My new IS-30 arrived yesterday. I haven't run any film through it (though I
did stick in a battery to be sure it worked). These are my initial
reactions...
Let's start with the topic that's at the top everyone's list -- the color.
The body is what I would call pewter. (Others might reasonably call it
platinum or gun metal.) The texture is somewhere between matte and glossy --
a bit shinier than real pewter. The hand grip is about as gray as you can
get without actually being black, and the shutter release is shiny chrome.
The various "accent" colors have been darkened and muted to be more
complementary to the metallic finish. The overall effect is gun-like. It's a
snazzy-looking camera. (Of course, YOMV.)
The best news of all is that it's _not_ champagne gold. This isn't just a
male/female issue. Most people on this list have reputations (at least among
their friends) as "serious" photographers. Champagne gold just _doesn't_
look like the color of a serious camera.
The IS-30 seems to address all the "I wants" that have hounded the IS-10
since its introduction. There are three major improvements:
Exposure Compensation: You have +/- two stops in half-stop increments. The
compensation ring circles the mode-selector pad, which has been raised to
make room for it. When compensation is in use, a +/- LED in the viewfinder
comes on when you press the shutter release. According to the manual,
compensation also affects flash pictures.
Super FP Flash: Super FP is only available in Portrait mode. Unfortunately,
the output appears to be fixed. The manual includes a chart showing how
fill-in intensity varies with distance. In any case, you can now have
fill-in _and_ blurred backgrounds.
Predictive/Continuous AF: Predictive/Continuous AF is only available in Stop
Action mode. If you hold down the shutter release half way, the camera
continuously focuses on moving objects. The manual warns that rapidly moving
objects may not be properly focused, but no specific limitations on
predictive AF are given.
The IS-30 is supposed to be able to autofocus in dimmer light than the
IS-10. I haven't tried it yet.
There is also an LT (long-time) mode which sets the lens to f/8 and lets you
choose shutter speeds from 1 to 60 seconds. It's mostly for shooting
fireworks. It's only available in Night mode, so you can't change the
f/stop.
The Quartz Databack is standard. It's powered by its own lithium coin cell.
You're supposed to take the camera to a repair shop when the cell dies, but
I suspect removing the three screws that hold the back to the rear cover
will expose the cell.
The viewfinder has not changed. Neither f/stops nor shutter speeds are
displayed.
All the improvements from the IS-20 have been carried over -- switchable
panorama, dual-tube flash, fluorescent-light compensation.
The IS-30 comes with a neck strap, shoulder pad, and a (previously optional)
soft case. It's packaged in a fancy display box. My gut feeling is that the
IS-30 will sell like crazy, especially to IS-10 owners who felt the IS-20
didn't have enough improvements to justify an upgrade.
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|