Well I have lived with my E-5 for a couple of weeks now and here are some
thoughts for those considering it or just curious about it. To give you some
background I have progressed from the E-1 (Hi Jim! Great work you are doing
with the old gal BTW) through the E-3, along the way I have also kept and
still use a couple of the E-4xx series. I also use the E-620 with the class
I teach. Anyway here are some observations in no particular order.
Memory card door
Along with the removal of the memory card door latch has come my biggest bug
bear in that you can no longer swap memory cards without power cycling the
camera. You can pull a card but inserting a replacement while powered causes
an immediate shut down requiring an off and then on again cycle with the
power switch (slower than just turning it off and back on again as something
freaks out when you put the card in while powered). The graphic warning you
that the door is open is also gone. This change also appears to have
disabled the shutter count check routine.
Menus
While they are still too deep with far too many options they do look better.
Not in the same class a Nikon but at least not so Atari looking. The color
code is useless but it takes some of the tedium out of programming those set
it and forget it functions like what the function button does (IS selector
is my preferred one here). There are some nice custom options you can turn
on and off now like the steps in the zoomed out review mode and directly
embedded copyright info.
BLM-5
I haven't actually used it yet but its grey and well it's a battery. The
charger is grey too, whoo-oh! I suspect I will get another when the BLM-1's
I have die. I haven't looked yet but I hope that the lovely people at Hahnel
will be making a charging plate for the 5 type battery someday as I love my
dual charger.
1600 ISO
Is at least as good as 800 was on the E-3 so that ticked the box for me.
Still might struggle in the Chapel at work but that's what the f2 glass is
there for J (I was shooting at 1600, f2 and may be 1/60 with the E-3 if you
wanna know how dark it is in there, B&W conversion is NOT an option for my
employer!). Given the light it needs the E-5's noise vs detail is very
nicely controlled where the E-3 was mush. Underexpose though and the things
lying in the shadows will rise up and kill you, just like they did in the
E-3.
Screen
Is lovely and a nice step up from the E-3, not sure how I did what I do with
the one on E-1 at this point. Oh and the E-P1 ZAGG Invisible Shield is a
great fit for this screen.
AF
I can't say I have noticed the AF being remarkably better the way some on
DPR have gushed. But I also haven't pointed the 5 at any sports yet. I am
hopeful but realistic that it's not going to have changed that much from the
E-3.
File Size
The slight bump up has given my PC at home a bit of a shock. Apparently I
was in some sort of sweet spot for it with the E-3 ORF's. Who knew 2Mb could
make such a difference? Perhaps it's the krappy reload I did post of a
ill-advised HDD upgrade or maybe my trusty Thinkpad is actually show her
age. L Anyway I can just stare at the wall while waiting for files to batch
convert.
All told the E-5 does what it's sold as doing, not breaking the mold but
giving E-3 users a string to hold onto. Maybe it's the last hurrah but I
still can't convert to Nikon and get the same range of lenses without a
weight or aperture penalty, or both. And that's before I factor in the $15K
it'll cost me to get what I have again. In the mean time I am dabbling with
an M6 and a couple of lenses to see if an RF will have a place in my bag. It
was quite fun buying the E-5 and the M6 at the same time, "will you take
three grand for the pair?" I asked and after checking with the manager I got
the nod of a deal done. Yeah I'm sick in the head but I'm having fun.
Anyone looking for an E-3 with about 35k on the clock? ;)
Dan S
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