The Olympus E-330

2006.03.18

Today, the first production review of Olympus' newest DSLR, the E-330 was published. This camera attracted a lot of attention when Olympus announced it to the word with a headline that read: World's first AF digital SLR with a full-time Live View LCD monitor. There was a lot of speculation on how this could be done, but Olympus revealed the details, dispelling the rumors.

The idea of showing a live-view on a digital SLR camera is extremely appealing. For many, this was the only advantage of fixed-lens digital cameras over DSLR cameras. Unfortunately as information of the E-330 spread through the Internet, the myth was dispelled. "Live View" as Olympus calls it - notice the double-quotes - is not live-view as everyone else knows it, It is far more limited and much less useful. To everyone else live-view:

• Is a WYSIWYG display
• Shows 100% coverage
• Displays accurate exposure approximation
• Displays accurate white-balance representation
• Shows accurate colors
• Allows complete operation of the camera
• Is functional regardless of focus-mode
• Can show overlaid information such as a live-histogram

Although it was known before, the first review of a production Olympus E-330 confirmed that coverage is only 100% when auto-focus is disabled, exposure is not accurately shown and white-balance is not accurately shown either. In sum, this type of "live-view" lacks every advantage people expect and enjoy from true live-view digital cameras. To quote DP Review: several issues with the E-330's Live View implementation which left us with a distinct 'if you can't do it properly, don't do it at all' feeling.

Of course we must consider that this techology is a step in the right direction. This step may not be significant enough to be useful, but it may serve as a basis for future improvements. After all, Olympus has succeeded in placing a second sensor in the mirror chamber and demonstrating a relatively large sensor which does not overheat while producing a continuous feed. Olympus is not attempting this without reason, a true live-view would be fantastic on a DSLR camera and many people expect one already. Indeed, the most frequent question received by neocamera from new owners of DSLR cameras is: how to use the LCD as a viewfinder.

In related stories, Sony has also succeeded at producing a large sensor which does not overheat while producing a continuous feed, as shown by its Sony Cybershot R1. Also, Panasonic recently announced a DSLR, the Lumix L1, which shares much of the technology used in the E-330. It has already been 2 years since Fuji introduced the S3 Pro which had a black-and-white live-view for up to 30 seconds which had to be deactivated before releasing the shutter. This was so useless it was seen as a demo rather than a feature. Finally, it is worth noting that several years ago Olympus had 2 live-view DSLR cameras, the Olympus E-10 and the Olympus E-20.

• Technology