Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/03/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Gary I did not say sensors are getting bigger or are magic, but bigger sensors actually deliver a better picture quality than smaller sensors with the same pixel count. Nikon will soon present their new fullframe flagship, for instance. The question is, if the 4/3 system can survive until smaller sensors like theirs can come closer to the top in terms of quality. It is to be hoped. The e-330 is an excellent camera, even if your estimation might be a bit too enthusiastic or biased. The tilt live screen is very useful, but the sensor has it's limits in low light situations. Didier >Yep, just like the trend in computers is to bigger cases! And bigger memory >boards. And bigger cable connectors. Good grief, what is thing with SIZE?! >Sensors are cramming more and better pixels into the same size, just as >bytes are stuffed into ever smaller memory chips every year. What is so >magical about a 35mm digital frame size? Absolutely NOTHING! > >FourThirds is the revolution, and I joined it almost a year ago. The >Olympus E-Volt 330 camera should be called the Re-Volt One, it is that >significant in the history of photography. Panasonic is trying (along with >Leica?) but their 4/3 body is too chunky and clunky. Plus it does not have >the tilt-screen live view LCD. The 330 is smaller and handles more closely >to an M. I did not say LIKE an M, just better than the Panasonic body that >makes even a Leica M5 seem downright tiny. If you were raised on M's like I >was, then the E-330 is like a new friend in a tradition of phototgraphic >creativity that has leaped so far over Canon and Nikon that most people >don't even seem to realize it yet. > >I hope Leica can sincerely join FourThirds in their old tradition of >excellence. But they need to think WAY outside the M or R box, literally >and figuratively. The 25mm 1.4 may be a step in that direction. However, >the lens does seem very large for a prime lens, and I was hoping for >something for the E-330 more the size of my old chrome M Summilux 50. I >hope there will be a way to try the new Leica lens next month. > >In the meantime, I'll keep shooting my Leica/Olympus kit - two E-330's, >Leica 70-180/2.8 Vario-Elmarit, 2x APO extender, 14-54/2.8-3.5 Zuiko and >7-14/4 Zuiko. In 35mm terms, that's an almost continuous lens range of >14mm-720mm, all in one little LowePro 200 bag.( >http://www.northcoastphotos.com/Lympa_2006_11_01.htm ) > >After thousands of miles cross-country and thousands of feet altitude for >journalistic, commercial. landscape and aerial photography, that setup has >been the most amazing sidekick of any camera kit I've ever used. My photos >from the E-330 have been published on covers and calendars; newspaper front >pages; numerous websites; Coast Guard public relations; aerial photos for >hotels, water treatment plants and engineering studies; and a year long >contract to document a multi-million dollar theater interior restoration. >Not bad for a little upstart camera. > >The sad fact to report is that almost two years ago, I showed a Leica rep >the little pre-cursor to the E-330, the brilliantly engineered Olympus >C-8080 8-megapixel with a lens that would easily do justice to Leica >optics. He looked down his nose and said. "That is not an M." Well I should >hope not! And the E-330 is not a slide rule or a mechanical adding machine >or a black and white TV or a two lane highway or any one of a thousand >other things that were current in 1954. The most amazing photographic >future is here - right now. My biggest concern is how to stay creatively >ahead of so many photographers who will discover the E-330 and see their >own boost in artistic creativity. So far I've got the drop on them by a few >months time and, obviously, a truck load of passion about a camera that I >believe will be as historically significant as the M3 was over 50 years ago. > >I've said a lot more about the Olympus E-330 at and how I've used it with >adapted Leica R lenses at: >http://northcoastphotos.com/Lympa.htm > >Best regards, >Gary Todoroff > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Leica Users Group. >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information