Camera Labs

I have just bought an Olympus E-3 two weeks ago and I though I would share my thoughs on how great the new camera is.

I have been an Olympus camera owner for almost thirty years. My first non Olympus camera was the Mimolta Hi-Matic G. Since then I owned one OM-1, two OM-4, first digital C-3000, C-5050; jumped to digital SLR, the E-500; then recently the E-3. I like Olympus because of their oddity innovation yet remarkably fine quality and performance.

Nikon D300 is the only other camera that I highly considered before I bought the E-3. I have gone to the local store in Houston with my own CF flash memory for test shots with the E-3 and D300. Ultimately the E-3 win my decision mainly on cost and the number of Olympus lenses I have already owned.

Without being bias, I am so glad I picked the E-3. It is such a finely built camera with solid feel. The features I loved the most is the built in immage stabilization and the blazingly fast 11 point focus. The IS allows me to sandwich mount a macro extension tube or 2X teleconverter on any of my lenses and still work with chasis IS. This won't work with any lens based IS or VR such as Nikon and Canon. In the past two week, I found that I can take shots that I never could with my E-500. The vivid color setting give me a brilliant and vibrant color that completely blow me away. Personally, I think Nikon color tone, especially D40 - D60, are way overly saturated. Lastly the swivelled live screen adds another dimension even though I only used it on several low angle shots.

Canon and Nikon get all the inks, but I think the E-3 get all the shots. There it is, my review...

Congrats for your new camera purchase.

You made a good decision,

Olympus E-3 is a solid camera

- built in 2.5-3 stops
- Noise management really good, better than d300 or other camera in the market. especially in high iso (1600 and 3200)
- you have many Olympus lens

downside is the AF, even you like the speed, is slower than Canon 40D
or nikon D300 in low light condition.

based on the your condition, it is the best decision.

congrats, and I can wait to see your work here

Hi joeletx

first of all: a warm welcome to the forums!

Very interesting to have an E-3 shooter among us - unless I'm mistaken, you are the first.

I've read a few reviews of the E-3 and it's very well received.

Hope to see some examples of your shots - perhaps some to demonstrate the strengths you find with this fine piece of photographic equipment.

Nice to see someone choosing something other than the usual two big ones for the semi-pro/pro camera body.

I've got a D40 and you're right it's not in everyone's taste to have every shot look like a candy-store..lol.

Cheers

im jealous. im a 510 owner myself but i have nowhere near the funds necessary to get an E3

though i just got the 12-60mm lens today so i can hopefully get SOME level of performance the E3 offers with this lens.

by the way, if you didnt get the 12-60mm lens, you absolutely must. its such a fast lens its amazing!

how was the learning curve? i went from the E500 to an E510 without any troubles, but when i tried out an E3, i felt totally lost

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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've got a C-3000 and I still love that little camera! It's only a 3.3MP, but it's a great little camera to have around for web photos and stuff to go on eBay The experience with that Olympus almost made me go for the 510 when choosing a DSLR.

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Canon 40D, 28-135 IS USM, 70-300 IS USM

The learning curve was suprisingly not bad. The button at first seem overwhelmingly scatterred but thet are clearly labelled. The navigation screen provide 80% of the popular tasks. I did dig into the menu just to see the burried settings. The links below have some of my test flower and butterfly shots with the E-3.

http://fourthirds-user.com/galleries/sh ... puser/1747

I too have recently bought an E-3. The final decision was between it and a Canon 5D, with the E-3 winning due to feeling better built and it's weather sealing.

I think it is great to have another non big two (Canon-Nikon) camera owner. The E-3 is indeed a super camera.....I think the biggest downside to the Nikon high end cams is the price. I too wanted a D300 but settled for the 40D price being a huge factor and some features on the D300 I would never use.

But I really like the E-3 and having lenses already much of been a big factor too.

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Canon 40D - EFS 17-85mm IS - EF 50mm 1.8 II - EF 70-200mm f.4 L - Speedlite 580EX II - GF Lightsphere Cloud - S.I.L.K 300DX PRO Tripod - Manfrotto 679 monopod - LOWEPRO Trekkar Backback - Adobe CS3 -