Olympus EVOLT E-30 review
- Brand: Olympus
- Subject: Reviews
- Category: Digital Cameras
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CES report
The new Olympus Evolt E-30 is built based on the FourThirds system, continuing the line that was built-up over the last few years according to the expectations. The E30 is quite similar to the high-end camera; the E-3, although it comes with a less all-round magnesium housing. The E30's housing is made of plastic, strengthened by fiberglass. The water resistant and dustproof features of the housing are exclusively reserved for the housing of the E-3. The viewfinder of the Olympus E-30 offers approximately 98% coverage, whilst the E-3 offers 100%. And there are a few more setting possibilities on the E-3 that take things a bit further compared to the Olympus E-30.
Olympus E-30 Memory
The Olympus Evolt E-30 features a dual card slot supporting the widely used CompactFlash card and the in-house xD Picture Card. We can understand the Olympus support of the xD Picture concept throughout the entire assortment; however, if we look at the market, support for SDHC seems the most logical decision. xD offers a maximum of 2GB storage capacity and can theoretically grow to 8GB which should have happened a while ago. Meanwhile, the SD platform ran off with it by offering the SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) with a maximum storage capacity of 32GB.
Olympus EVOLT review
During testing in the DIWA Lab, the accuracy of the color reproduction also comes up. We found the Olympus Evolt E-30 to slightly deviate from the Gretag Macbeth Color Checker, measured over the ISO range of 100 - 3200 ISO. The E-3 scores just a bit better in that respect and shows an almost equal value as that of the Gretag Macbeth Color Checker. As from 100-1600 ISO, the reproduction of the E-30 is almost equal and deviates a tad more at 3200 ISO. In practice, the deviation will hardly be noticed, if at all, since these measurements took place in a lab environment. When it comes to white balance, the E-30 is very convincing, in particular when a manual white balance is used. The auto white balance shows some color cast in an incandescent environment, however, changing to manual white balance will offer an excellent result.
Olympus EVOLT E-30 review
The Olympus E-30 has an astounding amount of possibilities to offer. And among these many possibilities, there are many interesting innovative image solutions. The Art Filter set offers an extra dimension and leads to creative ideas; it can make you look at a picture in an entirely different way. The enhanced choice for image ratios is also appealing to experiment with. Handy is the built-in level (horizontal and vertical) which makes you keep your lines straight. And the multi-exposure function makes existing possibilities available faster and in a simpler way. Read the full Olympus E-30 review at LetsGoDigital.
