Hi Dan,
I'm glad I'm not the only one who took advantage of the nice price drop.
On 1/6/07, Dan Mitchell <danmitchell@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Live view (A) also makes for a much easier time using a knee / chair
> arm / whatever as a temporary tripod in low light -- it's hard to prop a
> camera up on something for stability and look through a viewfinder, but
> with the screen in live view it's much more possible.
I had also thought it would make a certain sort of "street
photography" easier to do. Put the camera on a table, set the lens to
its widest and shoot off the LCD. I used to do a bit of that sort of
thing with the C-8080.
> Mode B + zoom is also great for astrophotography -- finally I have
> some photos of the moon (using a tamron 500/8) that are vaguely in focus.
Excellent tip. Thanks.
> Autofocus speed/accuracy/dark handling compared to the E-1 seems
> pretty much comparable, though I haven't done any real testing.
My feeling is that the E-330 is a wee bit faster in AF and a bit more
sure in the dark. Both cameras sometimes hunt on a soft subject. I
haven't liked to use anything other than the center AF point. What
about you? I've been thinking it might be worth trying all three
points in low light.
> Noise -- 1600 is perfectly usable in low light, but it's much more
> noticeably noisy using high ISOs in normal lighting conditions. So 1600
> ISO helps at night, but is less useful for long lenses in daylight, if
> you see what I mean.
Most of my actual 1600 shots have been night shots. The few test
shots I did were day shots. I notice plenty of "grain" in both, but
edges are pretty good with the NR option turned on. The images clean
up nicely in noiseware with luminance settings alone. I did some high
surf shots handheld at ISO 800 with the DZ 50-200 at the long end. I
tried to use AF, which was a mistake, but then so was handholding.
The results are OK as snapshots/records. I actually had to check the
EXIF to see which were at ISO 800. I wouldn't bother with noiseware
with any of them. When you're in the territory that you need high
ISOs, so many other things are straining -- ability to hold steadily,
ability to focus accurately.
> The built-in flash isn't all that much use for illuminating things,
> unsurprisingly, _but_ it is very useful for macro -- put another flash
> on a mini tripod with diffuser in front of it, put the second flash on a
> slave, and use the flash on the E-330 to trigger the second flash.
> Easier than fiddling around with cables, and you can (sort of) get light
> from two directions.
Thanks for that suggestion. Years ago Dr. Flash recommended a Vivitar
550FD flash that I subsequently picked up on eBay. This flash just
fits in the camera's shoe when the built-in flash has been engaged. A
full dump pointed at the ceiling is generally enough to lighten the
back of a normal-sized room. If you want it lighter, change ISO. I
generally keep the built-in flash set for fill. The results are very
natural-looking and the setup couldn't be easier.
> I much prefer the feel of an E-1 -- the grip is taller, which fits my
> hand better, and the controls are better placed. I initially missed the
> ability to take a shot and then chimp with my right thumb, but after a
> while I've got used to that; I miss having the LCD screen on top, and
> I'm pretty sure battery life is worse with the E-330 than the E-1, but a
> spare battery is easy enough to carry around.
I agree with all that, though I like the layout of controls on the
E-330 a lot. Battery life is definitely shorter, I suspect mainly
from powering the LCD so much of the time. No free lunch.
> The body is also that bit lighter, so with a 50-200 it feels _very_
> front-heavy. And of course it's not water resistant like the E-1.
>
> One gotcha with the flip-out screen is that you'll need to be careful
> with QR plates, as they can get in the way of getting the screen out.
>
> Some reviews complain about the smaller/darker viewfinder -- that may
> well be true, but I don't have problems with it myself. (honestly, I
> find the viewfinder in an OM4 to be too _big_, I can't see all the
> corners at once).
I purchased the ME-1 when I got the camera and have never actually
used it without. The boost in viewfinder real estate is only 1.2x,
but I wouldn't now be without it. People complained about the
viewfinder on the E-1 initially. I don't notice a problem. It's just
what's there to work with.
> All in all, I had a brief period of buyers remorse when it first got
> to me, because it wasn't as nice to use as the E-1 and I hadn't really
> worked out when I'd use the live view modes, but now I think it's a
> great thing -- I think it's a huge advantage in some situations, in
> others the viewfinder works just as well, but all in all I'm glad to
> have bought one, especially for the price they're going for these days.
>
> -- dan
Amen.
Joel W.
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