Olympus E-300 lenses inferior?

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

"RichA" <none@none.com> wrote in message
news:3km8t0ps2h4uo1n0p5ftc4ccciklm6lf5p@4ax.com...
>I was reading the dpreview of the C-8080 non-DSLR and they mentioned
> how they used the same lens "quality" as the E-1 DSLR. The lens on
> the C-8080 uses 3 ED elements, 2 aspheric, etc. Then I looked at the
> price of the E-300 lenses versus the E-1 lenses, they are about 1/3rd
> the cost. Then, I saw this image on the Japanese website taken with
> the E-300.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/42lwr
>
> Note the chromatic aberration on the window edges. A severe test, no
> doubt, but I'm wondering if the E-300's lenses are that much "less"
> when it comes to quality as compared to the E-1 flagship DSLR?
> Might it not make more sense, despite the lack of lens-change
> flexibility to go with the C-8080?
> -Rich

Same lens mount on both SLRs. The E300 was announced with a couple of
inferior grade zooms, along the lines of the Canon kit lens; the E1 was
announced with some good quality lenses. Each product is aimed at a
particular price point; however, nothing is to stop you putting the E1
lenses on an E300.

And bear in mind that lenses are only part of the story- sensor size and
noise, for example. I don't think much of the E300 (vs. the rather
impressive Minolta and the budget Pentax), but given the choice between it
and the 8080 i'd jump for it.

--
Martin Francis http://www.sixbysix.co.uk
"Go not to Usenet for counsel, for it will say both no, and yes, and
no, and yes...."

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 14:49:03 -0500, RichA <none@none.com> wrote:

> Then I looked at the
>price of the E-300 lenses versus the E-1 lenses, they are about 1/3rd
>the cost. Then, I saw this image on the Japanese website taken with
>the E-300.

The E-300 and E-1 have same lens mount, I'm pretty sure you can buy an
E-300 body.

Ron

Ron Lacey
Murillo Ontario
ron@ronsfotos.com

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

On 31 Dec 2004 10:25:20 -0500, Michael Meissner
<mrmnews@the-meissners.org> wrote:

>Ron Lacey <ron@ronstoons.com> writes:
>
>> On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 14:49:03 -0500, RichA <none@none.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Then I looked at the
>> >price of the E-300 lenses versus the E-1 lenses, they are about 1/3rd
>> >the cost. Then, I saw this image on the Japanese website taken with
>> >the E-300.
>>
>> The E-300 and E-1 have same lens mount, I'm pretty sure you can buy an
>> E-300 body.
>
>At the present time, the E300 is only available with the kit lens (14-45). I
>would imagine after the initial orders have gone out, you will be able to buy
>it without the kit lens. If I remember the B&H price, in the USA, the 14-54
>(E1 kit lens, f/2.8-f/3.5) is about double the price of the 14-45 (E300 kit
>lens, f/3.5-f/4.5).

That's not to bad then. Olympus is kind of in an awkward situation,
their flagship DSLR is a 5 meg while this new economy model is an 8
meg. But, since you pointed out the E1 kit lens may only be 2x what
the E300 kit lens costs, the price point would still come un
comfortably under the E1 kitted price.
-Rich

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

In article <3km8t0ps2h4uo1n0p5ftc4ccciklm6lf5p@4ax.com>,
RichA <none@none.com> wrote:

> I was reading the dpreview of the C-8080 non-DSLR and they mentioned
> how they used the same lens "quality" as the E-1 DSLR. The lens on
> the C-8080 uses 3 ED elements, 2 aspheric, etc. Then I looked at the
> price of the E-300 lenses versus the E-1 lenses, they are about 1/3rd
> the cost. Then, I saw this image on the Japanese website taken with
> the E-300.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/42lwr
>
> Note the chromatic aberration on the window edges. A severe test, no
> doubt, but I'm wondering if the E-300's lenses are that much "less"
> when it comes to quality as compared to the E-1 flagship DSLR?
> Might it not make more sense, despite the lack of lens-change
> flexibility to go with the C-8080?

That "CA" is in reality "blooming" caused by severe overexposure, when
saturated pixels will influence the neighbouring pixels. The effect is
caused by the sensor, not by the lens.

From what I have seen the kit-lens is not so bad, sharp and it has low
distortion (compared to other brands) but it is not as good as the
14-54mm.

Lourens

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

RichA wrote:
> On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 18:02:42 +0100, Lourens Smak <smak@wanadoo.nl>
> wrote:
>
>> In article <3km8t0ps2h4uo1n0p5ftc4ccciklm6lf5p@4ax.com>,
>> RichA <none@none.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I was reading the dpreview of the C-8080 non-DSLR and they mentioned
>>> how they used the same lens "quality" as the E-1 DSLR. The lens on
>>> the C-8080 uses 3 ED elements, 2 aspheric, etc. Then I looked at
>>> the price of the E-300 lenses versus the E-1 lenses, they are about
>>> 1/3rd the cost. Then, I saw this image on the Japanese website
>>> taken with the E-300.
>>>
>>> http://tinyurl.com/42lwr
>>>
>>> Note the chromatic aberration on the window edges. A severe test,
>>> no doubt, but I'm wondering if the E-300's lenses are that much
>>> "less" when it comes to quality as compared to the E-1 flagship
>>> DSLR?
>>> Might it not make more sense, despite the lack of lens-change
>>> flexibility to go with the C-8080?
>>
>> That "CA" is in reality "blooming" caused by severe overexposure,
>> when saturated pixels will influence the neighbouring pixels. The
>> effect is caused by the sensor, not by the lens.
>
> I doubt that considering the colour of the blooming is violet-blue,
> typcial chromatic aberration.
> -Rich

Yes, you can get an effect in the sensor which is very similar to
chromatic aberration, from areas which are "over-exposed" (i.e.
overfilling the sensor capability at a particular pixel). See if you can
see the same effect in a region where there is no question of over
exposure.

Cheers,
David

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

On Sun, 2 Jan 2005 09:58:44 -0000, "David J Taylor"
<david-taylor@invalid.com> wrote:

>RichA wrote:
>> On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 18:02:42 +0100, Lourens Smak <smak@wanadoo.nl>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> In article <3km8t0ps2h4uo1n0p5ftc4ccciklm6lf5p@4ax.com>,
>>> RichA <none@none.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I was reading the dpreview of the C-8080 non-DSLR and they mentioned
>>>> how they used the same lens "quality" as the E-1 DSLR. The lens on
>>>> the C-8080 uses 3 ED elements, 2 aspheric, etc. Then I looked at
>>>> the price of the E-300 lenses versus the E-1 lenses, they are about
>>>> 1/3rd the cost. Then, I saw this image on the Japanese website
>>>> taken with the E-300.
>>>>
>>>> http://tinyurl.com/42lwr
>>>>
>>>> Note the chromatic aberration on the window edges. A severe test,
>>>> no doubt, but I'm wondering if the E-300's lenses are that much
>>>> "less" when it comes to quality as compared to the E-1 flagship
>>>> DSLR?
>>>> Might it not make more sense, despite the lack of lens-change
>>>> flexibility to go with the C-8080?
>>>
>>> That "CA" is in reality "blooming" caused by severe overexposure,
>>> when saturated pixels will influence the neighbouring pixels. The
>>> effect is caused by the sensor, not by the lens.
>>
>> I doubt that considering the colour of the blooming is violet-blue,
>> typcial chromatic aberration.
>> -Rich
>
>Yes, you can get an effect in the sensor which is very similar to
>chromatic aberration, from areas which are "over-exposed" (i.e.
>overfilling the sensor capability at a particular pixel). See if you can
>see the same effect in a region where there is no question of over
>exposure.
>
>Cheers,
>David
>

Unfortunately, chromatic aberration operates in a similar fashion,
bleeding the bluish tinge across the image when very light areas
are adjacent dark areas. In areas that don't have this, and are
very light, you still get the chromatic aberration, you just don't
see it owing to the lack of light-dark "edge." But it's distributed
over the whole scene, reducing contrast.
-Rich

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

With regard to the sample photo, whether it's CA or overloading of the
sensor, we can probably all agree it's a terrible sample which tells us
nothing of the capabilities of this camera and lens.

Rob