Olympus E-330: think different!

marlof

The first DSLR with exchangeable lenses that has a live preview. It's not perfect yet (no live histogram), but it's fun to see a tiltable live preview screen on a DSLR.



It'll be fun to see how this develops, and if this will be picked up by other players in the market (read: Sony). You can see a preview at Dpreview.

erich6

I've never been too keen on the real-time electronic display feature. But that's just me. I prefer using the OVF.

Now, if they could overlay a live histogram on the OVF...that would be cool!

Erich

marlof

erich6 wrote:

I've never been too keen on the real-time electronic display feature.

I'm with you, and prefer an OVF over an EVF. The news in this one is that it has both the OVF, just like an ordinary DSLR. Let's call it the regular mode.

But it also has a small sensor providing a live preview on the screen that is tiltable. This way you can use the camera at hip height, or at strange angles, where an OVF could be awkward. So the live preview screen is only an addition, not a replacement. Let's call that the angle mode.

You can also rely on just the preview in a second mode, but then it gets a different beast. No mirror (it's away), no auto focus, and the live preview comes from the full sensor. You can zoom in ten times on the image as well. Call it the macro mode.

DoctorIt

Innovation is good.

rutt

I'd love a good waist level finder. I was hoping that the Sony R1 would be a kind of digital Hasselblad, but I didn't fall in love with it. Hey, reach for the R1 or 5D to go shoot something that might not come around again, and it'd always be the 5D. This occured just a major prime love affair set in, which really set back the R1.

So, I'd love to see this take hold. Most important thing: does it work in bright sunlight?

DoctorIt

rutt wrote:

So, I'd love to see this take hold. Most important thing: does it work in bright sunlight?

This is a serious question, does any LCD really work well in bright sunlight?

marlof

rutt wrote:

does it work in bright sunlight?

I think so (although I haven't held one), since it's the Olympus Hyper Crystal Screen that should be able to deal with bright sunlight.

I'm still holding out my judgement on this one. It's not a pro camera and I don't think it could replace my E-1 for sheer quality of handling and ergonomics. But it has several features that interest me, even if the implementation is not perfect yet. And it's different. I like different.

pathfinder

Cool!! The addition of an moveable realtime LCD with histogram to a camera with an Optical viewfinder I find very interesting and have been wating for.

I've always had a soft spot for Olympus SLRs anyway.

I really liked the rotating LCDs in the Nikon 995 and the Cannon G5. I must have shot half of my shots without looking through the optical viewfinders.

ed_h

DoctorIt wrote:

Innovation is good.

And frustrating, less than a week ago i got a new E500. Now the E330 with its features and the optional underwater case later this year.
ed

DoctorIt

ed_h wrote:

And frustrating, less than a week ago i got a new E500. Now the E330 with its features and the optional underwater case later this year.
ed

edit: innovation is good, but only it comes long after your most recent purchase.

marlof

pathfinder wrote:

The addition of an moveable realtime LCD with histogram to a camera with an Optical viewfinder I find very interesting

Same here. We're halfway there: we can use the moveable LCD for framing, but for instance exposure compensation does not show in the live preview. Nor does it offer a live histogram. I think the reason is that the sensor providing the live preview is a different one than the sensor providing the actual image.

In live preview mode A, the full sensor is still blocked by the mirror, and a second sensor is placed in the light path to provide the live preview. If the OVF quality suffers from that (as in darkening or whatever) remains to be seen.

In live preview mode B, the mirror is away to the side, and the live preview information comes straight from the bigger sensor. Since AF is done using the mirror, it is not possible in this mode. Only manual focussing, but you can zoom in 10 times to see if your manual focussing is on the target. That's why some call this the Macro mode. I don't know if there's a live histogram in this mode, we'll probably have to wait until it's released.

What I also like is that this is the first time a new DSLR has fewer megapixels than it's previous incarnation (the E-300 had 8 MP). It seems like the balancing between MPs and image quality (esp. on the smaller sensor in the four thirds system) is carefully done, which I respect.

Now it's waiting for PMA, and see what Panasonic has up their sleeves for the four thirds platform, and if Olympus will make an announcement regarding their next pro camera (the E-1 replacement). Exciting times!

Andy

Very cool. But remember kids, the histogram in your DSLR (ANY DSLR) is a histo of the in-camera JPG and not completely accurate as far as your camera's RAW file. You always have to know the differences between your in-camera parms and the camera histo, and the RAW file histo...takes a little time, but worth it

Just wanted to chime in with that.

DoctorIt

Nice full review here, with schematics on how it all works (fun for us nerds):

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/olympuse330/