For the record Louis, you are a far better photographer than me, and I hope you get the camera you want. Your work is great and if it helps you make more of it even better.
I don't need any of it, fps, lv, whatever. I jsut want the brand to survive, and improve a little in some fundamental areas.
I never sell my images-- it is just a hobby at this point. What I want is a $1500-2000 weather sealed E, that has faster AF and a better VF. ISO I can live with, but the otehrs I want. WIll I get thsi camera? I dunno.
I take my camera every where with me. Camping, hiking, I do street photography, I take family portraits, and I try to do abstracts. I esnt s birhgter/bigger VF so I can check focus easier, and MF when I want to. I want weather sealing so I can take my camera eveywhere, and use it in hte copious amoutns of mild rain we get in New England. And I want a dramtic AF improvemnt so I can catch shots in the street quicker. I have missed more cool shots due to slow AF. That's what I want, it can be done with 4/3 in that price range, if they leave out LV. LV will laways yeild a crippled VF because they expect you to use the feature.
If they put live view in I won't buy it, because I am not willing to pay that premium to look at washed out pixels in bright daylight, or grainy mush when I kick the ISO up. Just like I never, ever want to see an EVF.
If you are sitting there and staic I am sure it can add to composition, but for me it won't.
Seriously, if they don't get a camera out that I want I am not leaving in the short term, because I am poor, but I will know then that long term Olympus is commited to wooing digicam people with gimmicks like liveview-- saying see, it works just like your sony pocket camera = ) buy it, its fun.
It won't be the ISO that forces me out, but lack of abiulity/deisre to produce a camera with comparable build and features to Nikon. Heck, I got the E500 because it was full featured. In retrospect, I wish I had played with the VF more, because it is too small for my liking. Using a D200 was a sea change for me. Easy on the eyes, bright, large. It is a hobby for me, but it is supposed to be fun, and straining through a tunnel or flipping around a flimsy articualted lcd in bright light is NOT fun for me.
And for the record live view has nothing to do with 4/3 format-- the virtues of 4/3 s DOF at large aperture, lenses that are digital specific and a lighter bag because of the AOV at smaller focal lengths.
LV could be done on any other DSLR with a CMOS/LMOS sensor. It hasn't been done because it generates so little interest--if it did generate interest Canon, Nikon and Sony would already have an answer. Has anyone read Phil's review of the E330? Or any toher reviews of it? I have yet to see tow things from thsi camera.
1.) A single shot that couldn't have been obtained without its LV. Just one shot, please. Prove it does something well. I can compose check focus etc, much quicker with a VF. I don't want to be tinkering in menus to zoom focus or anything else.
2.) A single review that is impressed with the feature and thinks it could sell a dslr system.
LV is a mediocre innoavtion IMO, that failed to impress anyone but the very few.
Turning it off is what would tee me right off. Why am I going to pay a $300-500 premium for somehting I am going to leave off???? I won't.
SSWF was a great innovation, that is being copied by everyone.
As far as LV getting included, well we'll wait and see. With or without it this camera won't sell well. But if it is fast and light, with good IQ it will lend pro credibility. More MP, landscapers, product photgraphers. Faster AF/FPS sports/nature guys. High ISO, wedding guys? err if that's possible.
Also, pixel binning could give that camera better high ISO than the D2X. switch from 12 to 8, improve s/n ratio, go up to 3200. Maybe.
Either way, the gears will be in motion at PMA nad Olympus' fate will be much clearer then. If they fail with whatever, the system will end. Their profits are a razor thin pittance right now, and a loss of sales will probably kill the system.
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'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.'
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)
