Folks: I'd like to hear from Zuikaholics who have used an E-10 or
E-20. What do you like about them? What don't you like? Did you go
whole-hog and graduate to a N*kon or C*non digital SLR? Did you decide to
stick with film after all? Are you happy as a clam with the E-10/E-20 and
find it's enough? What sort of shooting did you find it suitable for and
not suitable for?
Background:
I've been fooling with a little digicam lately--a used Nikon Coolpix 990 I
picked up on EvilBay. The idea was to get my feet wet in digital without
sinking too much money into it. I'm finding the little digital great for
family snapshots, casual photography, experimentation, instant feedback,
and in the case of the 990, macro. And it's a great learning tool.
But film it ain't. There's noise, there's shutter delay, there's a fairly
awkward user interface, low dynamic range and highlights that blow no
matter what you do. It's obvious to me that if I'm going to do any serious
work with digital, I'll need a better camera. I'm honestly not sure if I
want to do that or not. I've been quite happy with my film cameras, one of
which is an OM-2. I like small, light, fast-operating, and good
quality. I like the quality of film, but I hate sitting in front of the
scanner.
If I did get a better digital camera, it seems that a pro or almost-pro SLR
is the ticket. I rarely go above letter size, so megapixels are not the
issue. Image noise, dynamic range, shutter delay and reasonably facile
controls are. I am more of a people photographer than a landscape
photographer, and I like ISO 400. (The E-10's ISO 320 might be OK, but it
has to be a usable 320, not noise city).
I don't think a top-of-the-line P&S digicam is the ticket. I've played
with some of the better ones in a store, including the Olympus 5050. The
5050 responds too slowly for my style of shooting, and is too small for my
hands. Nice camera in general, though.
If I upgrade digitally, I'd like something with a physically bigger sensor,
less noise, maybe more dynamic range. Price is an object. A used or
fire-sale Canon D30 is one possibility. The E-10 or E-20 is another.
Any thoughts on all this would be appreciated.
--Peter Klein
Seattle
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