e-330 and HLD-3 Battery holder

[acdana]

I just noticed on the olympus site that the e-330 lists the HLD-3 (Power battery holder) as an accessory. That is great news! I just wanted to mention it because the e-500 doesn't have one and the dpreview specification page says Unknown next to "Vertical / portrait grip" category.

 

[calvados]

Unfortunately, E330 can't support HLD-3.

http://www.olympus.co.jp/jp/support/cs/DI/AccM/DI004043J.html#battery

 

[Ken Whelan]

Please post a working link.

 

[Paul D163713]

If your ISP can't reach the link try a proxy.

 

[Ben Herrmann]

in which I saw that the HLD-3 was listed as the battery grip for the E330. But it soon became evident that the USA site had made a mistake and as many had checked on this. I too was excited that this was the case, but unfortunately, in addition to the E500, the E330 does not have an optional battery grip. This is really a shame because it would add balance, plus extend the power (especially since the LCD Preview would drain more power from the battery). Oh well...
--
Good shooting...

Ben

 

[acdana]

No offense, but that doesn't seem to be the most convincing site. The US site seems a little more thought out. Here is a link to what I saw.

Go to http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1226&fl=5 and click on Interact with the camera link, then click on the Accessories link.

The other compelling reason is the picture of the bottom of the e-330.

If you look at the bottom of the e-300 and the bottom of the e-330 they look like the hld 3 would fit the same. I have looked closely at the HLD-3 and it looks it would fit the bottom of the e-330.

Here is a picture of the e-330 bottom.



Now compare it to the e-300



where as the e-500 is another creature altogether.

 

[Mike_PEAT]

The other compelling reason is the picture of the bottom of the e-330.
If you look at the bottom of the e-300 and the bottom of the e-330
they look like the hld 3 would fit the same. I have looked
closely at the HLD-3 and it looks it would fit the bottom of the
e-330.

Look at the tripod section, and you'll see a hole on the E-300 that matches a pin on the HLD-3 that the E-330 DOESN'T have!

Also, others have seen the inside of the prototype E-330 battery compartment and it doesn't have the three contacts needed for the HLD-3 shutter releace to communicate with the camera.

Here is a picture of the e-330 bottom.



Now compare it to the e-300

 

[acdana]

but that is just on the tripod plate. Those are sometimes interchangable. Maybe some inventive person or olympus will come out with a different plate to enable to the HLD-3 to work.

 

[Hacker]

Serial #3 for the E-330!

 

[jrg]

So did I. I wrote Oly and the news is official, no grip. A bad move. When I mentioned that the grip was helpful when using large glass, they said that was what the E-1 was for.

This kind of trend you find more and more with Nikon and Pentax. Kudos to Canon for supplying a grip with all their DSLR's.

 

[Mike_PEAT]

All they had to do was make the dimensions of the E-330 the same, and provide the contacts inside the battery compartment, and they could make use of their HLD-3 grip already on the market.

Guess they didn't have many sales of it (I waited until the price had dropped $20 before I bought mine. Only thing is now I need a larger CS-3SH case to fit the camera with the grip on.

 

[Mike Tussy]

Well heck!. I was thinking the E-330 was maybe an option for me as I do like the larger LCD and the Live Preview feature. That really extends the usefulness somewhat for me. However, since there is no external battery holder or it seems no cable release either, it must be it was targeted to the snapshooter more than in studio use. That is too bad...so looks like the E-300 is going to be my main camera for the duration. Oh well, nothing is perfect in the Photography Field I suppose. Maybe the Panasonic L-1 will have the external cable option, as using the delayed shutter release is a pain in the axx for me. Maybe next year the E-1 replacement will have these options.

MikeT.

 

[Jerry71]

Mike Tussy wrote:
"as using the delayed shutter release is a pain in the axx for me".

Mike,

Just got the RM-1 for my E-300 and am happy with it.

You have the option of 0 second (instant shutter release) or 2 second delay.

---Jerry---