Well it's obvious that Olympus used the Pen F/FT as inspiration for the finder
system in the new E-300: Sideways-swinging mirror, porro-prism instead of a
penta-prism....
I'm not sure that I like the camera, but it's definitely heading in the right
direction as far as offering what should sell. With the smaller lens mount,
they've begun to take additional advantage of it's size, which is a good thing.
They are obviously trying to market the heck out of the the Supersonic Wave
Filter that works so well on my E-1. If the dust problems that my
photo-buddies have with their C/N's are any indication of general experience,
this could be a good selling point.
In general, it's obvious that there will be an E-3 in the spring, if nothing
else to introduce the 8MP chip. Hopefuly they will up the shooting speed to
the 8FPS mentioned in the E-1's flash manual. This will coincide with Nikon's
impending D100 replacement and them dropping the D70's chip in a revised body
to compete with the 20D (if that hasn't happened already).
Other notes:
- No weather sealing (good move to seperate it from the E-1)
- No ISO 3200 (v.noisy anyway on the E-1)
- Same 1/4000 shutter (I'm a bit surprised at this)
- 10x LCD magnification (I'd like this on the E-1)
- Better LCD than the E-1 (2 yrs of development)
- USB 1.1 only vs. USB 2.0 or Firewire on E-1
- 94% finder (saves size)
- Fixed focusing screen
- Scene menus, augmenting the E-1's pro-oriented modes (I don't miss scene
stuff)
- Likely less shooting buffer than the E-1's 12 shots
- 2.5 FPS max shooting speed
- Retained E-1's AEL/Focus-Point controls
- Retained two color spaces
- Retained E-1's dedicated buttons for many functions, but relocated them to
the rear
- Ability for the grip to take two of the small batteries
- New FL35 Super FP flash
I also saw some notes that Olympus is DEFINITELY working in Image Stabilization
for the E-System. This is a good admission.
The 7-14 ED Zuiko Digital will be a good addition to the line, but I'm still
waiting on a long macro.
Skip
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