Hands-on with the Olympus E-300 in 2024
What happens when you take a 20-year-old DSLR out for a spin in 2024? The Olympus E-300 might look like a quirky relic from the past, but there's something strangely enjoyable about shooting with it today. From its unusual design to the ‘filmic feel’, this camera has surprised me in more ways than I expected. In this post, I share my thoughts—and photos—from with the E-300. Curious what it’s like? Read on.
An enthusiast of old (‘vintage’, if you will) digital cameras, I often find myself searching for reviews on certain bodies and lenses. I go back and forth between Google and Youtube looking for blogs and videos but all too often, most of what I find is either outdated and not very relevant through today’s lens or not so much up to my alley — I’m mostly interested in the intangible side of things; the shooting experience, the feel of the files, the sound of the shutter and so on. And photos, I love seeing photos made with a camera by fellow enthusiasts — actual photography that is, not zoomed in brick wall shots.
The Olympus E-300 somewhat odd shape offers a really nice grip
‘Film-like’ quality?
Old digital cameras are sometimes praised for their ‘film-like’ qualities. Certainly those with (Kodak) CCD sensors. After trying many (old) digital cameras throughout the years, plenty of which with CCD sensors, I wouldn’t go so far as to attribute ‘film-like’ qualities to any of them. However, I will say that some cameras render images more organically (or imperfectly, if you will) that others. Also, the SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera) colors differ, as well as some other characteristics that may look a bit more like film does. Generally, these combinations of factors are more often found in older digital cameras, perhaps also because of the lower megapixels or other limitations that simply render less clean and perfect images than modern cameras do. I don’t think it’s necessarily about CCD sensors — take a look at the Canon 5D Classic for example; 12MP CMOS sensor, yet one of the cameras I’d consider closest to ‘film-like’ color- and rendering-wise.
Anyway, while I’m not sure what it is about certain cameras that makes them render images with a somewhat more ‘film-like’ aesthetic to them, I’ll say that from all of the cameras I’ve tried throughout the years, the Olympus E-300 is one of the ones that comes closest to what you could consider a ‘film-like’ quality I guess. It’s exactly for this reason that when I went on an analog photowalks with our local photography community recently, I brought along the E-300 as a secondary camera next to my analog Pentacon Six TL, to capture some digital photos along the way I could use straight away while I was getting my 120mm Kodak Gold from the Pentacon developed.
I’ll show you some of my digital photos from that walk, but for reference, here’s two of the actual film photos I shot that day with the Pentacon:
And here’s a set of digital photos from the E-300 from that day. Note that these have been processed in Lightroom, where I enhanced a ‘film-like’ aesthetic to match the vibe of the day:
Not sure about you, but I find the difference pretty obvious, even after processing them in order to make them more ‘film-like’. And that’s totally ok — film and digital are different things with different possibilities, different pro’s and con’s and different aesthetics. And sometimes you may want to get a bit of one while using the other, which, at least to some extend, you can achieve in post in software like Lightroom or similar.
There’s limitations to what you can achieve in post though: as much as I love the files coming from my 30MP full frame Canon 5D mark IV, they will never come close to looking any bit ‘film-like’ (at least not with my Lightroom skills, your mileage may vary). They are simply ‘too good’. But the way the E-300 renders things like highlight roll off and unsharp areas, the noise that pretty much always in the photos, subtle at ISO 100 but already undeniably there, all add to a look that’s more organic and less-perfect SOOC in the best of ways.
Anyways, enough with the film comparisons already. Back to the E-300 for all that makes the E-300 so special in its own right shall we?
The E-300 as an EDC (Every Day Carry)
Neither the smallest or the most practical on either today or yesteryears market, E-300 is a camera very well suited as a EDC. It’s perhaps what I use and love it for more than anything else. Although the E-300 is a pretty capable dSLR (for the time when it was released) with plenty of manual settings, I tend to shoot the E-300 pretty much as a point-and-shoot. I’ll pair it with the the tiny Olympus 25mm f/2.8 pancake lens, put it in A (Aperture priority) mode and just shoot whatever I run into while out on a walk, day trip or whatever.
To me that it really is where the E-300 shines in 2024. Yes, you can get something with way more MP’s, way better auto-focus, infinite better video capabilties (because non-exististent in the E-300), far more compact, lighter and so on and so forth. But that’s all just the practical and boring stuff. And while that may be really important to some, it isn’t so much to me. I don’t need the ‘best’ IQ or performance for daily snapshots. What I want is images that are nice, leaning towards imperfect but with just the right amount of control over how the photos come so it doesn’t feel like a gamble.
Taken around sunset, a quick snapshot while cycling home and noticing the beautiful light hitting the red brick buildings. Although not amazing in low-light, the E-300 can absolutely handle some. And the RAW’s do allow for some shado recovery when handled with care.
And at least as important, perhaps even more so, is the experience of using the camera. I like using a camera that puts a smile on my face. One that inspires me to make it up simply because I enjoy shooting it so much. And more than anything, the E-300 offers me just that. It’s quirky, somewhat odd, which I find really charming. Certainly given that the way the E-300 is build, offers great usability. It’s pretty light for a camera its age and size, its very comfortable to hold and you can easily control it with just one hand. And then there’s the sound of the shutter, it is ab-so-lu-te-ly wonderful. It’s not quite mechanical, yet also very much not ‘digital’ or the cheap sounds some early digital cameras produce. It’s just right, a nice subtle hoarse sounding clap. So satisfying.
In addition to what I mentioned on pretty much using the E-300 as a point–and-shoot in Aperture Priority mode, I should mention that its auto metering, while pretty good for when it was released, is nothing like your modern digital camera. And neither is its dynamic range for that matter: lose the highlights (and shadows) and they are gone. No saving them in post like once they’re blown out as you might on your fancy new camera. However, you quickly get used to that. Mess it up once (or twice, or lots of times, in my case) and you’ll automatically start metering better.
As a daily carry:
Shooting with the Olympus E-300 in 2024 was a refreshing reminder that photography doesn’t always have to be about the latest specs or perfect sharpness. Sometimes, it’s the quirks, the limitations, and the character of a camera that make the experience more meaningful—and fun.
Going forward, the E-300 will definitely stay in my collection of ‘fun cameras’, right alongside the Canon 5D Classic and Olympus E-P1, some of my favorite old digital cameras that I occasionally take out for a relaxed photowalk. It might not be perfect, but that’s exactly what makes it a joy to shoot with.
