I've had an email sitting in my drafts folder for a while, waiting to
be completed, so this seems like as good a time as any.
I'm another one that got an E-330 when they got cheap enough -- here's
some thoughts, coming from a variety of OMs and an E-1 to the 330:
First off, the flip-out screen is very handy. I got into the habit of
waist-level shooting with my rolleiflex and coolpix 4500, so it's nice
to be able to continue doing that.
Live view (A) also makes for a much easier time using a knee / chair
arm / whatever as a temporary tripod in low light -- it's hard to prop a
camera up on something for stability and look through a viewfinder, but
with the screen in live view it's much more possible.
Yes, as other people have said, it's great for macro. I got out the
65-116 tube again, and that works no problem; even on bellows, it's very
possible to set things up, because (contrary to Moose's objection) it
shows the image on the screen at a brightness sufficient to
compose/check focus/etc. Even just with normal MF macro lenses, the 10x
zoom is useful to check focus, especially when DoF is so small.
Mode B + zoom is also great for astrophotography -- finally I have
some photos of the moon (using a tamron 500/8) that are vaguely in focus.
Autofocus speed/accuracy/dark handling compared to the E-1 seems
pretty much comparable, though I haven't done any real testing.
Noise -- 1600 is perfectly usable in low light, but it's much more
noticeably noisy using high ISOs in normal lighting conditions. So 1600
ISO helps at night, but is less useful for long lenses in daylight, if
you see what I mean.
The built-in flash isn't all that much use for illuminating things,
unsurprisingly, _but_ it is very useful for macro -- put another flash
on a mini tripod with diffuser in front of it, put the second flash on a
slave, and use the flash on the E-330 to trigger the second flash.
Easier than fiddling around with cables, and you can (sort of) get light
from two directions.
I much prefer the feel of an E-1 -- the grip is taller, which fits my
hand better, and the controls are better placed. I initially missed the
ability to take a shot and then chimp with my right thumb, but after a
while I've got used to that; I miss having the LCD screen on top, and
I'm pretty sure battery life is worse with the E-330 than the E-1, but a
spare battery is easy enough to carry around.
The body is also that bit lighter, so with a 50-200 it feels _very_
front-heavy. And of course it's not water resistant like the E-1.
One gotcha with the flip-out screen is that you'll need to be careful
with QR plates, as they can get in the way of getting the screen out.
Some reviews complain about the smaller/darker viewfinder -- that may
well be true, but I don't have problems with it myself. (honestly, I
find the viewfinder in an OM4 to be too _big_, I can't see all the
corners at once).
All in all, I had a brief period of buyers remorse when it first got
to me, because it wasn't as nice to use as the E-1 and I hadn't really
worked out when I'd use the live view modes, but now I think it's a
great thing -- I think it's a huge advantage in some situations, in
others the viewfinder works just as well, but all in all I'm glad to
have bought one, especially for the price they're going for these days.
-- dan
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