Digital Cameras Ratings: Olympus E-10 4MP Digital Camera w/ 4x Optical Zoom Review

Average Reviews:
4.8 out of 5 stars

(More customer reviews)I've had a Minolta SLR for the past 10 years and been very happy with it, but after buying the my "other half" a Canon Digital Elph, I found the ability to immediately review photographs compelling. So, I looked for a digital SLR.
Olympus has hit the price/performance sweet spot with this camera. Competitive digital SLRs cost 50% more than the E10 for the body alone -- i.e. before you've bought any lenses. However, I was concerned that the E-10 would be an adequate replacement for my film SLR. So, The E-10 passed with flying colors.
What's good about this camera: terrific image quality, great lens (f2.0-f2.6!), all the control you could want (white balance, focus, zoom, exposure, flash), support for compact flash and smart media, and ability to take up to 4 shots in rapid succession, easy upload of images to a PC, Adobe Photoshop LE included and good battery life on Olympus NiMH AA batteries.
I took scores of pictures every day and was generally pleased with the results. The camera functions well in program mode, but immediate image review on the camera enables you to use more control if you don't get the shot you need. And with digital, you can just keep on taking shots until you get it right without worrying about film.
The ability to take 4 shots in rapid succession is useful when trying to capture spontaneous events -- like the procession of flag throwers (a Tuscan tradition that goes back over 700 years) out for a practice early one Sunday in Siena. Other digital cameras have big problems with both "shutter lag" (time from pressing the button to capturing the image) and the interval between shots -- especially with a 4 megapixel CCD where images take longer to write to flash.
I made extensive use of a polarizing filter to cut glare under the Tuscan sun, and the images came out with strong colors as a result. The E10 seems a little "flatter" in its color balance than Canon cameras, but color saturation can be easily tweaked in Photoshop if this is a problem for any given image.
I never managed to run the Olympus AA NiMH batteries (purchased separately) flat during a day's shooting, so camera power consumption seems to be excellent -- short battery life is a killer for many digital cameras.
The lens is very impressive. It has a great zoom range, and as the camera was designed for digital from the ground up there are none of the multiplying effects of film cameras converted for digital use (e.g. Canon D30). This means that the E10 has great short-range capability as well as telephoto without having to switch lenses. This is very important if you want to travel light, as I did.
What's not-so-good: problems with IBM Microdrive, autofocus requires care to avoid misfocus errors, viewfinder image location leads to orientation errors, general operation could be a lot faster, and the optional Olypus case is poor.
The E10 requires the photographer to carefully monitor whether it has successfully locked on the subject. Early on, I got several poorly focused shots because the AF didn't focus on the subject. It's easy to miss this in the viewfinder or on the LCD image preview -- you only find out when you get home... However, once you learn to watch for mistaken AF lock, it is possible to re-focus and avoid this. Still, after Minolta's exemplary AF system, this was an unpleasant surprise.
I also used an IBM Microdrive with my E10, but discovered that it does not work properly. I would be able to take several photographs, and then the camera would suddenly complain of flash card errors. It's easy to miss candid shots when you're wondering why the camera isn't working, then realizing there's a flash error, switching to smart media... so the Microdrive went back. Get a 256MB flash card instead.
The viewfinder image is large and oddly focused -- it's easy to tilt the camera about a degree and not notice -- until you get to image review. This can be fixed in Photoshop, but it's annoying to have to fix it.
Finally, the Olympus feels slower than many point-n-shoot cameras, and this is likely down to the embedded processor used in the camera. It takes several seconds before an image can be previewed, and it is slow to move around in image preview mode. Also, it seems to take a long time to compress an image and store it to flash. The 4 image buffer dramatically reduces the impact of this, but not entirely -- especially when you want to take one photo and see how it came out straight away.
Finally, don't buy Olympus' case for the E10. It is very cumbersome and you'll end up wishing you never brought it. I left it at home or in the car most days. You cant open up the case and leave it hanging off the camera -- it gets in your way. That means you have to totally remove the camera from the case and either put it down, stuff it in a bag or squash it under your arm while you try to take photographs.
The net is that I can't see why I'd go back to a film SLR. Although the Olympus E10 has its quirks, and Microdrive incompatibility is a drawback, it is a very good digital camera at an excellent price point for the value you receive. Olympus really doesn't have any competition for the money.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Olympus E-10 4MP Digital Camera w/ 4x Optical Zoom

Product Description:
When Olympus says precision, they mean it. The CAMEDIA E-10 is a 4-megapixel filmless digital SLR with TruePic technology and the first ED glass fully multi-coated lens. It's no wonder it is setting a new standard for the Olympus filmless digital camera product line. The E-10's lens features a new design specifically to focus light to every pixel on the CCD surface. This 4x professional f2.0-2.4, 9-36mm zoom lens is fully multi-coated to provide high-quality images. Further aiding in providing excellent image reproduction are the Extra Dispersion (ED) glass lens and two High Index Low Dispersion elements, helping to reduce chromatic aberrations for a clearer and sharper image.Features designed for the avid photographer and professional include raw data capture mode, manual focus, a dual auto-focus system, and newly designed camera controls. These controls are part of Olympus' creative new design incorporating dedicated buttons to control the E-10's shooting modes, flash, white balance and media card settings. This design, along with the E-10's adjustable TFT LCD display which the user can position between a 20-degree down angle and a 90-degree up angle, allows for a pleasant digital experience while simultaneously providing the control users desire with an SLR. The E-10 digital SLR has been especially conceived for all those who refuse to compromise on quality or performance. Ideal for studio, fashion and advertising shootings, it combines tremendous optical capabilities with innovative digital features, manual options and precision photographic metering systems. A range of optional accessories is also available.