20D files, not to see noise in the 20D files. Yes, I've seen clean E1 high noise shots that have been cleaned up and you can get there from here with the E1, but there is no question that, overall, the 20D is far less noisy than the E1, and often, noise in the E1 is like a nagging headache. You know that feeling when you have had a nagging headache, you take some asperin, and that first feeling of relief with the headache disappears? That is what I felt when I first saw the 20D ISO 400 and higher files on my computer.
I've been shooting with the 17-35mm f/2.8 L on the 20D, and the Zuiko 14-54, I'm proud to say, is every bit as good as this Canon L, which is very good.
I can do a pretty good job in low light with the E1, insofar as focusing and getting the shot.
However, many times I missed shots because the E1 could not focus fast enough, or struggled to focus.
The 20D is far more responsive and when I push the shutter, the camera comes through for me, everytime. This is such a boon for a candid shooter, you have no idea. My focusing fustrations with the E1, though they are not so much a fustration for the most part, but I've missed shots often enough with the E1 that it is a fustration, well, it seems those days are over with the 20D.
The 20D has five frames per second, and a focus mode that shifts automatically from a one shot to a servo mode, as needed, automatically. Both of the features really come in handy. The other day, on an outdoor ceremony, they released some doves, and 5 frames per second really did the trick for that sequence of the dove-release shots.
I think the E1, if it even hopes to be a major contender, at least for wedding photographers, they are going to have to solve the noise problem, and introduce wide angle, faster than f/2, primes, and get out of camera viable shots at ISO 1600. I recognize that wedding photographers may represent a small portion of Oly's market, but I'm just offering these ideas in hopes they will listen, because the E1 has some very valuable things going for it, which is why I will always have an E1 in my arsenal:
The E1 has rock solid reliablity, no dust on sensor issues, sharp pictures, excellent glass, and the focal range of the zooms are are better deal than the offerings of Canon (unless one owns a 5D or 1Ds) and solid build quality at a very good price.
But the performance features of the Canon, for my needs, are such that I must relegate the E1 as my back up camera, for now. But having the E1 as a back up is far more reassuring to me than having another 20D as a backup. Neither system fulfills all of my needs as nicely has having both.
Patrick
It's a capable camera, beautiful colors, and it, for the most part, is up to the job.
However, out of fustration in low llight, I have decided to get the 20D.
It's a well-known fact that 20D is not as noisey as the E1, so I'm not going to rub salt in that wound, well, not too much, but here goes:
On the noise front, though it is hard to tell in print, but the truth is in the shadows, and even I've often thought the E1 did a pretty good job at ISO 400, the 20D files are much cleaner in the shadows. These artifacts are hardly visible in prints with E1, and that is what counts, but how nice it is, when I'm making zoomed in edits, with 20D files, not to see noise in the 20D files. Yes, I've seen clean E1 high noise shots that have been cleaned up and you can get there from here with the E1, but there is no question that, overall, the 20D is far less noisy than the E1, and often, noise in the E1 is like a nagging headache. You know that feeling when you have had a nagging headache, you take some asperin, and that first feeling of relief with the headache disappears? That is what I felt when I first saw the 20D ISO 400 and higher files on my computer.
I've been shooting with the 17-35mm f/2.8 L on the 20D, and the Zuiko 14-54, I'm proud to say, is every bit as good as this Canon L, which is very good.
I can do a pretty good job in low light with the E1, insofar as focusing and getting the shot.
However, many times I missed shots because the E1 could not focus fast enough, or struggled to focus.
The 20D is far more responsive and when I push the shutter, the camera comes through for me, everytime. This is such a boon for a candid shooter, you have no idea. My focusing fustrations with the E1, though they are not so much a fustration for the most part, but I've missed shots often enough with the E1 that it is a fustration, well, it seems those days are over with the 20D.
The 20D has five frames per second, and a focus mode that shifts automatically from a one shot to a servo mode, as needed, automatically. Both of the features really come in handy. The other day, on an outdoor ceremony, they released some doves, and 5 frames per second really did the trick for that sequence of the dove-release shots.
I think the E1, if it even hopes to be a major contender, at least for wedding photographers, they are going to have to solve the noise problem, and introduce wide angle, faster than f/2, primes, and get out of camera viable shots at ISO 1600. I recognize that wedding photographers may represent a small portion of Oly's market, but I'm just offering these ideas in hopes they will listen, because the E1 has some very valuable things going for it, which is why I will always have an E1 in my arsenal:
The E1 has rock solid reliablity, no dust on sensor issues, sharp pictures, excellent glass, and the focal range of the zooms are are better deal than the offerings of Canon (unless one owns a 5D or 1Ds) and solid build quality at a very good price.
But the performance features of the Canon, for my needs, are such that I must relegate the E1 as my back up camera, for now. But having the E1 as a back up is far more reassuring to me than having another 20D as a backup. Neither system fulfills all of my needs as nicely has having both.
Patrick
