Updated 12/23/08: The 10.1-megapixel E3, the top dog in Olympus's line of digital single-lens-reflex (DSLR) cameras, is an attractive package for both pros and serious amateurs. You have to be serious about your photography--and have plenty of arm strength--though, because the bulky E3 body alone costs $1700 and weighs just under 2 pounds. Adding the lenses increases both the cost and the heft: The 12mm-to-60mm (24mm-to-120mm, 35mm equivalent) zoom I received with the E3 makes the package $2700, and together the body and lens tip the scales at an arm-fatiguing 3.25 pounds.
Like most DSLRs, though, the E3 provides speed and flexibility, and this camera offers them in spades. Tested against my now aging Canon 30D and the new Nikon D300, the E3 delivered lightning-quick auto-focusing, noticeably faster than either of the other cameras did. The E3 will capture up to five frames per second--not quite up to the Nikon's six-frames-per-second burst-shooting speed, but still quite fast.
Ad Choices