Labs

The E-330 is the first and only digital SLR camera that can display a live preview of compositions. This is normally impossible because light entering the lens is sent to the optical viewfinder rather than the sensor. However, the E-330 has a second sensor in its viewfinder chamber just for previews, with incoming light split between this and the viewfinder. The side effect is that the optical viewfinder is a little darker than usual, although we had to look for the difference

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to notice it.

Being able to preview exposure and white balance settings on a digital SLR's screen is an attractive idea, but we were disappointed to find that changing these settings had no effect on the LCD's preview image. At least the onscreen previews are useful when shooting at an awkward angle.

Rather than using a CMOS or CCD sensor, Olympus uses what it calls a Live MOS, which apparently offers comparable quality to a CCD but with around half the power requirements. The E-330's battery life is no better than average for a digital SLR, though, producing 496 shots in our test.

Otherwise, the E-330 has much in common with the E-500. Its controls are quick and easy to access, but it performed slowly and its focus ring felt woolly. Image quality was decent, but not what we'd expect from a £750 camera, with a tendency to underexpose shots and less detail than the Canon 350D managed to capture.

The live preview system is an interesting innovation, but it doesn't justify spending this much on an otherwise fairly pedestrian camera