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The introduction of the E-330 confused us, it was difficult to see where this new camera fitted into the current digital SLR market. It's more expensive than the more traditional (but in my opinion better) E-500 yet offers very little more other than live view. Olympus has tried to address one complaint we (and others) had about the E-300, and that's the design and styling. To me at least it's only a partial achievement, the E-330 does look and handle better than the E-300 but honestly it's still not as nice a camera to use as the E-500."

In addition to its TTL optical viewfinder — that has the reflex mirror mounted horizontally allowing the viewfinder’s exit pupil to be close to the left side of the camera - the E330 has a system that allows it to show the image coming from the lens simultaneously on the LCD monitor.

The E-330 also stands out because of its low sensitivity to noise. Sensitivity can be pushed up to 400 ISO without any serious penalty on the image quality as at this level, noise is nearly undetectable. In fact, noise is minimal even at 640 ISO when photos are captured in bright light, and noise can only be found when images are seen at 100% scale on a monitor, but does not really impact the image quality, particularly if the image is printed."

All in all, the feelings on the Olympus E330 are positively mixed. The image quality should be improved, and the same goes for certain other features such as the live view and the white balance setting. On the other hand, the Olympus E330 is simply a delightfully sassy camera that -in addition to offering a live view- provides the user with a great range of settings that would certainly befit a professional camera.

It isn't simple trying to decide exactly how I feel about the Olympus E-330. It is a well built camera, capable of delivering very high quality images in good light. The live-view display is a useful addition but, with concentrating on this new technology it seems Olympus have neglected to update other features of the camera, like the autofocus system. It just seems archaic when compared to the multipoint AF arrays in cameras like the Canon EOS 350D and the Nikon D50."

In terms of imaging performance, the E-330 loses its competitive edge against similarly-priced DSLRs. For $1100, the resolution is there, but the high ISO performance and low light capture still hovers in an area that's more competitive with compacts. The camera's true Achilles heal, however, still seems to be its outdated autofocus system. With just three sensor sites, the technology was substandard on the camera's predecessor, the E-300, when it was announced in September, 2004. For $1100, there are many DSLRs out there that out-perform the E-330, however, there’s currently only one that offers interchangeable lenses and live preview."

Fortunately the superb quality of the images makes up for a few minor problems. The E-330 uses a new "Live MOS" sensor which at 7.2MP is actually smaller than the sensor in the E-300, however the image quality is much improved. Having used both the Canon 30D and the E-330 in the past week, I have to say that although I preferred the handling and performance of the Canon, I prefer the pictures from the Olympus."

The Olympus EVOLT E-330 is a breath of fresh air in the often stale world of consumer digital SLRs. While most new D-SLRs add things like more resolution and a larger LCD, Olympus has broken the mold and given us a camera with a live view LCD that everyone with a fixed-lens camera has been enjoying for ten years. Being a new technology, the live view feature is not without its problems, and the tradeoffs that come with it should be carefully thought over before you drop the thousand dollars (or more) On the E-330."

The E-330 isn't without some shortcomings. The camera has just three autofocus points, rather disappointing for a somewhat expensive entry-level D-SLR. Most other D-SLRs have at least five AF points. There was also no way to change between the three points quickly; you have to use the menus. Other D-SLRs use a multi-selector controller. These AF points can help you track your subjects more precisely and keep them in focus, although most of the time this will only apply to action shooters."