Olympus E-3 Released

[shadowfox]

I can't barely wipe the drool off my mouth. 😀

Read about what the folks over at fourthirdsphoto forum have found out straight from Olympus Japan.

http://fourthirdsphoto.com/special/e3.php

Looks like the E-3's autofocus is faster than even top Canon pro model... with the new Zuiko SWD lenses released with the body.

And... it's less than $2000 😱

 

[kshapero]

here is a hanky for your mouth.
Case in Point:
1. MY ZI requires knowledge of 4 things: Aperture, Shutter speed, ISO and focus.
2. My Nikon D70S requires thorough knowledge of 208 pages of technical detail, including the 4 above. Other than running to Costco once week to make my CD, what are we really missing?
Down to earth (Man that Oly E-3 looks really nice)

 

[Trius]

I was hoping that Oly could pack all that technology into an OM body ... yes, Earl has a hard time letting go of the past. :angel:

So right now I'm very impressed with the E-3 and want to do two things:

* Play with it a lot with the ZD lenses
* Play with it a lot with OM lenses via the MF-1 adapter

It looks like actual production may be a trickle for some time to come, so I'll continue shooting film and scanning, so "play" may have to wait.

The most exciting thing for me is the viewfinder. If it is good as we are lead to believe, I can overlook a lot of other "faults". I.e., it ain't small like an OM or E-4x0/5x0.

Earl

 

[shadowfox]

The reason I am excited is because I love shooting film.
Therefore I only want/need/have *one* DSLR.
My E-300 is aging and the E-3 looks like one heck of a replacement.
And I probably can manual focus decently on the bigger viewfinder with my OM lenses. 😛

I'd say the E-3 will kick 40D and D300's collective butts. There, I said it. 😀

 

[mervynyan]

my e-1 and 4 lenses are still kicking, albeit I use less often these days since I added a medium format.

I will wait for at least 1 year to see the hype (and to believe it).

 

[gavinlg]

I've been following it too. I'm a big fan of zuiko glass. I use canon DLRS right now, but the e-3 sure is a good looking camera.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

I'd say the E-3 will kick 40D and D300's collective butts. There, I said it. 😀

I find it very difficult the get exited about any of these new DSLRs. Most of their fancy new features and improvement are of little or no use for most types of photography. If I were wildlife or sports photographer I might get excited. Unfortunately for Olympus the Nikon and Canon offerings still look stronger or at least as good for those purposes. In order to win any market share Olympus would need clearly superior products, since people don't switch systems without a good reason.

For general amateur use the E-3 is probably a bit of an overkill. Most amateurs that use the Nikon D200 have it only because they can use their MF lenses with it. Otherwise they would be quite happy with the D80. Similarly for most amateur Oly users the E-510 seems like a better deal. So the E-3 does not seem to have a lot of potential buyers outside the hard core Olympus fans. So I wonder if it would be wiser for Olympus to concentrate on amateur DSLRs just as Pentax seems to doing.

 

[Al Patterson]

The E3 looks nice, but I'm thinking Pentax

The E3 looks nice, but I'm thinking Pentax

I usually only use digital shots as wallpaper on the PC, so I'm thinking of getting the K100D Super from Pentax. It costs a tad less than most DSLRs, and I can grab some old Pentax glass if I find the need.

 

[shadowfox]

I find it very difficult the get exited about any of these new DSLRs. Most of their fancy new features and improvement are of little or no use for most types of photography. If I were wildlife or sports photographer I might get excited. Unfortunately for Olympus the Nikon and Canon offerings still look stronger or at least as good for those purposes. In order to win any market share Olympus would need clearly superior products, since people don't switch systems without a good reason.

For general amateur use the E-3 is probably a bit of an overkill. Most amateurs that use the Nikon D200 have it only because they can use their MF lenses with it. Otherwise they would be quite happy with the D80. Similarly for most amateur Oly users the E-510 seems like a better deal. So the E-3 does not seem to have a lot of potential buyers outside the hard core Olympus fans. So I wonder if it would be wiser for Olympus to concentrate on amateur DSLRs just as Pentax seems to doing.

My good Doctor, I think the E-3 is more attractive for more people than you think. It definitely has the build quality aspect covered. It also looks good.

And for people who "graduated" from digital semi-pro-wannabe cameras (which I suspect is the main market for E-3), they still get to use an articulated LCD with Live-view. Pros has a stash of old lenses, these people probably don't, so the price to switch system may not be too high considering the aggresive pricing Olympus has set for E-3 ($1700 for a weather-proof body?).

Does D300 or the upcoming 40D from canon have anything different to offer? no... all they're offering is higher resolution and a promise of better IQ, which the E-3 has also.

I agree that for film-camera users like us, like I said, I am only interested because this will hopefuly be my only DSLR purchase for the next 10 years. 😀

 

[ferider]

Puts is sure Barnack wouldn't have liked it:

http://www.imx.nl/photo/viewpoint/barnacks_smile_october_21_2.html

🙂

Roland.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

My good Doctor, I think the E-3 is more attractive for more people than you think. It definitely has the build quality aspect covered. It also looks good.

And for people who "graduated" from digital semi-pro-wannabe cameras (which I suspect is the main market for E-3), they still get to use an articulated LCD with Live-view. Pros has a stash of old lenses, these people probably don't, so the price to switch system may not be too high considering the aggresive pricing Olympus has set for E-3 ($1700 for a weather-proof body?).

Does D300 or the upcoming 40D from canon have anything different to offer? no... all they're offering is higher resolution and a promise of better IQ, which the E-3 has also.

I agree that for film-camera users like us, like I said, I am only interested because this will hopefuly be my only DSLR purchase for the next 10 years. 😀

Don't get we wrong, the E-3 certainly has all the necessary features, but I doubt any Canon, Nikon, K-M/Sony or even Pentax users would switch to the E-3 because of an articulated LCD and slightly lighter long teles, which are about the only thing that separates it from the advanced amateur and semi-pro offerings of the other manufacturers. Spesifically it does NOT have the compactness and low weight of the lower end E-system models. So the potential market is pretty much upgraders within the 4/3 system and people still using a film SLR other than Canon EF, Nikon F, Minolta A, M42 screw or Pentax K mount. That's not a huge market, and most people who still use film on a daily basis are unlikely to invest on a semipro model as their first DSLR in any case.

 

[shadowfox]

No problem, we'll agree to disagree like true gentlemen. And as always, time will tell 😀

 

[szekiat]

I can't barely wipe the drool off my mouth. 😀

Read about what the folks over at fourthirdsphoto forum have found out straight from Olympus Japan.

http://fourthirdsphoto.com/special/e3.php

Looks like the E-3's autofocus is faster than even top Canon pro model... with the new Zuiko SWD lenses released with the body.

And... it's less than $2000 😱

Thats a high claim to make when there aren't any benchmark tests done on the AF speed as yet. Everyone can claim to be the fastest in the market, but can they substantiate that claim? Also, no raw images have been released as yet so its hard to judge the true picture quality. Time will tell i guess, but i doubt they are really going to be much competition compared to the canons and nikons.

 

[Trius]

Thats a high claim to make when there aren't any benchmark tests done on the AF speed as yet. Everyone can claim to be the fastest in the market, but can they substantiate that claim? Also, no raw images have been released as yet so its hard to judge the true picture quality. Time will tell i guess, but i doubt they are really going to be much competition compared to the canons and nikons.

That's a good point. I am sure there are lots of ways the test could be designed.

However, Olympus is a pretty conservative company, and if they have made this claim and they get badly caught out, they'd have egg all over their face. I sorta doubt they've left that option open. But we shall see.

 

[NickTrop]

Whoever makes the first DSLR that is edible, be it Pentax, Oly, Nikon, Canon, Sony I will abandon my film cameras and purchase the DSLR. Until such time, I will continue to use film cameras - none of the features or specs offered here float my goat.

 

[shadowfox]

Thats a high claim to make when there aren't any benchmark tests done on the AF speed as yet. Everyone can claim to be the fastest in the market, but can they substantiate that claim? Also, no raw images have been released as yet so its hard to judge the true picture quality. Time will tell i guess, but i doubt they are really going to be much competition compared to the canons and nikons.

Of course it's a high claim, and some marketing "truth" in it, who doesn't do that kind of stuff when launching a new PRO camera?

Why the cynicism?

More pointedly, who cares? It's going to be fast enough for me 🙂. Heck, I don't even like auto-focus unless I'm taking a picture that I *have* to get instead of the ones I *want* to create.

*I* am excited because the E-3 sounds like the best out there in terms of build-quality, lens quality, and feature. I need exactly *one* DSLR for the next 10 years, and it sure won't be D300 or 40D ... or M8. 😀

 

[burninfilm]

However interesting the camera specifications may be, I still think one of the neatest aspects of the Olympus DSLRs is the new lenses being offered. Specifically, the 14mm-35mm f2.0 zoom. That's a pretty fast zoom lens, covering most of the commonly used focal lengths of RF photographers. Like I said, sounds interesting. We'll know in a few months, when useless conjecture is replaced with actual fact.

 

[shadowfox]

Now that the camera is officially out, here's a link to one of the multitude of articles out there. This one just has more pictures of the camera itself.

Enjoy!

http://www.e-fotografija.si/templates/?a=1212&z=93