An SLR with a whole lot of possibilities
Once you use the Olympus E-30 you will come to the conclusion that it offers a whole lot of possibilities. And yet, the inexperienced or non-Olympus photographer will build up a bond with the camera quite fast. The basis will be fairly familiar in general, and also the standard buttons will not lead to any questions. Diving into the menu will surprise you, while extensive and even unique possibilities will be found here. This requires using the manual for further exploring.
Olympus dust reduction system
It takes some time for the camera to capture a picture after activating, whilst the effective dust reduction system by Olympus is activated first. In general, this delay will not annoy you unless you have to jump into action and the camera is deactivated. There's no overruling this system by depressing the shutter release after activation. Olympus has given priority to the dust reduction.
AF-system copied of the Olympus E-3
The AF system of the Olympus E-30 has been copied from that of the E-3. According to Olympus, the AF system has been improved. It's kind of hard to point-out these improvements in practice, although I did not have any negative experiences. The focus points are quite reasonably spread in the viewfinder, however, the emphasis is still on the centre. It's everybody's own preference, but according to Olympus, the majority of the photographers group and capture the subject the most frequently in the area that contains the focus points. If you want to position the object in a different spot, you will have to use the AF-Lock.
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Focussing with the Olympus E-30
Focus is carried out fast and precisely with the new ZUIKO Digital 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 II zoom lens. There are different ways to use the focus points. You can choose to have them working together, all or in groups, or you can choose to work with a single focus point. It's vital you select and decide which point you're going to use prior to focusing, whilst as soon as you leave the focus menu, you will have to activate it again to eventually change from focus points. Besides that, you can select continuous or manual focus.
E-30 equipped with a good Live View
Compared to the E3, Live View of the Olympus E-30 works excellently. The focus delay is still noticeable, however; it's not a problem in general with standard photography that does not require speed. Personally, I worked well with it and in fact, I worked a lot with it. For me, that is a sign the Live View of the Olympus E30 proved to be fine. An additional advantage of the use of Live View is the information service. For example, a live histogram, and also the Art Filter both of which blossom in this case. Live View seems to guide you silently into practicing more creative photography. It's like watching pictures and choosing the one of your own preference.
Olympus E-30 great for creative photography
What is amazing is the fact that once you start shooting with the Olympus E-30, you want more, and you will try out the comprehensive creative possibilities. It are exactly those effects that you would normally want to apply when editing the image afterwards, that are offered now. Chances are high that once you're into black/white, soft focus etc, you also want to change the composition, and that it makes you shoot more specifically. These image solutions are indeed a very valuable addition, in particular for the creative photographer.
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