By WILSON ROTHMAN
A photographer recently told me that in the past couple of years, the technology to take better pictures has become more and more affordable. He said it like it was a bad thing—people with less talent and experience than him
were horning in on his game. But for those of us who view photography as a means to capture our memories (rather than a means to generate rent money) it's a terrific thing. We get amazing cameras for less and less. One of these, the Olympus Evolt, has a list price of $1,000 and street availability as low as $700 and is remarkably accessible to photographers and non-photographers alike.
Price isn't the only thing that makes Evolt a bridge between those who know how to take great pictures and those who just know what great pictures look like. The included 14-45mm lens offers a nice spread of wide and zoom shots.
And the camera itself lets you select scene modes like a point-and-shoot but also gives you full dial
control over your aperture, shutter, ISO and all the rest of those shutterbug
tweaks.
Most of the time when I test out cameras, I find that it's easier to shoot
in daylight without a flash, because the flash itself tends to wash out shots.
This is especially true when you're shooting people or animals up close. The
trouble is, direct light is often required to make a good, sharp picture, so
there's generally a tradeoff. Not so with the Evolt. Its built-in flash was
remarkably responsive to my variety of indoor shooting needs, and has
convinced me that a flash doesn't have to be the lesser evil.
On the flipside, the only trouble I had with the camera was when I shot
without a flash, in its automatic mode. The camera would slow down the shutter,
letting too much light in, to make shots that were unnecessarily bright. At
times, the camera just wouldn't respond. I know this lack of response was its
way of saying the conditions weren't good to take the shot, but I wish
it would let me figure that stuff out the hard way. How else am I going to
learn?
One of the Evolt's claims to fame is its ultrasonic image-sensor filter. At
start up, this clear panel pulses at 35,000 vibrations per second (totally
imperceptible to your hands). This shakes away any dust that may have settled upon the
image sensor, dust that would look like unsightly black spots in your shots. It's a great technology, but totally invisible to the user.
If you're
itching to take a photography lesson, or teach yourself some of the
principles, but not have to worry about them when snapping shots of your kids out on
the lawn, the Evolt will deliver.
NOTE: Olympus makes little improvements to the camera's internal software (firmware) all the time, so if and when you buy an Evolt, make sure you follow the included instructions and update the firmware.
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