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Lympa Log - Leica R lenses on Olympus E-330 DSLR Photos and Text © Gary Todoroff 2006 All Rights Reserved |
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Mar 2, 2006 [This is the 1st entry of the Lympa Log - For latest entries, go back to "Index" where most recent entries are at the end]
After reading many announcements regarding the new Olympus E-330, I compared prices and availability on the Internet and ordered mine from Tri State Camera in New York. Gary was the friendliest NY camera salesman I've ever talked to on the phone. You ever order from some of the other NY stores? “Yeh. Nah. What. Credit Card? Bye.” We actually had a very friendly chat while a fair amount of money traversed the charge card ether.
Tri State did not have the E-330 camera body just by itself, but had the camera kit, which includes the 14-45mm f3.5-5.6 zoom (28-90mm in 35mm equivalent). With the lens it was only about $75 more. This Olympus “Standard” lens goes for about that price on eBay and would give me something to compare to the remarkable lens on my Olympus C-8080WZ, which covers that range (28-140mm) so sharply and with even faster f-stops (f2.4-3.5). See the Olympus lens “roadmap” at:
http://www.olympus-europa.com/consumer/images/E-System_Lens_Roadmap.pdf
Olympus
E-330
Zuiko
7-14mm f4
I'm thinking the perfect matching camera bag for this
E-330 body and lens combination might be a new Chrysler 300.
Back to my big online camera order – I also bought the 7-14mm/f4 super wide zoom, one of the “Pro” line of lenses from Olympus. Equivalent to a 14-28mm on 35mm, this lens was half the reason for the purchase and well over half the total cost. What a range! The wide-world will be a new place.
The other half of the order is the E-330 itself. I have waited and wondered at the current professional line of DSLR cameras, disappointed that they seemed to still be built to hold film and also to boast a “mine-is-bigger-than-yours” approach to size. Back in Sept 2005 I posted some of those thoughts on an eBay Review. The link below gives the details.
Log on to the URL above, see why I think the E-330 is the answer to my concerns, and post a positive for my review to see if it moves me up from a rank of 836 on eBay reviews! My comments are mostly a harangue about the current crop of DSLR cameras that merely substituted an electronic sensor for where the film used to be. Usually my gift of the prophetic is good out to about one tenth of a second, the secret to capturing the decisive moment. With the eBay Review, I may have known in part a few months out when it came to the DSLR revolution of the E-330.
Olympus
E-330 
Leica
R8
Side by side size comparison. The Digital Module R would add about 50% to the R8 size.
The E-330 is how professional digital SHOULD look - compact, small, light - not big and heavy!
After testing the digital waters three or four years ago with a little Minolta S304, my first serious digital camera was the Olympus C-8080. The tiltable viewfinder opened from the back of the camera and also opened a new way to see and frame photos. Folded out at 90 degrees it felt like a twin lens reflex. Tilted back and held high overhead, I had a periscope on the world and a better angle on tall buildings in a single bound. Eye pressed up to the Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) felt almost Leica-like, especially with the viewfinder offset to the left. The compactness and simple ergonomics of the body furthered the comparison to a Leica M camera and confirmed that Olympus makes a quality digital camera.
On my earlier C-8080 the built-in 28-140mm zoom did not disappoint a die-hard Leica user either. Sharp, great color, hardly any sign of color fringing --I wondered at how Olympus could make such a great optic including the camera, all for one third the price of just one new Leica lens! My approval of things Olympus was beginning to grow.
Mar 3, 2006
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Now I'm committed. I did a Buy-It-Now on eBay for a Leica R to Olympus 4/3 lens adapter. British pounds came to 50 and 15 for shipping from Hong Kong. Somewhere around $100 total and not bad compared to the cost of Leica R lenses, which I'll be able to fit to the new E-330. On the e-list Leica User Group (LUG), members have talked often about their “Leicanons” (Leica lenses on Canon DSLR bodies). So I wrote an email to the LUG today on what to call this – OlympuLeic or LeicOlym? No responses. The big name decision looks like it's all mine. |
Mar 4, 2006
I'm already “taking ownership” of my buy-a-new-camera decision by searching the Internet for the E-330; made a great discovery at the Fot-O-Grafiti website by Danijel Turina, a Croatian photographer.
Wish my English were as good as Danijel's. What a review! I recognized a fellow Leicaphile when he said, “ In fact, my experience in the actual field shows this to be the most revolutionary camera since Oskar Barnack came to Leica with an idea. It is in fact so revolutionary, it allows you some aspects of creative freedom that would otherwise be impossible .”
You can feel him jumping up and down for joy clear across an ocean and two continents. See his fine review at:
[Update note - the following page link is no longer in English:]
http://www.fot-o-grafiti.hr/clanci.php?id=117
and be sure to also click on part 2. He certainly confirmed the choice I had already made for the camera plus the Zuiko 7-14mm zoom lens. I just knew that was a killer app as soon as I saw it. Danijel, you've inspired me.
Speaking of inspiration, a photojournalist of a similar mind is Magnum Photographer, Alex Majoli. Using the Olympus C-5050 and C-8080, his photographs are exactly why these rangefinder-style cameras have impressed me so much. His shots look so, well . . . Leica . .
See Majoli's work at:
http://www.olympusamerica.com/e1/gal_amajoli.asp
When he talked about other pros who laughed at his little Oly's, I just knew Majoli was a kindred spirit. Betchya' he has his own E-330 by now or will have very soon!
In photojournalism mode, my Olympus C-8080 has worked well for me, too.
Eureka High School NJROTC cadets at boot camp were always too
tuckered out to laugh at my little Olympus C-8080.
Mar 5, 2006
The buzz on the Internet keeps growing. I had a cold since yesterday so spent most of today laid up with a laptop. Beats aspirin and lots of fluids. This E-330 is everywhere! The dpreview.com Olympus Forum is aflame.
[Update note - this page link contains current comments about Olympus]
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1022
A few people have their E-330 already. Others think the new camera is a fad, and who would want to hold a camera out at arms length anyway, just like some lowly amateur. Yeh, and who would want to press a measly accelerator pedal when you could still ride a horse. Danijel Turina is mentioned a lot. His Internet review should have earned him at least a couple of new lenses from Olympus.
Am also reading a downloaded copy of the E-330 manual – 196 pages of bed-time reading, full of features to learn, but like most manuals, guaranteed to induce sleep within ten pages.
Mar 6. 2006
First part of the photographic revolution arrived today – the lens adapter from China. Wow, fast delivery. Wow, beautiful workmanship! So THAT is what $100 of machining can get you. Actually a bargain. Finish is impeccable. It's solid. And heavy. Even the lettering looks first rate. Only the button lever shows signs of being a stamped part, solid, but not quite up to the standard of the rest of the unit.
I attached the adapter to my Leica Vario APO Elmarit 70-180/2.8 lens – feels like they were meant for each other. Have to admit, I was a bit ashamed to photograph a close-up of it on the beautiful Leica APO, because I dinged up the knurling awhile back. (Looks OK though in the wide shot at the top of this page, don't you think?) But lenses are to USE, right? Since those bright marks probably lowered the used market price by at least a thousand dollars, all the more reason to keep it for the Olympus, no? C'mon, rationalize with me here. Anyway, the adapter fit perfectly on my Leica R bellows with 100/4 Macro-Elmar lens. Now that will make an interesting photogenic combination hanging on the E330.
Hong Kong manufactured adapter mounts any Leica R lens to the
Four Thirds camera standard, used by Olympus E-series bodies.
Here it is on the tail end of a Leica Bellows R and 100mm f4
Macro-Elmar, maybe for the first time anywhere in the world!
Mar 7, 2006
Is there a prettier sound than the United Postal Symphony of engine roar, brake squeal, and sliding door slam? Ouch, I only had a brief minute to confirm that inside the neat cardboard box were two lovely Olympus silver boxes holding the new camera and lens. Then off for an evening planned a week ago. Dinner and the company were delightful. So was finally opening those new boxes. Back home tonight, I put a fresh-charged battery in the new E-330, attached the large 7-14mm zoom and looked at our living room from a whole new angle. Only had time to test that everything worked. This thing looks like fun!
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