Olympus E-3

Reviewed August 2008

Image Quality

The E-3's support of rapid sequential shooting--five frames per second in high mode and from two to four fps in low mode--coupled with its high-speed auto focusing system enables a photographer to catch just the right moment when circumstance demand it.

Using a camera's built-in flash outdoors to bring out detail in a scene can be a dice-roll with some DSCs, but the E-3's exposure system does a good job of dealing with the problem.

Users of flash units built into digital cameras are very familar with "wash out"--where a photo is overexposed by the flash. Although the E-3 does a decent job of coping with that issue, it goes a step further by allowing you to flash-bracket a photo. With flash bracketing on, the camera will take three pictures at intensities determined by you. The first exposure is at "optimum" flash (top photo); the second at a lower intensity (middle photo); and the third at a higher intensity.

A nifty design feature of the E-3 is its pivoting LCD. It enables you to get offbeat perspectives for your images without performing ostentatious maneuvers such as lying on the ground for extreme low angle shots or climbing trees for high angle ones.