E-1 Convert/Revision

[Meadowfield]

First Poster here. Be gentle.

A little about me: Started on a Pentax borrowed from my Uncle a long time ago and have been hooked ever since. Bought an AE-1 in high school and added an F-1 to the collection when I started making money. I've had several plastic incarnations since including a Mamiya 645, a couple black Canon 35mm bricks, and ventured into the digital realm on a Canon silver cigarette pack.

I no longer shoot professionally and have been attracted to the smaller all in one incarnations. I have found that even the best camera tends to be left behind if it is too heavy and I ventured into the Nikon offerings like 5700 and now have the 4500. But, admittedly, I miss the build quality and have recently longed for a SLR again.

I've watched the sole-less Canons morph every 45 days or so and each time I wait at the local camera store in anticipation to touch one, only to be disappointed. The digital SLR will take a while longer, I feared, to grow a heart.

It was not until I stumbled upon a E1 review that I began to take notice again. I asked the local camera shop about it. They didn't carry the line but recommended against it. "The Canon rep told me two new models are on the way..." Let me guess, a faster lighter black Plastic brick. No thanks. Even the local camera repair guys thumbed their collective noses at the mention of Olympus. I heard Bob couldn't get rid of one. No resale value.

All this reminded me of Macintosh prejudice. I must work on a state of the art Dell all day but given my druthers I'd much rather spend time on my 4 year old Mac; no comparison. Hummm... must investigate this Olympus thing further.

I've read just about every review out there and aside from noise in the upper end and perhaps the lack of (yes, Canon) image stabilization it sounds a little like what I've been looking for. This is why I joined these boards. To get some more insight in what you guys already know.


But, before I jump on the bandwagon I'd like to know when we might expect the Olympus E-1 revision. I can't help but notice the model is over two years old and given todays climate, it would be my luck that the E-1s launched one week after my first exposure. Any thoughts?

[scalia]

hi...

people at the oly camp believe that the new pro E-system body will be released no earlier than fall/Q4 this year, due to the availability of the new F/2.0 zoom... and maybe even at PMA2006, due to the joint development with Panasonic. But the price maybe around $2000 compared to $1000 price of the E-1 body right now.

and there's also some news/interviews that revealed Oly's plan to release 'several' DSLR body this year. Like this one:
new DSLR from oly (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7830177&pageNumber=1)

and, Meadowfield, thanks for sharing... interesting read.
cheers

[George Riehm]

First Poster here. Be gentle.

A little about me: Started on a Pentax borrowed from my Uncle a long time ago and have been hooked ever since. Bought an AE-1 in high school and added an F-1 to the collection when I started making money. I've had several plastic incarnations since including a Mamiya 645, a couple black Canon 35mm bricks, and ventured into the digital realm on a Canon silver cigarette pack.

I no longer shoot professionally and have been attracted to the smaller all in one incarnations. I have found that even the best camera tends to be left behind if it is too heavy and I ventured into the Nikon offerings like 5700 and now have the 4500. But, admittedly, I miss the build quality and have recently longed for a SLR again.

I've watched the sole-less Canons morph every 45 days or so and each time I wait at the local camera store in anticipation to touch one, only to be disappointed. The digital SLR will take a while longer, I feared, to grow a heart.

It was not until I stumbled upon a E1 review that I began to take notice again. I asked the local camera shop about it. They didn't carry the line but recommended against it. "The Canon rep told me two new models are on the way..." Let me guess, a faster lighter black Plastic brick. No thanks. Even the local camera repair guys thumbed their collective noses at the mention of Olympus. I heard Bob couldn't get rid of one. No resale value.

All this reminded me of Macintosh prejudice. I must work on a state of the art Dell all day but given my druthers I'd much rather spend time on my 4 year old Mac; no comparison. Hummm... must investigate this Olympus thing further.

I've read just about every review out there and aside from noise in the upper end and perhaps the lack of (yes, Canon) image stabilization it sounds a little like what I've been looking for. This is why I joined these boards. To get some more insight in what you guys already know.


But, before I jump on the bandwagon I'd like to know when we might expect the Olympus E-1 revision. I can't help but notice the model is over two years old and given todays climate, it would be my luck that the E-1s launched one week after my first exposure. Any thoughts?

Keep worrying about a newer/better/cheaper/faster camera and you can count on one thing: The impact of digital images on your hard drive capacity will be nil. And becoming proficient at using a dSLR will be delayed.

The E-1 is pretty nice...what the heck do you want? OK, the "soul-full" Fuji S3 would be a better choice in this price range. ;) and the "soul-less" Canon 20D is probably a better value than both in many ways...

...but then you are using a 4 year old Mac, so what the hey. ;)

[Norm in Fujino]

First Poster here. Be gentle. --SNIP--


Olympus does march to a different drummer, and they're (the E-1 and E-300) certainly capable of producing outstanding images. If you're really thinking of getting into the four-thirds format, you might try looking around one of the dedicated sites, like

http://www.myfourthirds.com/

I'm going to sit on the fence for a bit longer, to see what kind of response the Canon XT draws.

[gary_hendricks]

A friend of mine used the Oly E-1 and has great opinions about it. I borrowed it for a couple of weeks for testing.

An excellent camera, whose real competitor is Canon 20D. Canon has a solid resolution advantage, produces good images, and works better at high ISO values.

However, E1 is better built, it has an excellent kit lens which is every bit as good as Canon L zooms and rivals good primes, has built-in sensor cleaning, is splash-proof and an excellent overall package. Choice between them is a matter of individual preference and taste. What made it for me was the range of focal lengths.

With Olympus, I can cover my needs with just two lenses, and 14-54 is designed just right. It's wide enough and long enough for me not to need anything else for most applications. With a 35mm legacy and 1.6x crop factor, Canon's lens range is just inconvenient. Most lenses are either not wide enough or not long enough or cover the wrong range. With Olympus, I still didn't feel any desperate need to buy a second lens; 108mm equivalent is just right for portraiture, and 28mm is just wide enough for the kind of landscapes I usually shoot.

[scalia]

in case you haven't seen this:

useful site for E-system:
http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/oly-e/index.html

Lauri Sippu's gallery with E-1/E-300 and telephoto lenses:
http://homepage.mac.com/lsippu/PhotoAlbum43.html