Practical question

[herve_laurent]

Hello everyone,

I am pretty much decided on getting the new E3 when it comes out since , despite trying hard, there is no

way for me to work with DSLR's with 3;2 ratio

However I have serious photo trip coming early October and I therefore need to buy another olympus body

for the trip

Now , to make things very clear the two most important criteria for me are :

Quality of the viewfinder

Quality of the output in RAW knowing that I only produce B&W prints at the end (usually 20x20" or similar

in sizes in horizontal & vertical formats) from image shot bewteen 200 and 400

( I may here and there shoot afew images at 800 but could not care less of the noise above 800 iso since i

never need that kind of speed) by the way , in case you find this useful I never use tripod ever

 

So with this in mind , my question which olympus body should I go for

I am tempted to go with the E1 versus E510 considering what I read here and there on the panasonic

sensor, everyone seems to have high praise for the Kodak sensor and not so much for the panasonic

 

 

also do you know if There is still new E1 bodies out there somewhere ? if not what does a used E1 cost ?

Thanks for the feedback

H

[jorgen_udvang]

It's an impossible question, really, since they are completely different cameras, each with its own strengths.

 

I have the E-1, a camera that I will keep as a backup for the E-3 when it arrives. I considered the E-510 as an interim solution, since I want more MP's, IS and better hi-ISO performance, but my conclusion was that I'm so happy with the ergonomics and the ruggedness of the E-1, that an E-510 would probably disappear in a drawer somewhere when I buy the E-3.

 

You shouldn't any problems printing 20" longest side from the E-1 files, at least as long as you mostly keep within ISO 400. I can't say enough positive things about the camera. It's unique.

[shadowfox]

It depends on where you are going, if you do not need the weather sealed body of E-1, you'd probably will be better off getting the 510 now. 10MP is nothing to sneeze at and if you can learn to focus using the Live-view LCD, you probably can get by with the smaller viewfinder until E3 comes out.

 

Another angle to this, if you buy a used E-1 now, imagine how much it'll depreciate when E-3 comes out and you try to get rid of it. But if you get 510 now, there will be lots of newbie Olympus fans who will take it from you for good value when you get your E-3.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[davidlong]

I think at this point, the E-1 is already depreciated as far as it's going to go. I doubt you'd have any trouble selling it; there are certainly lots of people who like the E-1 and who won't have the money for an E-3. US$350-450 is the range for pristine low-shutter-count bodies. For a while, Olympus Auctions (Olympus' eBay store) was selling reconditioned and demo models with a warranty--those were usually going for around the top end of that range. I don't know if they have any left though. If you want a good used one, you can either try eBay, or the buy&sell forum at 43photo.com. The latter is a bit more like a community, so I'd usually trust the sellers there more than I would some random seller on eBay. (That said, I bought my E-1 off of eBay for $375.)