In another thread I stated that the E-1 produced images at ISO that were less noisy than E510 images at ISO.

Lot's of baying ensued - noises which, when interpreted, translated as 'You are a ****** liar"

So I thought I'd post some examples. On the face of it, the E1 at ISO 3200 does a appear to be slightly noisier than the 510 at ISO. However, this seems to be due to the more pronounced colour noise which is easier to spot than the E510's savagely greyed out noise. When viewed at a 'proper' resolution the 510 noise can be seen in spadefuls - note the 'bleached' desk area under the front of the toy, that's noise that's been savaged by tthe involuntary NR process.

I should mention at this point that both cameras had their noise filters set to 'off' - but, as I've previously noted, the E510 still applies heavy noise reduction that results in 'greying out' of noisy areas.

The E-1 preserves more detail imo - even at twice the sensitivity. Obviously, Olympus would not have applied such drastic noise filtering if the E510 didn't require it, and one can only shudder at the thought of what a *truly* unfiltered E510 image must be like!

I've also included an E-1 shot at ISO 1600 - which is, of course, a fairer comparison with the 510.

All in all, the E-1 comes across as the better image quality - which is shameful when one considers that the 510 is this years Olympus hot-pick, and benefits (or is *supposed* to benefit) from the advances in processing technology made since the E-1's 2003 debut!

If Olympus are not actually walking backward, they are (at best) standing still - and are not (imo) making any worthwhile progress with the 4/3 format.

Here are the images - judge for yourself (a special thank you to my Grandson for supplying the test model ;) I know that the 510 shot seems a little bit under-exposed, but that's the way it metered the scene. If it can't meter it accurately, that's another 510 problem - the E-1 got it right, so should the 510


E-1 3200 iso

http://ethical-web.co.uk/5/e13200.jpg


E510 1600 iso

http://ethical-web.co.uk/5/5101600.jpg


E-1 1600 iso

http://ethical-web.co.uk/5/e11600.jpg