Photocritic SLR database

If the E3 could read its own reviews, it might find itself with an identity crisis. Is it just for the pros, or is it a decent choice as an advanced-level consumer camera? It’s a tricky one.

When you pick it up, the E3 certainly feels like a (semi-)pro camera - it’s solid as anything. Picture quality is also pretty damn good, and you do get to choose from some fine lenses. So what’s the problem? For one thing, it’s far too expensive - for this kind of money, you can buy a Canon or a Nikon, which means you get a far bigger choice of lenses. Most importantly, however, is that the E3 is an incredibly fiddly camera. It is as if Olympus put one of their digital compacts in a copier and clicked ‘enlarge’, without stopping to think that perhaps what works for a compact doesn’t work for the slightly more serious photography crowd. Get more »

The Sony A700 is the flagship of Sony’s D-SLR line, and it’s not half shabby. One of the fabulous and much-lauded features is its HDMI output, giving you full high-def pictures on your TV - no doubt tying in with the now-famous Sony Bravia advertisements. It may or may not be a gimmick, depending on how often you use your camera to show images on a big screen, but, hell, it’s kind of an obvious one: even 1080p screens only show about 2 megapixels, so why do most video out solutions show only a tiny bit of your photo, and in terrible resolution to boot? It ain’t pretty.

Beside from being export-happy when it comes to its display, the LCD screen built in to the camera body is one of the best ones we’ve ever seen on a digital camera. Overall, though, the A700 is detracted points for build quality. Get more »

The great-grandson of the first consumer digital SLR, the 40D is the newest child in a series of cameras with great heritage - an evolution from camera to camera has resulted in one of the finest digital SLR cameras you can buy - especially at this price-point.

Sporting a 3-inch LCD monitor, a snappy 6.5 frames-per-second continuous photography mode, digital compact-style ‘live view’ (which means you can see on the LCD monitor what you’re about to take a photo of) and a refreshed menu system brings the 40D up to scratch with the rest of the current digital SLR line from Canon.

Oddly, the 40D is only a 10 megapixel camera - odd, because the freshly launched 450D, aimed at a less professional segment of the market, already wields a 12 megapixel chip. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to see updates to the 40D soon (50D, anyone?), but how soon is anybody’s guess.

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A 2008 New Year’s baby, the K20D came tightly wrapped and is an upgrade of the already-popular K10D. The K20D comes with a bucket-full of megapixels (14.6, to be exact), a 2.7 inch screen and the ever-popular Live View mode, which allows you to use the LCD screen as a viewfinder. Very flash.

Talking about flash, the K20D also finally gets a PC lead socket, which means it is a lot more useful for photographing in studio. Nifty stuff.

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The Lumix L10 was a finalist for PopPhoto.com’s 2007 Camera of the Year. It may have been because of its 2.5-inch LCD that offers 270 degree rotation.

Or maybe the judges were impressed by its Intelligent ISO Control function, which detects and adapts to the movement of the subject and sets the appropriate ISO setting and the shutter speed. Maybe they were wowed by a unique Face Detection function. Of course, the L10 does offer one of the most advanced hybrid AF system in the industry, too, so that may have caused them to vote it camera of the year. What can’t be disputed is that it’s a rahter fine bit of kit.

Would we buy it though? Well… that depends… Get more »