Seventeen E-30 Impressions... 15/17 ~ Alex Bampton

The ergonomics of the camera coming from the perspective of an E-330 owner are very nice. Either camera with the 14-54 mk II felt very balanced. The Compactflash door seemed to have a bit of play. In honesty, this didn't bother me.

I liked the increase in dedicated buttons. The extra AF points were easy to navigate and manipulate using the dials. In manual mode using two dial for shutter speed and aperture is easier than having to toggle with the exposure compensation button.

The articulated LCD is much better than the "one way" version in the E-330. And it can be turned face inwards when not in use, to protect it from dust, knocks and grease. This is where the top LCD is handy. It is much quicker to use if using the camera in a hurry with the LCD folded away.

I swapped the lens between the two cameras. I was pleasantly surprised once I did this, as I did not notice any difference in weight at all. According to the internet the E-330 is supposedly lighter by 50g or so. Putting the cameras on the table back-to-back confirmed the similarity in size.

All the buttons on the back right hand side of the camera fell under my thumb without uncomfortable stretching. The playback/review button one of these, so you can review shots without much movement in your grip.

I tried the 7-14, and was impressed, both by the immense field of view, and with the pairing of the lens with the E-30. It felt totally natural, and again did not really feel heavy, just balanced. It matched the improved E-30 viewfinder, bringing you right into the scale of the lens. The "roll" indicator in the viewfinder was very useful. I also noticed that I could walk right up to obstacles and have no idea how close they really were. This coupled with the protruding front element could cause damage to an expensive lens.

With live view, as you can keep the perspective "in perspective". Also you get indication of tilt in both planes. I also later tested the 8mm fisheye on my E330, and mostly used it in live view A, which was very satisfying. If incorporating people, you don't intimidate them so much if the camera (instead of a whole human being) is centimetres away from them!!

There is logic to the E-30 approach to this, as I feel if using a long lens, or tracking moving objects, I would want to use the viewfinder. The E-30 has the more versatile articulating screen for shooting around corners or into tricky crevices. If you wanted large DOF and are using a wide to ultrawide lens, it might not matter much if your subject was moving, as you could focus at the hyperfocal point.

I tried my OM 50mm f1.8 lens. The better viewfinder made a huge difference in manual focusing. I wandered around the gallery shooting happily, and did not miss focus once, whereas it was pretty impossible for me on the E-330. I then tried a portrait type shot. Attempting to focus on the eyes was difficult up to f2.8. I suspected the less sharp and contrasty f1.8 on this lens made a face more difficult to focus on. The E-3 was even better, and I could focus with no trouble.

On playback, the thumbnails now animate when navigated. I very much like that you can now get a clipping indication for shadows and highlights at once. I tried a variety of ISOs, and zoomed in to 10x. I could see the grain at ISO 1600, but it looked well behaved to me. I don't think I ever saw much more detail past 4x on the E-330, so the fact I could see the grain was good to me! I took some shots at ISO 3200, and I could see no banding.

IS seemed to give genuine benefits.

I could not find a way to configure the art filters much. Access to the super control panel is replaced by the filter select screen. You can alter all functions with hardware buttons, eg WB, ISO, AF/MF, exposure compensation etc. I could not find a way to alter aperture or shutter speed using the dials.

Multiple exposure can combine up to 4 images, and you can preview it in live view. You can choose an .ORF as a base image. You can opt to equalise the brightness. The blend with the base exposure(s) can obscure what the camera is seeing currently to a certain extent, which you would imagine would make focusing difficult or impossible. When focusing, the base image is faded, enabling you to see what you have focused on.

The new aspect ratio choice is handy, and there is masking on live view, but none in the viewfinder. The crops are centralised.

5fps is definitely fast enough for me.

Contrast autofocus is not as swift as the E-330's mode "A", but not a slouch. It is definitely not for action, as it does not allow CAF. You get 11 AF points even in live view. I could not test the low-light speed difference. Face detection works well for static non-backlit subjects, but the strong light from the large gallery window behind a subject confused the camera and it struggled to find a face. If the face is small in the frame the whole process seems to slow down or get a bit flaky.

The E-30 had fast, quiet and smooth AF with the 14-54 mkII on ambulant visitors once single point AF had been selected. Accuracy seemed fine. You can change each AF point like you can with the E-3 to small or normal. The E-3 I tried inspires huge confidence in its solidity, but I like the inbuilt mode dial on the E-30 far better.