Photos: Olympus E-3

The E-3 is covered with direct-access shooting controls; some of them require an old-fashioned two-button-press-plus-dial to use, like the metering control. There's barely room for some of the button labels. Furthermore, considering the E-3's dust-, weather- and splashproofness, the use of the nontethered, hard plastic screw- in connector covers for the wired remote and PC sync is a bit surprising.

Most of the various buttons on the body have the exact same feel, making them difficult to differentiate without looking.

You navigate the menus via the four-arrows-plus-OK buttons. I like having a button dedicated to image stabilization.

Although the LCD is a bit small--only 2.5 inches, when everyone else has moved to 3 inches--its ability to flip out and twist up to 270 degrees comes in handy.

As is becoming increasingly popular, the E-3 lets you change all of the frequently used shooting settings via a single quick-access screen.