Overview:

The SLR comes with a lens in the box and the Canon Rebel T1i features a large 3-inch LCS screen, very good ISO range, abundance of shooting modes and very clear menu structure. Moreover, the Canon Rebel T1i records very sharp videos in 1920 x 1080 and has accurate colors.

Canon Rebel T1i pros:
+ Accurate colors
+ Well balanced and easy to carry
+ Very good 3-inch LCS screen
+ Video recording in 1920 x 1080
+ Plenty of shooting modes

Canon Rebel T1i cons:
- Little flash controls
- Poor manual
- Few in-camera editing tools
- Poor white balance

The design:

Canon Rebel T1i measures 3.8 x 5.1 x 2.4″ (98 x 129 x 62mm) and weighs 16.9oz (480 grams) without lens. As the Canon Rebel T1i is a quite compact digital SLR it has only a few buttons on its body and most of them have to serve different functions. The front of the camera is dominated by the lens, but you can also see the remote control sensor there, the red eye reduction and self timer lamp and the lens release button. At the back of the Canon Rebel T1i you will mainly see the LCS screen and plenty of buttons such as the menu, display, exposure compensation, playback, delete D-pad and a few more (see photo below). The left side of the Canon camera features the ports hidden under a cover and the flash button, whereas the right side houses only the memory card cover. At the bottom you can see the tripod mount and the battery compartment. The top of the Canon Rebel T1i features the mode dial, hot shoe for external flash, the built-in flash shutter button, power switch, control dial and the ISO button.

Performance:

Canon Rebel T1i is quite a fast digital camera so it is ready to take photos in no time. However, the image stabilization system is very unpredictable and may work very well on certain occasions, and totally disappoint at others. The playback mode in the Canon Rebel T1i is very good and you get several playback controls, however there are hardly any in camera editing tools. The LCD in the Canon Rebel T1i works very well, it is bright and thanks to its high resolution fun to use.

Image quality:

The Canon Rebel T1i has a very good color accuracy and almost equally good customization of its Picture Styles. When it comes to overall color performance only the long exposure performance may slightly disappoint. The Canon camera has an impressive ISO range of 100 to 12800 which is very uncommon in this range of digital cameras. The Canon Rebel T1i has awkwardly low sharpness, yet quite good levels of chromatic aberration and distortion. The canon camera has below average white balance performance and no matter if you try to adjust it manually it is very hard to achieve acceptable results.

Menus/ease of use:

The Canon Rebel T1i has a clear and very straightforward menu structure so it should not be too hard to use. Because of its small size its hard buttons server different purposes so you might have to get used to that. The manual is quite poor so it would be best to discover what particular buttons do just by trying them. All in all, the Canon Rebel T1i is a very good digital camera in this price range.
Selected Canon Rebel T1i features and specifications:
Resolution

• Effective: 15.5MP, Recorded: 15.1MP

Sensor

• 22.3 x 14.9mm CMOS

File Formats

• RAW, JPEG, QuickTime

Color Spaces

• sRGB, Adobe RGB

Image Stabilization

• Body: No, Lens: Yes

Crop Factor

• 1.6x

Lens

• 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (35mm film equivalent: 29-88mm)

Zoom

• Manual Two-Touch

Lens Mount

• Canon EF/EF-S mount

Focus Type

• Auto and Manual Focus

Focus Range

• 9.8″ (25cm) – infinity

Accessory Lens/Filter Mount

• 58mm

Sensitivity

• ISO: 100-3200 (expandable to 6400 and 12800)

Shutter Speeds

• 1/4000 – 30 sec, bulb

Metering

• Evaluative, Partial, Spot, Center-weighted Average

Exposure Modes

• Manual, Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, Program, Auto, Creative Auto, Scene

White Balance

• Auto, Day Light, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Flash, Custom

Mirror Lock-Up

• Yes

Burst Capability

• 3.4fps Continuous Shooting

Self Timer

• 10 seconds or 2 seconds

Remote Control

• Yes: RS-60E3 Remote, RC-5 Wirless Remote, RC-1 Wireless Remote

Built-in Flash

• Yes

Effective Flash Range

• Up to 43′ (13 m)

Dedicated Flash System

• Canon Speedlite EX-series

Max Sync Speed

• 1/200 sec.

Memory Card Type

• SD/SDHC

Still Images per GB

• RAW: 50

JPEG: High Res:204 – Low Res:1,137

• A/V Recording

Video Recording

• Video with Audio, NTSC & PAL Output

Video Resolution

• 1920×1080 @ 20fps, 1280 x 720 @ 30fps, 640×480 @ 30fps

Video Clip Length

• 12 min. HD / 24 min. SD or 4GB

Audio Recording

• Mono audio with video only

Viewfinder Type

• Eye-level Pentamirror

Viewfinder Coverage

• 95%

Display

• 3″ LCD

Connectivity

• USB 2.0 (mini-B), A/V Out, HDMI (Type C)

System & Software Requirements

• Windows XP, Vista

• Mac OS OS X (10.2 or later)

Battery Type

• LP-E5 Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery

Power Adapter

• CA-PS700 Compact Power Adapter (optional)

Other recently reviewed digital cameras:

Olympus E-620, Pentax K2000, Olympus E-30, Sony A900, Panasonic Lumix ZS3

Overview:

Olympus E-620 has an LCD screen that pivots and turns quite freely making it an ideal digital camera for shooting at unusual angles. The camera has illuminated controls at the back so taking photos in low light is really easy, especially that the Olympus E-620 has plenty of flash options and it is small and quite light.

Olympus E-620 pros:
+ Rotating LCD screen
+ Excellent image quality
+ Very nice kit lens
+ Wireless flash control is excellent
+ Creative features are fun, useful
+ Illuminated buttons
+ Light and compact

Olympus E-620 cons:
- Live view experience still not perfect
- Noisier at high ISOs than competition
- AF performance is hit or miss
- No video mode
- Slow write time to xD cards

The design:

Olympus E-620 measures 130 x 94.0 x 60 mm and weighs 475 grams. The camera is made of high quality and very light materials which makes it easier to take photos unusual angles and hold the camera for a long time. The front of the Olympus E-620 features only the lens, white balance sensor, remote control receiver and the lens release button. On the other hand, the back of Olympus E-620 is crammed with various buttons and controls. The rear of the Olympus camera features: Power switch, viewfinder, 2.7-inch 230.000 dot LCD, 4-way controller, USB port, image stabilization control and a few other controls. The left side of the Olympus E-620 is completely bare, whereas the right side houses the memory card compartment. The top of Olympus E-620 houses the pop-up flash, hot shoe, shutter release button, mode dial and control dial, while the bottom only the tripod mount and the battery compartment door.

Performance:

The articulated LCD on the Olympus E-620 really aids shooting in Live View (something that the Sony A900 lacks). Moreover, as the rear buttons are illuminated it is also easy to change settings in dark areas and thus achieve better results. The Olympus E-620 supports both xD Picture Cards and the preferable CompactFlash cards and has a good viewfinder showing plenty of information. Still, one of the biggest flaws of the Olympus E-620’s performance is the Live View lag during fast panning.

Image quality:

The Olympus E-620 renders very good colors in bright light and as the Olympus camera has five different picture modes it is easy to find the right one for the present circumstances. However, the photos taken with the Olympus E-620 tend to be too noisy when compared to competition, such as Sony A900, or Pentax K2000. Still, the Olympus E-620 has a very good ISO range (details below) and quite good resolution and sharpness.there are some distortion problems, but only at extreme wide range. Thanks to the extensive white balance settings and custom WB the camera scores quite well in white balance test, although there may be some issues with incandescent lighting in the auto mode.

Menus / ease of use:

The Olympus E-620 is quite easy to use thanks to the abundance of Shooting Modes, dedicated buttons and, of course, the easy mode. In the Auto mode the camera does everything for you, but you can still adjust certain settings which is very handy, especially for more advanced shooters, but still not professionals. The menus are maybe not the most attractive ones, but they are quite clear and it is not too difficult to find the desired options.
All in all, the Olympus E-620 is a very good digital camera for beginners and semi-professionals offering good image quality for a reasonable price.
Selected Olympus E-620 features and specifications:
Body material

• Glass fibre reinforced plastics

Sensor

• • 4/3″ Hi-Speed Live MOS sensor
• • 17.3 x 13.0 mm active area
• • 13.1 million total pixels
• • 12.3 million effective pixels
• • RGB (Primary) color filter array
• • Fixed low pass filter (anti-alias filter)

Dust suppression

• Supersonic Wave Filter

Image stabilization

• • “Supersonic Wave Drive” (in-body sensor shift)
• • Three modes: Horizontal+Vertical, Vertical only, Horizontal only
• • Up to 4 EV Compensation (claimed)

Image processor

• TruePic III

Image sizes

• • 4032 x 3024, 3200 x 2400, 2560 x 1920, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 1024 x 768, 640 x 480

File formats

• • RAW, RAW + JPEG, JPEG (EXIF 2.2)

Lenses

• • 4/3 standard lens mount
• • Range of ZUIKO DIGITAL lenses available
• • Multiply focal length by 2 for 35 mm equiv. FOV

Auto focus

• • 7-point TTL Phase Difference Detection
• • Automatic or manual point selection
• • EV -1 to 19 (ISO 100) detection range
• • Available in Live View (slight pause and mirror flip required)
• • Fine adjustment +/- 20 steps, 20 data can be registered

Focus area selection

• • Automatic
• • Manual

Focus modes

• • Single shot AF, Single shot AF + MF, Continuous AF + MF, Continuous AF, Manual focus

Manual focus

• Focus by wire (SWD lenses have mechanically-coupled manual focus)

AF assist lamp

• Yes, flash strobe (flash must be raised)

Exposure modes

• • Auto, Program AE (with shift), Aperture priority AE, Shutter priority AE, Manual, Scene program, Scene select

Scene modes

• • Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sport, Night + Portrait, Children, High Key, Low Key, DIS mode, Nature Macro, Candle, Sunset, Fireworks, Documents

Art Filter

• • Pop art, Soft focus, Pale & light color, Light tone, Grainy film, Pin hole

Sensitivity

• • Auto
• ISO 100, ISO 125, ISO 160, ISO 200, ISO 250, ISO 320, ISO 400, ISO 500, ISO 640, ISO 800, ISO 1000, ISO 1250, ISO 1600, ISO 2000, ISO 2500, ISO 3200

Metering system

• • 49-zone multi-pattern
• • Range: 1 to 20 EV (50 mm F2, ISO 100)

Metering modes

• • Digital ESP
• • Center-Weighted Average
• • Spot (2%)
• • Highlight based spot
• • Shadow based spot

AE Lock

• • AE/AF lock button
• • With shutter release half-press

AE Bracketing

• • 3 frames
• • 0.3, 0.7 or 1.0 EV steps

Exposure steps

• 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV

Exposure compen.

• • -5.0 to +5.0 EV
• • 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV steps

Shutter speed

• • 60-1/4000 sec

Flash X-sync speed

• • 1/180 sec or less

White balance

• • Auto, Cloudy, Shade, Flash, Daylight, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Lamp, 1 custom preset , Kelvin (2000 – 14000 K), Dual sensor WB measurement (external WB sensor and TTL)

WB fine tuning

• • Red – Blue: +/- 7 steps (2 mired each)
• • Green – Magenta: +/- 7 steps (2 mired each)

WB Bracketing

• • 3 frames
• • 2, 4 or 6 mired steps

Color space

• • sRGB
• • Adobe RGB

Image parameters

• • Picture mode (Vivid, Natural, Portrait, Muted, Monotone, Custom)
• • Saturation (5 levels)
• • Sharpness + Contrast (5 levels)
• • Contrast (5 levels)
• • B&W filter (Yellow, Orange, Red, Green)
• • B&W/Sepia toning (Yellow, Orange, Red, Green)
• • Gradation (Auto, High Key, Normal, Low Key)

Drive modes

• • Single
• • Continuous H and L
• • Self-timer
• • Remote control

Continuous

• • 4.0 fps
• • RAW: 5 frames maximum

Self-timer

• • 2 sec
• • 12 sec
• • Anti Shock: 1-30 sec delay

Flash

• • Built-in pop-up
• • TTL auto / manual
• • Guide no. 12
• • Sync modes: Auto, Red-eye reduction, Slow sync with red-eye reduction, Slow sync, 2nd curtain slow sync, Fill-in, Off
• • Flash power: Up to +/- 3EV in 1, 1/2, or 1/3 EV steps

External flash

• • Hot shoe
• TTL Auto FP / TTL auto for Olympus dedicated flash (FL-20, FL-50, FL36, FL-36R, FL-50R) 
• Modes: Auto, Manual, Red-eye reduction, Slow sync with red-eye reduction, Slow sync, 2nd curtain slow sync, Fill-in for exclusive flash.
• Flash power: Up to +/- 2EV in 1, 1/2, or 1/3 EV steps
• Wireless flash possible with FL-36R and FL-50R

Viewfinder

• • Eye-level TTL Optical pentamirror
• • Field of view approx. 95%
• • Magnification 0.96x with a 50mm lens and -1 dioptre
• • Dioptre adjustment -3 to +1 dioptre

Orientation sensor

• Yes

LCD monitor

• • 2.7″ HyperCrystal III TFT LCD monitor (wide viewing angle, transmissive)
• • Vari-angle (swing and tilt)
• • 230,000 pixels
• • 100% frame coverage
• • 15 step brightness adjustment

Playback functions

• • Single
• • Magnify (2 – 14x)
• • Index (4, 9, 16, 25, 49, 100frames)
• • Calendar view
• • Rotation
• • Light box view
• • Slide show
• • Histogram (Lum / RGB)
• • Highlight & Shadow point warning

Editing

• • RAW development
• • JPEG editing (B&W, Sepia, Red eye reduction, Color saturation, Resize, Shadow Adjustment Technology, Anti red-eye)

Storage

• • Compact Flash (Type I and II) / Microdrive
• • xD- Picture card

Connectivity

• • USB 2.0 (Hi Speed)
• • Video Out (NTSC / PAL)
• • IR Remote control (optional)

Optional Accessories

• • Battery Grip HLD-5
• • Underwater case PT-E06

Power

• BLS-1 1150 mAh Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery (supplied & charger)

Box contents

• E-620 Body, Li-ion battery BLS-1, Li-ion battery charger BCS-1, USB/Video Multi cable, Eye piece cover EPC-1, Shoulder strap, OLYMPUS Master CD-ROM, Instruction manual, Warranty card

Other recently reviewed Digital Cameras:

Panasonic Lumix ZS3, Sony A900, Olympus E-30, Pentax K2000.

Overview:

Pentax K2000 is a great camera for its price – $599.99. Fort his amount you get a very good quality DSLR with lens and external flash so it’s really hard not to have a look at it. Moreover, the Pentax K2000 has fast start-up, bright and large LCD, great design and very good image quality. Seems almost too good to be true doesn’t it?

Pentax K2000 pros:
+ Compact, well balanced body
+ Good resolution
+ Low noise
+ Overall good sharpness
+ Wide array of scene modes
+ Fast start-up

Pentax K2000 cons:
- Slowish burst mode
- Poor sharpness at small aperture settings
- No life view
- No depth of field preview
- The menu structure a bit too confusing

The design:

Pentax K2000 measures 122.5 x 91.5 x 67.5 mm and weighs 525 grams. The camera is not as packed as the Olympus E-30, but it is due to different targeting do the two cameras. So the front of Pentax K2000 features the lens, self timer lamp and lens release button. The back houses the viewfinder, pop-up flash release button, 2.7-inch LCD screen, AF button, 4 way controller, playback mode button, menu button back control dial and delete key. Of the left side of the Pentax K2000 you can see the focus mode switch and USB / AV connector, whereas of the right side the removable tab for power access and SD memory card port hidden under a door. The bottom features the tripod mount and the battery compartment door. At the top of the Pentax camera you can see the hot shoe, mode dial power switch and shutter release.

Performance:

The Pentax K2000 is equipped with 2.7-inch LCD screen which should be enough for previewing pictures if it wasn’t for the screen resolution which is far too small for this purpose. The camera has a really good start-up time so you will be able to take photos in no time, yet most probably not in the burst mode which is rather slow. And as the majority of the latest DSLRs the Pentax K2000 cannot record movies.

Image quality:

The Pentax K2000 has not so god color accuracy not only when compared to competition, but also more generally speaking. Even the selection of six different color modes does not help here. On the other hand, the Pentax K2000 has very good noise levels both in low light and in bright light. And if you see too much noise you can always use the noise reduction system which works really well. The Pentax K2000 has the maximum resolution of 10 megapixel so if you need to take larger photos you should consider Sony A900, or Olympus E-30. The camera has also a few white balance presets thanks to which it handles all types of light also in auto mode.

Menus / ease of use:

The Pentax K2000 has a few shooting modes thanks to which it is easy to find the right one for the occasion. Moreover, the camera has six custom image settings with possible fine adjustment and six filter effects. Yet when you’re not using the dedicated buttons, or the auto mode and you need to plunge into menus you might get confused at first.
All in all, the Pentax K2000 is a very decent digital SLR or a very reasonable price.
Selected Pentax K2000 features and specifications:
SENSOR

• Type: Interline interlace CCD with primary color filter and integrated Shake/Dust Reduction sensor movement system
• Size: 23.5 x 15.7mm
• Color depth: 8 bits/channel JPG, 12 bits/channel RAW
• Effective pixels: 10.2 MP
• Total pixels: 10.75 MP
• Recorded resolutions: 10M (3872×2592), 6M (3008×2000), 2M (1824×1216)
• Dust Removal: Image sensor movement combined with SP coating

LENS MOUNT

• Type/construction: PENTAX KAF3 bayonet stainless steel mount
• Usable lenses: PENTAX KAF3, KAF2, KAF, and KA (K mount, 35mm screwmount, 645/67 med format useable w/ adapter and/or restrictions)
• SDM function: YES
• Power zoom function: n/a

FOCUS SYSTEM

• Type: TTL phase-matching 5 point wide autofocus system (SAFOX xxxxx)
• Focus modes: AF Auto, AF Single (w/ focus lock), AF Continuous (available in Action mode including Auto Picture Action, Kids, Pet, Stage Lighting, and Night Snap modes, P/A/S/M/B/Sv), Manual
• Focus point adjustment: Auto, Wide, Spot
• AF assist: YES, via built-in flash

VIEWFINDER

• Type: Penta-Mirror
• Coverage (field of view): Approx 96%
• Magnification: Approx 0.85X (w/ 50mm f/1.4 at infinity)
• Standard focusing screen: Natural-Bright-Matte II
• Diopter adjustment: -2.5 to 1.5
• Depth of field preview: Digital (available as a custom function linked to Help button)

LCD MONITOR

• Type: 2.7 TFT color LCD monitor, adjustable brightness
• Resolution: 230,000 dots
• Wide angle viewable: YES

BUILT-IN FLASH

• Type: Retractable P-TTL auto/manual popup flash
• Guide number: 11 (100/m)
• Coverage: 28mm wide angle (equivalent to 35mm)
• Flash modes: On, off, redeye, wireless
• Flash exposure compensation: -2 to 1 EV in 1/2 steps

EXTERNAL FLASH

• Type: Hot shoe (P-TTL, high speed sync available), wireless with PENTAX dedicated flash
• Synchronization speed: 1/180s

STORAGE MEDIA

• Internal memory: n/a
• Removable memory: SD, SDHC

INTERFACES

• Ports: USB 2.0 hi-speed, video out
• Video out: NTSC, PAL
• Printer interfaces: PictBridge

POWER SUPPLY

• Power source: 4* AA (lithium, NiMH rechargeable, alkaline)
• Recordable images: Approx xxxxx (lithium)
• Playback time: Approx xxxxx (lithium)
• AC adapter available: YES (optional)

PHYSICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Body dimensions (W x H x D): 4.8 x 3.6 x 2.7
• Body weight
• Without battery or removable memory: 18.5 oz
• Loaded and ready: 20.8 oz (lithium)
• Construction material(s): Fiber reinforced plastic polymer covers around a rugged stainless steel chassis
• Operating temperature: 32-104°F

IMAGE STABILIZATION

• Type: Body-based, sensor shift Shake Reduction (4 stops maximum)

METERING SYSTEM

• Type: TTL open aperture, 16 segment metering
• Sensitivity range: EV 0-21 (ISO 100, 50mm f/1.4)
• Multi-segment: YES, 16 segments
• Center weighted: YES
• Spot: YES
• Exposure compensation: +/- 2 EV (1/2 or 1/3 steps)
• Exposure lock: YES (available as a custom function linked to focus lock)
• Exposure bracketing: YES, 3 frames, up to +/- 1.5 (1/2 steps) or +/- 1.0 (1/3 steps)

ISO SENSITIVITY

• Auto: 100-3200 ISO (1, 1/2, 1/3 steps), up to 1600 ISO in Bulb mode
• Manual: 100-3200 ISO (1, 1/2, 1/3 steps), up to 1600 ISO in Bulb mode

WHITE BALANCE*

• Auto preset modes: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Fluorescent (D, N, W), Tungsten, Flash Manual mode(s): YES
• * WB fine adjustment available

SHUTTER

• Type: Electronically controlled, vertical run, focal plane shutter
• Shutter speed: 1/4000 to 30 sec, bulb available

CAPTURE MODES

• Mode selection: Auto Picture (Portrait, Night Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Action), Picture (Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Action, Night Scene Portrait, Standard Flash Off), Scene (Night Scene, Surf & Snow, Food, Sunset, Kids, Pet, Candlelight, Museum, Stage Lighting [2M JPG], Night Snap [2M JPG]), Program, Sensitivity Priority, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Metered Manual, Bulb (available in Metered Manual)
• Green simplified mode available: n/a
• P/A/S/M/B: P, A, S, M (extended modes include Sv, Bulb available in Metered Manual)
• Date stamp: n/a
• Digital filters (capture): Toy Camera, High Contrast, Soft, Starburst, Retro, Color Extract (xxxxx). Custom Image Modes includes Bright, Natural, Portrait, Landscape, Vibrant, and Monochrome modes. Color Custom Image Modes include gamut radar and fine adjustment for saturation, hue, contrast, and sharpness. Monochrome Custom Image Mode includes adjustment for film filter effects (green, yellow, orange, red, magenta, blue, cyan, infrared), toning (sepia warm/cool), contrast, and sharpness (regular and fine adj scales).
• Data record: Folder Name (standard, date)

DRIVE MODES

• Mode selection: Single, Continuous (Hi, Lo), Self-Timer (12s, 2s), Remote (0s, 3s), Auto Bracket
• Continuous FPS:
• – 3.2 FPS (4 JPG and Continuous Hi, 4 RAW)
• – 1.1 FPS (unlimited JPG and Continuous Lo, 4 RAW)
• Self-timer: YES (12s, 2s)
• Remote control: YES, infrared (0s, 3s)

PLAYBACK MODES

• Mode selection: One shot, index (4, 9, or 16 thumbnails, select & delete available), magnification (quick zoom available), image comparison, image rotation, folder view, calendar, slideshow, histogram, bright/dark indication, resize, trimming, DPOF, digital filter, RAW to JPG
• Magnification: Up to 16X, scrollable
• Digital filters (playback): Toy Camera, High Contrast, Soft (3), Starburst, Retro, Color Extract, Illustration (Pastel, Watercolor), HDR (3), B&W, Sepia, Color (18), Slim (+/- 8), Brightness (+/- 8), Custom

FILE FORMATS

• Still: RAW PEF/DNG, JPG (EXIF 2.21), DCF 2.0 (design rule for camera file system), DPOF, Print Image Matching III

CUSTOM FUNCTIONS

• Functions available: 23

FILE STORAGE MATRIX (BASED ON 1GB MEMORY)

• 10M (3872×2592) 202 343 586
• 6M (3008×2000) 335 570 974
• 2M (1824×1216) 902 1549 2627
• RAW
• 10M (3872×2592) 58

COMPUTER SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• Windows: Windows XP/Vista, USB port
• Mac: MacOS-X 10.3 or later, USB 2.0 port

Other recently reviewed cameras:
Panasonic Lumix ZS3, Sony A900, Olympus E-30.

Overview:

Olympus E-30 as a very high built quality, wide array of configurable controls and predefined scene modes. Moreover, the Olympus E-30 is very well balanced which makes it easy to carry and shoot at unusual angles and fast continuous mode. The Four Thirds in combination with the 2x crop factor may assure great image quality. But what is the actual Olympus E-30 performance? Read on to find out.

Olympus E-30 pros:
+ Very good built quality
+ Good playback mode
+ Very sharp images
+ Articulated LCD with Live Mode
+ Viewfinder with 98% field of view
+ 2.7″ and 230,000 pixels LCD screen

Olympus E-30 cons:
- Poor noise
- Proprietary USB port
- Awkward rear dial placement
- Complicated menu system

The design:

Olympus E-30 measures 141.5 x 107.5 x 75 mm and weighs 655 grams (body only). The front of this well balanced and solidly built Olympus camera features mainly the lens mount, but also white balance sensor, control dial, remote control receiver, depth of field preview button, lens release button and external flash connector. If you think that the front of Olympus E-30 is crammed with buttons you might b shocked by the back. The rear of the Olympus camera features AF button, metering control, second control dial, on/off button, four-way button and of course the large screen. And that’s only the main important ones, so have a look at the Olympus E-30 photo below. The left side of Olympus E-30 houses the DC port, whereas the right side the memory card slot hidden under a protective door. The bottom features the tripod mount and the battery door.

Performance:

The Olympus E-30, surprisingly, has not as good color accuracy as one might expect and far worse than the Sony A900. Moreover, the Olympus E-30 has only a few color modes which makes it difficult to manipulate the results. Additionally, the Olympus E-30 produces far too much noise and only when you apply noise reduction the images start to look noiseless, but with worse sharpness. However, if you do not apply the noise reduction system the Olympus E-30 has very good sharpness. The camera has also exceptional image stabilization and a wide selection of file sizes and aspect rations. Also the white balance settings are quite extensive, but if you do not what to make use of it the Olympus E-30 has also very good auto white balance. Unlike the Sony A900 the Olympus camera has a very nice live view on its 2.7 LCD screen.

Menus / ease of use:

Thanks to the very good built and balanced weight the Olympus E-30 handles very well with practically any lens. Also, the large amount of dedicated keys and controls help to adjust all necessary settings quickly. If you, however, decide to plunge into the menus you might find them a bit too cluttered and complicated. Fortunately, the Olympus E-30 comes with a very good manual so you will most probably get it in no time.

Selected Olympus E-30 features and specifications:

• Glass fibre reinforced plastics

Sensor

• • 4/3″ Hi-Speed Live MOS sensor
• • 17.3 x 13.0 mm active area
• • 13.1 million total pixels
• • 12.3 million effective pixels
• • RGB (Primary) color filter array
• • Fixed low pass filter (anti-alias filter)

Dust suppression

• Supersonic Wave Filter

Image processor

• TruePic III

Image stabilization

• • In-body sensor shift
• • Three modes: Horizontal+Vertical, Vertical only, Horizontal only

Aspect Ratio

• 4:3 / 3:2 / 16:9 / 6:6 / 5:4 / 7:6 / 6:5 / 7:5 / 3:4

Image sizes

• • 4032 x 3024
• • 3200 x 2400
• • 1600 x 1200
• • 1280 x 960
• • 1024 x 768
• • 640 x 480

File formats

• • RAW
• • RAW + JPEG
• • JPEG (EXIF 2.2) – Four levels

JPEG compression

• • SuperFine (1/2.7)
• • Fine (1/4)
• • Normal (1/8)
• • Basic (1/12)

Lenses

• • 4/3 standard lens mount
• • Range of ZUIKO DIGITAL lenses available
• • Multiply focal length by 2 for 35 mm equiv. FOV

Auto focus

• • 11-point TTL Phase Difference Detection
• • Automatic or manual point selection
• • EV -2 to 19 (ISO 100) detection range

Focus area selection

• • Automatic
• • Manual

Focus modes

• • Single shot AF
• • Single shot AF + MF
• • Continuous AF (Phase detect only)
• • Continuous AF + MF (Phase detect only)
• • Manual focus

AF assist lamp

• Yes, flash strobe

Exposure modes

• • Auto
• • Program AE (with shift)
• • Aperture priority AE
• • Shutter priority AE
• • Manual

Sensitivity

• • Auto (100-1600)
• ISO 100
• ISO 200 
• ISO 400
• ISO 800
• ISO 1600
• ISO 3200

Metering system

• • TTL open aperture
• • 49-zone multi-pattern
• • Range (Digital ESP): 1 to 20 EV (50 mm F2, ISO 100)

Metering modes

• • Digital ESP
• • Center-Weighted Average
• • Spot (2%)
• • Highlight based spot
• • Shadow based spot

AE Lock

• • AE/AF lock button
• • With shutter release half-press

AE Bracketing

• • 3 frames
• • 1/3, 1/2, 0.7 or 1.0 EV steps

Exposure steps

• 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV

Exposure compen.

• • -5.0 to +5.0 EV
• • 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV steps

Shutter speed

• • Auto mode: 60 – 1/8000 sec
• • P, A, S or M mode: 60 – 1/4000 sec
• • Bulb (up to 30 mins)

Flash X-sync speed

• • 1/250 sec
• • 1/8000 sec (Super FP mode)

White balance

• • Auto
• • Tungsten (3000K)
• • Fluorescent 1 (4000K)
• • Fluorescent 2 (4500K)
• • Fluorescent 3 (6600K)
• • Sunlight (5300K)
• • Flash (5500K)
• • Cloudy (6000K)
• • Shade (7500K)
• • Custom (2000 – 14000 K)
• • Selectable (3000 – 7500 in 8 steps)

WB fine tuning

• • Red – Blue: +/- 7 steps (2 mired each)
• • Green – Magenta: +/- 7 steps (2 mired each)

WB Bracketing

• • 3 frames
• • 2, 4 or 6 mired steps

Color space

• • sRGB
• • Adobe RGB

Image parameters

• • Color mode (Vivid, Natural, Portrait, Muted, Monotone, Custom)
• • Saturation (5 levels)
• • Contrast (5 levels)
• • Sharpness (5 levels)
• • Monochrome (B&W, Sepia, Red, Green, Blue) – filter (Ye, Or, Re, Gr)
• • Graduation (Auto, High Key, Normal, Low Key)

Drive modes

• • Single
• • Continuous
• • Self-timer
• • Remote control

Continuous

• • 5 fps
• • RAW: 12 frames maximum
• • JPEG: Up to card capacity @ Large Normal (with high speed media)
• Self-timer
• • 2 sec
• • 12 sec

Flash

• • Auto electronic pop-up
• • TTL auto / manual
• • Guide no. 13
• • Sync modes: Auto, Red-eye reduction, Slow syncro with red-eye reduction,
• Slow syncro, 2nd curtain slow syncro, Fill-in, Off
• • Flash power: Up to +/- 3 EV in 1, 1/2, or 1/3 EV steps

External flash

• • Hot shoe
• • TTL AUTO, AUTO, MANUAL, FP TTL AUTO, FP MANUAL
• • Modes:Auto, Manual, Red-eye reduction, Slow syncro with red-eye reduction, Slow syncro, 2nd curtain slow syncro, Fill-in for exclusive flash.
• • Flash power: Up to +/- 3EV in 1, 1/2, or 1/3 EV steps

Viewfinder

• • Eye-level single-lens view finder
• • Field of view 98%
• • Magnification 1.02x with a 50mm lens and -1 dioptre
• • Eye point 14 mm at -1 dioptre
• • Depth of field preview
• • Dioptre adjustment -3 to +1 dioptre
• • Focusing screen: Interchangeble
• • Mirror: Quick return mirror

Orientation sensor

• Yes

LCD monitor

• • 2.7″ Hypercrystal II LCD monitor
• • 230,000 pixels
• • 100% frame coverage

Playback functions

• • Single
• • Magnify (2 – 14x)
• • Index (4, 9, 16, 25, 49, 100 frames)
• • Calendar view
• • Rotation
• • Light box view
• • Slide show
• • Histogram
• • R,G,B Histogram (With Highlight & Shadow point warning)
• • Shooting information

Editing

• • RAW data edit 
• Red-eye reduction 
• Sepia 
• Black & White 
• Resize
• Correction of saturation 
• Shadow Adjustment Technology

Storage

• • Compact Flash (Type I and II) / Microdrive
• • xD- Picture card

Connectivity

• • USB 2.0 (Hi Speed)
• • Video Out (NTSC / PAL)
• • IR Remote control (optional)

Power

• BLM-1 Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery (supplied & charger)

Other recently reviewed digital cameras:

Sony A900, Panasonic Lumix ZS3

Overview:

Sony A900 is not a cheap toy for amateurs – the frame is priced at $2999. It’s no wonder as the Sony A900 offers 24.6 megapixel resolution, viewfinder with nearly 100% coverage, in-camera image stabilization. However, the camera lacks built-in flash, or even life view. So is the Sony A900 worth its price? Read on to find out.

Sony A900 pros:
+ Good design, button placement and materials
+ Wide selection of color modes
+ Automatic flipping of LCD info display aids in vertical shooting
+ Very fast burst mode
+ Excellent sharpness
+ Good battery life

Sony A900 cons:
- Average noise performance
- No built-in flash
- Quite slow startup time

The design:

Sony A900 measures 156 x 117 x 82 mm and weighs 939 grams. The front of the camera is dominated by the lens mount surrounded by a few buttons and switches, such as the lens release button, preview button, focus mode switch and the front control dial. The back do the camera is fully packed, yet still comfortable to work with. So, besides the 3 inch LCD display working in 921,600 resolution. On the right of the LCD screen is the AEL button, rear control dial, multi selector, image stabilization control. Of the left of the display is the power switch, menu button, playback mode button and on screen display button. The left side of Sony A900 features the remote control terminal, HDMI and USB/AV ports and the DC IN terminal, whereas the right side houses the sliding door behind which you will find the memory stick slot. The bottom houses only the tripod mount and the battery compartment, while the top features the mode dial (on the left), hot shoe, small monochrome display, front control dial (on the right), as well as ISO and white balance controls.

Performance:

Sony A900 renders quite accurate colors in good lighting conditions, yet it seems that the competitive digital SLRs do even a better job in this respect. When it comes to the long-exposure color and noise the Sony A900 is one of the best performers on the market. High-ISO noise reduction starts to work only when you reach ISO 800 and so the overall noise levels are too high compared to competition. The resolution of photos taken with Sony A900 is the highest among the recent digital SLRs. And with little distortion and very good sharpness (at all zoom levels) it seems that the Sony A900 s a very good overall performer.
Sony A900 offers six predefined white balance settings and should that not be enough the camera has also an auto mode. The Auto white balance works very well on most occasions, although it might have some troubles with incandescent lighting. And when there is very little light, that is at night, the Sony A900 does a very good job overall. Even though it might have a bit too much noise the sharpness, color rendering and exposure compensate that.

Menus / ease of use:

Sony A900 has a very good image browser which allows you to magnify the photos up to 19x. However, the camera lacks editing features. Thanks to Th. 3-inch display working in high resolution all the menus look very well and are easy to read. There are three user-configurable custom settings available from the mode dial and plenty of other customizable features in different menus. Additionally, there is the ‚Auto’ mode which does everything for you and still allows you to take great photos.

Selected Sony A900 features and specifications:
Style

• Digital SLR

Megapixels

• 24.6

Resolution

• 3:2

File Formats

• JPEG/RAW

Memory Cards

• CompactFlash MicroDrive Memory Stick Duo

Shutter Speed

• 1/8000 – 30 seconds and bulb

Sensitivity

• Auto 100 – 6400

White Balance Settings

• Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Flash, Custom

ExposureCompensation

• -2EV to +2EV (in 1/3EV steps)

Viewfinder

• Pentaprism

LCD Screen

• 3 inches

Flash Modes

• Autoflash, Fill-flash, Rear flash sync. High Speed sync. with optional compatible accessory flash

Metering

• Multi segment, Spot, Center weighted

ManualControls

• Manual exposure, aperture priority, shutter priority

Image Stabilisation

• Yes

Self Timer

• 10 seconds or 2 seconds

Video Out (TV Playback)

• Yes

Computer Connection

• Yes

Batteries

• Lithium-ion Rechargeable

Other recently reviewed digital cameras:

Panasonic Lumix ZS3