Physical Tour

**Back
**A 2.5-inch, 215,250 pixel LCD dominates the back of the EVOLT E-330. The LCD is a bit more exciting than it looks at first blush, because it swings out on an armature for easy positioning for viewing from above or below. The viewfinder is toward the left of the camera and along the top edge. A large, soft rubber eyecup wraps around it, and a small diopter dial sticks out from the left side. A large lever for the viewfinder shutter is on the right side. Next to that are a pair of buttons: one to activate the live view, and switch between A and B live mode, and one to cycle through the various information display formats on the LCD. Further to the right is a button that activates the built-in flash.

The buttons along the left side of the LCD control playback, image deletion, menus and shooting information. To the right of the LCD are the autofocus and exposure lock button and the burst mode button. Below that is the four-way controller, which is made up of four directional buttons and a center OK button. When they aren't active for navigating the screen, the directional buttons control the following: Up: white balance; right: autofocus; down: ISO; left: meter pattern. The right side of the back is contoured to form a thumb rest. Toward the bottom right corner, there's an indentation to allow a fingertip to open the media card door, which makes up part of the camera's right side.

**Left Side
**The left side of the EVOLT E-330 has the connectivity jacks under a rubber door toward the bottom, and a thick stamped strap lug at the top. The side has a convex curve, making it more comfortable to hold and helping to give the EVOLT E-330 a more finished look than its predecessor, the E-300.

**Right Side
**Because it forms the handgrip, the right side of the EVOLT E-330 is appropriately plain and smooth, though the back half forms the media card door. Another hearty strap lug protrudes near the top of the side, out of the way and well situated.

**Top
**The EVOLT E-330's unusual internal optical path requires that the top of the camera be flat, like the E-300's. Olympus went to some trouble to soften the contours, so the top rounds down the left side.

There's a hot shoe over the viewfinder, which is to the left of the lens axis. There is a pop-up flash as well, to the right of the hot shoe. On the far right half of the top above the handgrip, the rear half is lower than the forward half. The mode dial is perched on that lower plane. An on-off switch sticks out from under the mode dial toward the front and right, and the control dial sticks out behind the mode dial, toward a spot where the user's thumb can turn it comfortably. The large chrome shutter release is on top of the handgrip’s higher half, and the small exposure compensation button is just behind it, toward the mode dial. A small status light shows when the dust control device, labeled SSWF, is active.

**Bottom
**The bottom of the EVOLT E-330 features a metal tripod socket, which is centered under the lens axis, and the battery door under the grip. The battery door has a latch, which generally improves door durability.

Components

**Viewfinder
**The EVOLT E-330's viewfinder seems about average in brightness and magnification for a small DSLR, which is remarkable, considering that 20 percent of the light from the mirror box is picked off for the live view display on the LCD. The view is easy to see, even with glasses.

The data shown in the viewfinder are: AF frame, shutter speed, aperture value, AF confirmation, flash, white balance, AE lock, number of exposures it's possible to store, exposure compensation value, metering mode, battery check, exposure mode and record mode.

**LCD Screen
**The 2.5-inch, 215,250 pixel LCD is bright and saturated. It gains new significance on the EVOLT E-330, because it serves as a viewfinder, and it really is a good display. The pivot feature bends at two joints, which allows it to face either up or down. The first joint is at the bottom, so the top tips out. Left that way, the LCD tilts down for overhead shots. To tilt it up, pull the bottom away from the back while the top is still tilted out. That leaves the LCD pulled away from the back, with a supporting piece extending from the joint at the top of the LCD to the joint at the bottom of the camera, in a "Z" shaped fold.

**Flash
**The EVOLT E-330 provides opportunities for flashes on either side of the lens axis. It's great that

the pop-up flash and a shoe-mounted flash can be used at the same time, but unfortunately, neither flash is directly above the lens, which means that each will cast shadows to the opposite side of the subject. Flashes are usually centered over the lens to avoid this. The EVOLT E-330 has a good choice of flash mode options: auto, on, off, on with red-eye reduction, slow sync and slow with rear-curtain sync.

The pop-up flash doesn't pop up by itself – the user has to press a button to activate it. The materials we received about the EVOLT E-330 don't list the flash's power, but note that flash exposure compensation runs 2 stops above or below the metered value, in 1/2 or 1/3 stops. Conditions at PMA did not permit us to test the flash; read our full review for more information.

**Lens
**The EVOLT E-330 can be purchased with the Zukio Digital 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 for $1099 or the 18-180mm f/3.5-5.6 for $1499. The 14-45 is comparable to a 28-90mm on a 35mm camera, or the

18-55mm lenses sold with entry level DSLRs. Our first look reviews can't say much about lens sharpness and color correction, because at a trade show like PMA, we don't have the opportunity to test equipment in a controlled environment.

Like its competitors on other DSLRs, the 14-45 seems like a budget lens. The maximum aperture at the telephoto end is f/5.6 on most of these lenses – Canon, Nikon and Pentax have entries like that. Unfortunately, they're all too slow; f/5.6 isn't bright enough for indoor shots, and they pretty much demand higher ISOs in any lighting except bright sunlight.

Design / Layout

**Model Design / Appearance
**The EVOLT E-330 retains the general outline of its predecessor, the E-300, with a more or less flat top and a wide silhouette. The design works better on the new EVOLT E-330. It's softened with some curves and contours that visually group the controls and generally give the camera a more finished look than the E-300. It still looks unusual – it's obviously a camera, but not obviously a DSLR.

**Size / Portability
**The EVOLT E-330 is larger than most entry level DSLRs – the Pentax *ist DL, the Canon Rebel XT and the Nikon D50 are smaller. They're around a half inch narrower, and they're only taller because the E-330 has no viewfinder hump.

The EVOLT E-330 still seems to be a relatively easy DSLR to pack and transport. The flat top will make it easier to load in camera cases, and its good seals against dust and moisture will protect it against any crud met in its travels.

**Handling Ability
**We found the EVOLT E-330's new styling to be a big improvement for handling. The gripping surfaces are much more comfortable than the E-300’s. The handgrip's curves accommodate various sizes of hands and a range of hand positions. The odd rectangular patch on the E-300 grip is gone. It didn't fit our hands well, so that's a big improvement.

The live-view LCD is a significant handling feature, and we tentatively call it a big advantage – it's a ground-breaking option, though we need to try it for a while to see how useful it will end up being. We find Olympus’ work in labeling and placing controls logical and clear. Our tryout with the EVOLT E-330 at PMA didn't include access to a manual, and the booth staff had limited knowledge of the camera, but we sorted out all but a couple of the most arcane features of the camera in about half an hour. For a full-featured DSLR with some unique features, that's praiseworthy.

**Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
**Olympus generally builds sturdy DSLRs with well made buttons and dials. They're large controls, and they feel durable. In general, they are placed logically. The major controls for playback are clustered to the left of the LCD, with navigation on the right, conveniently placed for the user's right thumb. The shutter release is big and comfortable, with the right amount of resistance and travel.

I like to see two jog dials, one front and one back, for exposure control. The EVOLT E-330 has only one, which makes shooting in manual mode a bit more cumbersome and time consuming. All in all, though, the EVOLT E-330's controls are easy to find and use.

**Menu
**The EVOLT E-330's menus are easy to read, with a large, clear typeface and clear, uncrowded screens. As the E-300 before it, the EVOLT E-330 provides an exhaustive list of menu controls for image parameters, interface tweaks and shooting controls. Some of the controls lead to surprising submenus. Picture mode is an example: vivid, natural and muted color are unsurprising choices, and monochrome is also a likely setting. But monochrome leads to multiple submenus for setting contrast, sharpening, black-and-white filter emulation and image tone.

**Ease of Use
**We found it relatively easy to figure out the EVOLT E-330 as we looked it over, and we like its depth of control. Usage would be quicker if it had another control dial, and we much prefer cameras with more than 3 autofocus sensor locations. So, though it's simple to figure out, we expect that some of the shooting features would slow us down compared to other cameras.

Modes

**Auto Mode
**The EVOLT E-330 offers a Program mode with shift for full exposure, auto ISO and auto white balance. The camera also offers a range of scene modes for casual users.

**Movie Mode
**The EVOLT E-330 does not offer a movie mode, though with a live preview, it seems to have most of the necessary technology. Our interview with Olympus technical staff indicates that subsequent DSLRs from Olympus could offer it, for another $50 or $100.

**Drive / Burst Mode
**The EVOLT E-330 is rated to shoot at 3 frames per second for at least 15 frames in JPEG mode. The E-330 shoots RAW and TIFF files, which tend to be enormous, and manages 4 of those at a burst. Apparently, the live view system has an impact on burst speed, which we'll test in our full review.

**Playback Mode
**The EVOLT E-330 enlarges images up to 14x and shows up to 25 thumbnail images at a time. Users can also bring up a calendar view to search for images, or view images in a slide show. In single image mode, playback can display exposure and shooting data, including focus area. The E-330 also displays histograms for luminance as well as red, green and blue channels.

**Custom Image Presets
**The EVOLT E-330 image presets include: Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports, Underwater Macro, Underwater Wide, Landscape with Portrait, Night Scene, Night Scene with Portrait, Children, High-Key, Low-Key, Reducing Blur, Macro, Nature Macro, Candle, Sunset, Fireworks, Documents, Beach & Snow and Panorama. The modes generally adjust exposure, ISO and white balance the way an experienced photographer might in specific situations. In our full review, look for more specifics about how these presets perform.

Control Options

**Manual Control Options
**The EVOLT E-330 follows Olympus’ pattern of enabling full manual control with unusually specific and sometimes vague names for the adjustments. Two examples: The EVOLT E-330's white balance settings all include Kelvin temperatures as well as names, and the JPEG quality settings show the amount of compression imposed on the image.

**Focus
***Auto Focus
*The EVOLT E-330 has three autofocus points, arranged in a row across the center of the frame. We didn't fully test their performance for this first impression review, though the camera focused well in the well lit confines of Olympus’ PMA booth.

Having only three autofocus points is a significant drawback. We found ourselves recomposing even our test shots while handling the EVOLT E-330 in the PMA booth. The limited autofocus area slows down shooting.

*Manual Focus
*Manually focusing the EVOLT E-330 through the viewfinder is relatively easy – it's equal to other DSLR viewfinders in the sub-$1000 range.

Focusing on the EVOLT E-330's live preview LCD is not as easy. Though the 2.5-inch, 215,250 pixel display is excellent, we couldn't focus as well on it as through the viewfinder. Rough focus was quick and easy, but fine focus was tough – we just couldn't tell the difference made by small adjustments close to the point of focus. This is important because in "B" live preview mode, autofocus is not available. In "B" mode, the reflex mirror flips away, the shutter opens, and the live preview is picked up directly from the NMOS (Negative-type Metal Oxide Semiconductor) imaging chip that the EVOLT E-330 uses to take images. The mode blocks the light path to the autofocus system, so there isn't any autofocus confirmation.

At first blush, we didn't see a difference between this "B" mode and "A" mode, which uses a second imaging chip in the viewfinder to form the live image. Olympus booth staff said that the viewfinder chip is an 8 megapixel device from the Stylus series of cameras, and that the B mode LCD viewfinder has 100 percent framing accuracy, while the optical viewfinder and A mode have 92 to 94 percent accuracy.

**Metering
**The EVOLT E-330 has a 49-point metering system for matrix, or evaluative, metering. It also offers spot metering and center-weighted averaging, which are useful for manual shooting and typical of DSLRs. It adds two more intriguing settings, Highlight matrix and Shadow matrix. Both are evaluative settings, and they aim to preserve detail in either highlights or shadows. We look forward to a full test of the camera to see how well these modes perform. They sound like a great idea.

**Exposure
**The EVOLT E-330 offers aperture priority, shutter priority and full manual modes, as well as exposure compensation of up to 5 stops above or below the metered exposure in 1/2- or 1/3- stop increments. A 5-stop compensation range is unusually large, and ought to be useful in extremely contrasty lighting.

**White Balance
**The EVOLT E-330 has 7 white balance presets: tungsten, three fluorescent types, daylight, cloudy and shadow. The camera lists the Kelvin equivalent for each, and allows white balance fine-tuning with independent controls for red and blue/green. Again, we're curious to test this system in a full review. It looks unique, and it may be unusually helpful.

**ISO
**The EVOLT E-330 has a normal ISO range from 100 to 400 in 1/3-EV steps, plus an expanded mode with 1/3-EV increments up to 1600. An expanded mode that starts as low as ISO 500 may indicate speed-related image noise problems, but we'll wait for testing in our full review to quantify that.

**Shutter Speed
**The EVOLT E-330's shutter will handle speeds from 60 seconds to 1/4000 of a second in increments of either 1/2-or 1/3-stops. It syncs flashes up to 1/180, and can handle user-timed exposures of up to 8 minutes when set to B (Bulb). The flash sync speed may be limiting for outdoor fill flash – 1/250 is much more convenient.

**Aperture
**The EVOLT E-330 can control aperture in 1/2-or 1/3-stop increments. The most common kit lenses have a maximum aperture of f/3.5 to f/5.6, which is pretty dark. Users interested in available light shooting should consider a lens with a wider aperture.

Image Parameters

**Picture Quality / Size Options
**The EVOLT E-330 will record RAW files and TIFFs at its maximum resolution of 3136 x 2352, for files of 12.9 MB or 21.6 MB respectively. It will also record JPEGs in full resolution, 2560 x 1920, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 1024 x 768 or 640 x 480 pixels. It offers an SHQ quality for full-resolution JPEGs with 1/2.7 compression or HQ quality for full resolution JPEGs with a settable compression of either 1/4 or 1/8. For resolutions of 2560 x 1920 and smaller, it offers settable compressions of 1/ 2.7, 1/4, 1/8 or 1/12. The compressions are selected in a setup menu, so not all those choices confront the user every time the quality setting shows up on the LCD.

The system is complex, but Olympus deserves credit for a wide range of options with pretty clear indications of the quality implications of shooting at higher compressions.

**Picture Effects Mode
**The EVOLT E-330 offers vivid, natural and muted color modes, as well as a very flexible monochrome mode. The monochrome mode includes a contrast control, can mimic the effects of color filters and can set the tint of the final image. The EVOLT E-330 also offers contrast, sharpness and saturation controls.

Connectivity / Extras

**Connectivity
***Software
*The EVOLT E-330 comes with Olympus software for downloading, editing and management of images. Look for our full review for an evaluation of the software's performance.

*Jacks, Ports, Plugs
*The EVOLT E-330 has a USB port, analog video output and a hot shoe for dedicated and generic flashes.

*Direct Print Options
*The EVOLT E-330 is compatible with PictBridge and DPOF printing.

*Battery
*Olympus fitted the EVOLT E-330 with a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery. In general, this type of cell provides longer life than competing technologies, and is lighter and more compact too.

*Memory
*The EVOLT E-330 accepts both CompactFlash and xD media. CompactFlash is the most common media format for DSLRs, and is available in a wide range of capacities. It is price-competitive with other formats.

Olympus collaborated in the development of xD cards; cameras from Olympus and Fuji use this format. xD cards are physically much smaller than CF cards but also come in a wide range of capacities. They generally cost a bit more than CF media.

**Other Features
***Supersonic Wave Filter -* The EVOLT E-330 includes Olympus’ proprietary dust control system, which vibrates a protective glass over the sensor to remove disruptive dust.

*Wireless Remote - *The EVOLT E-330 accepts a wireless remote control, which Olympus sells separately.

Interchangeable Eyecup - Olympus makes interchangeable eyecups for the EVOLT E-330's optical viewfinder.

Overall Impressions

**Value
**The EVOLT E-330 is an impressive package of technology for about $1000. The live view LCD should make the camera easy for users moving up from compact cameras, and may actually have advantages over optical viewfinders for some users. We like Olympus’ interface and depth of controls, which are excellent for the price range. Though we're not sure of the value of the dust control system – if you're careful, it takes a while to get the insides of a DSLR dusty – many users swear by it, although it does delay start-up. All in all, Olympus offers quite a package.

The unknown is image quality. The E-300 did not perform well in our testing, and we found fault with it on that basis. The EVOLT E-330 has an entirely new sensor, though, so we can't predict its image performance based on the old camera.

Conclusion

**Conclusion
**Olympus is the first to offer a true live LCD preview on a DSLR. That will be a significant enticement for users moving from a compact digital camera to a digital SLR; it's the technology that makes the EVOLT E-330 the first true transitional camera. On top of this, Olympus added a range of other interesting and useful technology. We hope the EVOLT E-330's image quality can keep up with the rest of its features. Look for our full review for the verdict.