Finally got my E3 - just a tool to suppliment my abilities

[Robert Watcher]

After exhaustive shooting with my E-510 over the past several months in anticipation of my E3 purchase - - - I finally sprung for the E3 body after much deliberation over which choice I would make for my heavier duty camera body - the choices being the Nikon D300 or Olympus E3, as I have lenses and bodies for both systems. Each camera model had features that were stronger than the other one, and features that were weaker than the other one. While I can make good use of the lowest noise at high ISO's (within the price range that I wish to spend on a body) and fastest most accurate tracking auto focus - I also push my gear to the limit in other ways by using it in adverse conditions and while I do not abuse my equipment, I do not pamper it but use it well and am not afraid of it getting banged around at times - and so a durable body, some weather resistance and sealing of both body and lenses are features that I can benefit from (I have not had good success in this area with my Nikons - have made innoperative my D70's, an 85mm lens and a D200 in the course of a year and less of purchase as a result of sand, water, mud and tripping on a set of stairs with my shins, hands, D200 and SB800 smacking the floor with a serious thud. I also appreciate the Live View feature with my E-510 and while with the D300 I can benefit in the same way, the articulating LCD screen of the E3 makes it a more valuable tool with this feature and one I will use on a regular basis on my paid assigments.

So of course, I had to go out this evening on getting home with the E3 (i didn't even have to wait to try it out as it takes the same batteries as my E-510 which were already charged), and take a few extreme shots to see if there would be any images of use at slow shutter speeds and 3200 ISO. I shot a street scene in our small town and my dresser with the contents of my pockets on going to bed. Both shots were taken with the E3 and 12-60 Zuiko lens hand held with IS set to 1 - some processing in Adobe Lightroom:

1/13'th @ f8 : 3200 ISO : 12mm setting


1/15'th @ f4 : 3200 ISO : 52mm setting



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[Mr. Pickles]

Look good to me. Seems to show a nice choice on your part, but I'm a bit biased anyway.....

[eastley]

wow, at 3200 iso?

Very good performance there with that camera.

[Robert Watcher]

I shot these in Jpeg (my standard). There is no cropping, but there is subtle tone adjustment, luminance noise reduction and sharpening using Adobe Lightroom. I don't have Neat Image on my Mac - just my PC work station - - - and so wasn't able to run these through that excellent program. It does a far better job at eliminating noise, keeping detail and cleaning up the image - than Lightrooms NR does. I'm moving this weekend and so will try that once I get settled in the new digs. I'll also try printing the files - which is far more valuable to me than what they look like on screen. The other night I printed out (roughly 8x10) the 3200 ISO E3 and D300 test studio shots from dpreviews.com and found such a small amount of difference between the 2 cameras with that setup - even though there was more of a difference on screen. And when I ran the E3 file through Neat Image the print equaled and probably surpassed the D300 print quality. But the fact is that I have no intention of comparing the 2 cameras - I like Olympus brand and hopefully this camera will be a valuable tool for crating my photographic images. Neither camera would be suited to clean 3200 ISO images - but both cameras are certainly usable at 1600 to 3200 ISO in my sometimes edgy style of work.

This morning (after doing these shots last night) I checked the cameras Firmware and updated it and the lens to the latest version (they were each 1 version out) - so I can see if there is any real improvement from doing that - - - at least I am now up to date.

[Mr. Pickles]

Correct and good points on things like high ISO performance in the cameras and in reviews. The words state that one is better than the other in a certain category (high ISO in this case). But how much better? You did well in taking the results to the printer to see. Is one still better? Probably. Is it noticeable? Maybe. Will others notice? Probably not. Both are great.

There are differences, but in most things, the differences are subtle. It is more in what one has that the other does not, like the swivel LCD and dust reduction system that works well. On the flip side, the 4/3 ratio is different, but medium format users don't mind 4:3 ratios...

[Robert Watcher]

A snapshot from my son and his wifes 10'th anniversary party on Saturday. For indoor shots I set the E3 to Auto ISO with the range being 100 to 2000. This is one of the few shots that I took - my 7 year old grandson was the official photographer using my E3 (with grip) and 12-60mm lens to document the people who were there. It is really something to watch him handle my cameras like an old pro pushing all of the buttons and scrolling around the images on the screen.
This shot in my daughter and her husbands living room is of my grandson Mason and his uncle Jordan. Exposure is f4 @ 1/100 'th sec : 2000 ISO. 12-60mm lens was set to 52mm (equiv 104mm):


This is one of Mason's pictures of his sister laying on the carpet. Again shot at 2000 ISO - exposure f3.9 @ 1/40 'th sec - - - 12-60mm lens set to 45mm:

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I also have purchased the 70-300mm (140-600mm f4/5.6) recently so plan on trying that out on my E bodies.

[Robert Watcher]

The E3 is a fair chunk of camera. I told Mason that it was pretty heavy. I handed the camera to him and he said "that's not that heavy" and carried it all over the property for about 2 hours. Although if I had a flash on top, I think that may have put it over the top for him.
There are always all kinds of panicky looks from people and all kinds of chuckles at the way he handles the cameras. Most people would never give a child a camera and leave them to go where they want with it - let alone an expensive looking one like I have. I handed Mason his first digital camera (a point and shoot) to use when he was about 3 years old and at any family and friend functions where both he and I are there and I have my cameras with me, he gets to be the official photographer.
Of course this is nothing new for me, my wife or my 4 children - - - all of our kids had free access to using my equipment from a very early age, and all worked with me in my color darkroom from the time they were Mason's age, and when in their early teens were left in my downtown studio with my big studio lights and Mamyia RZ67 to shoot each other and be as creative (and generally as weird) as they wanted to be. They didn't think anything of it or that it was anything special or difficult - - - just as it is with Mason now. Even with that though, only one of my children has any interest in photography on a serious level, although he isn't interested in making money from it.
I never trained them or directed them - it was all through osmosis and handling the equipment and figuring it out themselves. It was comical on Saturday - - - there are a lot of big windows in my daughters house and when I gave Mason the camera I showed him on the screen that people in front of the window would be dark if he included the window, so he may want to shoot on an angle so that a wall is in behind. After he was gone for about 5 minutes, he comes up to me and says "Gandpa, the people don't have to be dark in front of a window - all you have to do is pop up the flash and it's perfect. " he then proceeded to show me a before and after with and without the flash. Firstly I never even showed him how to pop up the flash - and secondly he had figured out how to run all of the "video controls" on the back of the camera to zoom in and scroll around the displayed image on the screen. It sure didn't take long for him to get a grip on many of the functions of the camera and make use of them, even though he didn't know technically what they were doing or how to use them.

[Robert Watcher]

Being I only took about 3 or 4 shots at the start of the night, I will have to show you a few of the 200 Olympus E-3 shots that my 7 year old grandson Mason took from his unique LOW perspective.
Mason's Mother (10'th anniversary girl)
1600 ISO : f3.6 @ 1/80 'th


Mason's Father (my son - 10'th anniversary guy)
100 ISO : f5 @ 1/200 'th

Mason's 2 grandmothers and other grandpa
400 ISO : f7.1 @ 1/30 'th

[Robert Watcher]

Mason's Great Grandmother
800 ISO : f3.4 @ 1/60 'th

Mason's Other Great Grandmother
1000 ISO : f4 @ 1/125 'th

Mason's Aunt Roslyn (my daughter and the host of the party with her husband)
100 ISO : f3.7 @ 1/200 'th : pop up flash

[Robert Watcher]

Family and friends
100 ISO : f2.8 @ 1/160 'th

160 ISO : f7.1 @ 1/125 'th : pop up flash

100 ISO : f5 @ 1/80 'th : pop up flash

[sean_buerger]

These are all great shots! They really have a unique perspective and are so spontaneous!

This is really something different, Sean.

[Mr. Pickles]

Nice of you to post the shots that young Mason took. Really shows how great the E-3 actually is since he wasn't really trying or knowing that much about photography or the camera (I guess). Yet he got some very nice images with typically great Olympus colors.

[Robpendragon]

I'm really anxious now after reading this thread, my E-3 arrives today via UPS. I've been pacing around the house all morning.

[Robert Watcher]

I've been pacing around the house all morning.

STILL PACING ? ? ?

[Paul Shields]

Nice series of shots Rob. Also looks like you've got a talented young man there .