Check out this camera!

OLYMPUS E1 RAW Files... Check out this camera, keep an open mind

until you see the results! Me and a partner shot a fashion catalogue

recently, he used his E1, I used my Contax 35mm SLR with Zeiss

primes (with Provia 100F very well drum-scanned at 30 dollars a pop

here in portugal). I had been previously astounded seeing his

FANTASTIC 20x30 cm and even 25x36cm Fuji Frontier prints (from

sharpened RAW originals with bit of film grain filter on top). Not

needing 6x4.5 for this A4 final size job, to reduce cost and

increase shootspeed (and strangely still holding back from trying

the E1), I used the Contax. Main reason: Worried about it being

printed on a Heidelberg offset at 200 lines, meaning interpolation

to 350 dpi for 21x29 cm. This hides nothing, your files have to be

pretty good. WHAT AN IDIOT I WAS. Believe me: that quick shooting,

simple little beauty, with super practical time-saving software with

great batch processing and colour coded editing, with that fantastic

quality 'all you need'lens (28- 105mm equivalent), passed this tough

test like I never imagined. Totally blew me away. I look at his

printed pages and they confirm in the finest detail what I saw on

the Frontier prints before. No 'digital-look' perfect images:

highlights, colour, skin tones, textures, detail, and all. Looks

just like film, even the grain-like noise, but better latitude! I've

checked out several Digital SLRs and in the end they hadn't

convinced me to stop spending money on scans. Even if the sharpness

and detail was almost there, they always had that digital 'plastic'

thing about them, maybe very small details but they still bothered

me. I love my Contaxes and Carl Zeiss was god. I tell you, this four

thirds thing, the new capture and lens system is true. This is

something different, and from only a 5 mb camera! I read before one

only tricky review regarding moire, noise, etc... This is only an

issue with the JPEGs, which I assume is irrelevant for serious

shooters. We looked at the colour channels, smallest colour details

and 'bleeding' potential areas, up to 400 setting, and it's

fantastic, the RAW files are a dream come true. Then you see the

prints... In 'real life' we can't find anything wrong with it's RAW

files, (especially processed through Olympus Studio 'High Function'

mode) however hard we try. My 35mm Contax can finally be replaced

without a doubt, and so cheaply. Now I wait for something with this

system to replace my Medium Formats. Sounds like this sensor has

potential for up to 20 Mb in near future. If this 5 Mb baby performs

like this, what will that be like?... I give it 100% for these final

sizes/outputs. I say no more. I bought one today!...

Found this in another photo forum:

"Recently I went into semi-retirement from the commercial

print/fashion world to pursue other photo-related projects. Having

done that I also decided I wanted to "lighten the load" with my

photo gear since I no longer have jobs that dictate having so many

pieces of stuff and such specialized equipment. [ Just how often can

you actually use a 1200mm lens?

I've been in search of a new camera system that would give me the

simplicity I wanted without sacrificing the pro-type quality I've

become accustomed to. Although I considered using a simpler setup

with one of my film bodies or, using a pro-sumer digital body but

none of those options fully met my imaging needs. Almost on a whim I

decided to try the new Olympus E-1 to see what it would do, and

here's my impressions after 200 images:

On first holding the camera (with the extra battery grip already

attached at the dealer) it felt as "real" and purposeful as any of

my pro bodies (1D-s, 1V-HS, F3, F5). The control layout is

straightforward and the control actions give very positive and

predictable feedback - when you move a dial or push a button you

KNOW you've just done that action.

The viewfinder is extra bright, as bright or brighter than my

brightest pro body the 1D-s, and the rear LCD is also bright with

great contrast and quality. In fact, it's the best LCD backpanel

display I've seen on any camera, period.

Although the lens selection is weak to say the least, I chose the

50mm f/2.0 macro, 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5, and the 11-22mm f/2.8-3.5 and

the EC14 1.4x converter. At the moment, the 11-22mm lens has not yet

arrived at the dealer. So how does it all perform? Well...

I don't pay to post images here but I'll do my best to describe the

results - those that are interested I can email examples to you

directly later this week. It's a 5 meg-pix body and I expected

results to be on par with the D100 or 10D, but from my own tests I

think it's actually a few steps better and here's why:

First, all my images are shot RAW and converted with Olympus Studio -

I read the DPreview on this and learned about the moire and other

problems when shooting fine JPEG's.

Using Olympus Studio default settings, default color settings,

manual white balance in camera with manual exposure based on my

Sekonic meter readings, out of the camera images are...stunning.

Contrast, color balance, saturation and skin tones are actually

BETTER than my 1D-S! Say it aint so, not the venerable flagship of

the company I've been shooting with since 1986??!! I was shocked, to

say the least, but results are what they are and the images don't

lie. In fact, in order to get the same great color balance from my

1D-S I have to shoot in Color space 3 - high chroma and bump up

saturation in PS during conversion to get the same deep, rich color

from the Canon. What??? No way!! A $7000 camera outperformed by a

$1700 body? It gets better, read on.

Depending on your subject type and shooting style, digital noise

from the camera is either your friend or your mortal enemy, most

here I think consider it to be the latter and we're always trying to

get rid of or diminish it as much as possible. Noise is both the E-1

strong AND it's weak point:

At any ISO setting there is more noticeable noise than either a 10D

or 1D-S however this extra noise isn't exactly all bad - but again,

this has more to do with my personal preference in imagery than

actual "better technology". I'll explain:

At higher ISO settings [400 or better] noise from the Canon takes on

a greenish-brown hue and affects the overall color of the image

especially in low-light/long shutter exposures. In the E-1 however,

noise takes on the exact color of the image, not adding or taking

away color hence the noise looks exactly like film grain! Now that's

the kind of noise I don't hate to have, and that can be used as a

tool to create a look or "feel" to an image, especially when

converting to B&W! Finally, a digital camera that acutally behaves

like film would at high ISO's!! Wow. This is the first digital body

I've shot [with exception to the LEAF back for my Mamiya] that

produces an image that doesn't look like a digital file, in fact the

richness of color is damned near the scans of some of my most

favorite chromes.

Now the quality of the color balance and the noise characteristics

of the E-1 are so far superior to my Canon, but it is still "just" a

5 meg-pix body and it can't compare in ultimate resolution to a 1D-S

file - Canons' flagship still has the market cornered in that

department. However, I've printed a 20x30 from my local pro-lab from

a RAW E-1 file and there's no way you could tell it came from a

lowly 5 meg-pix body, thanks mostly in part to it's colorless film-

like noise characteristics.

The E-1 system cannot compare to the complexity and lens selection

of any other SLR system, period. However, the ED glass Zuiko lenses

are incredibly sharp and I'd say images from the 50-200mm Olympus

are on par with my Canon 70-200mm IS "L".

The E-1 can't replace an entire pro system mainly due to the lack of

lens selection [more bright primes are what is needed, currently the

only primes are the 50mm f/2.0 and a 300mm f/2.8 but the 3 ED Zuiko

zooms are perfect and cover every needed focal length] the

relatively low resolution and the 4-thirds system will cause some to

be wary and suspicious of image quality, but if you want an amazing

all around digital system that is light, has super color

characteristics and looks as close to film as possible give the E-1

a look.

Personally, after comparing this to the D100 and 10D images I've

shot, the E-1 is a definite step up in image quality and I think it

will become my primary camera of choce, even over my 1D-S. And yes,

I'm considering selling my remaining 1D-S and Canon equip, but need

to test the E-1 further..."

Robert Lane 17 yr Pro Shooter

Gald to hear a good field report on teh E1. I've been an Olympus fan for a long time, using the OM system, and have hoped to see them come back into serious photography.

I stopped in at my local camera shop last week, where they have an E1 and a number of lenses in the display case, and asked how they're selling; he said they not only haven't sold any, but nobody's even asked to look at it.....

:(=

Yeah, at first glance doesn't look serious. So small, only 5 Mb, etc...

but if someone actually bothers to pick one up, shoot a frame and open it up on a decent monitor...some serious questions are asked, at first it's a shock: how can it be possible?

Don't compare it with other cameras specs. It's a new system.- Just shoot a RAW and see the results, their eyes will see what we mean!

Jack,

Is this your review? or one by "Robert Lane". If so, it looks too good to be true. Does he have a website? Byline? I'd love to see this type of review validated.

Skip

Hi Skip,

Read the original here: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/64095

I included this in my post to help support this seemingly unbelievable claim, colleagues of my partner who recently bought Canon and Nikon beasts at triple the price have for the past 3 months been almost reduced to tears.

I was the Anti Digital champion in my circles up to now, not being prepared to spend over 15.000 dollars on a back (the closest option to film I saw with my nit-picking criteria).

For my 90% of my output, which is magazine pages printed at 150 to 175 lines or Lambda/Frontier prints up to 25x36cm, I have no more arguments left. And for 2500 dollars? So small, light and easy to use? yeah, it's unbelievable...spread the word!

Can't wait for a 10 Mb or more body with this capture system to replace my 67 next!

My experience with the E1 was lukewarm, as has been the case for most people here who's used any of our E1 cameras and related equipment.

I didn't find, and I've never heard any mention of the E1 having better color than the 1Ds. Nobody here seems to agree. Noise is tough to say, it's lower resolution but a fairly big chip. The actual size of the pixel is similar to that of the 10D.

AF is still a bore, they keep trying to improve that but it doesn't match Canon and Nikon, but at least they've improved the write to card speed, it used to be painfully slow on the E10 and E20.

Jack,

Thanks for the additional link. I finally saw it last night on another posting over at dpreview.com. I was confused by your posting as I didn't realize that it was two, separate posts from two people.

Carl,

Was your experience with the E-1's focusing across the board worse than the 10D? I've seen posts from a number of users of both cameras whose opinion was that the two cameras were very close in AF performance, which is not to say that it was spectacular. If I remember right, dpreview.com's reports also place the two cameras very close in AF performance. I talked to one person who evaluated the E-1 and had some wacky setting dialed in that made the AF very slow. When he used a camera that was set to the factory default next to a 10D, he found the very close in performance.

I'm looking for an E-1 to do sports (non professional), primarily JHS-level soccer and basketball. I'm currently either using MF SLR's for BB or a borrowed Nikon F5 for soccer. Am I going to be disappointed?

Skip

Wait for more lenses - Olympus has them planned for release, including more fast primes. (Yay!)

Then wait for the second generation body. Perhaps, by then, we wil have a clearer idea of how many other manufacturers will get behind the 4/3rds concept. This thing isn't intended to by solely limited to Olympus users, it's a universal digital-dedicated lens mount.

As for the OM system, it still delivers superb on-film results but it is starting to show its age in many regards, and spare parts or accessories are already becoming hard to obtain.

Jack, haven't you been cross-posting this troll for a couple of weeks now?

Once is enough. Last time a lot of folks had a tough time believing your story.