shadowfox said:
Olympus IS series, correct?
Knowing the optics quality from Olympus, these probably take superb pictures, I just can't stand the look, (and I am an Olympus nut), it's just so ... bulky.
IS-300. If you think that the IS-300 is bulky, you should see the IS-3000 with its 35-180 mm lens extended
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Lens retracted the IS series cameras are in fact quite compact for 35 mm SLRs with 4x or 5x zoom lens. The biggest problem I have with the IS-300 is the lack of manual exposure mode. It does have aperture priority AE though. The four-digit IS models had manual modes as well.
Overall the biggest problem with the whole series is that the lenses are a little slow, F4.5-5.6 or F4.9-6.8. Thankfully the latter, slower lenses only appeared in the last-of-the-line IS-5000 and IS-500 cameras. What was Olympus thinking, I do not know... Probably they wanted to make the cameras smaller and lighter, which was also the downfall of the last generation of 35 mm zoom P&S cameras.
In general I like to IS series much more than the current digital superzooms, since the IS cameras are true SLRs with large and bright viewfinders, even if they don't come with 10x+ zoom range like the digital superzooms. And the lenses ARE good. Judging from the examples I have seen, the four-digit series lenses are comparable to best regular SLR zooms. The IS-300 and the rest three-digit IS series lenses are comparable to mid-price regular SLR lenses, which means that they are still much better than most P&S camera lenses.
And no, I do not plan to collect the whole series... Currently the IS-300 is the only one I own. But if I see the IS-3000 for sale and it's not too expensive, I won't be responsible for my actions
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