Posted by Dan Truong on February 27, 2009 at 12:53 AM
Finally a good upgrade for me coming soon...
It solves all the gripes I had with my current
E510 camera and I won't have to workaround
the flaws of my body by underexposing and
locking to ISO 100/200.
Highlight:
- E30's level high-ISO noise control
- E30's level dynamic range
- Swivel LCD
- Transmissive LCD (to work in bright sun)
- Lighted buttons for night
- Ultra light and compact
Soon Olympus will have a strong linup with m4/3
and e620/e30/e3 linup, moving the fixed-lens
prosumer buyers up to the removable lens SLR world.
Only the older E3 review is available but I can't wait to see real specs:
DP review ISO sensitivity Noise:
E-3 usable to ISO-400.
E-520 usable to ISO-400.
E-520 usable to ISO-200.
EOS 5DmII usable to ISO-1600.
Nikon D90 usable to ISO-1600.
Nikon D700 usable to ISO-1600.
DP review Dynamic range overview:
[pre]
Camera Shadow Highgt Usable
Olympus E-3 -5.8 EV 3.0 EV 8.8 EV
Olympus E-3 -5.9 EV 3.1 EV 9.0 EV (ISO 200)
Olympus E-520 -5.2 EV 2.8 EV 8.0 EV
Olympus E-510 -4.6 EV 2.7 EV 7.3 EV
Nikon D700 -4.4 EV 3.4 EV 7.8 EV (ISO 200)
Nikon D90 -4.4 EV 3.9 EV 8.3 EV (ISO 200)
Nikon D80 -4.8 EV 3.2 EV 8.0 EV
Canon EOS 5DII -4.9 EV 3.5 EV 8.4 EV
Canon EOS 450D -4.9 EV 3.7 EV 8.6 EV
Pentax K200D -6.0 EV 3.0 EV 9.0 EV
Pentax K20D -5.8 EV 3.2 EV 9.1 EV
[/pre]
Dan, I guess along with the items you had mentioned as improved over your present unit, the newer units excellent Dynamic range seems to be a very strong selling point. Interesting stuff.
Posted by Steve Sieren on February 27, 2009 at 6:25 PM
Anywehere I can learn what this is - E-3 -5.8 EV 3.0 EV 8.8 EV
Since I dont' know..
Posted by Dan Truong on February 28, 2009 at 12:48 AM
Yes, Olympus is hitting a home run in 2009.
Good DR is a real exitement! And one of the gripes of the older Olympus lineup vs competition. The other big gripe is ISO sensitivity/noise. I believe they deliver on that too with improved high-ISO noise levels. Waiting for full reviews of E30 or E620 to know.
Add to that awesome lenses unmatched by Nikon/Canon, and 4/3rd is now becomming a great third vendor option: The trade-off of DR&noise is shrinking to get portable gear, reasonable price, weathersealed, ultra fast lens, IS/VR in body. And for divers, full underwater gear.
I work with the 12-60 and 50-200 zooms (2x crop factor), which open 2.8-3.5. They're somewhat heavy but for the same size and weight, Canon/Nikon only has consumer grade f4.5 lenses with slower A/F. To give you an idea of what I have, full setup with BW filters cap and strap,
My 24~400mm 2-high-end lens photo setup is 2.2kg.
My 28~300mm 2-kit-lens photo setup is 1.1kg.
I'm exited which is why I'm pulling comparison with high-end bodies for this $699 MSRP body. It's even also lighter and smaller than my E510!
The E30 is higher end but too bulky heavy for my travel/sports needs. The E3 is weathersealed and like only $1300 but again too big.
Maybe a new 1000mm Telephoto, and the lens line-up would be complete.
It's starting to pay off to have a digital SLR design-from-scratch, vs C/N that need to adapt to older lens/system. For example, incidence of light on borders will be a problem for their full frame SLRs, it's not perpendicular when hitting the photosites.
Dynamic range readings:
Lemme give you a very *erh* scientific explanation:
You know how you can control the exposure in EV increments? When you stop down, or reduce ISO rating by 1/2, or increase the exposure by a notch, you reduce the light by 1EV... Therefore it's like twice as dark.
The EV's listed there (exposure values) is the point where the camera cannot distinguish between that dark and anything darker, or that white and anything brighter.
What is the dynamic range range of a a 35mm film camera with a good ISO100 film? 7EV?
Posted by Dan Truong on February 28, 2009 at 1:47 AM
Can Olympus really become a serious contender? Let's look at the lenses to get a similar etup I have...
You get, 38~320mm equiv. 2.4kg (add 0.6kg body) and no IS at wide angle with a 1.6x crop facor. So you're missing your 28mm wide angle, and short on zoom power.
You could go with a darker lens:
$1300 EF 16-35 f2.8L USM 640gr 88.5x111.6mm
$2400 EF 28-300 f3.5/5.6 IS USM .670gr 90x184mm
That yields 26~480mm for 1.3kg, so this would be competitive with the Oly offering, 2kg with the camera and filters, but 1-stop darker zoom lens, and no IS in the wide lens, and no weatherproofing.
For reference
e620 Olympus setup is $2500 new.
Lens sizes smaller. Brighter. 4stop IS. Lighter. Cheaper. :)
Discussion
4 repliesIt solves all the gripes I had with my current
E510 camera and I won't have to workaround
the flaws of my body by underexposing and
locking to ISO 100/200.
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/olympuse620
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E30/E30A.HTM
(check the great samples photo comparometer and raw files!)
http://olympus-imaging.jp/product/dslr/e620
And other review sites to look at when they get more, but
already sport goor E-30 reviews:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/MFR1.HTM?view=Olympus_reviews
with controlled sample photos of different models at many ISO.
They provide the comparometer&tm;
http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM
http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/camera/review/185/page_8.html
Does a review that leads to a measured specs review from DIWA labs
http://www.diwa-labs.com/wip4/test_result_overview.epl?product=6613
Again many models.
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/olympus/e30-review/index.shtml
Has an exhaustive features review, followed by night shots at different ISO to see the grain.
Highlight:
- E30's level high-ISO noise control
- E30's level dynamic range
- Swivel LCD
- Transmissive LCD (to work in bright sun)
- Lighted buttons for night
- Ultra light and compact
Soon Olympus will have a strong linup with m4/3
and e620/e30/e3 linup, moving the fixed-lens
prosumer buyers up to the removable lens SLR world.
Only the older E3 review is available but I can't wait to see real specs:
DP review ISO sensitivity Noise:
E-3 usable to ISO-400.
E-520 usable to ISO-400.
E-520 usable to ISO-200.
EOS 5DmII usable to ISO-1600.
Nikon D90 usable to ISO-1600.
Nikon D700 usable to ISO-1600.
DP review Dynamic range overview:
[pre]
Camera Shadow Highgt Usable
Olympus E-3 -5.8 EV 3.0 EV 8.8 EV
Olympus E-3 -5.9 EV 3.1 EV 9.0 EV (ISO 200)
Olympus E-520 -5.2 EV 2.8 EV 8.0 EV
Olympus E-510 -4.6 EV 2.7 EV 7.3 EV
Nikon D700 -4.4 EV 3.4 EV 7.8 EV (ISO 200)
Nikon D90 -4.4 EV 3.9 EV 8.3 EV (ISO 200)
Nikon D80 -4.8 EV 3.2 EV 8.0 EV
Canon EOS 5DII -4.9 EV 3.5 EV 8.4 EV
Canon EOS 450D -4.9 EV 3.7 EV 8.6 EV
Pentax K200D -6.0 EV 3.0 EV 9.0 EV
Pentax K20D -5.8 EV 3.2 EV 9.1 EV
[/pre]
Dynamic range max:
E520: -5.90 +3.75
E3: -4.75 +4.00
D90: -4.75 +5.00
Since I dont' know..
Good DR is a real exitement! And one of the gripes of the older Olympus lineup vs competition. The other big gripe is ISO sensitivity/noise. I believe they deliver on that too with improved high-ISO noise levels. Waiting for full reviews of E30 or E620 to know.
Add to that awesome lenses unmatched by Nikon/Canon, and 4/3rd is now becomming a great third vendor option: The trade-off of DR&noise is shrinking to get portable gear, reasonable price, weathersealed, ultra fast lens, IS/VR in body. And for divers, full underwater gear.
I work with the 12-60 and 50-200 zooms (2x crop factor), which open 2.8-3.5. They're somewhat heavy but for the same size and weight, Canon/Nikon only has consumer grade f4.5 lenses with slower A/F. To give you an idea of what I have, full setup with BW filters cap and strap,
My 24~400mm 2-high-end lens photo setup is 2.2kg.
My 28~300mm 2-kit-lens photo setup is 1.1kg.
I'm exited which is why I'm pulling comparison with high-end bodies for this $699 MSRP body. It's even also lighter and smaller than my E510!
The E30 is higher end but too bulky heavy for my travel/sports needs. The E3 is weathersealed and like only $1300 but again too big.
Maybe a new 1000mm Telephoto, and the lens line-up would be complete.
It's starting to pay off to have a digital SLR design-from-scratch, vs C/N that need to adapt to older lens/system. For example, incidence of light on borders will be a problem for their full frame SLRs, it's not perpendicular when hitting the photosites.
Dynamic range readings:
Lemme give you a very *erh* scientific explanation:
You know how you can control the exposure in EV increments? When you stop down, or reduce ISO rating by 1/2, or increase the exposure by a notch, you reduce the light by 1EV... Therefore it's like twice as dark.
The EV's listed there (exposure values) is the point where the camera cannot distinguish between that dark and anything darker, or that white and anything brighter.
What is the dynamic range range of a a 35mm film camera with a good ISO100 film? 7EV?
$500 450D Xsi (524grams)
Canon L series only:
$990 24-70 f2.8 USM: 950gr 83.2x123.5mm
$515 70-200 f2.8 IS USM : 1470gr, 86.2x197mm
You get, 38~320mm equiv. 2.4kg (add 0.6kg body) and no IS at wide angle with a 1.6x crop facor. So you're missing your 28mm wide angle, and short on zoom power.
You could go with a darker lens:
$1300 EF 16-35 f2.8L USM 640gr 88.5x111.6mm
$2400 EF 28-300 f3.5/5.6 IS USM .670gr 90x184mm
That yields 26~480mm for 1.3kg, so this would be competitive with the Oly offering, 2kg with the camera and filters, but 1-stop darker zoom lens, and no IS in the wide lens, and no weatherproofing.
For reference
e620 Olympus setup is $2500 new.
Lens sizes smaller. Brighter. 4stop IS. Lighter. Cheaper. :)
$999 50-200 swd 995gr 86.5x157mm
$700 12-60 575gr 79.5x98.5mm
$699 E-620
$1300 E-30
$1100 E-3