Camera Labs

I am currently in the process of selling my Olympus E-410, a camera that has served me rather well. I intend on purchasing either the new E-30 or the E-3. I understand that the E-3 has a "tank-like" construction, yet certain reviews such as the one on dpreview.com state that, at lower ISOs, the E-30 has noticeably less noise and better quality. Which camera would you recommend? Thanks!

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My Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/24648553@N04/
My Gear:
Olympus E-30
Olympus 14-54mm & 50mm Macro
FL-36
Lowepro Slingshot 200

E-3

I feel it has less noise, weatherproofing has already served me in the 3 weeks I've had the camera, and if you find a slightly used one or a demo body on eBay, you can pick it up for $900.

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E-3!
12-60 2.8-4.0
12-60 2.8-40 [Also going]
40-150 3.5-4.5
70-300 4.0-5.6
Fl-48

i have the e-3 and think it's excellent. if they're both around the same price, i would recommend you getting the e-3. if one is significantly cheaper than the other, get the cheaper one. both are great cameras. it has been mentioned to me by many users that the DR of the e-30 is shifted to provide less highlight clipping at the expense of there being more noise in the shadow areas. of course this isn't anything that can't be fixed in post processing though.

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www.iandavisphoto.com
aim s/n: idotddot

Thanks for the advice! I just wish that CameraLabs did a review for the e30, and perhaps a comparison with the e3.

_________________
My Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/24648553@N04/
My Gear:
Olympus E-30
Olympus 14-54mm & 50mm Macro
FL-36
Lowepro Slingshot 200

There won't be a review for the E-30. Apparently, Olympus never sent Gordon an E-30 in spite of his requests. Too bad for Oly.

That being said, if noise or lackthereof is important to you, go for the E-3. The images from the E-3 that I've seen are considerably sharper and less noisy than E-30 images from ISO100 - 1600. The banding issue with E-3 is a red herring, in my opinion.

I've never used either, but have handled both of them at a store. The E-30 is nicer ergonomically and has a nicer LCD. Being lighter helps too when you are lugging the camera around for hours. But the E-3 is truly built like a tank, and almost feels like it's bullet proof.

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Olympus E620 | 25/2.8 | 50/2 | 12-60 | 14-42 | 14-54 | 40-150 | 70-300
Olympus E-P2 | Panasonic GH2 | 20/1.7 | 14-42 | 14-140
Leica M7 | M9 | 21/4 | 35/1.4 | 50/2.5 | 50/1.5 | 70/2.5 | 90/2
Sony NEX-3 | 16/2.8| 18-55
My FlickR!

Thanks again, it really is a shame that Olympus won't send in the E-30. From most reviews I read online, the two cameras (at least at lower ISOs) have very similar results, and both cameras have their strengths and weaknesses. It really is a difficult decision. In B&H, the E-30 is about $300 cheaper than the E-3 as well.

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My Photos: http://flickr.com/photos/24648553@N04/
My Gear:
Olympus E-30
Olympus 14-54mm & 50mm Macro
FL-36
Lowepro Slingshot 200

in that case you're going to have to decide a few things. is it worth the extra $300 to have complete weatherproofing, a larger 100% viewfinder and better high iso performance (debatable)?

or is it worth it to have the art filters, mode dial, 2 extra mp, altered dynamic range (can produce better highlights than e-3 but noisier shadows)?

there's plenty of things to decide actually. either camera will be a good decision, but as i am planning on going camping and maybe to south america i'm going to need the weather proofing of the e-3.

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www.iandavisphoto.com
aim s/n: idotddot

From 100% samples I've compared from both cameras, the extra 2MP do not allow any greater cropping, in fact the sharper image and less noise preserves MORE detail on the E-3.

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E-3!
12-60 2.8-4.0
12-60 2.8-40 [Also going]
40-150 3.5-4.5
70-300 4.0-5.6
Fl-48

I'm not sure where some of the comments above come from....I have an the E30 and it is not significantly noisier than the E3 up to ISO 1600....what I have seen are a lot of people not using proper exposure and then whining about noise.

As for the banding issue on the E3, it is not a "red herring"...its well documented and acknowledged by Olympus...it occurs on the E4/510, E4/520 and E3.

Don't get me wrong the E3 is capable of fine pictues but IMHO it's not worth the asking price unless you need weatherproofing due to relatively limited limited DR, softness, poor control layout and banding.

Since Gordon has foolishly been denied an E30 from Oly...I would reference you to dpreview.com and dcresources.com....compare the E3 and E30 samples and see what you think about noise.

Cheers;

this sentence is a thing of beauty! so many complaints i've seen on the dpr forum where people admit they underexposed by -.3 or -.7 and then complain. i always try to remind people that the noise produced by these cameras is nothing terrible and nothing that can't be fixed with good post production if you shoot raw.

i'm not afraid to shoot at 3200 iso if i need to, i don't think anybody should be afraid to. as long as you take a good exposure you should be fine. in any case, when i run iso 3200 files through pp it ends up looking more like a fine grain.

a person i've spoken with has had 16.5'' prints from 1600 iso shots of their e-510 that look fine. in many cases the noise you may notice on a computer screen doesn't actually show up when you make a print. i have 8x10's of 3200 iso shots that look fine to me.

as i've said before: i am sure you will be happy with whichever camera you choose.

_________________
www.iandavisphoto.com
aim s/n: idotddot

Samples from both cameras

E3:
http://gallery.photographyreview.com/da ... iso200.jpg
http://gallery.photographyreview.com/da ... iso400.jpg
http://gallery.photographyreview.com/da ... iso800.jpg
http://gallery.photographyreview.com/da ... so1600.jpg
http://gallery.photographyreview.com/da ... so3200.jpg

E30:
http://gallery.photographyreview.com/da ... ISO200.jpg
http://gallery.photographyreview.com/da ... ISO400.jpg
http://gallery.photographyreview.com/da ... ISO800.jpg
http://gallery.photographyreview.com/da ... SO1600.jpg
http://gallery.photographyreview.com/da ... SO3200.jpg

_________________
E-3!
12-60 2.8-4.0
12-60 2.8-40 [Also going]
40-150 3.5-4.5
70-300 4.0-5.6
Fl-48

The question is: Do you need weather proof? If yes, take the E-3. If no, save the additional weight and go for the E-30.

The E-30 has the better autofocus in live view. Concerning the noise, you can always remove noise, but you can't recover clipped highlights.

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Olympus E-30, ZD 9-18mm 4.0-5.6, ZD 50mm Makro 2.0, ZD 14-54mm 2.8-3.5, ZD 70-300 4.0-5.6

Light travel equipment:
Olympus EP-2, µZD 14-42mm , Panasonic 20mm 1.7 pancake.

Cullmann Trento IT Daypack

The only thing I would add for your consideration is that the banding on the pre E30's does not typically manifest unless you are shooting something in relaitve dark at higher ISO....the other thing is despite the improvements in the E30, the E3 IMHO still has much nicer color rendering when it comes to skin tones....less reddy.

Heres some E510 banding:

E510 1600

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vpwwLh2ATzI/Sdq3X ... 938_om.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vpwwLh2ATzI/Sdq3Z ... 293939.JPG

Cheers

Its not as simple as that, E3 also has:
-Better viewfinder [100% 1.15x vs 98% 1.02x]
-Better construction
-More professional ports

And don't shrug off noise as something thats just not going to play a role in picture quality. Sure a program can brush over and smooth away noise, but the problem is the detail is lost. The image becomes softer.

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E-3!
12-60 2.8-4.0
12-60 2.8-40 [Also going]
40-150 3.5-4.5
70-300 4.0-5.6
Fl-48

Part of this discussion we have haad in the E30 or E620 discussion:
http://www.cameralabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14266
If you look at the samples of Atomic links I think the E30 is a little sharper at low iso and the E3 has a little less noise at high iso. Another thing is that the plain blacks in pics from the E30 are not completely black, see the edges of the colour card in the samples, but I don't think it is a problem.
I favour of the E30 is a little more dynamic range.

Anyway the diferences are small, so consider the other differences and choose based on that.

Hans

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Olympus E-500, 12-60, 40-150, 70-300