Olympus-OM
[Top] [All Lists]

[OM] Re: E-1 discussion (What I like)

Subject: [OM] Re: E-1 discussion (What I like)
From: Skip Williams <om2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 21:29:34 -0400
OK, what do I like about the E-1?  (Everyone needs to realize that I have zero 
practical experience with competing cameras from Canon or Nikon, so my opinions 
is based solely on very brief, in-store handling of most of the other cameras, 
although I do have significant experience with the Canon EOS-3 and Nikon F5.)

1. Button ergonomics.  I thought that the "scatter the buttons around the 
camera" seemed weird, but after use, it's much better than my experiences with 
other cameras.  Having buttons lined up on the rear of the camera, like Canon, 
makes one have to "count the buttons" to find something by feel.  I found it 
was a pain to to press the third button down from the top, vs. the E-1's unique 
placement.  The E-1's most used buttons are all accessible single-handed, from 
the right hand.  I do find the custom WB button in the way sometimes.  I also 
find that the DRIVE and METERING buttons are somewhat inconvienetly placed on 
the left side of the pentaprism, but they're not really used a lot.

2. The ease of recalling a Custom Function Set is marvelous.  You can save the 
majority of the custom functions to one of 4 saved, numbered sets and then 
recall them by pressing the two FLASH and SIZE buttons simulaneously and 
rotating a wheel.  I find it great to reset the camera to my preferences very 
quickly after a shooting session where I was constantly altering things.

3. Wheel functionality - I really like the ability to customize the wheel 
functions, vs. the fixed functions in other models.   I also love the fact that 
to change a button function, you can use either wheel.  Just press-hold a 
button, then rotate a wheel.  Trying the 10D, it drove me crazy that the front 
and rear wheels couldn't be used interchangably.

4. AF.  Well, maybe it's just my old-fashioned, OM/Leica-M manual focus 
background, but the AF is very nice.  I just wish it had more than 3 fps drive 
speed.  I have found that moving to MF or AF-S, and bypassing the camera's 
continuous AF vastly improves the fps speed.  The 3-position mechanical switch 
for MF, AF-S, AF-C is very nice vs. a buttoned configuration.

5. Finder.  It's actually very, very nice, even with the low magnification.  
Easy to see with glasses, bright, snappy for MF lenses.  I do wish that the 
focus confirmation could work like Canon's, with the focus points briefly 
lighting red, rather than the E-1's inconspicuous focus dot.  I don't like the 
focus confirmation beep, it drives me crazy.  I also would like to see the ISO 
and drive mode in the finder all the time.  Having the Focus Point Mode in the 
finder is very nice.  It would also have been nice to have the focus points 
change their visual aspect somehow when selected, like the Nikon F5.

6. Sound - very quiet, great

7. Grip - I love the grip (except the $450 price).  The additional vertical 
shutter release, two wheels, and control buttons are very well implemented.  
The Li-Ion battery makes it very light.  But they really were out to lunch when 
they designed two, incompatible battery systems for a single camera.  They 
should have looked at Canon, where you can mount two of the short batteries in 
the bottom of the grip. 

8. Image quality - great, as CH has stated.  Out-of-the camera images are very 
"natural".  I also have NO dust spots, perhaps the vibrating filter is working? 
 I've had many comments from my professional lab about my 11x14's that they 
were surprised that they were "digital".

9. Lenses - great, great.  The 50-200 is especially nice.  Sharp wide open and 
light.  I kind of wish it didn't grow so much in length at 200mm though.  I 
also wonder about it's durability with the polycarbonate body.

10. Software - Functionality of Olympus Viewer and Studio is very nice, but the 
programs are butt-slow.  They could have written better code, IMO.  I think 
that the Viewer's ability to place lightbox images into three, color coded 
categories or move them into a sorting area is the best editing functionality 
that I've seen.  Again, I just wish it was faster.

11. Flash - The integration of the FL-50 is great, with the easy dial for +/- 
fill and on-body or on-flash buttons to select the different modes, including 
daylight sync, Super-FP mode.  The neatest thing is that if you have the camera 
and flash on, when you turn the camera off, the flash goes off.  When you turn 
the camera back on, the flash comes on too!

12. Shooting mode return - I find it great that a press on the shutter returns 
the camera to shooting mode in almost every state; at least everywhere that I 
can find except the Custom WB mode, where you have to press the Menu or OK 
button to exit.

That's all that I can think of.

Skip


>Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 08:58:04 -0400
>From: Skip Williams <om2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: [OM] Re: E-1 discussion
>
>
>Great ...
..snip...
>... E-1.  After 3-4,000 exposures, my issues are as follows.  I won't go 
>into what I like, as that would be too long a list.


Skip, I've appended my comments to your own. I will add that it would 
be nice to have a list of what you do like, though! <grin>



==============================================
List usage info:     http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies:        olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Sponsored by Tako
Impressum | Datenschutz