Review on 📷 Olympus Evolt E-3 10.1MP DSLR Camera: Body-Only with Mechanical Image Stabilization by Keisha Wright

Although I've been a Nikon f4s and Contax G2 (35mm) user for many years, I've made the switch to digital and I'm glad I chose the Olympus E-3 as my DSLR. The camera is just great photography gear which gives me a great opportunity to switch from a Pro 35mm to a Pro Digital SLR. It's much lighter and more compact than my f4s workhorse, with the same features and lots of extras. Impressive metal case frame, waterproof and airtight like a drum, advanced electronics and intuitive controls. 6 stars if at all. The camera is electronically self-cleaning, eliminating the dust problems that plague DSLRs. The auto focus is perfect and really NASCAR fast! The meter is very good and can be set to matrix, center weighted, dot and a few other options to experiment with. I used a matrix which is very good but due to longtime habit I prefer center weighted metering. In very low light, I prefer spot metering or manual metering to get the job done right. The camera for all practical purposes (except frame size) is a 35mm SLR. Aperture priority, shutter speed priority, programmed automatic or manual exposure can be selected. There's plus and minus EV compensation of up to 5. Bracketing, long exposure, pretty much any shutter speed you want, it's all included. There are many other features that you can enable as you wish. The "noise" most people hear about in digital cameras (which is no different from the graininess on 35mm film) is absent at 100-200 ASA. It's only slightly present at 200-400 ASA if you use a microscope to examine it, or not present at all for the rest of the world. At 400-800 ASA it's almost imperceptible. In fact, the ASA 400-800 has less noise than I've ever seen on the same color ASA film, which speaks volumes for this digital camera. As said, you can use it the same way you would use 35mm film. slr, and on a 2GB memory card you can have about 200 photos in superfine mode, which I prefer. Fine mode would be ideal for most shoots, I prefer super fine mode. From what I've read, the Sandisk 2gig III memory card is the best you can buy. Most reviews say stay away from all memory card manufacturers with a capacity of 4 gigabytes or more, I'll listen to the opinion of the reviewers on this point. Photos already taken with it were mainly exposed with aperture priority and printed out directly without retouching by a photo service. - a long way to photograph in my opinion - call me old fashioned. It's very impressive for me to almost go back to using 35mm without spending hours retouching a 24 exposure film. However, I've cropped and altered some photos in Photoshop to experiment with it (e.g. going from super hard focus to soft focus for an effect) and it's useful and maybe even necessary for a tricky lighting condition that only Photoshop could improve. However, most camera photos are close to perfect straight from the memory card. The Olympus 12-60mm lens I bought is superb, the optics are as good if not better than my Contax G2 lens (formerly my sharpest lens, even compared to the expensive Leica) and has the proverbial "cake and eat it too" on it is a zoom lens! The lens gives me the 35mm equivalent of a 24-120mm lens in one lens - perfect for wide-angle and telephoto shots, which is what most pros and civilians use anyway. I haven't experimented with the raw function yet, to the chagrin of my photographer friends. From what I understand they basically produce a negative that is finished and printed through a program like Photo Shop. This makes it possible for magazine layout and cover professionals to print a series of jobs without taking hundreds of photos to get an elusive prime photo or two. I'll give it a try, although I still like the old-fashioned way of shooting without Photoshop or raw software. Digital Camera Benefits: The great thing about a digital camera is that you can look at your photos and decide if they're good enough to keep or not. They can be removed and re-recorded immediately. This is a clear advantage over the film! Imagine traveling to Europe, Tahiti, Australia, China, Japan or somewhere far away and you don't need to take 30 rolls of film with you! You never have to worry about how good your photos will turn out. No more worrying about airport x-ray security ruining your high speed film. Comparison Nikon D300 with Olympus E-3: Although I was planning to buy a Nikon D300 all along, when I personally held Oly and Nikon in my hands and went through with both, I decided on Olympus. The lens was exactly what I was looking for as a general purpose lens, the feel was great and I was very impressed with the feel and features of the camera. My only suggestion to Olympus, Nikon and the rest of the group is to turn on the aperture setting. the lens, not the camera body, and put the speed on the body, like in the "good old intuitive days of 35mm". what the camera should do. allows the photographer to be creative and focus on composition. While Nikon offers the D300 at 12MP and the Olympus E-3 at 10MP, the difference is minimal, in fact 8MP is all that's really needed. Of course, if you plan on enlarging each photo to poster size, wait until heavy, clunky, medium format digital cameras drop significantly in price, and use your camera as a dumbbell while you relax, if you can still raise your hands! Happy shooting. -Beam