Olympus e-300, anyone?

[jlipkin]

Does anyone have any experience with the E-330? I've been looking at it more seriously now that I read (http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/cp/olym..._id=1003408622) that Paolo Pellegrin shoots with one, as it is small and unobtrusive, and produces decent quality images. What I don't quite understand is what lens he is using. The article also mentions that he shoots wide. But the 330 has a 2x magnification factor, and the shortest prime I can find for the 4/3rds system is a 25 (the 8 is a fisheye). The zooms look promising (11-22 producing 22-44mm equivalent), but they are pretty big - as big as my canon 17-40.

This seems to be the same problem with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1 - fairly small size camera, but with a monster sized lens.

Anyone have any thoughts? Am I missing something? Or does he simply shoot with the 25?

[dankapsner]

The Olympus E-system, though it has some annoying high ISO limitations, is underrated. Olympus has two wide zooms: 7-14mm and 11-22mm, which translate into 14-28mm and 22-44mm in 35mm terms. Morten Hval is another interesting photojournalist who uses E-stuff. If you check out some of the Olympus website galleries you'll find him, along with Anne Day and Joel Meyerowitz. I am not a sophisticated big city boy and can't tell if some of these are merely paid endorsements, but it looks to me like some of them use the system day in and out and like what they get.

[dankapsner]

[quote]... does he simply shoot with the 25?[quote]

Upon further reflection I realize a "normal" lens isn't yet available for this mount. A Leica/Panasonic 25mm f1.4 is announced but does not appear to be available yet, nor does the announced 24mm Sigma. There is a Sigma 30mm 1.4 on the market, but this translates into a 60mm lens.

[John_W_Peterson]

Olympus is a genuine innovator in the dSLR market today (IMHO), just as they were in the film based SLRs when film still ruled. Self cleaning sensors, built in Image stabilization, Live preview and other features can all call olympus home. The olympus "bricks" (E-300 and 330) with their side swing mirrors were an amazing idea when they were introduced. They combined a certain "love it or leave it" ugliness that aided the cameras compact size in reducing it's obtrussiveness when used as a street camera. The small footprint of the camera, combined with the ability to use the live view feature suggest reasonable use as a street / reportage camera.
Today I use an Oly E-510 when such features are called for. The newest Oly's appear to do better at high isos then their 8MP ancestors, or at least that's the sense that I get so far. Admittedly the high iso issue remains a limiting feature of the Olympus line, as does the lack (for a little bit -not much - longer) of an E1 successor.
The other oly's that I still use - my OM-1s - they still have their place