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E-3 for Candid/Street Shooting - Your Guesses?

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markpsf

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I'm an immigrant to this thread from the foreign worlds of Sony and Pentax and Ricoh.

My primary photography (apart from the usual family and travel stuff) is candid photography driven by childhood fantasies of being a Magnum photographer.

The best feature of the Sony H9 for me, with all it's limitations, is the bright moveable LCD screen that allows for waist level shooting easily...great for street shooting. The fast recycling time for shots and superfast burst mode are also big helps....but no RAW plus the other limitations of a non-DSLR. The Pentax K10D is a great camera but no moveable LCD and of course no live LCD.

So the new Olympus intrigues me. Those of you familiar with the Olympus and reading the advance info, however limited, what are your guesses re rapidity of live view focusing, effectiveness of LCD screen, and quality of the wide angle zoom? Guesses re how good this camera will be for candid quick shooting?

I know this is all Vaporthink at this point, but hopefully also fun for some of you (and me!) if not taken too seriously.

Mark, the Immigrant to Olympusland
 
...I had the Sony H9 and returned it due to it's "limitations", but found the Oly E-330 has all the features I liked: Dual Live View (mode A and B) on a tilt LCD, fast burst mode (although it won't do continuous shooting like the H9 - I once shot 100 frames without stopping!- the actual burst rate is faster), fast AF. Will the E3 do all that? Probably, but who knows, but the E-330 does it now.

N
--
Neil MacDonald
NB Canada
http://nrmdisk.smugmug.com/
Sony H2, DH1758 and M3358
Olympus E-330, 14-45mm and 40-150mm

Feel free to comment, critique or PP for educational purposes. If you sell my pics, pls send me my share!

 
Maybe you should consider looking at an E-330 :
1. it is already available, unlike the E-1 replacement
2. it has live view with tiltable LCD (works pretty good for low and high POV)

3. it is becoming very cheap in bargain sales all over, now that everybody is running for the E-410 or E-510

(E-510 and E-410 do not have a tiltable LCD, which in my honest but humble opinion takes away most of the use of Live View : apart from macro and MF, Live View is at its most usefull especially in circumstances where you cannot reach the viewfinder due to the way you have to hold the camera).

I own a E-330 and am very happy with it (although I do feel some kind of envy for the Image Stabilization of the E-510 : the bigger sensor resolution is not a big deal for me... - in a world where I would own more than 1 camera body, the E 510 would be my camera for long telephoto ...).

Roel
 
Glad to see Neal McDonald posted basically the same idea simultaneously...
"Great minds think alike" (just kidding)

Roel
 
Hi Neil,
Neil MacDonald said:
...I had the Sony H9 and returned it due to it's "limitations", but
found the Oly E-330 has all the features I liked: Dual Live View
(mode A and B) on a tilt LCD, fast burst mode (although it won't do
continuous shooting like the H9 - I once shot 100 frames without
stopping!- the actual burst rate is faster), fast AF. Will the E3 do
Click to expand...
Can't agree more. The only Live View implementation that has Phase Detection AF which is faster than any Live View AF implementation out there, D3, D300, L10, E-510 and etc.
Neil MacDonald said:
all that? Probably, but who knows, but the E-330 does it now.
Click to expand...
I hope so, but it is unclear how. I'm assuming an implementation like the L10 in the worst case scenario and the best case scenario being full AF and all 11 cross sensors. :-)

George

--
http://geohsia.smugmug.com
 
I also love candid street photography. You might look at the E330 with the basic lenses. That camera has come down in price. If you like what it does, you can always upgrade to the E-P1 (E3) when it is released and keep the lenses. Also, although the E510 does not have an articulating LCD, the field of view is very good. The IS works well and I do not hesitate to use it for street photography.
--
http://www.zenfolio.com/digitalphotonut
 
2005magnum said:
Also, although the E510 does not have
an articulating LCD, the field of view is very good. .
Click to expand...
stop writing such positive points about the E-510!!
just let me be and remain happy with my E-330

(the tiltable LCD is a nice extra that I keep telling myself would be a waste to let go off if I were to step over to a 510...)

Aah, choices, choices...
We should al be happy to be bothered with this kind of luxury problems...
Roel
 
I think the LV feature will be too slow for grabbing street candids and so on.... even a P&S has significant screen lag.... and all those mirrors shifting up an down etc will kill a spontaneous moment....

... i hope i'm wrong - having a waistlevel finder would be great. it's just that i think it willl be more suitable for static objects...

Andy
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andymclean5/
 
The comment by the previous poster is not really true.

In street photography I ussually make lots of pics anyway, so lag isn't an issue.

What the LV (especially tiltable) allows to do, is not very accurate composing, but basically making sure there is something in the frame when you hold the camera at odd angles (over heads of people, very low etc).

ore experienced photographers can probably do that blind, but for me the LV on tilt screen is helpful in those circumstances (also for series of spontaneous pics)

If you want to make "candid" pics, you can even put the camera down on the table or wherever, look at the LCD and click away, while it is not obvious you are taking pics.
Roel
 
I say "general" as I have only used live view C5060 for Street work and I found it less than ideal.

I shoot at the waist or blind quite often. One of the reasons street shooters like rangefinders (besides being very quiet and small) is that you get a larger view of the scene and can anticipate what may or may not be coming your way. While the LV screen seems a natural progression of this, I think it might be only marginally useful for such a style of shooting that requires a "heads up" process and very quick reflexes.

I'd love to be proven wrong and would love to see some great shots done this way.

PS I may buy an E-3 and if I do will certainly use it on the street. I'm just not buying "because" it has live view for street shooting.

--
Charlie
http://www.63images.com
 
Thanks all. I will investigate and think about the 330 as an interim..or more.

I have a slight hand tremor so prefer the stabilization but it really only seems to effect telephoto shots not wide angle with fast shooting.

Recommendaions for a good Olympus wide angle lens? I either use primes in the 21mm to 43mm range or a small wide angle zoom. For candids I like a small sized lens..inobtrusive....The closer to invisibility the better (why i sometimes use my little Ricoh!)

Mark
 
It seems to me that if you can use LV as Roel says, then lense size doesn't matter so much anyway... and good street photography is about the relationship of, or between the photographer and their subject. The latter are aware of being photographed for the most part.

I think that the 11-22mm would be a great lense with LV (if it's response was fast enough) because you would be presenting a more open attitude to those being photographed, in much the same way as a RFer or P&S. A big SLR with large lense is intrusive... but really, this is all down to the photographer's ability to develop relationships more than anything else anyway. Or so i think.....since i've always felt too self conscious to be any good at it.

Andy
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andymclean5/
 
reply for andy :
that's a bit hard, because I do not have any pics on this (office) computer.
They are at home.
I will try to think of bringing some to work and post them.

I particulary think of a group of street musicians that I photographed this summer in Arles (France), in front of the (Roman) Arena.

In order to get both the group and the Arena in the frame (i mean the top of the arena, not just the wall, but the archs and sky behind it) i had to take an extremely low POV (almost belly on the ground).

That is when the tiltable LV came very handy, while the picture itself was a spontaneous street portrait.

I hope this description makes clear already that the technology can have its uses, even if I do not have the picture here to illustrate (and maybe you won't even like the picture, but that can be more a result of my poor talent as a photographer...)

I just wanted to offer some thoughts anyway.

Roel
 
Thanks Roel, but in that situation the subjects are somewhat static.... what if you wanted to catch someone dropping some money into a hat?... or an exchange of glances between the musicians in response to the crowd or something?

I don't question its use for framing.... just for that AND responding to momentary events within the frame... which is what i think of street photography as being all about.

Again thanks for the reply ... and post your pictures- ;-)

Any
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andymclean5/
 
Andy,

OK, I see what you mean, and I can relate to the concern.

However, most of the "fun" of catching the exact moment is gone forever anyway : with film you needed to be precise or lucky because film was expensive. With digital, doesn't everyone just make a dozen pictures to have 1 or 2 come out good ?
So I would say that the spontaneity factor is less difficult than it used to be.

On that thought, I think there is more room for "exotic" techniques (such as using tiltable live view - or else we will be digressing off topic too much...)

As an afterthought : those musicians were anything but static : if I recall correctly they had 2 or 3 accordions, violins, big standig bass, clarinet and more. there was plenty of interaction to capture. Looking back, I am sorry that I didn't make more pictures there, but I was already drawing attention with my camera almost on the ground (that's the selfconsciousness, I guess.)

Anyway : one bystander wanted to know make and model of the camera when he had seen me making such an extra spectacle... He should've seen the results and would have been less overwhelmed probably... ha ha

Roel
 
Well I think lens and camera size can make a difference at times and at other times not.

A good long zoom is great for distance candids.
A waist level viewfinder is great for others.
Sometimes the trick is connecting with people.
Sometimes it's being invisible.
Shooting bursts increases the odds of a one shot being a good one.

Here are links to some I took in Paris with the H9 if any of you are interested.

Some with waist level viewfinder and wide angle...I shot without being seen shooting.
Some were with telephoto length.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marco_photo/
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=23966731

But for a new camera, if I decide on that extravagance, I want a DSLR that can be used with relative inobtrusiveness. If the reviews are good the apparent features of the E-3 may fit the bill using only the kit lens. If I were to buy the 330 I'd want a zoom in the range of roughly 16-50.

Mark
 
Same posting as the last but that header didn't do it!

Well I think lens and camera size can make a difference at times and at other times not.
A good long zoom is great for distance candids.
A waist level viewfinder is great for others.
Sometimes the trick is connecting with people.
Sometimes it's being invisible.
Shooting bursts increases the odds of a one shot being a good one.

Here are links to some I took in Paris with the H9 if any of you are interested.

Some with waist level viewfinder and wide angle...I shot without being seen shooting.
Some were with telephoto length.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marco_photo/
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=23966731

But for a new camera, if I decide on that extravagance, I want a DSLR that can be used with relative inobtrusiveness. If the reviews are good the apparent features of the E-3 may fit the bill using only the kit lens. If I were to buy the 330 I'd want a zoom in the range of roughly 16-50.
Mark
 
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