At 12:21 PM 9/25/2004, you wrote:
>...
>Is the ruggedized body worthwhile? Is there a level of
>confidence in the camera that is pretty much missing with so
>many digitals today?
I feel the camera is very reliable "feeling," low vibration and fairly
easy to handhold, but I occasionally experience lockup. It usually
happens when shooting several shots in a row. It happened to me when I
was repeatedly pressing the shutter half way to focus. Doing that
multiple times while the camera was writing to the flash, locked it up.
You have to remove the battery to reset the camera and whatever was in
the frame buffer is lost. Physically it is rugged, but there is this one
troubling electronic issue.
Once I was shooting and had about 10 frames writing to the buffer when
the battery low indicator started blinking. The camera should give you
more advance warning. A lot of the photos had their dates set to 2085.
I held my breath hoping it would finish writing before the batteries.
For what it's worth, testing for dust I have not seen any increase in
spots. There are a couple there, but it has not changed. So there
is stuff that sticks to the sensor, but most does not. If you plan
on using the OM adapter, you will be changing lenses a lot more
often, so that is a definite feature. Not sure what it will look like in
2085 though.
So the confidence is there, somewhat. Much better than the prosumer
versions, IMHO. Acutally, other than the lockup issue, I feel more
confident with the E-1 than the OM system. With the E-1 I would
feel confident taking it with only a C5060 as backup. With
the OM, I would not travel without two bodies, OM-4ts. Sometimes I
don't know the OM-4t is slipping until I see the film. I would also
be more comfortable with the E-1 in rainy weather. I tend to change
lenses a lot more with the OM system. (C5060 shares the same
battery.)
>Viewfinder. How well does the camera manual focus as compared
>to an OM with 2-series screen?
Other than the missing split and micro prism, I think it focuses quite
well. I had the 135/4.5 macro at 65mm on the OM and I could not use
split image or microprism. So, anything you can focus on an OM
with the matte part of the screen you can focus just as well with
the E-1, maybe better. And there is no film flatness issues.
>Weight. Does the camera still feel light after a while or does
>it finally catch up to you?
I can carry the camera, in hand hiking around for several hours (4-5)
with much less fatigue than an OM-4t with grip 1. In fact, after
carrying the camera for that long, picking up the OM-4t felt
uncomfortable. I had to use more finger pressure. So I think
the E-1 is better than an OM. It matches my hand really well.
I have not experienced any fatigue, and I tend to carry the
camera in my hand when hiking.
>Controls. The wheel behind the shutter release looks awkward.
>Is it?
I shoot in aperture priority mode most of the time in which both
wheels control the aperture. The wheel by the shutter release
is in perfect position relative to the shutter release. Try to do
that with an OM :-) You can even see the aperture in the display,
what a concept. DOF is not the same though.
>Back to the rugged question again. Is the E-1 a camera you
>would feel confident going backpacking with for a week in some
>isolated place? Would a hybrid system of OM (B&W film), a
>handful of Zuikos, the E-1 with standard zoom and the Zuiko
>adaptor be a nice all-around outdoor system?
No, I have 4 batteries and I would probably use up two a day.
Without the ability to recharge the batteries, you would probably
run out of juice. If however you can recharge the batteries, with
two batteries you could probably make a day of hiking. You will
also need to off load the flash card. You could get an IRiver with
40gb drive to off load the flash. Maybe you can carry a car battery
with you :-)
As to carrying a hybrid system, I would opt for one or the other. The
E-1 lenses are lighter than the OM lenses. Weight adds up quickly.
With the 14-54 you have reasonable macro with working distance
at the 50mm range. The E-1 is quieter also. If you are backpacking
for days and no power, better take the OM's. Reliability-wise the
E-1 is good. At most I would take the OM adapter with one lens.
Macro in the 1:2 range can be done with 50-200 and extension.
Watch the vibration...
One thing I will say on instant review, you may think you have the
shot only to find out at full screen you had motion issues. The 50-200
tripod mount seems to have some flex in it. When racked out all
the way, with long lens hood, you will not be able to keep it
stable in the wind. And it is not a tripod issue, but the flex in
the tripod ring on the lens. I'm hoping the new 150mm with
1.4x will be stable.
With the RM-1 remote (or RM-2) you have cable release. You can
dial in "Anti-Shock" which is just a pre-fire of 1,2,3,... seconds,
selectable.
So, If I had power, I would take the E-1. If I needed that extra
big landscape photo, OM with 21/2 might be in the mix. In
the hybrid case, I would bias the OM toward wide angle.
But then there is also stitching possibilities. If I had an SUV,
I'd take it all.
>Does the E-1 give the right image colors right out of the camera
>or am I forever chained to Photoshop to get usable pictures?
>I've shot Velvia/Provia for so long, I prefer to get the look
>right away instead of needing to post-process. As a point of
>comparison, the Canons produce pretty ugly files that require
>post-processing.
Compared to film, scanning, cropping, levels is a minimum.
In decent light, the E-1 colors are pretty good, but if you use
phaseone I think you can get even better results. The assumption
here is that you are shooting raw mode. The Jpegs from the
E-1 are pretty decent, but when you know you can get that
little bit extra, you start shooting raw, in which case you can
adjust the white balance, ... so for anyone who is particular
about the look you get, you will be post processing. But decent,
perhaps much of the time.
There will always be lighting situations that the camera will
not figure out correctly. The E-1 has a white balance sensor
on the camera and it uses that in combination with the image
sensor data to figure out white balance, but I'm not sure what
the algorithm does. If you happen to be in bright light shooting
into the shade, accidentally cover the sensor with your hat, etc
you might fool the camera. And if you have a real mix of light
you can get greens you didn't expect. Compared to film though
it is good. What do you get with Provia in mixed light?
>For anybody shooting portraits/weddings, is the E-1's skin tones
>spot-on? Again, I'm looking for streamlined workflow and the
>ability to shoot-select-print. (another advantage to the 4/3
>format is the cropping)
I'm probably not qualified to answer, but I think with the
phaseone software, consistent lighting, you should be able
to get the settings down and batch process, assuming raw
mode. As with film, high contrast will give you the more difficult
choices that require post processing. Faces shaded by hats
outside, etc is where I would expect to need post process
work. Indoor lighting without flash will probably need adjusting.
Flash may be an issue. If you want off camera flash, I'm
not sure Olympus has it all yet. Check the link Dorothée posted.
http://www.olympus-pro.de/images/upload/pdfs/Chart%20E1%20EST_D.pdf
No flash multi-connectors, ... but then if you can do flash with
the OM system without TTL flash, you are set. Perhaps others
can comment on flash usage.
Wayne
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