I don't want to argue with you but let's see.
John Celio wrote:
Let's see, Manual Focus -- Focus By Wire? Interesting feature, if
it's what I think then no thanks.
It's how all the Olympus E-series lenses have worked thus far.
Regardless of what you think, it's not a bad system. And anyway, the
autofocus system in the E cameras is very accurate, and fast too.
Though I don't own one, a majority of photographers at my shop own one
E camera or another, and I've had ample opportunity to use those
cameras both in the store and out. If I could afford it, I would have
switched to the E system a long time ago.
1. Olympus is fighting physics with their sensor. It's self limiting.
That alone should give you pause.
2. Auto focus works wonderfully until it doesn't. Mostly when you
need it under extreme conditions. I wasn't impressed with the e-volt
viewfinder. The e-1 was slightly better, but still not confidence
inspiring, sorry.
Auto Focus -- Three Point, (humm, seems like a down
grade to me).
Obviously you have no idea what you're talking about. All the E
cameras have three-point AF, which, IMHO, is more than enough for most
photographers. On my istD, I only use the center focus point and the
two points immediately to either side of center. More than that is
overkill.
You're right, I didn't know that. I assumed the e-300 and e-1 it had
more focus points, but it's hard to tell as most places I've seen them
didn't even bother to put batteries in them.
Kit lens only available with this body.
Dude, it's a *kit lens*. People wouldn't buy it if they needed a wide
zoom, as the 14-54mm 2.8-3.5 is an *incredibly* good lens.
There were rumors that they couldn't give the E-volt away, probably
explains the change to a more traditional design.
Rumors my ass, the E-300 has been one of my shop's best-selling
cameras since it came out. Olympus' new Zuiko lenses truly are
fantastic, and the self-cleaning sensor is usually enough to convince
most customers that it's right for them. When I worked on the sales
floor, I had only one Olympus E-series camera returned, and that was
beause the customer was a Nikon nut who couldn't handle owning a
non-Nikon (I kid you not, he was rather strange) even though he really
liked not having to worry about dust.
Yeah, the E-300 looked different, but when customers were told about
the benefits of the E-system, they forgot all about its unconventional
design and fell in love with it.
If everyone in your shop uses the Olympus E system and you sell mostly
cameras in that system I'm not surprised. I sold cameras during the
Pentax Blitz (with the M bodies, ME, MX, etc). I worked for a chain
store and the chain sold unpteen zillion Pentaxs, except for the store I
worked in, (I was the only Pentax user in the store, an MX by the way),
everyone else who worked there was a Minolta Fanatic, (and I do mean
Fanatic), guess what brand we sold more of than anything else. Never
underestimate the power of a motivated sales staff. The motivation
doesn't have to be money.
John Celio
...personally converted a lot of Canon users to the E-300...
If they were Rebel users it couldn't have been as hard as all that.
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