Canon 20D vs Olympus Evolt E300

[photographerrn]

Does anyone have an opinion on which would be a better camera Canon 20D or Olympus Evolt E300? I am not sure which one to get - Any advice would be appreciated - Thanks!

[Michael Fanelli]

Does anyone have an opinion on which would be a better camera Canon 20D or Olympus Evolt E300? I am not sure which one to get - Any advice would be appreciated - Thanks!

Go for the Canon. The Olympus is using a smaller-than-APS sensor ("4/3") and has locked all of it's new lenses into that image circle size. So far, only Olympus makes lenses that fit. Larger sensors always win so Olympus will always be behind the cuve of image quality.

The Canon uses standard 35mm lenses which means that you can expand to sensor sizes larger than APS. Canon has a full-frame camera, a 1.3 camera, and several 1.6 cameras. The 35mm lenses work on all of them (as well as film).

If you are looking at the Olympus because of size and weight, consider the Pentax line instead.

[TheCableGuy]

Does anyone have an opinion on which would be a better camera Canon 20D or Olympus Evolt E300? I am not sure which one to get - Any advice would be appreciated - Thanks!

How about anything other than the Canon D20! I just purchaced one and am very disappointed with the picture quality indoor's and out.I have a 5 year old Olympus 2.1 camera that has way better color balance and white balance than the Canon ,what gives?In photo shop the auto level correction changes the canon pic alot trying to correct it.With my old camera you can hardly see a change when you try the the auto level correction.Canon's indoor pic's are horrible with anything but very close shot's with the flash on or off.My Olmpus work's far better.So I figured maybe you need to use one of canon's optional flashes in order for it to work half decent?well next I did outdoor pic's at noon with both cameras off my doorstep.Another major disappointment with the canon.The pic's were too red and the whites were to dark again compared to my old camera.I'm sure if you played with some of the custom setting's you could get a decent pic,but surely not in auto mode!There may be a firmware update to fix this ,but I'm not going to find out as i'm going to get a Nikon D70 instead.Hope this help's. ps this camera does have alot of cool features,it's just to bad all the pictures suck

[Arctirus]

That's quite possibly the first negative comment I've ever heard about the 20D. I don't know anything about the E300 but I couldn't ask for a better camera than my 20D.

[Seb]

How about anything other than the Canon D20! I just purchaced one and am very disappointed with the picture quality indoor's and out.I have a 5 year old Olympus 2.1 camera that has way better color balance and white balance than the Canon ,what gives?In photo shop the auto level correction changes the canon pic alot trying to correct it.With my old camera you can hardly see a change when you try the the auto level correction.Canon's indoor pic's are horrible with anything but very close shot's with the flash on or off.My Olmpus work's far better.So I figured maybe you need to use one of canon's optional flashes in order for it to work half decent?well next I did outdoor pic's at noon with both cameras off my doorstep.Another major disappointment with the canon.The pic's were too red and the whites were to dark again compared to my old camera.I'm sure if you played with some of the custom setting's you could get a decent pic,but surely not in auto mode!There may be a firmware update to fix this ,but I'm not going to find out as i'm going to get a Nikon D70 instead.Hope this help's. ps this camera does have alot of cool features,it's just to bad all the pictures suck

I don't shoot Canon's and I haven't tried the 20D so quite frankly I feel no particular need to speak for or against Canon. Nevertheless, your comments lead me to the following thoughts:

1) If I were in your shoes, I'll consider asking for a replacement 20D before switching camera. The output of any contemporary DSLR, regardless of the brand, can't be that bad (or bad at all). Sounds like your unit is faulty.

2) Is this your first DSLR ever? Small digicams tend to optimize results (apply corrections in the camera without user intervention) to produce result that will likely please straight out of the camera while DSLR's produce straighforward relatively "flat" pictures (assuming that you keep saturation/sharpness/contrast settings to default). I use a D70 and systematically do some post-processing (but the results straight out of the camera are never plain ugly so then again, it sounds like your 20D is defective).

3) If you do decide to get a D70 than go for it. It's an excellent tool within its price range.

Seb

[Seb]

Does anyone have an opinion on which would be a better camera Canon 20D or Olympus Evolt E300? I am not sure which one to get - Any advice would be appreciated - Thanks!

The 20D is fairly pricier than the E300 but if money is no object (and I assume that it isn't as you put these two cameras face to face), I'll get the 20D for all the reasons already pointed out here. Beside, the 20D is a better built camera with faster fps. The thing that I truly like about the E300 (and the E1) is the self cleaning sensor. Now that's a brilliant feature that every single DSLR should have. It seems that Olympus own patents for this and keep the technology for themselves as no other maker even talk about offering this feature.

Seb

[Sebastian]

How about anything other than the Canon D20! I just purchaced one and am very disappointed with the picture quality indoor's and out.I have a 5 year old Olympus 2.1 camera that has way better color balance and white balance than the Canon ,what gives?In photo shop the auto level correction changes the canon pic alot trying to correct it.With my old camera you can hardly see a change when you try the the auto level correction.Canon's indoor pic's are horrible with anything but very close shot's with the flash on or off.My Olmpus work's far better.So I figured maybe you need to use one of canon's optional flashes in order for it to work half decent?well next I did outdoor pic's at noon with both cameras off my doorstep.Another major disappointment with the canon.The pic's were too red and the whites were to dark again compared to my old camera.I'm sure if you played with some of the custom setting's you could get a decent pic,but surely not in auto mode!There may be a firmware update to fix this ,but I'm not going to find out as i'm going to get a Nikon D70 instead.Hope this help's. ps this camera does have alot of cool features,it's just to bad all the pictures suck

Learn how to white balance.

Learn how to post-process.

Learn how the flash system works.

The reason you are disappointed is because you went from a camera that does all the work for you for sub-par results to something that gives you some of the best files out there for you to turn into what you want. That is the fundamental difference between a P&S and an SLR, especially in the digital realm. The SLR is a tool for someone that wants control to push their images in the direction they want to go in. If you are not one of these people, then you will be disappointed by any DSLR out on the market today.