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Nikon D80

Olympus Evolt E-3 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with Mechanical Image Stabilization with ED 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 Lens and FL-50R Flash

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Brand: Olympus
Category: Photography

List Price: ~~$3,199.97~~
Buy New: $1,998.00
You Save: $1201.97 (38%)

New (7) from $1,998.00

Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

24 reviews
Sales Rank: 16503

Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Optical Zoom: 5
Display Size: 2.5
Maximum Focal Length: 60
Minimum Focal Length: 12
Maximum Resolution: 10
Shipping Weight (lbs): 8.4
Dimensions (in): 15.9 x 9.9 x 5.8

MPN: E3 w/ 12-60mm & FL-50R Kit
Model: E3 w/ 12-60mm & FL-50R Kit
UPC: 050332165304
EAN: 0050332165304
ASIN: B001A5OWWG

Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 6-10 of 24

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1 2 3 4 5

Great Camera November 25, 2007
Xpress_Man (Hot Springs, AR USA)
29 out of 33 found this review helpful

Great camera.

I own the E-300 and E-500 with both flashes and a couple of lenses so I desired to stay within the Olympus family, and I'm glad they came out with the E-3.

-Unbelievably solid.
-The tilt and turn screen is nice (mainly just to protect the screen).
-Live view is neat for certain applications.
-Auto WB is amazing with it's external sensor and TTL white balance detection.
-High ISO is good. I shot Auto ISO 100-800 and 800 with no noise reduction is superb!
-Viewfinder is excellent!
-Image Stabalization is wonderful. I've been able take sharp hand held shots at up to 1/6 of a second and even managed a couple at 1/2 a second! With a telephoto lens you can get down to 1/20th of a second with sharp results.
-Autofocus is very fast even with "slow" lenses.

This camera is a worthy competitor to the nikon D300, canon 40D, Sony A700.

I don't regret my purchase.

5 out of 5 stars

Worthy successor to the E-1; a great camera November 28, 2007
J. Block (Hauppauge, NY USA)
29 out of 37 found this review helpful

Although I have only had the E-3 for a little over a week, I find that it is an excellent camera. I am moving up from an E-1, which I have always found to be a great SLR with excellent images and color. The E-1 is getting somewhat dated (but still takes excellent pictures) and the E-3 is the perfect upgrade -- it follows up on the durability, and ergonomic design of the E-1, but has twice the resolution, much faster and better autofocus, built-in IS (image stabilization) that works with all 4/3 lenses, and has a useful built-in flash (which I find very convenient indoors, even though I also have an Olympus FL-50 flash). This is a semipro/pro camera that a serious amateur can really enjoy and that any photographer can use.

It also has a better shutter (faster and rated for more use), better noise reduction, longer exposure time, and it kept the water resistance and dust removal filter that work very well for the E-1.

It is not cheap, but it costs less than the E-1 did four years ago and does much more. I especially appreciate the fact that I can continue to use my existing lenses, batteries, flash, charger, cables, remote control, etc. that I used with the E-1. Everything was compatible.

In all I am very happy with the E-3.

5 out of 5 stars

A Perfect Natural Photography Camera February 8, 2008
James D. DeWitt (Fairbanks, AK United States)
26 out of 29 found this review helpful

I mostly photograph wild birds, usually with a Zuiko 300mm f2.8 lens, often combined with a 2.0X teleconverter. It's a lot of lens, but the E-3 handles it superbly. Quick, accurate focus. Terrific exposure control, even in automatic settings. Enough pixels that you can crop in post-processing without compromising quality. Rapid shooting, even in RAW mode. I'm a fairly serious photographer and this camera does everything I need. It even feels good in the hand. All this an in-camera image stabilization as well. The IS alone allows you to shoot hand-held with a long lens down to 1/250 second.

It's sturdy, too. The camera and lens set up spend most days clamped to a tripod, balanced on my shoulder, banging into shrubbery, or perched on rocks or in swamps. It's amazingly solid.

Unlike the E-500, the E-3 sports a true USB-2 connection, so downloads of photos are much quicker.

Other reviewers have said that some earlier Olympus accessories don't work with the E-3. That's inaccurate. Some older lenses and flashes can't take advantage of some of the advanced features in the E-3, but they still work just fine. My Zuiko 300mm f2.8 is proof of that. And yes, it does focus more quickly on the E-3 than on the E-1 or the E-500.

If you are a nature photographer, I strongly recommend the Olympus E-3. It's a terrific example of a state of the art digital single lens reflex camera.

4 out of 5 stars

Underrated, yet outstanding! April 7, 2008
T. Haines (NY)
26 out of 28 found this review helpful

I upgraded to the E3 from my e500. Some of the things that enticed me were the additional focus points, and articulated screen. Everything else about the camera was just added niceness.
The camera is pretty great. It's an obvious step up from the e500 in terms of quality, and performance. Images look beautiful, focus is a lot faster and more accurate. The tilting screen and live view are things that I wonder how I ever lived without....a HUGE boost to my shooting and the types of shots I can get.
I think Olympus is underrated in the DSLR business. Because it uses a 4/3 sensor people talk a lot of bad trash about the system. But in real-world shooting, the E3 really stands tall. And I say this as someone who also shoots with a Nikon D300. Another great thing about the Olympus system is the availability of Olympus lenses. And the lens is what it's all about. Olympus lenses are second to none. I actually find that the Olympus lens lineup makes me frustrated about Nikon's comparably dinky lineup--and Nikon has A TON of lenses, but none that can match the quality/speed of Olympus lenses. Good luck finding an f2.8 telephoto lens of the same price or quality as Olympus' 50-200. Olympus beats Nikon in terms of lens quality, easily.

Having said that, the things I don't like about the E3 are its low-light performance (the E3 is better than the e500 or e510 in low-light shooting but it still falls behind the competition) and its tendency to clip highlights. In low-light situations the E3 tends to produce noisy shots at higher ISOs or during long exposures--considerably noisier than many other cameras (but I wouldn't say they're unusable). Highlight clipping speaks for itself....overall the dynamic range of the E3 isn't as good as some cameras, but it's on par with others. Depends on the camera you compare it to. Those are the only two negatives I can think of. In terms of metering, it's very good, in fact I prefer how it meters to how the D300 meters (though the D300 doesn't clip highlights like the E3 does) because the tones are closer to the mood I want to get. More moody, tones whereas the D300 is a little too LOUD in its tones. Some of you may dig loud tones. Your mileage my vary.

All around this camera is as good as my D300, and in many ways its better. In just those two areas (low-light, and highlight reproduction/dynamic range) its a little disappointing. But, for whatever it's worth, I do all of my "serious" or "important" shooting with my E3, not my D300. My E3 lenses are better, the articulated screen of the E3 is a life-saver, I like how it meters better...it's just a really great camera that I love shooting with.

The E3 is an excellent camera, and easily on par with anything that Canon offers--and even better than a lot of what Canon offers. And its on par or better than everything Nikon offers, with the exception of the D300 (in my opinion). Nikons D300 is ever so VERY SLIGHTLY superior in some ways but then you don't get the same lens quality with Nikon, and that's the deal maker or deal breaker for me...lenses. If I could only keep one camera, I'd keep the E3...in a heartbeat. Get this camera!

5 out of 5 stars

E-3 is a winner! December 23, 2007
Thomas J. Glover (Seldovia, AK USA)
21 out of 23 found this review helpful

Long time E-1 fan but moved to Nikon D-200 when Olympus didn't release a 10mp body for years. The E-3 is fantastic and will keep it and the D-200!
1.Extremely fast focus
2.Low light focus blows away any camera I have ever used
3.Waterproof
4.Olympus Pro glass is wonderful...don't scrimp, get the Olympus Pro lenses with SWD, you won't regret the extra cost.
5.Love the dual chip setup...cf and XD...you choose which chip to write to
6.One very minor negative...when using the live view feature, autofocus does not function. Autofocus only works through the view finder. HOWEVER, manual focus does work with the live view. Now that I have played with this for a bit, I actually like it better the way it is. It's really nice to be able to use the live view for closeup shots and be able to manual focus. It would be nice to be able to turn the autofocus on and off for the live view just like you can through the viewfinder.
7.High ISO produces some amazingly good images. You can easily shoot 400 and 800 with little grain. Just starting to work with the 1600-3200.
8.Controls are a little different than the Nikon but easy to learn and easy to switch off using one camera or the other.
9.Built in flash is pretty good but not over about 20 feet

I can't speak highly enough of this camera, it is outstanding.

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