Exposure Issue with E-300

[agiaccio]

I visited a local camera store to see the Olympus EVOLT E-300. I really like the look and feel on this dSLR. Right now Olympus is offering a great deal on the two lens kit plus a $100 mail-in rebate until 31/03/2005 which makes it real affordable for someone like me who is starting out in dSLR photography.

I was reading the reviews and I came across one from DCVIEWS.COM which claims that the E-300 has problems determining the correct exposure and that images are not as "crisp" as other dSLR plus usable ISO is really between 100-400, anything over ISO 400 is too noisy.



DCVIEWS Conclusion on Exposure issue:
"Regarding the exposure problem mentioned in our review, we did some further testing and it appeared as if ESP or centre-weighted metering were not functioning correctly and only spot metering was applied - independent of the metering mode selected. This assumption was further fed by the fact that a slight shift in camera position resulted in completely different exposure values, which is correct when using spot metering as only the small circle in the centre of the viewfinder is used to determine correct exposure, thereby excluding all other image areas. We were not sure if this was a flaw of our test camera, but a second camera that was delivered to us the following week exhibited exactly the same problem."



Are these claims true? What have you been experiencing with the E-300? Also, how good / sharp are the two lenses offered in the two lens kit (Zuiko 14-45mm and Zuiko 40-150mm)?

[Norm in Fujino]

I've seen that review, too, although it's not clear what the issue is; it may be merely the different philosophy Olympus has taken toward exposure measuring (e.g., see the discussion at <http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/oly-e/e300-rev.html#EXPOSURE>)

The high ISO noise issue has been noted by most reviews. Apparently Olympus decided to put its eggs in the low-ISO basket, and let people clean up their high-ISO shots using post-processing software (Neat Image, etc.), whereas Canon places that function inside the camera.

From what I've read the lenses are apparently technically very good. According to one source,

"German Foto Magazin of 2 February did a test on the ZD lenses and the competition. They use a test setup called "BAS digital" in which they test the optical qualities of the lenses. They also look at mechanical build.

The result:
Olympus 14-45 mm - super
Canon EF-S 18-55mm - very good
Nikon DX 18-70mm - very good
Konika Minolta AF 17-35 mm - very good
Pentax DA 18-55 mm - good

and the rest of ZD lenses:
11-22, 14-54, 50, 150, 50-200 got a "super" which is the best rating.
but 40-150 got a "very good".
=================unquote======================

I read somewhere (can't find it now) that the 14-45 and 14-54 are very close in imaging quality, with the obvious exception that the latter is a couple of steps brighter.

[Pictus]

The new firmware 1.1 correct exposure problems.
http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/support/...tware/firm/e1/
(I do not have the E-300 yet)

Bye, Pictus