YosemiteSam
Leading Member
OK, let's get ready to r u m b l e!
Well, not really. But as someone who is seriously considering going (partially) digital I've been looking first at a comparison of the specs etc of these two cameras. I'm going to try to sum up how I think they stack up. I do want to preface by saying I've been an OM user for over 30 years. So that could mean I'm biased toward Oly, or it could mean I'm p_ ed off at em for leaving us Zuiko-nuts out in the cold digitally.
1) Lenses - OK, let's get it over with - the Canon has hundreds or so of mountable lenses for the 10D. The E-1 has 5 + a 1.4x and an extension tube. Big advantage Canon, right? Especially if you already own Canon lenses. Especially since they have 'IS' lenses? But, if you're shopping for a 'system' the advantage lessens dramatically. Because the Zuiko Digital lenses, according to specs, are just plain going to give better performance than the existing stock of film lenses. Because: they're designed to work with the sensor; they are 'smart' ie have built-in distortion-correction information to be used by the body or a PC; the MTF charts published look quite good; they're Zuikos. Big advantage to Oly for real wide-angle digital lenses. Overall though, I'd be strung-up if I didn't say Ad - Canon.
2) Body - When I look at the picture of the 10D vs the E-1 on this site, I come away with the feeling that the 10D is going to look and feel like a Rebel. It just looks cheap. Whereas the E-1 just plain looks good. Looks well-built. And from all reviews I've read the build quality is top notch. And it has all those splash proof seals. Gotta love that. Ad - Oly
3) Price - everybody has been talking about how pricey the E-1 is. MSRP right now is $2199. But what was the MSRP of the 10D when it was introduced? Answer - $1999. Difference of $200. Street price of the Canon is now about $1599? I wonder what the street price of the E-1 will be around or after Xmas this year? Ad - Canon, assuming the 10D is an equal camera.
4) Sensor - Interline CMOS at 6.3 MP vs Frame-Transfer CCD at 5.1 MP. Sounds like adv Canon at first thought. But - how much of the Canon sensor is actually 'wasted' due to 'typical' cropping of a 35mm sized slide or neg? And what about losses to vignetting or edge loss-of-sharpness due to lenses designed to work with 35mm film? I won't do any calculations here, but I'd say the effective pixel count is about even. But, according to the specs published by Oly and Kodak, this sensor chip has other advantages over the IL-CMOS in the Canon. EG: better dynamic range, less noice, much faster transfer rate etc. I'm giving an Ad - Oly here based on specs.
5)' Features'
Oly has a dust-cleaning mechanism. Canon No. Ad - Oly
Auto-focus. Canon 7-area, Oly 3. Based on rep alone Ad - Canon
Files: Oly can do TIFF, Canon No. Ad - Oly
Frame rate. Both 3fps, but Oly 12 continuous at any size Ad- Oly
Metering. Similar, xcept E-1 has 1.8 spot. Ad - Oly
Flash: Canon has built-in, E-1 No Ad - Canon
Sync speeds appx same, but E-1 syncs to 1/4000 w/FL-50 Ad - Oly
Shutter: 30-1/4000 for Can, 60-1/4000 for Oly Ad - Oly
6) Other stuff:
Olympus has better viewfinder and interchangeable screens.
Canon's LCD allow 10x zoom on playback to E-1s 4x but E-1 has more playback modes and more pixels.
E-1 has 128MByte buffer built. No spec for the Canon
Oly supports usb 2.0, Canon 1.1 Oly also supports Firewire.
E-1 has more drive modes and a wireless remote.
E-1 is smaller and lighter (660 gr vs 790gr) and with lenses this advantage will be more pronounced in Olympus' favor.
There's lots more but I gotta stop here.
Conclusion, IMHO, the E-1 is more of a professional camera than the 10D. It has more and better features, is smaller and lighter, will, in all probability perform equal to or exceed the 10D in everything from speed of operation to image quality. All IMHO.
Well, not really. But as someone who is seriously considering going (partially) digital I've been looking first at a comparison of the specs etc of these two cameras. I'm going to try to sum up how I think they stack up. I do want to preface by saying I've been an OM user for over 30 years. So that could mean I'm biased toward Oly, or it could mean I'm p_ ed off at em for leaving us Zuiko-nuts out in the cold digitally.
1) Lenses - OK, let's get it over with - the Canon has hundreds or so of mountable lenses for the 10D. The E-1 has 5 + a 1.4x and an extension tube. Big advantage Canon, right? Especially if you already own Canon lenses. Especially since they have 'IS' lenses? But, if you're shopping for a 'system' the advantage lessens dramatically. Because the Zuiko Digital lenses, according to specs, are just plain going to give better performance than the existing stock of film lenses. Because: they're designed to work with the sensor; they are 'smart' ie have built-in distortion-correction information to be used by the body or a PC; the MTF charts published look quite good; they're Zuikos. Big advantage to Oly for real wide-angle digital lenses. Overall though, I'd be strung-up if I didn't say Ad - Canon.
2) Body - When I look at the picture of the 10D vs the E-1 on this site, I come away with the feeling that the 10D is going to look and feel like a Rebel. It just looks cheap. Whereas the E-1 just plain looks good. Looks well-built. And from all reviews I've read the build quality is top notch. And it has all those splash proof seals. Gotta love that. Ad - Oly
3) Price - everybody has been talking about how pricey the E-1 is. MSRP right now is $2199. But what was the MSRP of the 10D when it was introduced? Answer - $1999. Difference of $200. Street price of the Canon is now about $1599? I wonder what the street price of the E-1 will be around or after Xmas this year? Ad - Canon, assuming the 10D is an equal camera.
4) Sensor - Interline CMOS at 6.3 MP vs Frame-Transfer CCD at 5.1 MP. Sounds like adv Canon at first thought. But - how much of the Canon sensor is actually 'wasted' due to 'typical' cropping of a 35mm sized slide or neg? And what about losses to vignetting or edge loss-of-sharpness due to lenses designed to work with 35mm film? I won't do any calculations here, but I'd say the effective pixel count is about even. But, according to the specs published by Oly and Kodak, this sensor chip has other advantages over the IL-CMOS in the Canon. EG: better dynamic range, less noice, much faster transfer rate etc. I'm giving an Ad - Oly here based on specs.
5)' Features'
Oly has a dust-cleaning mechanism. Canon No. Ad - Oly
Auto-focus. Canon 7-area, Oly 3. Based on rep alone Ad - Canon
Files: Oly can do TIFF, Canon No. Ad - Oly
Frame rate. Both 3fps, but Oly 12 continuous at any size Ad- Oly
Metering. Similar, xcept E-1 has 1.8 spot. Ad - Oly
Flash: Canon has built-in, E-1 No Ad - Canon
Sync speeds appx same, but E-1 syncs to 1/4000 w/FL-50 Ad - Oly
Shutter: 30-1/4000 for Can, 60-1/4000 for Oly Ad - Oly
6) Other stuff:
Olympus has better viewfinder and interchangeable screens.
Canon's LCD allow 10x zoom on playback to E-1s 4x but E-1 has more playback modes and more pixels.
E-1 has 128MByte buffer built. No spec for the Canon
Oly supports usb 2.0, Canon 1.1 Oly also supports Firewire.
E-1 has more drive modes and a wireless remote.
E-1 is smaller and lighter (660 gr vs 790gr) and with lenses this advantage will be more pronounced in Olympus' favor.
There's lots more but I gotta stop here.
Conclusion, IMHO, the E-1 is more of a professional camera than the 10D. It has more and better features, is smaller and lighter, will, in all probability perform equal to or exceed the 10D in everything from speed of operation to image quality. All IMHO.
