Olympus-OM
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[OM] Re: E-lemma

Subject: [OM] Re: E-lemma
From: Skip Williams <om2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 16:46:21 -0400
I came to much the same conclusion that you have, so I've got an E-1, FL50, 
Booster, 14-54, 50-200, and 11-22.  And couldn't be happier.  I have used some 
Zuiko's on the camera, most often the 90/2 and 135/2.8, both of which work very 
nicely.  Just remember that AF cameras don't have focusing aides in the finder 
like microprisms or split-image screens, so focusing the MF lenses can 
sometimes get questionable.  The brighter the lens, the easier it is to focus, 
IME.

The Booster is pricy, but almost a requirement for sports and vertical shots, 
IMO.  It's actually a very nice unit, with two duplicated control wheels and 
various buttons at the vertical release area.  It also gooses up the AF 
performance noticably, esp with the 50-200.  The downside is that it takes a 
different battery and charger, which I think is stupid.  They should have had 
it take two of the standard batteries.  Nicely, it does offer a place to put 
the body's battery cover to keep from it getting lost. 

The flash is also expensive, but they all are, no matter what make.  Have you 
priced a Canon 550EX?  The lenses are expensive, but really no more than 
high-aperture glass from N/C.  The exception is the 300/2.8 and 150/2, both of 
which I think are overpriced.

As to the philosophy of ground-up design...well, they really didn't have any 
choice.  Unlike Minolta and Pentax, they had no AF lenses to base their DSLR 
system on to compete with N/C.  They pissed that time away in the 80's and 
90's.  So to have any chance of suceeding, they had to build upon the success 
of the E-10/20 and design a new system with as many positive attributes and 
digital-specific features as possible.  The USW filter is the most unique 
aspect, outside of the 4/3 format.  I feel that much of the built-for-digital 
is marketing fluff.  I believe that their lenses are less expensive to make 
than C/N, due to the size differential.  Yet they charge equivilant prices, 
probably due to lower volumes, ability to charge what the market will pay, and 
marketing efforts.  In the end, I hope that this keeps them afloat.  The price 
difference really isn't that much for apples-to-apples equipment.  

A compatible 4/3, 8MP sensor didn't exist when the E-1 was designed, so they 
couldn't drop the E300's sensor into that body.  The new pro-spec body will 
almost certainly be called the E-3, as it's already registerd as a US 
trademark.  I expect at least 8MP, 5-8 fps speed (eluded to by the FL50's 
manual), faster AF, maybe more AF points, bigger buffer, better noise 
performance, and lots of tweaks.  Let's hope that they introduce a new body 
every 12 months or so, or the system will get eaten alive.  They are also 
working on IS, both in-the-lens and in-the-body.  So they realize that it's an 
issue.

Skip

----- Original Message ---------------

Subject: [OM] Re: E-lemma
   From: "Wiliam Wagenaar" <wiliam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
   Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 19:37:29 +0200
     To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>

>

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