Table of Contents

Main News

01. Introduction
02. Jpeg & Raw Thoughts
03. Creative Art Filters
04. Level Gauge
05. Live View
06. Body build
07. Auto Gradation
08. More coming soon
09.Image Quality & High ISO performance
10.Overall Impressions

Live View on the E-30

On the E-30 Olympus has again further improved this feature. This is the first camera that I would say replaces the functionality of the E-330. The imager auto focus (AF) system is finally at a speed to be very useful. (If you remember from my past comments, I never liked using the AF sensor with live view, because when you took the picture the mirror in the camera would drop to focus and the LCD would be blocked from seeing what is going on in the picture) With the E-30 you can use the imager AF to quickly focus and take a picture with nearly all the standard zooms. (Though I haven't tried the telephoto zooms, mostly because it goes 100% against good shooting practice. You need stability to keep from blurring photos, and having a camera up to your eye is a great source of stability.) Though from my limited experience of the Panasonic G1 it seems that the G1 focuses faster.

In the video above I took the 14-35mm (the furthest traveling standard zoom lens) and first focus it to infinity, and let the camera focus, than I manually move it to the closest point and let if focus. Second part of the video shows how the camera in live view focuses with the AF sensor. Speed wise is not bad at all (In fact still faster) but the blacked out image, really decreases the usefulness of the live view.

The E-30 also offers a large movable LCD. In my opinion, the HyperCrystal II LCD is a big improvement over the original LCD that the E-3. Just as the E-420/520 is a big improvement over the E-510/410. Having the movable LCD should be found on all cameras, because the few times I actually use it is when the camera is either very low to the ground or high above my head. To not have a movable LCD negates the functionality of having live view.
Between the movable LCD, the level gauge, and the improved Imager AF system, and the improvements in the LCD display technology from the last few years, when I use a tripod I think that I will always use live view from this point forth. The E-30 has come a long way in this respect.

A bit more info on this in our preview of this camera.

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