By R. Quast “rquast” (USA)

I have had the E3 for just over two weeks and it does not disapoint me it works great. I upgraded from the great E510 to an even greater E3 the E3 is very fast and the white balance is right on. I did purchase the new 70×300 lens and it along with the E3 work great. I plan to purchase the new sonic wave lens down the road they look like they would just make the E3 even better if that is possable. I do lots of wildlife and landscape photos and the E3 will do a great job with the weather sealing mosture will not stop me.

By W. Fink “Wes” (Rochester, NY)

Reviewers on the web tend to be so Canon and Nikon biased that they often forget really basic things. The 4/3 system has all motor driven lenses, and the lenses were ALL designed for digital photography. I am frankly tired of seeing reviews that talk of Canon as if they are the only company with all motor lenses. There are actually 3 - Canon, 4/3, and Sigma, although Sigma’s other features are so archaic most just ignore them.To get an idea of how really great the new Olympus optics are you need to read a few of the big photo sites like dpreview, imaging-resource, or DCRP. They finally admitted with the E-410 and E-50, as www.slrgear recently pointed out, that Olympus has the best kit lenses of any camera maker, and that yes the Olympus claim that lenses designed for digital produce better quality images is proving to be true.

The issue, of course, is the options you had (or rather didn’t have) in camera bodies to use this great Olympus glass. As great as the current E-410 and E-510 really are, they are still saddled with an ancient and not particularly sensitive 3-point autofocus system and there just wasn’t a choice of anything better from Olympus. That is until the E-3.

The E-3 takes Olympus AF from Sigma territory to state-of-the-art, and as soon as the new 11-point, all cross sensor, dual-plane AF module makes its way down the food chain, no one will ignore Olympus any more. I hope Olympus can also find a way to move the terrific E-3 feature of AF with manual touch-up down the food chain as well - because the other big Olympus issue is that stupid “Manual focus by wire” feature and Manual select by menu. Even Canon is not naïve enough to think any photo hobbyist would want that kind of manual focus.

I have toyed with 4/3 several times since it was introduced, shrugged my shoulders and gone back to Nikon or Canon. This time around I bought an E-3 and a 12-60mm - and the tiny little excellent-quality kit lenses for when the 12-60mm weighs too much and I can compromise just a little on quality.

I am completely and totally impressed with the E-3. All the lenses are designed for 4/3 and best performance on a 4/3 camera - they aren’t 35mm film designs. No other camera offers effective live-view, built-in image stabilization, the best auto sensor cleaning you can buy, an articulating LCD that can fold away for protection (AND a top LCD for basic data), a built-in pop-up flash, effective dust and splash sealing of the camera AND the lenses, a popluarly-priced zoom that covers the equivalent of 140mm to 600mm and does Macro up to equivalent life size (70-300mm), MUCH improved noise reduction that goes to ISO 3200, user-programmable Auto ISO that can cover the full ISO range (Canon still stubbornly refuses to offer this option), and the best range of available lenses DESIGNED FOR a digital camera system.

Frankly, I had about given up on 4/3, but Olympus dropped the E-3 on us and showed me it could be all they promised it might be when it was introduced in 2003. The E-3 is a bargain for a true PRO grade camera - and it is easily built as well as the Nikon D3 or the top Canons which are $5000 or more. However, most will find the E-3 expensive unless they are serious photo hobbyists or Pros, and Olympus needs to move the E-3 refinements down to E-510 price levels as fast as they can.

The E-3 is a great piece of creative engineering, an area which Olympus is known for. After all they invented auto-sensor cleaning and live view - which is now finding its way to every DSLR. This is the best Olympus camera EVER, and once you have used it you will be hooked.

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