Shutter Lag.

10.0-megapixel Live MOS image sensor.

The 790 SW is simply boosting ISO sensitivity to gain a faster shutter speed and using software deblurring, both of which will reduce blur at the expense of added noise and/or obscured image detail. 1.3 million sensor photo detectors.And if there are kids in the house, mom and dad can rest easy that even the most mischievous child will have a hard time damaging this tough little camera. The viewfinder on the E-330 is just too dim to give you the full benefit, and the other two modes are also compromises. The Olympus E-3's grip is very comfortable, shaped a little differently from the E-510, a little less aggressive on the forward curve, which gives the middle finger a more confident grip overall.

500 shots. • Fixed focal macro lens. But the monitor exhibited very little grain under low light. Other SP-550 UZ features include a 7.1 megapixel 1/2.5 inch CCD that delivers images up to 3,072 x 2,304 pixels in size.If you plan to expand your system beyond the 14-42mm and 40-150mm kit lenses, the E-510 is the better choice. > Olympus EVOLT E-510. Olympus E-100 RS. The chief benefit is the ability to manual focus directly off the sensor while zoomed in on a small portion of the image. But unfortunately, as chance would have it, it's not always as good as the other four to six images you saw during the capture.

Olympus has moved the Olympus E-3's Main Dial on the back relative to the more recent models, but this is indeed where it's located on the Olympus E-1, so they stuck with what upgrading E-1 owners will be used to. Olympus Stylus Verve S.

• And that's what buyers will think and retailers will emphasise when discussing the Olympus E-410 and E-510.
• Olympus 770 SW.
• Olympus EVOLT.

Though my initial reaction to the LCD mode was positive, after shooting with it for awhile, I've found the general flaws that keep me returning to the optical viewfinder for most shooting. • Splash-proof Top Pro lens.

Then I got ambitious, turned on digital zoom and got a nice profile of his head at 3072x2304 pixels. Dave Etchells talks to Toshiyuki Terada, Olympus's Digital SLR Planning Manager, at the October 16, 2007 launch event.Olympus E-3. Because of the natural shape of a pentaprism or Penta-mirror, you'll find a similar shape under the Rebel XTi's flash; but I'll take Olympus's word that they did this on purpose. The Olympus SP-550 Ultra Zoom is expected to ship in March 2007 at an estimated street price of $500.

Conspicuously absent from the Olympus E-510 are two scene modes: both of them Underwater modes. Olympus says they use a Thixomold process to make these shells, a method that promises greater durability, with less potential for bubbles or seams in the magnesium alloy shell structures. Users can also tweak the exposure with +/-2.0EV of exposure compensation, in 1/3EV steps. Read user reviews (88). Be aware, however, that even if the body were perfectly sealed and you never removed the lens, dust still enters through zooming and focusing the lens, and dust can even come from the camera's internal components, especially the fast-moving shutter and mirror mechanism. Though it's still quite radical in appearance, the Olympus E-330 is slightly more curvaceous, with a better grip and improved control layout.Although there were some constraints, I tried to test the Olympus 770 SW under a variety of conditions to see whether it lived up to its rough-and-tumble claims. Minimal shutter lag when prefocused. Read user reviews (33). Dust can still get into the E-510, and it does. Minimal shutter lag when prefocused.

Olympus E-3 vs Canon EOS 40D. 33 mm fixed lens. The Olympus E-System is the first professional SLR system designed completely from the ground up for digital photography which:. Visit our discussion forum for the Olympus E-3! First SLR to offer a live LCD preview. To help ensure sharp, crisp results at longer focal lengths or in poor light, the Olympus SP-550 is equipped with both hardware and software image stabilization.If you hold the camera with a bright light source behind you with this shutter open, the problem becomes most apparent. Olympus FE-170. Some high-end features like burst mode and high ISO only function at quite reduced image sizes. Olympus C-3020 Zoom.

ZUIKO DIGITAL lenses developed specially for digital SLR photography. Has 10; but both make great images that you can blow up to 13x19 inches with no problems. It's the same problem I had with the Canon PowerShot Pro1, only multiplied five times. With a better grip, image stabilization, a big battery, and all the optical benefits of the Four-Thirds system under its belt, the Olympus E-510 is currently the most well-rounded choice among Four-Thirds SLR cameras.The Olympus E-510 has a somewhat dizzying menu system, with unclear titles that often include icons that can't be looked up alphabetically in the manual. Lens cap with strap. If you put a lamp behind you, you end up with a fuzzy image of a lamp appearing on your LCD. Olympus E-330. But with zoom I managed to get a few good shots that I later cropped.

Olympus SP-310. Speaking of dials, there's no Mode Dial on the Olympus E-3, instead you press a button on the top deck, left of the pentaprism, and roll the Main or Sub-dial, while changes appear on the Status display. It's more comfortable than using the smallish optical viewfinder, and the AF points are more visible on the LCD than they appear in the optical viewfinder. For all needs, the perfect lens can be offered from a standard, telephoto & ultra zoom to a macro lens. Olympus FE-200.This was taken with the 50-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens. 7.4 million sensor photo detectors.

Electronic viewfinder with dioptric correction. While it was fine with the E-510's kit lenses, and worked reasonably well in bounce situations, the flash recycle time was a little too long; and the camera wouldn't fire until the flash had recycled. A Preview includes basic specs and a brief description. Olympus E-1.The Shutter button is out on the front of the top deck. Olympus lenses. First, I'm happy that there was room to keep the power switch in the same location as on the E-500.

Debate obscure features all you like, but this one is real simple: Would you like 18x optical zoom with 100x digital and ISO that runs up to 5,000? Olympus Digital Cameras. Olympus 790 SW. You'll get most of what you need to handle RAW images with the included software. Olympus SP-500 UZ.Olympus SP-510 UZ. Its Scene modes are great for the novice, but two modes in particular are tuned for professional divers willing to spend more than the camera costs in an underwater housing and accessories. Update: 12/22/2007 Added Imatest results!

Visitors to this site may download this document for local, private, non-commercial use. It also might never focus. Click on a camera image or name to see full specifications. A new shutter mechanism in the Olympus E-3 delivers 1/8,000 second speed, and 1/250 flash sync, and an expected lifetime of 150,000 cycles. It's not the first such design to appear on a digital SLR, that distinction goes to the Panasonic Lumix L10, Olympus's Four-Thirds partner, but it's an incredibly versatile design, with the ability to face up down, left, right, and even forward, toward the subject.But unfortunately, as chance would have it, it's not always as good as the other four to six images you saw during the capture. 36.7 mm - 35 mm (0.9x) zoom lens. On the other hand, images were slightly soft and we noticed purple and green aberrations along high-contrast edges. As for the various tweaks to the existing Olympus E-330 design, I have to say I like most of them. Well, Live View introduces significant and widely varying shutter lag, ranging from a half second to three or more seconds depending on whether the camera can focus on the subject.

Free Photo Lessons. Update: 12/22/2007 Added Imatest results!Choose a variety of accessories which can be used with different Olympus camera models. It reduces the bulk of the camera overall, and makes it look slimmer.

Olympus FE-230. Unlike all the other small SLRs I've mentioned, the Olympus E-410 doesn't have much of a grip. When you do, the image freezes and the mirror and shutter flip closed until focus is achieved.

The body of the Olympus E-3 is sealed against dust and water, even the flash and swiveling LCD. And that's what buyers will think and retailers will emphasise when discussing the Olympus E-410 and E-510. Olympus has managed to re-expand its line, long dominated by compact Stylus models, and resurrect its long zoom. Better Pictures. Optical viewfinder is dim even in bright daylight.

8.9 million sensor photo detectors. Without a lens, but with a battery and a CF memory card, the Olympus E-3 preproduction camera weighs just under two pounds (1.97 pounds), or 31.6 ounces (896 grams). E-510 Overview. Other SP-550 UZ features include a 7.1 megapixel 1/2.5 inch CCD that delivers images up to 3,072 x 2,304 pixels in size. Most pro SLRs use CF, so E-1 owners will already have storage for these new cameras; but consumers who own a digicam that uses xD can also step into the E-410 with less initial cost. Olympus created this elaborate system to give consumers the live LCD view that they've grown accustomed to; the only problem is that the view isn't really live.

"You can still preview the exposure, white balance, and depth-of-field accurately on the screen, a major benefit to Live View, and there's a new Shadow Adjustment Technology that helps you assure that you'll maintain detail in the shadows."

Read user reviews (88).

Shadows were usually deeper in the images than they appeared to my eye. Where I was most frustrated was when my pictures lacked contrast and nuance, with areas that weren't so dark to my eye appearing quite dark and flat in the image. All 11 AF points appear in the Olympus E-3's Live View mode, and light up very similar to how they do in the optical viewfinder, except that the whole dot illuminates. Read user reviews (51).

Hands-On Preview.

Olympus.

I can't be sure whether they chose the Four-Thirds sensor size for this reason, or if it was a size that was more affordable, but the company claims the goal was to enable smaller lenses and smaller cameras. Instead, the E-510 is a few millimeters wider and offers a significantly deeper handgrip that adds to the camera's thickness, and offers a more comfortable hand-hold.Born simultaneously with the larger E-510, the Olympus E-410 shares most of its internal features with its fraternal twin. Though it's still quite radical in appearance, the Olympus E-330 is slightly more curvaceous, with a better grip and improved control layout. Has trouble focusing in low light. It uses a tower that goes up into the E-3's battery socket, so it only doubles the Olympus E-3's capacity. Olympus - Standard.

Olympus D-500L. It also might never focus. Visit our discussion forum for the Olympus EVOLT E-410! I was pleasantly surprised by how little I had to do to get great results. Ultimately, the E-330 has three ways to frame your images, and each is a compromise big enough that I'd hesitate to recommend a camera with any one of these viewfinders, let alone all three.Unfortunately, while most higher-end SLRs, like the Canon 20D or Nikon D80, have a second control dial to control aperture while the first controls the shutter speed when shooting in Manual mode, the E-510 has only the one Control dial. ISO 3200 and 5000 at reduced (3.1Mp) image size. Careful autofocus possible in Live View B mode.

• Splash-proof Top Pro lens. There's not much else new to Live View, it works just like the E-510, except that there are more autofocus points.As you'd expect, the E-510 retains Olympus' unique Supersonic Wave Filter, which couples a high-frequency vibration of the imager to remove dust from its surface, plus a range of seals to stop movement of dust through the camera body.

But what's that little brown spot? The Olympus Stylus 830 has a clean, pocket friendly chassis, and includes both an eight megapixel CCD image sensor and Olympus-branded 5x optical zoom lens - a more useful range than the 3x zooms in most digicams. No other brand makes a camera that compensates for my nearsightedness out of the box, with compensation from -3 to +1.0; that's good for me, but your results will vary. Olympus Stylus 740. Olympus took an extra step, however, to invoke the memory of their OM-series cameras. (Mju 780 Digital).

• Olympus users have taken matters into their own hands and collaborated to provide a real-world opinion piece to their peers.
• There are workarounds, but it's harder to strongly and universally recommend a camera that kept me guessing most of the time, not to mention working too hard to recover images that should have been straightforward.
• Olympus E-3 Digital Camera - Review - The Imaging Resource!
• There's Continual Focus (the camera is always finding focus, not just when you half press the Shutter button).
• Olympus Stylus 700.
• The image sensor is mounted on a platter allowing movement in two directions, so as to mechanically correct for camera shake in longer exposures.

Smaller lenses.

Live V. You can't do that on the Pentax and Sony SLRs that integrate sensor-shift image stabilization. There's a burst mode that captures five shots. Or you can use a partially-silvered "pellicle" mirror and mount a sensor behind this semi-transparent mirror to get your live preview. I did shoot a lot more images than I actually kept, shooting birds, but what I got was worth it to me (even though it required more patience than photographing a four-year-old child). Optical viewfinder is dim even in bright daylight.

• Small and light, easy to bring along.
• It was a little too big to slip into a small shirt pocket but it tucked away nicely into a daypack and was fairly comfortable around the neck hanging from a lanyard.
• No light lost, no trouble; you get the view you're used to, framed exactly as the capture sensor will see it.

Canon PIXMA MP970 Printer. 4.1 million sensor photo detectors. Olympus D-425. (Mju 770 SW Digital). It's the one SLR on the market that will let you frame pictures from the ground without laying down on the ground yourself.

The power button is tiny and lies mostly recessed into to the top edge of the camera. E-System Backpack. Despite its narrower range, I had better results with the on-camera flash.Olympus FE-280 Digital Camera - Preview - The Imaging Resource! I'm an Olympus fan from way back, but I'm concerned about these claims. With digital,.

Though Live View does give you a live image onscreen, that image won't be in focus until you press the AEL/AFL button. High ISO images are relatively usable even at ISO 800 and 1600 when printed at 4x6. Olympus Stylus 300. Contrast is a little high, tends to lose highlight and shadow detail under harsh lighting (does better than most in its class though).

• While their basic specs are quite similar, the E-510 really is a different camera from its smaller, lighter brother, the E-410.
• Having to cycle through the mode button to switch from standard Record to Digital image stabilization mode, and then having to push the button again to reach the Scene mode menu is something most people can get used to, but the multiple button pushes, as well as the separate menus, added a little extra frustration to camera navigation.
• Shot-to-shot time was sluggish, and was noticeably slower when the flash was engaged.
• High ISO images are relatively usable even at ISO 800 and 1600 when printed at 4x6.
• Visit our discussion forum for the Olympus Stylus 770 SW!
• Olympus has had a three-point autofocus system since way back in the film days with the Olympus IS-1 ZLR.

The relatively fast f/2.8 - 4.5 lens employs high-refractive, aspherical, and extra-low dispersion elements to maximize sharpness and clarity, and is also capable of focusing as close as 0.39 inches (1cm), an amazing feat considering the record-breaking zoom range. 28 mm - 504 mm (18x) zoom lens. Read user reviews (112).

Olympus lenses. Dubbed TruePic III, the new processor is said to offer a one stop reduction in image noise over past variants at higher ISO sensitivities, and today's new EVOLTs are the first cameras to include the technology. Olympus SP-510 UZ. Live View mode, while easily misunderstood, is actually quite useful so long as you know its limitations. Olympus SP-560 UZ. Technically, the Olympus EVOLT E-330 has not one image sensor, but two.I've found it can give me a little extra stability when shooting fairly wide, and certainly helps when using a long lens indoors; but very often those images still come out smudgy. Read user reviews (5). 37 mm - 111 mm (3x) zoom lens. Image quality was also a little better overall.

The Olympus FE-280 combines an eight megapixel CCD imager, an Olympus-branded 3x optical zoom lens, and a 2.5-inch LCD display in a pocket-friendly body. And since you have to exit one menu system to access another, it's far less convenient than the more traditional tabbed navigation. Olympus D-340R. Dec 28, 2007. > Olympus FE-210.My shots at Spreckles Lake were actually shot at High ISO, indicated in the Full Exif Display as GainControl with "Low gain up." Usually you would not set Auto ISO to High ISO for a daylight shot, but the camera should be able to set the ISO to 50 or 100 even at High ISO. If you open your left eye while looking through the viewfinder with your right, you'll see everything in real time.

(EVOLT E-500).

First Shots includes test images straight from the lab. Most amateurs wanting a live preview will do better sticking to Live View A, closing the optical viewfinder's shutter, and forgetting the Olympus E-330 has an optical viewfinder. On one hand, no other camera can check focus this thoroughly before capture, as modern optical digicam viewfinders do very little to help your eye confirm focus like the big bright ground glass focusing screens on 35mm cameras used to do.The longest digicam zoom available with a usable digital zoom that takes it even further into the realm of scopes. > Digital SLR.

Though other manufacturers have come out with their own digital-specific lenses, it seems these two new lenses outperform the two most popular manufacturers' kit lenses. Olympus D-490 Zoom. The Top Pro lenses are designed for highest professional requirements. The E-3's four-way navigator, which Olympus calls an Arrow pad, is well-positioned for easy access, and it's even angled a bit toward the right to accommodate the thumb's angle of attack. Olympus FE-150.

• The E-510's Scene modes are great for the novice, and I found the fireworks mode particularly useful.
• 10.0-megapixel Live MOS image sensor.
• I was disappointed not to find any boats on the lake but I zoomed across the lake anyway and was shocked to see what the camera captured.
• Twenty-four scene modes, including movie mode, with text descriptions.
• However it had a body shape resembling a high-end compact camera, which may have put some people off.
• There's not much else new to Live View, it works just like the E-510, except that there are more autofocus points.

Then your live image returns and the selected AF point illuminates onscreen. Unfortunately, I think there's still some work that needs to be done to make the camera's imaging abilities all they can be.

Read user reviews (2). Unlike most cameras that use this mode for manual focusing, you can indeed judge and adjust sharpness pretty closely with the Olympus E-330's Enlarged display mode, despite the fly-by-wire focusing ring. Built-in flash with six modes. Also note that because the LCD is somewhat dim in bright sunlight, these images seem badly underexposed; but if you adjust the exposure for a better appearance on the LCD, you'll blow the highlights even worse. Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual exposure modes, plus 18 Scene modes. • Macro flash system.Read user reviews (8). Lens cap with strap.