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Artwork: Rick Rizner, Chris Manners
Olympus EVOLT E-330 Digital SLR W/14-45mm Lens (7.94MP, 3136x2352, CompactFlash/Microdrive/xD-Picture Card Slot)
- Spec Navigator
- Digital Format
- Display
- Exposure
- General
- Image Processor
- Included Hardware
- Included Software
- Lens
- Shutter
- Storage
- LCD Screen
- Exposure Controls
- Dimensions
- Power
- Flash
- Lens Features
- Connectivity
- Other Features
Image Processor
| Number of image sensor pixels | 7.4 megapixels |
| Image sensor | CCD |
| Maximum horizontal image resolution | 3136 |
| Maximum vertical image resolution | 2352 |
| Image sensor quantity | 1 |
| Image format |
|
| White balance | 0 |
Lens
| Accessory Lens | No |
| Lens Model | Zuiko Digital 14*45mm F3.5-5.6 |
| Telephoto Aperture Maximum | 5.6 mm |
| Wide-Angle Aperture Maximum | 3.5 mm |
Exposure Controls
| Maximum shutter speed | 4000 |
| Minimum shutter speed | 60 |
| Bulb setting | 0 |
| ISO equivalencies |
|
| Exposure settings | 0 |
| Exposure compensation range | 0 |
| Number of scene modes | 20 |
- Lab Tested
- How We Test SLR Cameras »
Pros
LCD screen can be used as a viewfinder
Unlimited continuous shooting
Cons
Rear-mounted LCD can be distracting
Limited lens selection
Bottom Line
Standout LCD plus good optic and image quality, but there's no LCD status display and lens options are limited.
Olympus EVolt E-330
EVOLT E-330 Digital SLR W/14-45mm Lens (7.94MP, 3136x2352, CompactFlash/Microdrive/xD-Picture Card Slot) Review, by Ben Long April 19, 2006
The Olympus EVolt E-330 ($1100 as of March 21, 2006) is an upgrade of the company's previous E-300 model. The E-330 is unique among midrange digital SLR cameras in allowing you to use its LCD screen as a viewfinder.
The E-330 has an improved body design (slightly smaller than the E-300), enhancements to a number of features, and an LCD screen that you can fold away from the camera for easier waist-level, or over-the-head shooting. The LCD viewfinder will appeal to macro shooters and product photographers, who won't have to crane their necks to look through a viewfinder.
With a 7.5-megapixel sensor (as opposed to the E-300's 8-megapixel sensor) the E-330 is the first SLR upgrade I've seen that offers a lower pixel count than its predecessor--though the slight difference in pixel count doesn't affect image quality.
The new EVolt's image quality is good, with good detail and sharpness. Like many other Olympus cameras, the E-330 comes with factory settings that add a big contrast and saturation boost to your images. If you think it's too much, you can easily tone down the effects by adjusting in-camera settings. If you shoot in RAW mode, you won't have this problem.
We tested the E-330 with the included kit lens--a 14-to-45mm lens that delivers a 35mm equivalent focal length of 28-to-90mm. The lens is small and well built with excellent edge-to-edge detail and no discernable vignetting (a flaw in which the center of an image is brighter than the extremities).
Though available lenses for the EVolt are fewer than for a Canon or Nikon SLR, Olympus has done a very good job of expanding the lens selection to include everything from a 7-to-14mm lens (14-to-28mm equivalent) to a 90-to-250mm (180-to-500mm equivalent) zoom for telephoto shooters. Choices within this zoom range include fish-eye, macro, teleconverter, and other lenses. Unfortunately, none of Olympus's lenses provide any form of electronic image stabilization--a useful feature to have when you're using a telephoto lens or shooting in low light.
The fairly bright optical viewfinder provides a detailed status readout. To use the LCD as a viewfinder, you simply press the Live View button on the back of the camera. The LCD viewfinder operates in two modes: One provides 92 percent coverage of your scene, but does not show accurate depth-of-field; the other provides 100 percent coverage and accurate depth-of-field, but requires you to focus manually. Olympus has wisely added a magnification feature that makes it easier to judge focus, as focusing manually on an LCD screen can be difficult.
For certain situations, the LCD viewfinder is very handy, but in general, people choose an SLR because they want a traditional through-the-lens camera experience. Moreover, LCDs are difficult to see in low light, and they don't show the full dynamic range of a scene, which can affect your creative decisions.
Instead of providing a separate status LCD, the EVolt E-330 relies on one LCD screen to display all camera information. The status readout is incredibly detailed, providing all of the relevant data on your camera's current configuration. Unfortunately, when you look through the viewfinder, the screen can be very annoying because it's always on, and this makes the optical viewfinder unusable in low-light conditions.
The E-330 provides a full complement of features, including priority, manual, and various custom scene modes. Three different spot meters accompany the matrix and center-weight metering systems.
Other nice upgrades over the E-300 include a slightly faster burst rate of 3 frames per second, the ability to adjust ISO sensitivity in increments of one-third stop, support for both CompactFlash and XD-Picture Card storage, and an effective in-camera noise filter for shooting at high ISOs.
The camera's interface is adequate, permitting relatively speedy access to essential controls. And the E-330 includes Olympus's excellent automatic sensor-cleaning mechanism to keep dust from marring your images.
Ben Long
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PCWorld Lab Results
- Rating Breakdown
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83
-
78
-
68
- See Complete Lab Results »
Performance Comparison with Similar SLR Cameras
83
89
95
Performance
| Battery Life (minutes) | 273.5 |
| Image Quality Score | Good |
| Image Quality, Color | 51.4 |
| Image Quality, Color--Adjusted | 62.3 |
| Image Quality, Color--Auto | 40.5 |
| Image Quality, Distortion | 63.5 |
| Image Quality, Distortion--Noise | 63.6 |
| Image Quality, Distortion--Noise Reduction | 64.5 |
| Image Quality, Distortion--Sharp Interpolation | 63.1 |
| Image Quality, Exposure | 43.2 |
| Image Quality, Exposure--Flash | 37.4 |
| Image Quality, Exposure--Normal | 45.7 |
| Image Quality, Overall | 45.2 |
| Image Quality, Sharpness | 45 |
| Number of Batteries | 1 |
| Number of Shots | 500 |
User Reviews
Review Now! Already own it? Tell us What You Think
User Reviews From Around the Web
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Reviewed by: pytas007
Strengths: Semi-pro quality DSLR, extremely comfortable to hold, LiveView with closeup mode, long lasting battery. Good software package (with RAW editor).Can be controlled using PC.
Weaknesses: No image stabilization, stock lens is slow, flash is not centered. Only 3 fps.
Overall: Purchased the kit (14-45mm f3.5-5.6), original lens is slow. At the moment I am using 14-54 (f2.8-3.5) which is much better than the original (highly recommended upgrade). Faster focus, greater depth of field distortion. Overall camera is easy to use, has metal lens mount (Nikon D40 has plastic mount). Very good LCD monitor, nice colors, bright, swivels. Used two types of memory cards - XD and CF, I am using 4 & 8 GB CF cards (Sandisk Extreme3 and Kingston 133x, they are faster than XD cards). Ability to record Raw + JPEG at many compression levels. Self cleaning sensor is a big plus, it engages everytime when camera is turned on (a blue light blinks for 2 seconds. Camera supports a remote as well. If people are using this camera body with expensive Leika lenses (about $5000 for a lens), then it must be for a reason that this body has been chosen. For the price this is an excellent choice with many available lenses (I also have 40-150mm f3.5-4.5). Using Olympus Studio 2.X software, camera can be controled using PC (photos are recorded directly to the PC). This function allows to take the camera to the next level - semi-pro. This is a solid built camera, highly recommended with faster lens kit. Battery life is great, during 2008 Chicago Air Show took 12GB worth of shots using only one battery pack and it did not even said to be empty - still using it today.
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Reviewed by: pytas
Strengths: Swivel LCD screen that could be used as viewfinder - LiveView.
Weaknesses: Could come with faster lens.
Overall: This is a great entry level DSLR, I was lucky, got this one for a very good price at Frys Electronics. Camera feels solid (better than Canon Rebel or Rebel XTi), it has professional touch, LCD screen can be used as a viewfinder, this option is available only on higher end cameras and this one has it too. Camera does not produce red eyes using built in flash, there is always capability to add additional flash unit onto hotshoe mount, with genuine Olympus flash you will be able to get very good results (I have it). Camera weight is nice balanced, for the price there are no better substitute, camera comes with RAW picture editor software for free (Nikon does not come with this software in the kit). I am very satisfied with this camera, previously I have used Olympus 740UZ, Canon SD800 and now this (still use Canon SD800 for parties, camera is much smaller than this).
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Reviewed by: mrcay
Strengths: Live View; takes very good quality pictures; dust removal system; uses either Xd card or CompactFlash cards
Weaknesses: Kinda large and heavier than other D-SLR's; price, live view almost useless in low light; uses propietary battery which is expensive
Overall: I purchased this camera mainly for the Live view--which makes it like the point & shoot digital camera variety where you can use the LCD monitor to shoot pictures however when there is low light, the monitor turns almost black--it is useless in low light even with the AF assist lamp. I've taken a lot of pictures which turned out great. I like the lens kit that came with it which is 14-45mm which takes wide angle shots. It's a very good camera and worth the price.
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