The good: Can preview shots on LCD; large LCD; very solidly built; strong photo quality.

The bad: Takes a while to figure out some of the features; kit lens is slow.

The bottom line: The Olympus E-330 digital SLR is a very good midrange dSLR with unique live scene viewing on its large LCD.

Read full review of the Olympus E-330 »

By Lori Grunin, CNET.com
Mar 24, 2006

Kodak used two sensors in its EasyShare V570 to enable its ultrawide second lens. Olympus puts a second sensor to better use with its E-330: To provide its digital SLR with a live preview, just like those in standard snapshot cameras. Though the LCD certainly can't replace the viewfinder for most shooting, it turns out to be quite useful to have around. Aside from that innovation, the 7.5-megapixel E-330 is a decent, feature-packed, solidly built model, albeit with a few flaws. Opting for Olympus's F2.8-to-F3.5 14mm-to-54mm (28mm-to-108mm equivalent) lens rather than the F3.5-to-F5.6 14mm-to-45mm (28mm-to-90mm equivalent) that ships with the kit version makes this a more expensive--but ultimately more rewarding one--proposition.

Design

	The controls follow the layout we typically see in dSLRs.

The Olympus E-330's body duplicates that of its predecessor, the E-300, with a slightly more compact version of the same solid, tanklike design and construction. It's not the most stylish dSLR I've seen--and at 623g, hardly the lightest--but I'm not recommending it as a fashion accessory. From a strictly functional viewpoint, everything is where it should be; all the controls, buttons, and dials fall beneath the thumbs and the right forefinger, without requiring contortions. A rubberized grip covers the right flank of its plastic-and-aluminum body, providing a comfortable hold that afforded me relatively stable one-handed shooting at times.

	Olympus gives you a choice between an LCD preview generated via a CCD in the optical path (Live View A) or a mirror lockup mode in which the LCD shows exactly what's on the NMOS capture sensor (Live View B).

A variety of direct controls populate the back of the camera, including an autofocus/autoexposure lock button, and also controls for metering mode selection, white balance, ISO sensitivity, continuous-shooting modes, and the self-timer. The Ok button brings up an onscreen control panel for adjusting multiple settings in a single view, including the aforementioned functions as well as flash compensation, color-space selection, and compression/resolution combination choices.

A minor quibble: Olympus outfits the viewfinder with a big, comfy eyecup, though I frequently found my right cheek left prints on the LCD. More significant, Olympus wastes the opportunity to provide explanations within the menu interface. Though the scene modes have a bit of text to explain their functions, it would have been even more useful for the hard-core menu settings, such as the baffling Gradation, with its High Key and Low Key options (this shifts the tonal range to compensate for extremely bright or dim subjects).

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