Compare Prices : Olympus E-30 - Expert Reviews

Review summary: Despite its noisy images, the Olympus E-30 is for anyone who is considering making the leap from an advanced compact camera to a D-SLR.

Pros: Live View mode works very well, good on-screen menu system, fast performance, more than 30 shots in high-speed burst mode, useful scene modes

Cons: Optical viewfinder is uncomfortable to use, images displayed noticeable noise at ISO 400, no physical focus mode switch

Verdict: Despite its noisy images, we recommend the E-30 for anyone who is considering making the leap from an advanced compact camera to a D-SLR. It's an easy camera to use, and the Live View mode will make it a relatively smooth transition.

Review summary: Can Olympus crack the pro-consumer market?

Pros: Excellent image quality, good ergonomics, menu system, comprehensive and creative feature set, customisability, super control panel, top plate display, responsive, good dust reduction system, handling

Cons: Bulky for a FourThirds Format camera! Viewfinder slightly blurry, not much more detail than E-3's 10MP sensor, comprehensive feature set means complex menus

Verdict: The E-30 provides a level of control and features most professional level DSLRs would appreciate and at a great price too

Review summary: How does the latest four thirds addition fit into the enthusiast DSLR market?

Pros: Free-angle LCD screen, build quality, light body, button layout

Cons: Pointless Art Filters, tends to underexpose, JPEG ISO performance

Verdict: The E-30 is a strong DSLR that performs well and delivers good quality images with relatively little fuss. The fact of the matter, however, is that this is a circa-1,000 DSLR where the main thrust of innovations or improvements are focused on 'art ...

Review summary: The 12-megapixel E-30 is sturdy and comfortable to grip, packed with features and offers fast performance. Most importantly, it takes very good pictures, rendering colours accurately under most conditions. Advanced shooters not yet wedded to a Canon ...

Pros: Very good photo quality and performance ; extensively customisable ; flip-and-twist LCD

Cons: Poor 'my mode' custom-settings implementation

Verdict: A great general-purpose digital SLR, the Olympus E-30 offers an attractive alternative for advanced shooters not yet wedded to a system

Award: Highly Recommended!

Review summary: The E-30 is the long-awaited high-end enthusiast model that fills the gap in the Olympus E-Series lineup between the E-520 and the ostensibly professional level E-3. Such is the pace of change in the digital camera market that the new model leapfrogs ...

Pros: Excellent out-of-camera JPEG results with good Dynamic Range, pleasing color and subtle tonality, Bright clear viewfinder far better than most Four Thirds cameras, Slightly improved resolution and pixel level sharpness over E-3, Good range of image ...

Cons: Resolution not quite as good as best in class, though you won't see it in JPEGs, Higher noise levels/noise reduction at higher sensitivities than its best competitors, Not much highlight headroom in raw files (around half a stop), Unreliable auto ...