After the E-3 with its slightly disappointing semi-pro ambitions, Olympus is now finally moving to fill the hole that separted its top end reflex from its amateur range – the little E-420 and E-520. The result is the E-30, an expert reflex that positions itself opposite the Canon 50D, Nikon D90 and Pentax K20Ds. Modeling itself in many ways on the E-3, the E-30 is very promising with, in particular, a moveable screen unique in this range. Is the promise fulfulled?

Handling

You can see straight away that the E-30 is a well-thought out camera. Although it doesn’t have the E-3’s all-weather protection, you hardly notice as the E-30 is well-built and well-finished. The firmness of the memory card slot (CF and xD formats, you can select the active card instantly) bears this out. The same goes for the 14-54 Mark II kit lens that we used in our test: fluid, resistant enough so as not to turn by accident but no need to force it either, with no stiff point or loosenes. The commands are a little less convincing: although the E-30 has many access buttons, the back scroll is placed a little too far to give ease of access with the thumb and the autofocus pilot buttons (mode on the left and selection on the right) are not easily accessible either. The same goes for the buttons under the screen, but this is the inevitable downside of a sure advantage: the screen is on a ball-joint and can be orientated in almost any direction.

A moveable screen is only really useful to frame photos and therefore needs to come with a decent Live View. The E-30 Live View does however leave something to be desired, the screen resolution being a little weak and too slow an auto-focus for any moving object (see inset).


The eyepiece is also a bit limited, compared to viewfinders of cameras with an APS sensor, situated somewhere between the ordinary 4/3s and the stunning (if costly!) E-3. In particular, the periphery is often a little blurred but changing the dioptric settings doesn’t improve anything. The autofocus is however also very responsive with the reflex viewfinder, particularly if it is blocked on the central autofocus points. There’s a truly rapid burst (5 images a second) and advanced settings that give you a “real reflex” that is a pleasure to use if a little demanding.

You’ll also note the interface you can personalise to a great extent (functions of buttons, scroll…), which does mean complex menus but allows you to set your camera according to your own tastes. The visualisation of images is also very well conceived, allowing you to compare two images side by side on the LCD screen.

Note that for the general user, the E-30 does have presets allowing it to reproduce scenes and images in the style of old cameras, making ethereal Hamilton style images and so on, functions that for our part we prefer to integrate after the act on computer and which we feel are more suited to a general consumer camera than an expert reflex.

Image quality

No surprise that the E-30 proves itself a very honnest competitor. Quality is stable up to 800 ISO (even if the images are not totally without noise); a slight billowing appears in the shadows. Above this, it gets worse and anything over 1600 ISO should be avoided unless absolutely necessary: you don’t get the excellence of a D90 but there has been a good deal of progress on the last couple of years.


The automatic white balance works without any external adjustment. With glowing lighting, the image takes on a very warm tone. The autofocus is sometimes a little approximate in a burst on a moving object, particularly if all the autofocus points are selected, although this isn't a real cause for concern.

The 14-54 mm lens which we used on our test model is not beyond criticism: chromatic effects are visible, especially on the edge of images. This said, images are sharp and precise across the whole surface. The motor is rapid and quiet, although not a top of the range ultrasonic like the 12-60 mm SWD.

Versus the competition

The E-30 is positionned opposite some very well-conceived models. Not an easy task then but one in which it often manages to impose itself and take the honours. Its weak point is its viewfinder: much better than on entry-level reflex models, it is nevertheless clearly a notch down on expert APS format cameras. Its strong point is definitely its moveable screen, which has limited resolution but is very practical in some situations.

The Canon EOS 50D has better resolution, a better screen and clearer menus. It also has a slightly faster burst (6 im/s). It is however also much easier to personalise the interface on the E-30 and set the camera up as you’d like and the E-30 deals much better with flashes at a distance.

The Nikon D90 gives the same resoltion with a larger sensor, and is therefore more sensitive. A little less rapid in burst mode (4.5 im/s), the Nikon has a very nice autofocus with a very practical system that follows the subject, although it is slightly slower. It also suffers from some interface problems – long menus, lack of some settings in Live View…

The Pentax K20D holds a trump card: all-weather protection, unique in cameras at this level (not to mention the K200D lower down their range that also has this function!). It also has advanced settings with buttons and scrolls to allow you to personalise it to a great extent. In contrast, its autofocus, a revelation when it first came on stream six years ago, is now down on the competition especially in low light and its burst, at 3 im/s, is not all that sporty.

Comparisons with the Sony Alpha 350 will also be made, even though the Sony is obviously a slightly lower range camera: along with the E-3, the Sony and the E-30 are the only reflex cameras with a moveable screen. The Alpha 350 is clearly not as well-built, has fewer advanced settings, doesn’t have a scroll, has a poor viewfinder, but on the other hand has a truly high-quality Live View: you read it in the viewfinder, allowing the autofocus reflex system to function concurrently.