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Modern mid-range or prosumer digital cameras have a lot going for them. They deliver far greater quality than a compact, use bigger CCDs and have larger, higher-quality lenses.
They also come with LCD panels that you can use as viewfinders, often tilting to allow shooting at waist level or overhead.
This is something that you just can't do with an SLR unless, that is, you've got an Olympus E-330.
This feature alone makes the E-330 one of the most versatile digital cameras you can buy. If you've attempted to take shots with an SLR of objects on the ground or over the head of someone standing in front of you, you'll know that the requirement to have your eye looking directly into the back of the camera can be very restrictive.
You're climbing and ducking to get your subject in view or shooting blind and hoping for the best.
Physically, the E-330 is very similar to the E-300. Its low, squat body is impressively compact for an SLR and is due to the porro mirror arrangement.
Unlike standard pentaprism mechanisms, as found in most digital SLRs, this porror mirror first sends the incoming light sideways through the camera body before emerging at the viewfinder, which is slightly off-centre with respect to the lens.
Olympus has designed not one, but two different methods of providing a live preview. The first, called Full Time Live Preview, uses a second image sensor incorporated into the optical system that feeds the viewfinder.
This allows the main camera mirror to remain in place in front of the primary image-capturing sensor. In this mode, auto focus is functional, but the field of view is slightly smaller than what you get from the final photograph.
The second mode, Macro Live Preview, operates with the mirror locked up and uses the main sensor to drive the digital viewfinder.
In this mode you can preview 100 per cent of your final image, but you're restricted to manual focus. A quick 10x zoom option makes it possible to focus accurately using the LCD screen.
Despite the slightly lower, 7.5 megapixel resolution of the E-330, it offers many improvements over the E-300.
Using a system inherited from the E-500, the E-330 gives you quick access to a large number of camera settings, such as ISO, white balance and metering options.
This is achieved by making the camera status display interactive. Clicking the OK button allows you to change any of the displayed settings using the cursor keys - much more convenient than navigating a menu system.
Thanks to the live preview mode, the E-330 can now overlay these controls on the viewfinder image so you never need to take your eyes off the action.
The LCD panel folds out and tilts up and down. It's increased in size from 1.8in to 2.5in and has a 215,250 pixel display.
Continuous shooting speed sits at an impressive 3fps (frames per second) for a maximum of 15 jpeg shots.
Our review model came with a 14-45mm lens (28-90mm equivalent) and costs around £900, which is really quite expensive compared to the competition, including Olympus's own E-500.
Photo quality is impressive, but it doesn't really offer anything extra compared with previous Olympus models. However, at the moment there's no other option if you want to combine a removable-lens SLR with a live LCD viewfinder.
See also:
Not the most stylish of digicams, but a solid performer with a decent zoom 24 Feb 2006
Deciding which digital camera best suits your needs can be a nightmare. How many megapixels and what zoom should you go for? Fear not, PCW is here to help 15 Feb 2006All Digital Cameras
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