Digital Photo Tips

Whenever, I ask someone to help me take a photo with my DSLR, most not familiar with DSLR cameras will look puzzle and search for the LCD. Sometimes, I forgot to tell them that they can’t view the image on the LCD because most DSLR cameras cannot do that. So, there I was standing at the other end, posing and waiting while they keep fumbling for the image to appear on the LCD!

Now, with the Olympus E-330, these people can see the image on the LCD. But I always prefer to view from the viewfinder because my vision isn’t so good. So, I can’t exactly shout for joy with this new technology. Cost wise, I read that the camera is RM4,299 which according to some quarters is a bit high compared to another Olympus DSLR model without this thingamajig.

Here’s an excerpt from dpreview:

On January 26th 2006 over a year since the introduction of the E-300 Olympus revealed the 7.5 million pixel ‘live view’ successor, the E-330. The E-330’s biggest differentiation to any other digital SLR is its capability to deliver a live view on the LCD monitor (in the same manner as a prosumer / consumer all-in-one digital camera). For those new to digital SLR’s this is difficult to achieve because of the mirror / shutter mechanism, the mirror is in the light path in view mode to provide an image to the viewfinder, this means that no image can be projected onto the main sensor. Additionally most large D-SLR sensor don’t have video out capability. Other changes over the E-300 include a flip-out LCD screen and a range of feature improvements inherited from the E-500.

Features

The Live MOS Sensor offers image quality comparable to a Full Frame Transfer (FFT) CCD sensor with the low power requirements of a CMOS sensor, and is noteworthy for its high-quality imaging capabilities over an extended period of time. Simplified circuitry that reduces the distance from each photodiode to its corresponding on-chip microlens assures excellent sensitivity and image quality even when light strikes it at a high angle of incidence.

• Resolution: 7.5 megapixels, with excellent low-light performance characteristics.
• Grain: low-noise technologies assure reduced graininess.
• Tonal range: Simplification of the transfer register and other circuitry results in a large photodiode surface area for FFT-CCD-level sensitivity and responsiveness.
• Low power consumption: Power requirements are approximately half those of FFT-CCD sensors.
• High speed: Simple circuit structure contributes to faster processing overall.

Personally, I found viewing image from the viewfinder is more ‘professional’ than moving a camera around and watching its image from the LCD. However, one can snap those crowded places shots like stage shows, objects at ground level and odd angles. Anyway, I won’t get to buy any DSLR in the near future so I don’t have any choice to make at the moment.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 7th, 2006 at 11:42 pm and is filed under Camera. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.