First , I will say if you love the 4/3rds system then you will love this camera, it is by far the best camera to date in the system. Secondly, I must say that if you are a gear junkie, then this is a great system to get into--Olympus, in my opinion, makes the best lenses for digital imaginable.

Now, why do I say, 'if you know how to use it?' The images produced by the E-3, and the E-1, have a film-like quality to them, an almost Leica quality. The color rendition of the E-3 image sensor is beautiful. And the noise it produces (all image sensors produce noise) is also quite lovely compared to other systems. But these qualities are only appreciable if the images have been exposed perfectly and in perfect, or nearly perfect light. So if you rely on your camera to manage exposure for you, if you don't know how to use exposure compensation, or spot metering, or even manual mode exposure, then this camera will force you to learn all about obtaining perfect exposure.

Next, I must share with you the only major disappointment that I have in the camera. Yes, it has the fastest autofocus in the world with certain lenses, but more importantly, only in the right light, with the right subject. Much too often, the camera searches for focus far too long, or simply will not find focus at all. If you are a photojournalist or a sports photographer who relies on autofocus, then this is not the camera for you.

Finally, you may be wondering why i give the E-3 five stars (I would give ten if Amazon would let me). Because, for the right photographer doing the right kind of photography, this camera is sublime. Its favorite use for me is travel photography, but it is outstanding for fashion, outdoor portraiture, studio work, wildlife (A 300mm f2.8--that's a 600mm f2.8 equivalent, WOW!), street photography, landscape and cityscape (check the 7-14mm f4 lens--the best wide-angle zoom manufactured by anyone), and the list goes on, just not fast-paced sports.

So, I highly recommend the E-3 system, with the above caveats, to anyone as a primary system, and to everyone else as a system to supplement an existing Canon or Nikon system.

WOW... finally a camera that gives you the sharpness and quality you were always looking for. Five stars to Olympus, well done. The camera is a little bit bigger that previous E-series, a little bit heavier too, well built, very compact and robust, but most importantly feels very comfortable in hands. I'm very impressed by the results, great vivid colors, excellent sharpness, fast autofocus. Low light performance is superb especially with the awesome mechanical stabilization system, even with high ISO (quite a jump from previous E series). I am not a fan of LCD live viewing, but honestly it's of great help is some circumstances (like ground-level or night shots)... especially because you're able to see the changes on light and contrast as you change the values of your depth of field or aperture velocity... this feature allows you to adjust and achieve the right exposure before every shot (although the results are not quite accurate... the pre-shooting live image is pretty close to the actual result). Strongly recommended if you take photography seriously. Money well invested.

Disavantages: strap is of poor quality... other than that very impressive camera.

I LOVE this camera! The first thing I noticed about this camera was the feel of it in my hand. It was so comfortable, in spite of the weight, that I felt I could easily take pictures all day long in superb comfort. I have tried Canon and Nikon (obviously) and the grip felt compromised compared to the Olympus which was rugged and balanced. It felt like I was never going to drop it either - quite important.

Soon after I bought it though, I noticed that the autofocus was getting less and less reliable until it packed up ALTOGETHER. I was upset as I wanted to take it with me to England but I had to get it fixed for another date soon after I returned from my trip. The people at Olympus were VERY helpful with 'diagnostics' via email and all that stuff. I had to send the camera back to their factory BUT I have to say that I was VERY impressed with the speed and efficiency that it was repaired (from first sending it to receiving it all took less than a week!) and it has performed flawlessly ever since (as you would expect I guess).

I love the 'naturalness' and depth of the colours my E3 produces. The three different displays (veiwfinder, rear and top LEDs) are very clear and once used to, are quite logical and easy to understand. The focus time of the lenses is so fast and so reliable you sometimes have to be careful of using continual focus mode as it zooms in and out at such amazing speed it's quite bewilering. Single mode takes care of it so easily (or of course manual).

I love the auto bracketing adjustments, and that it also does the same with flash too! The built in flash is great but the remote is even better!!

I'm not experienced enough to go into details for the 'techhies' but the quality of photos speak for themselves and if it makes MY picures look great, then this has to be one TERRIFFIC camera! I would totally recommend it.

If there was any criticism it would be the weight with the larger zoom lenses and the flash attached. It is quite heavy to say the least, but then that's why you have a strap to give your arms and wrists a break, right?

Solid build, solid feel and superb results (anything less is MY fault!) give this a 10/10 for me!!

Pro:

- Great built, solid piece of hardware

- Excellent image quality and ISO performance

- Good menu layout (intimidating at first due to the astounding number of features)

- Fast and reliable

- Excellent lens line-up. Zuiko lenses are among the sharpest and lightest and most rugged out there. One of my favorites is the Leica 14-50mm

Con:

- a little big for a Four-Third body

- no main dial for shooting modes (but you get used to it after a while and it doesn't impede handling speed)

- When shooting continuously, user must wait for the buffer to be fully emptied to play back pictures.

I mostly photograph wild birds, usually with a Zuiko 300mm f2.8 lens, often combined with a 2.0X teleconverter. It's a lot of lens, but the E-3 handles it superbly. Quick, accurate focus. Terrific exposure control, even in automatic settings. Enough pixels that you can crop in post-processing without compromising quality. Rapid shooting, even in RAW mode. I'm a fairly serious photographer and this camera does everything I need. It even feels good in the hand. All this an in-camera image stabilization as well. The IS alone allows you to shoot hand-held with a long lens down to 1/250 second.

It's sturdy, too. The camera and lens set up spend most days clamped to a tripod, balanced on my shoulder, banging into shrubbery, or perched on rocks or in swamps. It's amazingly solid.

Unlike the E-500, the E-3 sports a true USB-2 connection, so downloads of photos are much quicker.

Other reviewers have said that some earlier Olympus accessories don't work with the E-3. That's inaccurate. Some older lenses and flashes can't take advantage of some of the advanced features in the E-3, but they still work just fine. My Zuiko 300mm f2.8 is proof of that. And yes, it does focus more quickly on the E-3 than on the E-1 or the E-500.

If you are a nature photographer, I strongly recommend the Olympus E-3. It's a terrific example of a state of the art digital single lens reflex camera.

Sharp pictures, with true-to-life colors.

Fast autofocus with any lens in the four-thirds standard. With my E-510 all of my lenses used to hunt incessantly in low light.

Rugged: shock and weather-proof. User-friendly and telecentric.

The best camera in the four-thirds standard. Matches and even surpasses the competition. Those who want their pictures sharp, without barrel distortion; those who need a shock and weather-proof camera; those who want the best glass available without having to pay extra for lens-stabilization, should look no further.

With sensor-based stabilization and with a peerless dust-removal system, you'll be free to take your pictures indoors, outdoors, in low-light, at slow-shutter speeds and at the lowest ISO levels possible. That's why, in my opinion, concerns with grainy pictures at higher ISO levels are irrelevant . With this body, I haven't had to move beyond ISO 1250 at all and I have barely used the otherwise excellent built-in flash.

Long time E-1 fan but moved to Nikon D-200 when Olympus didn't release a 10mp body for years. The E-3 is fantastic and will keep it and the D-200!

1.Extremely fast focus

2.Low light focus blows away any camera I have ever used

3.Waterproof

4.Olympus Pro glass is wonderful...don't scrimp, get the Olympus Pro lenses with SWD, you won't regret the extra cost.

5.Love the dual chip setup...cf and XD...you choose which chip to write to

6.One very minor negative...when using the live view feature, autofocus does not function. Autofocus only works through the view finder. HOWEVER, manual focus does work with the live view. Now that I have played with this for a bit, I actually like it better the way it is. It's really nice to be able to use the live view for closeup shots and be able to manual focus. It would be nice to be able to turn the autofocus on and off for the live view just like you can through the viewfinder.

7.High ISO produces some amazingly good images. You can easily shoot 400 and 800 with little grain. Just starting to work with the 1600-3200.

8.Controls are a little different than the Nikon but easy to learn and easy to switch off using one camera or the other.

9.Built in flash is pretty good but not over about 20 feet

I can't speak highly enough of this camera, it is outstanding.

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have Three older lenses LOL(I laugh because they are not old, digital updates) some of the lens's that were not SWD (Supersonic Wave Drive) that also work great, but I have to say the lens's that go with this camera with the (SWD) will knock off your socks!!! It is a bit heavy with all the accessories, flash, battery grip, lenses, but lets remember I am older with weaker wrist. This camera drives me nuts, I have been years, trying to capture what I got with this camera in no time at all. It is as fast as they say, The buttons are easily accessible, I did a lot of research before I bought this camera, it used to make my husband think I was having an affair, LOL I was, this camera will make you feel like you have a new love in your life. Sincerely B.J.B. © 2007

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R19LN5NYRRBNM3">Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R19LN5NYRRBNM3</a> I uploaded an improved review, my previous one turned out to be not all that helpful, maybe this one is better. Let me know by clicking Yes! :)

A quick summary:

Olympus made major improvements to their pro line in almost every facet-- structural, design, robustness, lens and imaging performance.

The SWD lens performance paired with this body is outstanding, as you'll see in my video demo. The imaging sensor and processor are very good also. Noise levels are on par with the Digic3 processors from Canon. A fantastic buy, I highly recommend this camera for both professional and serious photo enthusiasts. There are plenty of very good ind-depth, technical reviews available. Here are a few I recommend:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E3/E3A.HTM

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Olympus-E-3

http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/17474/olympus-e3-review/

4+ Month update on the camera:

This is still by far the best SLR cam from olympus. Neat features are everywhere like a full compliment of buttons on the portrait grip, and the ability to shoot as fast as your memory card can write, with the sandisk IV 5 FPS.

First - the system I purchased was a pre-relase system and needed firmware upgrades. These were trivial with the software and usb cable

Second - even though the 50-200 mm lens did not need an upgrade, two of us noticed that it suffered from the same "hunting" during autofocus that the original 50-200 mm did. The ability to see where the focus was happening with the LEDs on the viewfinder ofset this, but the speeds were not as promised. It's a minor issue, but not to spec.

Third - Using it with to the 50mm prime lens Olympus 50mm f/2.0 Telephoto Macro ED Lens for E1, E300 & E500 Digital SLR Cameras produced exceptionally fast focusing and improved resolution over previous bodies. Depth of field was exceptional using the twin flash accessory Olympus TF-22 Twin Flash Head (Needs FC-01 Flash Controller, FR-1 & SR-1)

Fourth - shooting raw used to mean you always got a fixed size file. Now raw files vary in size. photo a 8.5x 11 blank paper and expect a small raw file, but photo a page from the phone book and it will be bigger. This makes estimating number of exposures a bit more tricky than it used to be, however raw exposure is still lossless and actually uses less space on the memory card than the 8MP cameras did.

Finally - you get 3 sets of flash "GROUPS" with the E3. Each can be programmed separately for timing and illumination. Contrary to preliminary belief, the signalling is not radio frequency but uses the camera's pop-up flash to tell each group how it is to expose. There are some drawbacks in that you can not use a hotshoe mounted flash nor the popup flash in your flash scene. Using the remote controlled flahses (3 groups) must handle your lighting. The plus here is that you can tell each of the 3 groups to increase or decrease light output, for example you might want less light on the backdrop and more on the subject with minimum sidelight. If you have 3 50R flashes you can accomplish this "program" on the camera. Note, however, that the 50Rs must have their sensor pointed to the popup flash to get their instructions and have their flashtube aimed where you want it to go. It is very flexible for portrait photography and the only complaint seems to be the loss of the on camera flash to expose the shot since it must program each of the 3 groups. A group, by the way, can have more than one flash in it if you have a collection of 50R units. They also come with a tripod mount making it easy to use small tripods to locate the flashes to get their program from the camera and aim the light to your liking. Finally, they use the Olympus SHV-01 High Voltage Flash Power Pack (for FL-50, SRF11, STF22 & FC01) for rapid cycling in a studio environment. Combined with the E3's ability to bracket flash exposure which earlier cameras did not do makes this a valued feature.

(the remainder of the review is a compilation of 3 people who purchaed prerelease sets of the E3 knowing that Olympus has always put out a quality product. We had difficulty obtaining all the parts needed but finally did get it all. Many people asked about compatibility which we tried to answer as best as possible, however older gadgets like the remote trigger have been reintroduced removing the USB trigger and a 6xAA pack has been introduced to the dual-rechargable grip, however it does not like to use the L91 lithium batteries due to the higher voltage)

--original review below--

I've been an olympus 4/3 system user since the E300 came out at 8 MP, when I upgraded my E20N 5MP by 60% to 8MP so for me the E3 is only a 25% increase in resolution, but a lot of extra features. I bought the body because I print often on 24x36 size paper on an HP Designjet and that extra 25% can make a difference.

I want to clarify that only certain 4/3 system components do not fit the E3's fast focus spec. Essentially Olympus has developed a new lens design for autofocus, the SWD. Older lenses WILL autofocus and mount and be recognized by the E3 even though newer versions of some of them have been redesigned. The difference between the non-SWD lens systems that have worked with the E1, E300, E330, E500, E410, and E510 bodies that you may already own and the new E3/SWD drive lens set is the focus on the E3 w/ SWD lens is specified by Olympus to be 170 ms, exceptionally fast. Some older lenses focus fast by design (EX: the 14-54 is fast and the 11-22 mm wide angle lens is really fast on all boddies) The focus on other lenses like the tack sharp 50mm prime lens can extend a barrel as long as the lens body and takes a while. The 50-200 also extends a very long and wide barrel during focusing which slows it down.

To address this, and meet the 170 ms specification, Olympus redesigned the 50-200 into a SWD driven lens. Evaluation lenses are very fast focus because less movement is required. Wait to purchase them until the final release as a firmware upgrade is likely on the rare ones that were intended for prerelease evaluation. All OLY gear upgrades easily via USB.

Olympus also put a very common feature of remote strobes with a radio link into the E3. This required revising the FL-50 Olympus FL-50 Electronic Flash for Olympus C7070, E1, E300 & E500 Digital SLR Cameras into the FL-50R flash FL-50R Wireless Electronic Flash which can be either a transmitter on the hotshoe or receiver, so a pair of the FL-50R flashes will give you the radio remote capability often added as a third party accessory, but now inside the flash itself. I have the -R but since the FL-50 works as well, my friends have not upgraded yet. We will update the R with timing info once we get 2 units and can test the radio ability.

My friends and I have a variety of olympus bodies so we often trade pieces of the 4/3 system - we have verified the older FL-50 and non-SWD lenses can all be used despite some of the literature that emphasizes the need to buy the new compoents for the E3 system. TRUTH: If you want to meet the E3 specifications, you'll probably want the SWD lenses for focus speed and FL-50R for remote flash flexibility. If focus speed isn't high on your priority list you'll be happy and save alot of $ using older lenses and your flash, plus we've been discussing a likely price drop on the older (but good) glass out there.

Olympus made a smart move selling the E3 as just a back - pick YOUR lens or keep YOUR lens from an upgrade, but now stores are making E3 "Kits"

out of just about anything - buyer beware - my E3 kit contained prerelease SWD glass which is not a big deal just a firmware upgrade. This was from a brick & mortar camera store - not amazon.

I made the mistake of buying the "KIT" the store assembled with only the new components for the E3. By un-kitting the body you avoid buying a slow, small, "made in china" lens you would never purchase if it were not in the kit. It requires stores, however, to stock lenses now! (Amazon has been a real help getting some oddball lenses)

Olympus has kept up with their expectations - the noise reduction on long exposures is still there, and virtually all 4/3 system components work, except to take advnatage of the new focus system you need to buy the supersonic wave drive (SWD) glass which is all in the near $1000 price range. Write speed to the SD card is great - a fast card will continue to shoot as long as you hold down the shutter and there is room left (continuous mode)

So far my olympus groupies have not yet bought a second FL-50R so I can not comment on its radio link. Once we pair a couple up I will update my review on the FL-50R's backwards compatibility with earlier bodies and take some backlit shots plus check timing impact. The twin flash Olympus TF-22 Twin Flash Head (Needs FC-01 Flash Controller, FR-1 & SR-1) and ring flash Olympus FS-RF11 Ring Flash Head (Needs FC-01 Flash Controller, FR-1 & SR-1) still work great with the old 50mm macro lens for some razor sharp macro exposures.

The live-mos focusing is a pleasure to have again. The last time I had a live image was on my E20N, so now I can "see it the way the camera does" before pulling the trigger. (I'm mainly using 4 ea E300 bodies for scientific work before I got my E3) Focus checks are really easy with magnification. Everyone will especailly like the pivot mechanism designed for the screen -- this feature has been long overdue and is much appreciated as you have camcorder like flexibility on the screen.

And speaking of the changes, Olympus FINALLY went back to the the electronic trigger and ditched the USB trigger which made them unusable with my lightning detector. That, for me, was a key selling point. It also made the FP-1 usable with the E3, along with a host of time lapse photography accy's such as my lightning detector that exposes very dramatic shots. If you have the once new, now old USB remote, you need to downgrade to the 3-pin original remote shutter release.

Pros/Cons quickly: PRO's better resolution by 0-50% depending on your existing body, MUCH faster focusing and image processing, more features. Con's - some 4/3 accessories need to be replaced to get full value from the E3, and they command a professional price. Most 4/3 stuff still works like it always did, so I'm not too displeased as the 11-22mm lens is fast, but the ec-14 teleconverter has been re-done to an ec-20 t/c for the new SWD lenses (nobody I know has the EC20 yet) Be prepared to outfit your system differently to handle the E3 depending on your use.

Olympus' mild bumpy upgrade path is what cost them one star on this product - I still could see giving it 5 stars by itself, and the lenses are fast in more ways than light gathering, but to say "certain 4/3 products got upgraded" is not acceptable when they have been interchangable through the whole E series and across vendor platforms (e.g. panasonic's 4/3 entry) prior to the E3. While the SWD was a necessity to make it happen, the flash transmitter could have been a sandwich in the hotshoe combined with a receiver hotshoe and mini tripod for the other strobe. At least Both FL-50's work with the high voltage chargers like the SHV-1 Olympus SHV-01 High Voltage Flash Power Pack (for FL-50, SRF11, STF22 & FC01). I do alot of macro work with Aperature priority F/10 and above so this was an important feature and I am very happy with the body's focusing using the neaar perfect 50mm macro prime lens.

SUMMING IT ALL UP:

Yes, you can use your "old" glass with the new body, but if you already have a 10 MP OLY back the number one reason to upgrade is the speed of the focus, which unfortunately requires new glass with the SWD system. Questions we still don't know are mostly about the future of SWD lenses - like will they introduce a 300mm SWD? If so, this is a serious competitor to the Canon lineup and I would not be surprised to see it on the sideline at a football game as a professional camera. If you are a newcommer to DSLR, this is a great entry point for a camera that people would call professional. If you are looking to save money last years' model will definitely drop in price with the E3 out there. Be sure to consider if your photography needs SEMI-PRO or PRO equipment with the E3.