Entah kenapa, belakangan ini kok tiba-tiba bermunculan review tentang kamera DSLR Olympus E-1. Padahal kamera ini sudah sangat lama keluar, dan bahkan mungkin akan segera keluar penggantinya. Apakah suddenly para pe-review ini baru sadar kalau kamera ini ada? ;))

E-1 Review at Photozone.de

Ever since its announcement Olympus had problems promoting a DSLR with a 5 MP sensor as a "professional" solution - more so since its high ISO performance is worse than the competition. And yes, if you need noise free images beyond ISO 400 look elsewhere - no doubts here. Just make sure that you don't fall into the measurebator trap here. Finally we managed to survive a century with film where ISO 400 was about the maximum in speed without sacrificing too much in quality. The high ISO discussion tends to fall towards bizarre sides at times. You should also be aware that four-thirds lenses are usually faster in conjunction with a slightly deeper depth-of-field at comparable field of views which gives you an extra potential here.

Within the ISO100 to ISO400 range the E-1 renders beautiful images with vivid colors and smooth tonality - especially when using the Olympus RAW converters but also Raw Shooter Essential. When checking the various Olympus forums on the web you may be surprised that many people exchanged their Canon or Nikon DSLR just for this characteristic. Many user argue with "film like" color rendition and I tend to concur here.

In terms of handling the camera feels very natural and it's quite obvious that the designers thought of photographers rather than windows users here. All primary functions can be selected using dedicated though somewhat scattered buttons in conjunction with one of the main dials and the top display. The only major handling faux-pas is the lack of an instant histogram after shooting - something that Olympus wasn't able to fix despite a couple of firmware updates (which is somehow beyond believe ...).

The AF performance is generally good though it is lacks the maturity of Canon or Nikon AF systems. If AF tracking is one of your requirements these lands aren't yours I'm afraid.

One of the major selling arguments for the E-1 is its build quality which is easily similar to the EOS 1D series. The body is both sealed against dust as well as huminity. Shooting in rain is no problem as is exchanging lenses in dusty environment due to its unique supersonic wave filter. Sensor dust, a common and annoying problem with all other system, does not live here. Add the hot pixel mapping on top and we've a basically servicing-free camera - about the only one as of now. So the E-1 has its niche here where it is the unrivaled though relatively unrecognized king. Beyond its cosy niche it faces cameras like the Minolta Dynax/Maxxum 7D and especially the Canon EOS 20D which both feature both better sensors as well as AF systems.

You should consider the system as a whole. The classic systems are still struggling to provide dedicated lenses for their APS-C DSLRs - the old lens line-up simply doesn't fit at times requiring an extra lens to fill a gap. And can you really find corresponding lenses which are comparable to the Olympus Zuikos within their price range ? We'll have a look at this in some lens tests coming later this year.

saya rasa, ' kesaktian ' nya Olympus baru skrg disadari, karena setelah melihat beberapa hasilnya memang ternyata kamera ini sangat mumpuni lho .... sayang ketersediaan lensa dan asesorisnya masih dikit dan cukup mahal ....... dan saya sebagai pemakai C5050 saja harus jungkir balik buat cari adapternya ....

wah.. olympus makin diperhitungkan nih di dunia dijital.
kak Wiwin harus koprol dulu ya biar dapet adapter? :-?

Kak Adi : terima kasih link-nya kak... bisa ditambahin di daftar link lengkap Oly DSLR nih

Kak Wiwin dan kak Dhian : koprol? ;))
yah, begitulah kalo di sini, kalo importir-nya ga serius ya jadinya gitu deh... Memang harusnya principal yg langsung masuk, kalau mau serius... Soalnya di US dan europe oly terlihat begitu serius menggarap konsumennya. Yah, nasib di negri yg bargaining power konsumennya demikian lemah... *hiks*

you're welcome.
kalau memang lebih murah, beli di luar bisa jadi alternatif tuh, terus berdoa dapet barang yg sehat wal afiat, dan ga perlu ngurus garansi segala macam. Lagipula kalau saya lihat, garansi resmi pun tak menjamin, seperti yg dialami Kompas-nya Pak Arbain. Wuih, padahal itu konsumen sekelas Kompas, apalagi konsumen sekelas kita-kita.

Radix ;)) kamu bukannya pernah Koprol juga di " Surat pembaca " sebuah koran harian .. :D ... saya baca lho keluh kesah dirimu :)

Dhian, kak Wiwin bukan koprol, tapi ndlosor dan ngesot2 ;))

Bang Arbain baru aja nulis di piksel di Kompas minggu kemarin ttg Olympus dan format 4:3 nya

kak Wiwin,
waduh, situ tau aja :D
iya tuh, setelah sebulan kemera masuk karantina ga ada kabar beritanya, akhirnya koprol deh di surat pembaca... lumayan ampuh ;))

And yes, if you need noise free images beyond ISO 400 look elsewhere - no doubts here. -> bukan tipe gua ternyata :)

Kak Judhi memang sukanya motret gelap2-an sih... tapi bukan measurebator/pixelpipper kan ;))