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Re: [OM] Upgrade to E-30?

Subject: Re: [OM] Upgrade to E-30?
From: "Peter Klein" <pklein@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:57:06 -0700
Chuck:  Yes, there was.

A couple of weeks ago, I shot an evening wedding reception with my M8 and
35/1.4 ASPH v.1. I was the "friend of the family" who was asked to bring
my camera. They also hired a pro who shot with a D700 and 24-70/2.8 Sigma
zoom. Over 5 pounds around her neck, about two around mine.

When I saw the pro's pictures, I realized my M8 was not at as much of a
disadvantage as I thought. In fact, in many respects I prefer the M8
rendering. A zoom is nice at an event, and a max aperture of f/2.8 gives
more DOF. But the Leica just has more detail. Since I'm reasonably good at
shooting at 1/15 and 1/30, I did fine. The pro preferred not to go above
ISO 3200. So her f/2.8 at 3200 was really even, shutter-speed wise, with
my f/1.4 at ISO 640 (really 800).

All this was quite an eye-opener, as I had expected the pro's D700
pictures to blow mine out of the water. Perhaps if she'd been using f/1.4
prime lenses she would have had more of an advantage. She also shot JPG, I
guess because then she can offer a "no frills" package with minimum
postprocessing.

Anyway, if the D700 didn't blow the M8 out of the water, I suspect a K5 or
D7000 wouldn't either. There are valid reasons to use either of those
wunderbricks, but they are not quite the low-light panaceae I thought they
might be.

I still might spring for a D700 if the price goes down enough when the
replacement is announced. Or maybe a 5D. And a native C or N 50/1.4. But I
don't feel like it's worth it to go to APS-C and change all lenses and
accessories on my "other" system. And Olympus is what I've got for an SLR:
The E-510 and 14-54 v.1. Plus the 40-150 f/3.5-4.5, which I really, really
like.

--Peter

Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> So was there something other than price and having to replace all your
> lenses that turned you off to the Nikons and Pentax? The D700 would
certainly fix your viewfinder problem. :-)
>
> Chuck Norcutt


>> On 9/20/2011 3:53 PM, Peter Klein wrote:
>>
>> Does anyone here have hands-on familiarity with the E-30?  I'm wondering
>> if it would be worth upgrading my E-510 to a low milage used or
>> refurbished E-30?
>>
>> Right now the E-510 is my third camera, behind the M8 and the Panny G1. A
>> recent low-light wedding reception shoot, where I shot my M8 side-by-side
>> with a pro using a D700, has made me think that maybe I don't want a D700,
>> D7000 or K-5 as much as I thought I did. Which might just mean sticking
>> with the DSLR system I have, but maybe upgrading the body.
>>
>> The main issue I have with the E-510 is the tiny viewfinder and its lack
>> of eye relief (I wear glasses). This may be why I don't use it that much.
>> Supposedly the E-30 is much better, though not quite in the same league as
>> the E-3/E-5.
>>
>> According to this site, which matches dpreviews figures closely...
>> http://www.neocamera.com/article/viewfinder_sizes
>>
>> ...the E-520 (same VF as the 510) has a magnification of 0.44x, the E-30
>> is 0.5x. The E-3/E-5 is 0.58x.
>>
>> Right now I'm using the E-510 with a third-party 1.1x magnifier. This
>> gives me a magnification of .485x, which is getting close to the E-30.
>> But the eye relief is still way too low. I can't see the far corners of
>> the image, and I have to shift my eye to see the shooting information.
>>
>> The E-510 supposedly has a weaker anti-alias filter than many of the later
>> models, I don't know how that compares with the E-30.
>>
>> Thoughts?  From what I've read, many people prefer the E-30 to the E-3.
>> The E-5 has some genuine improvements, but is too big/expensive,
>> especially for a second or third camera.
>>
>> --Peter




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