Olympus E-1 Impressions

While I have not gotten to use the new Olympus E-1 DSLR, it holds great promise for the nature photographer. This camera conforms to the newly developed 4/3 open standard. This standard boasts a standardized lens mount, a 4/3 aspect ratio and a 35mm equivalent factor of 2x. This is the first DSLR that is truly designed from the ground up as a DSLR and it does not have its roots in a 35mm body and is therefore much better integrated. Lenses for this format will be much lighter for an equivalent focal length (to 35mm and today's DSLR's). Of great interest is the new Olympus 300mm f/2.8 lens designed specifically for this camera. On the E-1, this will be the 35mm equivalent of a 600mm f/2.8 lens at only 6lb! Wow!!!

The initial camera offering conforming to the 4/3 standard, the Olympus E-1, doesn’t have enough pro features to entice me nor does it have enough pixels at 5MPx but I am hoping that follow on products that conform to this open standard from either Olympus or other manufacturers will eventually address that. It is approximately in the class of the canon D60 from a features standpoint. Other lenses available include an 11-22mm zoom (22-44mm equivalent), a 14-54mm zoom (28-105mm equivalent), and a 50-200mm zoom (100-400mm). Any lens from any manufacturer that conforms to the 4/3 standard will fit any other manufacturer’s body tnhat conforms to the open standard. I am definitely rooting for this to take off although I have a feeling my wallet is not.

EJ,

I read about the Olympus E-1 with great interest, and thought some of their technology (the 4/3 and a few other things I forget now) was very interesting. What I found lacking though was the lenses, and especially the exceptionally high price of the ones they did introduce. For the price of the 300 f/2.8 Olympus lens one could purchase a 500 f/4 IS USM and a 10D! I'd like to see their lens prices come down and a more powerful (MP, etc) camera come to market solely to provide Nikon and Canon more competition thus further increasing the potential in the DSLR market and further increasing the technological advances that will be made in a reduced timeframe.

cfagyal wrote:What I found lacking though was the lenses, and especially the exceptionally high price of the ones they did introduce. For the price of the 300 f/2.8 Olympus lens one could purchase a 500 f/4 IS USM and a 10D! I'd like to see their lens prices come down and a more powerful (MP, etc) camera come to market solely to provide Nikon and Canon more competition thus further increasing the potential in the DSLR market and further increasing the technological advances that will be made in a reduced timeframe.

Be careful what you are reading on the lens prices. So far only full retail figures have been published. Remember that a 300 f/2.8 Canon lens full retail is $6500 and the 500 f/4 is $9200.

Today, Olympus USA announce the prices.

• The body being $2200. ($1800 street)
• The 14-54 being $600. ($500 street)
• The 50-200 being $1200. ($1000 street)
• The 300 being $8000. (7000 street)
• The 1.4x being $550. ($440 street)

I'll reserve judgment on the prices and the system until I can review some images. Remember that to get the same angle of view from a 35mm camera, you need to double (2x) the focal length.

Yup and that 300 is an f/2.8 so you basically have a 35mm equivalent 600 f/2.8 in a 6lb package! Pretty cool. They should have included IS/VR though in a totally new system.

E.J. Peiker wrote:They should have included IS/VR though in a totally new system.

I agree. It's also going to take some getting used to shooting in a 4:3 aspect ratio instead of a 3:2 ratio. My brother is seriously considering this system. But for me, I need to see the pictures first.

It is a nice LONG lens with the 1.4x attached. DOF might be a bit too deep. Or it may not be.

I am seriously consdering it if they come out with a pro featured body and IS on the lenses. It will add years to my spine! The 4:3 ratio is just like TV and that's a pretty good form factor - it also makes 8x10's a lot easier as there is much less cropping.

Now that all of the specs and some initial tests are available, here are a few more observations:

- I love the 4x3 aspect ratio

- The are kidding themselves positioning this against the D1x and 1D - it is way too de-featured to play in that market with only 3 AF sensors, limited lenses and worst of all a greater than 0.21 second shutter lag where the cameras they are competing against are in the 0.05 range. This fits much better against a 10D, D100 in the market place.

- The vignetting compensation is really cool - this camera knows the light falloff characteristics of the lenses attached to it and compensates for it automatically.

- I love that you get a 35mm equivalent 600 f/2.8 from the light 300 f/2.8 due to the near 2x factor of the 4/3 sensor although it will not be so great for landscapes unless they come out with very wide lenses that are currently not even announced. The widest is 14mm which equates to a 28mm field of view in a 35mm camera

I am a bit cautious about Olympus systems. I have an Epic and it is an outstanding P&S camera. However, Olympus, after developing the magnificent OM system, somehow never got around to keeping it up to modern standards. As I recall they never did autofocus, had a limited number of lenses and flashes and avoided any advancements like IS/VR and UMS/AF-S lens motors. If I am wrong please correct me. To bad since Olympus could have been what Canon is today, IMHO (That is a close #2 behind Nikon ).

Now the OM system is officially discontinued.

Here's a URL with E-1 sample images:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E1/E1GAL.HTM