E-1 Successor Wishlist

[zuikoku]

What's the missing features on E-1 those have to add in new body ? Please share your opinion...

[Photo-John]

This is a great subject. Thanks for posting it, zuikoku.

I think the main thing is a sensor with competitive resolution. I thought the E-1 was a great camera to begin with. But from the start, it lagged behind other digital SLRs in resolution. I think it should be a minimum of 10-megapixels, with image quality comparable to 10-megapixel cameras from Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Pentax.

Speed is also a consideration. I'd like to see the replacement able to capture at least 6 frames-per-second. That's double with the E-1 will do and a little better than mid-range cameras from Canon and Nikon, which will capture 5 fps. The buffer should be large, too. The camera should be able to capture at least 10 RAW images before it has to start saving to the memory card. For news or sports photographers who sometimes need to hold down the shutter release, this is critical.

A 2.5-inch LCD would also be nice. And like resolution, it's pretty much a requirement to be competitive now. Since the E500 has a 2.5-inch LCD I expect that's a given. I'd also like to see camera settings displayed on the LCD like Canon and Sony have done with their recent digital SLRs. That's not something I'd ever considered before I saw it. But after using the Sony A100 and Digital Rebel XTi, I don't want to live without that feature.

Built-in, sensor-level image stabilization would be nice. However, I think that's more of a consumer feature as long lenses likely require their own image stabilization to be truly effective. So I'm not sure if it belongs in a the next Olympus pro body.

I don't think I care about the Live View LCD. I think it's cool and when I'm doing tabletop product photography, it would be nice for my back. But I see it as more of a neato feature than one I'd actually buy a camera for.

Some of these features have already been used in the E500 and E400. So I don't think they're too much to expect. None of them are huge requests. I am curious to see what new and creative things that Olympus comes up with to lure photographers. The bottom line for me is, Olympus just needs to catch up their pro body. It doesn't have to be revolutionary. The Four Thirds System with its compact, powerful lenses is already enough, I think. But the basic performance of the next pro body needs to be competitive with what Nikon and Canon are offering.

[SmartWombat]

I think it should be a minimum of 10-megapixels, with image quality comparable to 10-megapixel cameras from Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Pentax.

With such a small sensor size you're asking a lot of those 10 million smaller pixels !

[Photo-John]

With such a small sensor size you're asking a lot of those 10 million smaller pixels !

While it's true that bigger pixels are better, I don't think a 10-megapixel Four Thirds sensor with good image quality is unreasonable. Sensor technology is currently being driven by camera phones, which have tiny little sensors. That's where the money is, so a lot of R&D is going into improving the image quality of tiny pixels. If I felt more energetic right now, maybe I'd research the dimensions of the Nikon D2X pixel to see how it would compare to a pixel on a 10-megapixel Four Thirds sensor. In any case, I think we should be able to have the detail a 10-megapixel sensor and still have competitive noise and other image quality characteristics.

[Jaedon]

Faster shutter speed in burst mode ... better noise reduction in lower light settings ... 8 MP would be nice... 10 would be better.

Then I could put my E500 into back up status =)

[Marc2B4]

I just wish they'd come out with it and quit stringing us along. I've been shooting E1s for a while now and they're a little long in the tooth compared to Nikon or Canon bodies. I don't buy into the megapixel myth, I can produce outstanding prints with my cameras, but I would like to see the technology updated. I just hope my HLD-2s will work with the new body, but, I doubt it.

[almo]

I'd like it to be compact with a built in portrait grip. The E-1 is not a huge camera, but it isn't really "compact" either, being comparable to a Nikon D100 or Canon 10D. I for one am tired of bulky equipment, light and fast is my motto now.