Hello - New here with question about D7i vs Olympus E-20N

I am new to this forum and new to digital photography, although I have many years experience, mostlly SLR, some med and large format. I am looking to buy a digital camera and a D7i or Olympus E-20N seem to be the two contenders. I have heard that the D7i is complicated and the manual is very hard to understand so the camera is hard to learn how to use. The battery issue makes me a bit concerned as well. I am looking for feedbaclk. Also am looking for on-line reviews of the D7i. I only found D7 on dpreview. Thanks very much!

LizzieB said:

I am new to this forum and new to digital photography, although I
have many years experience, mostlly SLR, some med and large format.
I am looking to buy a digital camera and a D7i or Olympus E-20N
seem to be the two contenders. I have heard that the D7i is
complicated and the manual is very hard to understand so the camera
is hard to learn how to use. The battery issue makes me a bit
concerned as well. I am looking for feedbaclk. Also am looking
for on-line reviews of the D7i. I only found D7 on dpreview.
Thanks very much!

Click to expand...

Your SLR experience will help you understand the D7 (or D7i) immediately, after being frustrated by other menu-based dc's!

There's a D7i review at steve's digicams. (do a search here for the link -- there was a thread on it a couple of days ago)

Enjoy.
--
Z-Man

If the D7i manual is like the D5/7, it is a 5x5x0.25" handy manual that can fit in a small case--although it would be quicker to locate things if it had an index. Pictures and explanations are brief and understandable.

Batteries--get 2 or 3 sets and a fast charger, and there's no problem. In fact, because it (mine is a D5) takes standard AA batteries, I can buy some if I run out almost anywhere.

You'll have no problem if you've used an SLR for years, although digital does seem a little slower (action shots) and you need enough pixels to get the size photo you want. It's great because you can shoot 150 pictures without changing film--a scuba friend got into it for that reason. Good luck. - Jean

Randy Z said:

LizzieB said:

I am new to this forum and new to digital photography, although I
have many years experience, mostlly SLR, some med and large format.
I am looking to buy a digital camera and a D7i or Olympus E-20N
seem to be the two contenders. I have heard that the D7i is
complicated and the manual is very hard to understand so the camera
is hard to learn how to use. The battery issue makes me a bit
concerned as well. I am looking for feedbaclk. Also am looking
for on-line reviews of the D7i. I only found D7 on dpreview.
Thanks very much!

Click to expand...

Your SLR experience will help you understand the D7 (or D7i)
immediately, after being frustrated by other menu-based dc's!

There's a D7i review at steve's digicams. (do a search here for the
link -- there was a thread on it a couple of days ago)

Enjoy.
--
Z-Man

Click to expand...

Randy Z said:

LizzieB said:

I am new to this forum and new to digital photography, although I
have many years experience, mostlly SLR, some med and large format.
I am looking to buy a digital camera and a D7i or Olympus E-20N
seem to be the two contenders. I have heard that the D7i is
complicated and the manual is very hard to understand so the camera
is hard to learn how to use. The battery issue makes me a bit
concerned as well. I am looking for feedbaclk. Also am looking
for on-line reviews of the D7i. I only found D7 on dpreview.
Thanks very much!

Click to expand...

Your SLR experience will help you understand the D7 (or D7i)
immediately, after being frustrated by other menu-based dc's!

There's a D7i review at steve's digicams. (do a search here for the
link -- there was a thread on it a couple of days ago)

Enjoy.
--
Z-Man

Click to expand...

I am glad my SLR experience will help out, I will need it with all the new digital stuff to learn!! I will check out Steve's review. Thanks again!

Elizabeth

LizzieB said:

I have heard that the D7i is
complicated and the manual is very hard to understand so the camera
is hard to learn how to use.

Click to expand...

For someone who doesn't understand basic photography concepts I can imagine the D7i might be a bit intimidating. If you know your way around ISO, F stops and shutters you'll be delighted with the level of control possible in a very accesible way.

LizzieB said:

The battery issue makes me a bit
concerned as well.

Click to expand...

If you're used to changing film every 24 - 36 shots you won't have a problem changing batteries every 100-200 shots. I carry one set of spare batteries and have yet to run out of power when out taking pictures. I use the LCD a lot and review pictures extensively, yet I don't find it problematic. It's definitely less power hungry than the digicams of a few generations ago.

--
Jesper

LizzieB said:

I am new to this forum and new to digital photography, although I
have many years experience, mostlly SLR, some med and large format.
I am looking to buy a digital camera and a D7i or Olympus E-20N
seem to be the two contenders. I have heard that the D7i is
complicated and the manual is very hard to understand so the camera
is hard to learn how to use. The battery issue makes me a bit
concerned as well. I am looking for feedbaclk. Also am looking
for on-line reviews of the D7i. I only found D7 on dpreview.
Thanks very much!

Click to expand...

LizzieB,

Get yourself a D7i. You'll love it. Having SLR background will making learning the D7i easy.

Chuck13

LizzieB said:

I am new to this forum and new to digital photography, although I
have many years experience, mostlly SLR, some med and large format.
I am looking to buy a digital camera and a D7i or Olympus E-20N
seem to be the two contenders. I have heard that the D7i is
complicated and the manual is very hard to understand so the camera
is hard to learn how to use. The battery issue makes me a bit
concerned as well. I am looking for feedbaclk. Also am looking
for on-line reviews of the D7i. I only found D7 on dpreview.
Thanks very much!

Click to expand...

I had tested an E-20N for about a week - check out the reviews on this site - it speaks well of the merits and problems. I thought the 2 bigger problems were the shutter speed limitation (1/640 without going into a lesser resolution mode) and the time it takes for the image to record - making the menu useless during the process. It does have SLR viewfinder which can't be beat though.

The 7i's viewfinder is great - the magnifier for manual focus outstanding for an EVF. Autofocus speed is great - and I think a little more accurate than the Olympus. Olympus doesn't have as many settings (i.e. color saturation - that is important to me). Finally, look at the price difference.

hope this helps you,

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2002_reviews/dimage7i.html

Howard Solomon said:

LizzieB said:

I am new to this forum and new to digital photography, although I
have many years experience, mostlly SLR, some med and large format.
I am looking to buy a digital camera and a D7i or Olympus E-20N
seem to be the two contenders. I have heard that the D7i is
complicated and the manual is very hard to understand so the camera
is hard to learn how to use. The battery issue makes me a bit
concerned as well. I am looking for feedbaclk. Also am looking
for on-line reviews of the D7i. I only found D7 on dpreview.
Thanks very much!

Click to expand...

I had tested an E-20N for about a week - check out the reviews on
this site - it speaks well of the merits and problems. I thought
the 2 bigger problems were the shutter speed limitation (1/640
without going into a lesser resolution mode) and the time it takes
for the image to record - making the menu useless during the
process. It does have SLR viewfinder which can't be beat though.

The 7i's viewfinder is great - the magnifier for manual focus
outstanding for an EVF. Autofocus speed is great - and I think a
little more accurate than the Olympus. Olympus doesn't have as
many settings (i.e. color saturation - that is important to me).
Finally, look at the price difference.

Click to expand...

D7i is very quick to use once you learn what all the dials actually do.

For a newbie, the things that may be unfamiliar to a film photographer and are not well explained in the manual are:

-Quality - RAW images are the highest quality (no compression) but they use a lot of space. For this reason cameras come with various quality settings which represent the inverse amount of image compression. You can store more images, but lose a little fine detail.

-White balance - this is like changing film (daylight, tungsten, flourescent etc) only you can do it individually for each shot on the same card!

-Colour saturation and contrast can actually be changed by the camera (on the D7i) to cope with cloudy days or strong sunlight - in addition to exposure compensation

-Effects filters can actually be created by the camera without an add-on Cokin set, though I much prefer using photoshop!
-Playback allows you to review the shots you just took.

Compared to the E20 I actually prefer the EVF on the D7i - it provides a lot more information and a "real" view of the image to be shot.

Everything else on Dimage is very much like a high end SLR and works the same way. I have had two other digicams and the Minolta was actually the easiest to learn since it does not rely much on the menus. Once you know what eash of the settings does, its very accessible.

Steve

LizzieB said:

I am new to this forum and new to digital photography, although I
have many years experience, mostlly SLR, some med and large format.
I am looking to buy a digital camera and a D7i or Olympus E-20N
seem to be the two contenders. I have heard that the D7i is
complicated and the manual is very hard to understand so the camera
is hard to learn how to use. The battery issue makes me a bit
concerned as well. I am looking for feedbaclk. Also am looking
for on-line reviews of the D7i. I only found D7 on dpreview.
Thanks very much!

Click to expand...

LizzieB said:

I am new to this forum and new to digital photography, although I
have many years experience, mostlly SLR, some med and large format.
I am looking to buy a digital camera and a D7i or Olympus E-20N
seem to be the two contenders. I have heard that the D7i is
complicated and the manual is very hard to understand so the camera
is hard to learn how to use. The battery issue makes me a bit
concerned as well. I am looking for feedbaclk. Also am looking
for on-line reviews of the D7i. I only found D7 on dpreview.
Thanks very much!

Click to expand...

Lizzie,

I bought a D7 and even I managed to get photos out of it without any previous photographic experience. i am currently considering upgrading to a D7i as that seems to answer most of the issues I did have with the D7 and it seems the best camera short of a D60 or D100.

I appreciate that your standards will doubtless be higher than mine, but I feel that The D7i will more than satisfy you. If in doubt check out the Biggers Forum at:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/151930

where there are lots of really expert photographers who are pleased with the D7, never mind the D7i
Regards,
DaveMart
--
DaveMart

Steve Jacob said:

D7i is very quick to use once you learn what all the dials actually
do.

For a newbie, the things that may be unfamiliar to a film
photographer and are not well explained in the manual are:

Click to expand...

You are so right...reading all the reviews gets interesting when I am not familiar with the terms they are talking about. This is very helpful. Thanks!

*isteve said:

-Quality - RAW images are the highest quality (no compression) but
they use a lot of space. For this reason cameras come with various
quality settings which represent the inverse amount of image
compression. You can store more images, but lose a little fine
detail.
-White balance - this is like changing film (daylight, tungsten,
flourescent etc) only you can do it individually for each shot on
the same card!

Click to expand...

This is the best explanation of white balance I have heard.

*isteve said:

-Colour saturation and contrast can actually be changed by the
camera (on the D7i) to cope with cloudy days or strong sunlight -
in addition to exposure compensation
-Effects filters can actually be created by the camera without an
add-on Cokin set, though I much prefer using photoshop!
-Playback allows you to review the shots you just took.

Compared to the E20 I actually prefer the EVF on the D7i - it
provides a lot more information and a "real" view of the image to
be shot.

Click to expand...

Can you be more specific about information provided?

Also, how is the D7i for comfort level of shooting? i.e grip getting hot, balance of camera -over heavy on left side?

Thanks so much for the info!

Elizabeth

LizzieB said:

LizzieB said:

Compared to the E20 I actually prefer the EVF on the D7i - it
provides a lot more information and a "real" view of the image to
be shot.

Click to expand...

Can you be more specific about information provided?

Click to expand...

Sure - the SLR type viewfinder on the E20 is optical - its a direct view of the scene rather than what the camera is actually seeing. Its bright and sharp and good for focusing but does not tell you much about the final exposure.

The EVF on the other hand is is similar to a camcorder - its reading what the CCD is looking at - when you change exposure settings, contrast, saturation etc, the difference is immediate in the EVF. Once you get used to the slight grain and colour shift of the EVF you can judge pretty accurately what your picture is going to look like BEFORE you fire the shutter. You can use the LCD too but it uses a little more power and is not so good in bright sunlight.

The EVF also allows to you see ALL the camera settings, a composition grid, and even an exposure histogram! It is therefore a lot more versatile. In fact you see everything on the EVF that you see on the LCD plus a 4X magnification of the subject for manual focus. In a word, superb! Once you know where the buttons are you can operate the camera entirely with your eye to the finder.

LizzieB said:

Also, how is the D7i for comfort level of shooting? i.e grip
getting hot, balance of camera -over heavy on left side?

Click to expand...

The D7i grip is OK - though I prefer a rubberised grip it is well contoured and a full palm width, so quite easy to hold steady. The E20 is great in this area, but the D7i is the best of the rest and may even be better for smaller hands.

The camera does feel a little left heavy one-handed because of the battery location, but in practice, with a manual zoom you always shoot two handed so it is a non-issue. Its certainly lighter than an E20 and MUCH smaller. By the time you have added the attachment lenses to the E20 to get near the Minolta zoom range you have added $500 and another half kilo.

It does get "warm" but not "hot". The grip is the heatsink for the CCD so this is normal, just an odd place to put it? I generally shoot a few frames and power off so I don't notice it much.

One big advantage, you can tip the EVF upwards and look down into it, cradling the camera with your left hand and bracing your arms against your sides. This makes it very steady and comfortable for hand-held shooting and much easier if you want to rest it on a wall.

E20 vs D7i? Both take great pictures. In the field the D7i is faster shot-to-shot because of its larger buffer and faster write speed, more versatile in terms of lens reach and options, and its a lot easier to haul around. The E20 is hefty and substantial but D7i quality is perfectly OK as well, it just "feels" lighter - and its 50% cheaper. Auto-focus is similar (pretty fast and accurate) but the flex focus point on the D7i is very useful. Subjectively I also prefer the colours on the D7i which are very lifelike (E20 sky always looks a bit grey and the shots quite toned down).

LizzieB said:

Thanks so much for the info!

Click to expand...

Any time.

Steve