Well, first of all, the E-1 arrived coincident with a much higher (and
singularly more aggravating) work-load, so I've had very little chance
to do any serious shooting. Just a bit of mucking about trying to get a
handle on my new toy.
The first thing I noticed is that the E-1 "fits" me. It fits my hands
correctly (especially my right, which one would think Olympus might have
used a mold of in order to design the E-1's grip), and the controls are
where I think they should be (for the most part) without having to hunt
for them. Compared to a Ni*on DSLR I spent some (un-fun) time with at
work, this confirms my earlier impression with handling the E-1 in
shops. The Ni*on was awkward and "unintuitive" and incredibly heavy and
therefore mostly impossible to shoot hand-held with comfortably.
Mostly I've been noodling around with the E-1 in program mode. I've
tried a couple of shots in aperture priority mode. Neither was a problem
to do (although one wonders what, exactly, I might have been trying to
attempt to shoot), and the exposures seem to be pretty close to "right"
right out of the camera, in RAW mode. I *have* noticed that it's way too
easy to blow out highlights. Um... On second thought, it's way too easy
to *nuke* the highlights. (I'm quite proud of myself for having
(re-)discovered what so many others have already noted.) Obviously, I'm
going to have to apply more of my meager supply of remaining functional
brain cells to learning "proper E-1 exposure control".
On the whole, I'm pleased with the overall *use* of the E-1, and with
the majority of the results. At least, the majority of the results where
operator headspace, lack of proper composition and other sundry non-E-1
events have not intruded... My general impression is that it "feels like
an Olympus"--at least to me...
Where I am having problems is in two areas, both of which I believe to
be operator-related, not E-1-related:
First, the autofocus is making me nuts. It's not at all clear to me how
one tells just what the hell it's focusing *on*. From the manual, it
appears that there are three "focus zones" outlined in the viewfinder,
any one of which is selected by the E-1 as the focusing point. There's a
little viewfinder doohickey that even shows you which of the three
targets was used (I've updated to firmware version 1.4; I believe that
the feature was added in firmware ver. 1.3). However, depending on the
scene being photographed, the zone encompassed by any one of the
focus-outlines can be a target-rich environment. Just how does one know
where the actual focus is, with any reliability? What are the pitfalls
of forcing the camera to use only one focusing zone (as it appears is
possible to accomplish through settings)? Having *never* extensively
used a camera having autofocus, I'm finding this quite frustrating.
Problem two is definitely operator-related. There's so much information
being presented that I'm a bit overwhelmed. Or maybe it's just that it's
bright green. :-) Either way, I'm finding the viewfinder a bit
distracting, especially to a guy used to shooting over the last 20 years
mostly with an OM-1N or -2N and only more recently with a 4(T(i)). Time
to learn how to note what I need after composing I guess. *sigh*
I've also noted that it's time to go back and re-read some of Ag's notes
on use of his E-1 and the comments of others as well, as I think the
default settings aren't quite what I want.
So... No highly technical stuff from this particular E-1 novice. No
photos posted yet either, as I simply haven't had spare time to really
get out and shoot, much less process the RAW files for posting. I've
high hopes for this weekend, however, assuming I haven't throttled any
of a number of richly deserving candidates at work before Friday ends
and thus landed myself in the pokey.
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