[Leica] We had company

[pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)]

Mark:

Thanks!  The "swirl thing" is part of a metal sculpture that shows stylized 
waves, at the Ballard Locks fish  ladder.  I wasn't sure if it would be a 
good shot or a gimmick, but I liked it, so I took it.

Why not the E-volt?  Size-wise, I probably would like it.  Although, oddly, 
I find the smallest DSLRs a little too small for my big hands, despite the 
fact that they fit comfortably around a Leica M with a Tom A. soft 
release.  I guess I didn't get an E-volt primarily because it is even 
noisier in low light and high ISO than the E-1, and the E-1 is not exactly 
quiet.  At least with a 50/1.4 OM Zuiko, the E-1 and a bit of Neat Image, 
ISO 400 and 800 is usable.  The E-volt is more marginal even at 400.  The 
E-1 also has a brighter viewfinder, better build, and a couple of more 
buttons and two dials to spread the functions over.  It's a very ergonomic 
camera.  Yes, the E-volt's extra pixels would be nice, though.

I'm not 100% committed to the Olympus system.  I bought it partly because I 
have Olympus lenses, which meant that I could try a bunch of things without 
spending a fortune in lenses.  But I also considered the R-D1, which I 
would have bought but for the price, the finder I could not see the 35 and 
28mm lines though with glasses, the short base RF and the QC issues.  I 
also seriously considered the Pentax *ist D--great viewfinder, lots of 
cheap glass available, and better compatibility with legacy lenses than 
anything else out there.  And even the C*non 10D for its low light 
abilities (the 20D wasn't out when I got the E-1).

Most of the time, I'm glad I got the E-1.  It has great color, flesh tones 
are especially good, and there's a "pop" to the pics. No dust on the 
sensor.   But on many Mondays I wish I'd bought the R-D1.  On alternate 
Tuesdays, I pine for the Pentax.  And when things go bump in the night, I 
covet the 20D.

And whenever I want to crop much, need fine detail in a landscape, or have 
to deal with high contrast, I either shoot film or wish I had.  DSLRs are 
still "not quite" for me.  All of them.  They're all good, but they all are 
less than film in a number of ways.  But at some point I had to get 
something, because I could wait forever for digital nirvana, and meantime, 
there's stuff to learn, pictures to take, and experimenting to do, and 
digital is here.

--Peter

At 09:08 AM 7/25/2005 -0700, Mark Rabiner <mark@rabinergroup.com> wrote,
about this shot:
> > Our friends' daughter, non-traditionally:
> > http://users.2alpha.com/~pklein/E1/P7231089KarolinaWaveCrop2Sm.jpg
> > E-1, 14-54 Zuiko digital.
> > --Peter
>
>Love that middle shot with the metal round swirl thing with your daughters
>face peering out, Peter! Just a great shot! A one in a mil...
>
>How big a print have you tried making with that E1?
>Surprised you didn't go with the EVOLT body instead. It's got your name
>written all over it.