I was, and still am, a big fan of the Olympus E-1 digital slr.
The camera had incredibly rich color, and depth of tonality.
Prints were great. It signaled great things for Olympus
and the E-System, I thought.

As the years went by since the E-1's introduction, I did not feel
that I saw any real progress IQ-wise in the Olympus digital slr
line. Sure there was progress, such as live-view, and resolution,
but no slr that Olympus released had impressed me as much as that
old E-1.

Enter the E-3...When I read the specs, I could not help, but think
that this camera had some very familiar qualities to the consumer models
E-410/E-510. I was a little disappointed. I thought, like many E-System
enthusiasts...all these years waiting for another pro Olympus body,
and this is it???

Ok, so I played with the E-3 at the show. First impressions were that
the body was very solid. It felt even somewhat more solid than the E-1
upon first handling. The autofocus was very fast, certainly faster than
the E-1 in available and low-light situations. The rep was very keen on
selling the "it's the fastest autofocusing digital slr" point that
Olympus is trying to sell with this camera.

I got stumped trying to change the AF selection to center point only,
and the rep told me I had to change something in the menu. That slowed me
down a bit. Didn't like that.

I also didn't like the fact that there were no CF cards in the different
E-3 cameras I tried. Perhaps it was just coincidence, but I was a little
turned off by that. I don't mind not being able to use my own CF card, I understand
that. But if I can't even check the photo in camera to see the quality of the
LCD, to see the image noise, well, then that makes me a little suspicious.

The rep said "Sorry I left the card in the back." I thought ok...well, get it!
Anyway, I didn't say anything because I'm not planning to buy this camera,
although it seems really nice. A little too pricey at $1699 when you think
of the competition such as the Nikon D300, Canon 40D, and Sony A700.

I did ask the rep point blank: Is this the same sensor as in the E-410/E-510?
To which he replied point blank: "NO, it's not the same sensor. It's a different
sensor." :-)

On a last note, I never saw a pre-sale camera that looks so much like
the prototype!! ...This might be a great camera, but I think I'll stick
with my E-1 for those times I want something different.