Is E300 Worth To buy in IT Show?

[raycsk]

Dear OlyFolks,

My opinions are of no real value in this post since so many valid points have been raised for Johnny to make decision. Just to express delight that even as I sweat to think of any good unmentioned points, I truly respect the ability of the Oly community to put across its points objectively. I'm actually sitting back enjoying your postings (aside from that Trolly one of course seeing that you could word your points way better. Proud to be associated with this community & hope to meet you all in person one day

I believe civil members here take pride & pain in establishing facts, whether your choice is Oly or otherwise thereafter, you have our blessings

Even as an Oly E1 user, I envy the compact yet durable form factor of the E300 for travel amongst so much that's said.

In Awe,

Agree... what is most impressive to me is that I have not seen any Oly folks taking pot shots at any other brand. I guess we're all very comfortable with the product. True test of consumer behaviour... post buying behavour...

KUDOS Oly folks...

To the point of smaller resale I would agree that its a small user market no doubt but also the fact that the OLY systems have been very good that perhaps people just do not want to part with it. Thus somewhat makes it immune to technological changes... but I may be wrong.

 

[raycsk]

In the interest of would be buyer, I like to summarise some key points raised. Please help add or omit some of them if I had wrongly stated them.

- cheaper bundle deal
- cheaper system to start with - flashes and accessories
- Dimensionally smaller lens
- dust cleaning system - SSWF
- smaller resale market
- long term popularity/lifespan of 4/3 system - new system format
- seemingly dark viewfinder (comments)

 

[nightpiper]

nightpiper:
digicams have large aperatures, i.e.: f/2.0, f/1.8 ... But why their DOF so large, even when taken at the largest aperature?

thats becos u haven't seen pics in pbase taken with sony, ricoh, etc with blurry background.

Depth of field at any given distance for a particular focal length does not change depending on format size. This should be obvious; a different format is just a different crop of the same rendered image; its properties don't change simply because it is cropped differently.

100% totally agree. so can i now say:
ALL LARGE APERTURE NIKON, CANON, 35mm LENS & DIGITAL LENS ARE FAKE!!!

why? becos compared to medium format at 2.8, this 35mm & smaller counter parts will give u much much sharper DOF. if i m not mistaken, MF is about 4.3x bigger than 35mm. it will be a lot bigger compared to sensor with 1.3x, 1.5x, 1.6x, 1.7x & 2x crop factor.

many a times, people r so caught up with specs & nos. that they fail to see the real life implementation of a product. very similar to those computer bench mark tests. X brand is faster than V brand by 3% so that makes X a lot better. in real life: u dun even feel the diff at all when using both.

What u need to do is to move backwards to get the same frame compared to a FF, or other crops. As the distance between u and your subject increase, the DOF increases also. Calculations can be found on the net.

yes. if u have both 100mm lens u need to move backwards to achieve same FOV & thus increasing DOF. (think 1Ds vs 4/3)

however do note that if u have a 50mm instead, the scenerio becomes move 'forward' for this same 100mm FOV. when u move forward, the manification of the glass will blur the background for u. so u achieve nice bokeh too. dun take my words for it, go to www.myfourthirds.com to view many images taken by this F2 lens & then re-eveluate again to see if its not good enuf for portrait.

personally, i m convinced by Oly cos i found the 2 DSLRs has no quality problems, eg. backfocus, button drop off shortly after purchase, heavy post processing, dust, etc. thats why i decided, its for me. new technology is supposed to reduce the pain in photography (just like metering in-cam & AF) & not introduce new pain (like post processing).

of cos diff users millege r diff. the bottom line is still find something to suit your req, taste & style of working.

 

[tomcat]

Tomcat,

Your cat looks like it has something stuck up its CENSORED.....

If you are referring to the blackish thing just above its legs, that's its tail lah.. too much background blur, you think ! :bsmilie:

 

[raycsk]

If you are referring to the blackish thing just above its legs, that's its tail lah.. too much background blur, you think ! :bsmilie:

I mean its facial expression... Eyes WIDE OPENED :bigeyes:
If its a male maybe someone squeezed its B****

 

[tomcat]

To the point of smaller resale I would agree that its a small user market no doubt but also the fact that the OLY systems have been very good that perhaps people just do not want to part with it. Thus somewhat makes it immune to technological changes... but I may be wrong.

That may not really be a disadvantage, you know.
I have been scanning the B&S for second-hand E-System lenses hoping to pick up one or two of these fine optics at bargain basement prices... but there were none to be found.

I am sure if any seller do post, their E-system items would be in great demand and would be heavily bidded on if auctioned and would end up being sold at a higher than expected price.

So it's like you said, there's just a case of demand being greater than supply presently in the Oly resale market.

 

[ch5800]

The Cat is saying "Meow! Its a Olympus!"

 

[raycsk]

That may not really be a disadvantage, you know.
I have been scanning the B&S for second-hand E-System lenses hoping to pick up one or two of these fine optics at bargain basement prices... but there were none to be found.

I am sure if any seller do post, their E-system items would be in great demand and would be heavily bidded on if auctioned and would end up being sold at a higher than expected price.

So it's like you said, there's just a case of demand being greater than supply presently in the Oly resale market.

AGREE! One recent case when one guy sold off his E-1 and stuff... within a few days 95% of his accessories were gone... How I know... I and someone else bought his 50mm macro F2.0, 3 batts, shutter cable, wireless control... ;p

SIGH!!!! REGRET!!!! Should have also bought his wide angle! Still kicking myself...

Anyone selling E system accessories

 

[Caussway]

That's nice one Hammer. Have some respect for innovation and guts olympus shows. I wish to see the 4/3 to be a successful DSLR system, otherwise we going to see "another Microsoft" in the camera business.

fool (n) - One who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding.

hmmm....for those who feel like rebutting ricohflex, here's something i read in another forum...

Never argue with a fool, because he will drag you down to his level and beat you with his experiance.

 

[Merciless_Knight]

AGREE! One recent case when one guy sold off his E-1 and stuff... within a few days 95% of his accessories were gone... How I know... I and someone else bought his 50mm macro F2.0, 3 batts, shutter cable, wireless control... ;p

SIGH!!!! REGRET!!!! Should have also bought his wide angle! Still kicking myself...

Anyone selling E system accessories???

Me! Me! Me!

Fat Hope... :sticktong

 

[Dylan]

Nice meeting some folks here during the IT show. Hope that having the feel and use of the camera gave you better judgement to purchase the right camera for your use. Cheers!

 

[chancy]

In the interest of would be buyer, I like to summarise some key points raised. Please help add or omit some of them if I had wrongly stated them.

- cheaper bundle deal
- cheaper system to start with - flashes and accessories
- Dimensionally smaller lens
- dust cleaning system - SSWF
- smaller resale market
- long term popularity/lifespan of 4/3 system - new system format
- seemingly dark viewfinder (comments)

Thanks Raycsk,

If I may add
- Excellent build quality for the price
- Engineered to handle Olympus largest Zuiko Digital
- Excellent operating life with vertical grip
- Sharper & Clearer than E1 LCD panel
- Faster & Higher magnification of image review than E1
- Ideal Travel Companion with purpose-matching quality lens & flash

Cheers,

 

[nightpiper]

ALL LARGE APERTURE NIKON, CANON, 35mm LENS & DIGITAL LENS ARE FAKE!!!

why? becos compared to medium format at 2.8, this 35mm & smaller counter parts will give u much much sharper DOF. if i m not mistaken, MF is about 4.3x bigger than 35mm. it will be a lot bigger compared to sensor with 1.3x, 1.5x, 1.6x, 1.7x & 2x crop factor.

like to add:

using a similar scenerio, 85mm on MF is standard. 50mm on 35mm is also standard.

if u mount an 85mm on both formats, the 35mm moves further away to achieve the same standard FOV. so the background is definitely sharper. how come all this years there was no one complaining about 35mm format?

lets be a little more practical. in real life, if u want standard FOV for 35mm, u buy a 50mm lens. i dare say NOBODY buys an 85mm so that he/she can move further away to achieve 50mm FOV. (cost of lens aside)

when u take a pic using 50mm, u can see & compare it with the same image with MF on 85mm, that there's not much diff in terms of background bokeh. however, if u use 85mm & move back, the bokeh is 100% sharper at any F stop. thats how i draw my conclusion on moving forward to achieve similar bokeh.

so being a 4/3 user, 100mm is achieveable using 50mm. & being in my right mind, WON'T buy a 100mm lens just to move backwards to achieve the same 100mm FOV on 35mm.

i guess knowing just one side of the equation to draw conclusion is a dangerous thing in life. u reckon?

 

[ykkok]

It's time to get to know more about the new 4/3 format. The designer at Olympus already said that the 4/3 is just nice in terms of DOF, not too shallow nor too deep.

It's a savvy for me since I like taking macro shots. I don't need to ramp up to f16 to have enough DOF. f8-f11 is good enough for the 50mm macro lens, close-up lady-bug shot.

This sample, was taken with f5.6 with 50mm macro (cropped) :

Even with f2.0, it serves as a good potrait lens with enough DOF to have both the eyes and nose-tip sharp in focus (fov from waist up).

Isn't this an advantage?

Most Olympus users would not refrain from using their lenses to their max (smallest aperture, max tele etc). They are simply good enough for most jobs.

 

[tao]

hi there... the E300 is looking great to me. one question though, is there any auto-WB accuracy issues? have seen a couple of users posted their images with blue cast all over their images.

 

[Merciless_Knight]

hi there... the E300 is looking great to me. one question though, is there any auto-WB accuracy issues? have seen a couple of users posted their images with blue cast all over their images.

Got meh??? :dunno: Where??? Can U kindly show me??? :bsmilie:

Why I dun find my pictures that I taken are all blue cast one... ;p

 

[Evilmerlin]

Do you mean the photos taken by Serene? If so, she was trying out the manual WB settings of the camera, hence the blue cast.

So far, the Auto WB of the E-300 hasn't failed me yet.

 

[nightpiper]

hi there... the E300 is looking great to me. one question though, is there any auto-WB accuracy issues? have seen a couple of users posted their images with blue cast all over their images.

thats more of a user accuracy than anything else. especially for newbies 1st encounter with any brand of DSLR.

 

[tao]

Do you mean the photos taken by Serene? If so, she was trying out the manual WB settings of the camera, hence the blue cast.

So far, the Auto WB of the E-300 hasn't failed me yet.

OIC.... looks like those shots I see are by people experimenting... itchy backside? :bsmilie:

I am wondering when the FULL kit E-300 will hit our shores... you know, the one with the 14-45 kit lens + 50-200 zoom. Or is it 50-150mm? Now only US$999 in the states. Fantastic price!!

 

[tomcat]

OIC.... looks like those shots I see are by people experimenting... itchy backside? :bsmilie:

I am wondering when the FULL kit E-300 will hit our shores... you know, the one with the 14-45 kit lens + 50-200 zoom. Or is it 50-150mm? Now only US$999 in the states. Fantastic price!!

That should be the 40-150mm zoom. The ZD 50-200mm already cost US$999 at B&H on it own. If it was bundled with the full kit, that would be like giving away the E-300 and 14-45mm kit free with the purchase of the 50-200mm lens. :bigeyes: