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 Olympus' new Evolt E-330 does what no digital SLR has done before. It lets you frame your shot, in full color, on the camera's LCD display. To make it happen, Olympus built two separate image sensors into the camera. One sensor, which the company has dubbed a Live MOS sensor, is mounted behind the shutter, where film would go in a film SLR. The second, a CCD image sensor, is mounted within the viewfinder mechanism.
As the flattop design hints, Olympus has used an Optical Porro finder like the one in the Evolt E-300. So, the camera's mirror moves sideways. And instead of a pentaprism, the viewfinder image is bounced through a series of other mirrors to reach the eyepiece. In the case of the E-330, just before the image is sent through the eyepiece, it is split so that 20-percent of the light goes to the CCD, and 80 percent goes to your eye.
Two live preview modes are available. Mode A gives you full-time live preview from the CCD, with full auto-focus capabilities. In this mode you can frame the shot either through the viewfinder or on the LCD screen. Once the shutter release is pressed, the Live MOS sensor records the image.
Mode B (aka Macro Mode) locks the mirror to the side, disabling auto focus and the viewfinder. All the light is directed to the Live MOS sensor, which sends an image to the LCD so you can frame your shot. Like most digital compacts, the center of the image displayed on the LCD in this mode can be magnified to make manual focusing easier. In Mode B, because of heat buildup, live preview is limited in duration. This limitation varies from approximately 1.5 hours at ISO 100 to about 8 minutes at ISO 1600, according to Olympus.
If you're used to a high-end digital compact, or enjoy shooting from extremely high or low angles, you'll appreciate the E-330's 2.5-inch (215,250-pixel), tilting LCD screen. Like some of Olympus' compacts, it can be pulled away from the back of the camera and tilts up or down.
Like the company's other Evolt DSLRs, the E-330 uses the Four Thirds lens mount, so it accepts Olympus' full range of Zuiko Digital lenses, as well as any third-party Four Thirds lenses. It also includes the company's Dust Reduction System, which employs the patented Supersonic Wave Filter technology to shake dust off of the image sensor every time you turn on the camera.
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