E300 made in China or Japan?

clampBits · 30th December 2004

Hi, new to the forum. Thinking of getting E300 or Nikon D70 as I can't buy lenses for my old Minolta SLR camera. From all that I've read so far, E300 is a good buy, but the pictures are a bit noisy at ISO400 to ISO800.

Are all the sets made in China or Japan? I don't really trust electronic stuffs made in China as it breaks after a year or so. I've used the C5050Z for the past year, got used to the interface and functions. Most are similar to E300 when I tried it out at a road show 2 weeks back. Any comments?

serene · 30th December 2004

Both the body and the kit lens are made in China. The body is well made compared to other cameras of its class. For the lens, it is extremely light. If you do not want to buy made-in-china, you have no choice but to settle for the premier class (for eg, E-1 in Olympus case). If I am not mistaken, Nikon's D70 is either made-in-china or Thailand.

bariq · 30th December 2004

Originally Posted by clampBits

Hi, new to the forum. Thinking of getting E300 or Nikon D70 as I can't buy lenses for my old Minolta SLR camera. From all that I've read so far, E300 is a good buy, but the pictures are a bit noisy at ISO400 to ISO800.

Are all the sets made in China or Japan? I don't really trust electronic stuffs made in China as it breaks after a year or so. I've used the C5050Z for the past year, got used to the interface and functions. Most are similar to E300 when I tried it out at a road show 2 weeks back. Any comments?

I dont think that chinese goods are substandard in anyways. Well all the cams needs to pass the OLY standard QC check for sure. Bottom line is that, its your perspective how you see things.
E300 cam and kit lens are made in china, and iam sure all the non weather proof lens which are specially meant for E300 are made in china too.

Happy shooting.

clampBits · 30th December 2004

Originally Posted by serene

Both the body and the kit lens are made in China. The body is well made compared to other cameras of its class. For the lens, it is extremely light. If you do not want to buy made-in-china, you have no choice but to settle for the premier class (for eg, E-1 in Olympus case). If I am not mistaken, Nikon's D70 is either made-in-china or Thailand.

I was told by the road show guy that E300 was made in Japan, but saw someone in the forum posted it being made in China...I thought D70 was made in Japan being so highly priced in the first place(above $2k when it first came out), guess I was wrong.

E-1 is way off my budget, still need to get a range of lens to shoot nature stuff. Any idea what's the price range is like for Zuiko lenses? Up in the $3k range for 300mm zoom?

chii · 31st December 2004

Originally Posted by clampBits

I was told by the road show guy that E300 was made in Japan, but saw someone in the forum posted it being made in China...I thought D70 was made in Japan being so highly priced in the first place(above $2 when it first came out), guess I was wrong.

E-1 is way off my budget, still need to get a range of lens to shoot nature stuff. Any idea what's the price range is like for Zuiko lenses? Up in the $3k range for 300mm zoom?

300mm zoom is 14k & weighs a hefty 3.2kgs .

and the 150mm f-2 is 4k

A good start for lens would be

-14~54mm @ f-2.8~f-3.5 (approx 8xx)
-50~200mm zoom @ f-2.8~f-3.5 (approx 18xx)

hope this helps

Evilmerlin · 31st December 2004

Or for the low budget people

E-300
14 - 45 f/3.5 - 5.6 (kit lens)
40 - 150 f/3.5 - 4.8(approx 500)

chancy · 31st December 2004

Hello ClampBits,

Reasonable quality at a reasonably price. Nikon's D70 has grabbed a big slice of the entry amateur DSLR market at very competitive price & performance points, yeah I know about the marketing part :-) There's no way Oly could match & beat this Thailand made package in this price sensitive segment of market to have the E300 made in Japan.

Quality-wise drop by Dpreview & check-out feedback from the majority of E300 owners, that should be a general indicator of production quality.

Where it matters, which is in the lenses, the current mid & high end lenses from Oly are made in JP.

It would have been better if you made it to the last two Oly E300 product launches here. You could have a better feel of the product itself & the system you're buying into.

Image quality-wise try PM Allen Teo for E300/D70 experiences or Tomcat E300/D20 experiences. I've found their contributions here to be impartial & insightful.

Cheers,

clampBits · 4th January 2005

yeesh, the price of the lenses are pretty steep. Din't go to product launches as I din't know where to get such info from...sigh...The weight of the 300mm is even heavier than my tripod

Thanks all for the advice, have read the reviews from Allen Teo in the forums. What he gave wasn't all encouraging to nature photography, which have dampen my enthusiam to buy E300, and made me to consider on Nikon or other brands that I can easily purchase (cheaper) 3rd party lenses.

One last question: do the quality of the shots really differ a lot in 8MP and 6MP cams? Or are the pixel counts only apparent when photos are printed?

chancy · 5th January 2005

Originally Posted by clampBits

yeesh, the price of the lenses are pretty steep. Din't go to product launches as I din't know where to get such info from...sigh...The weight of the 300mm is even heavier than my tripod

Thanks all for the advice, have read the reviews from Allen Teo in the forums. What he gave wasn't all encouraging to nature photography, which have dampen my enthusiam to buy E300, and made me to consider on Nikon or other brands that I can easily purchase (cheaper) 3rd party lenses.

One last question: do the quality of the shots really differ a lot in 8MP and 6MP cams? Or are the pixel counts only apparent when photos are printed?

Hello Clampbits,

The prices are competitive when considering their field of view equivalents from C&N. If I may point you to an E1/E300 link by Serene earlier of a nature photographer that has sucessfully used the E1/E300 system to capture beatiful shots of nature. While Allen Teo mentioned that the E300 is unsuited for birding photography, it does not necessarily translate to nature photography which encompasses a lot more variety & subjects. You will need to decide what aspect of nature photography you wish to invest effort in. Equipment weight is an important consideration for nature photography, Oly's E-system comes in lighter & faster.

Before one starts pixel counting, consider the technology that goes into the sensors first, the E1 uses full frame transfer CCD to maximise image signal captured. E1 (at 5MP) and many competitors has sufficient resolution to handle detail at 8"x10", with even some pushing to twice the size. Is this the most common large size you'll handle ?

Sigma has release 3 lenses for Oly E-system. Not as comprehensive as those availed for other makes, but nonetheless an alternative to the cost sensitive segment.

Just to clarify, Good Luck with your choice regardless.

Cheers,

Kho King · 5th January 2005

Originally Posted by serene

Both the body and the kit lens are made in China. The body is well made compared to other cameras of its class. For the lens, it is extremely light. If you do not want to buy made-in-china, you have no choice but to settle for the premier class (for eg, E-1 in Olympus case). If I am not mistaken, Nikon's D70 is either made-in-china or Thailand.

don't know where you get the info from, is Singapore version of Canon 300D all made in China?

The 300D that I saw and personally tried in Malaysia are made in Japan.
Yes, there is a wording of "made in Japan" at the bottom of the black 300D that I have tested.

see this thread of a 300D that belongs to a PMers:
http://www.photomalaysia.com/forum/i...%20japan&st=15

For Nikon D70, it is made in Thailand at Nikon factory there.

chii · 5th January 2005

Originally Posted by Kho King

don't know where you get the info from, is Singapore version of Canon 300D all made in China?

The 300D that I saw and personally tried in Malaysia are made in Japan.
Yes, there is a wording of "made in Japan" at the bottom of the black 300D that I have tested.

see this thread of a 300D that belongs to a PMers:
http://www.photomalaysia.com/forum/i...%20japan&st=15

For Nikon D70, it is made in Thailand at Nikon factory there.

Hi Hi,

I think serene was refering to the E-300 not D-300..

don't mean to start a flame war.. just wanted to clear the air

cheers
chii

serene · 5th January 2005

Hi Kho King,

I was talking about the Oly e-300 as being made in China and not Canon's. Hope this clarifies.

XXX Boy · 5th January 2005

This kind of question posted in Clubsnap forum is increasing day by day!
Bottom line is that if you dun like China made products then dun buy it.

Kho King · 5th January 2005

Originally Posted by serene

Hi Kho King,

I was talking about the Oly e-300 as being made in China and not Canon's. Hope this clarifies.

arh...sorry...sorry...read the E wrongly with D...

clampBits · 5th January 2005

Originally Posted by XXX Boy

This kind of question posted in Clubsnap forum is increasing day by day!
Bottom line is that if you dun like China made products then dun buy it.

Why I'm asking where is it made is already stated in the first message posted in the forum. It is to confirm where the camera is made BEFORE buying and have to consider the budget available for accessories as well. There are also instances where stuffs are printed 'made in <whatever country>', but is actually 'made in china' instead.

Accessories-wise, still got to do some research before plunging into DSLR world. I still prefer film for quality prints, but it's a hassle to store all the printed photos as well...Still got lots of pros and cons for both media.

Enough said, nice chatting with all on the forum, hopefully can get around to meeting you guys in the future.

30th December 2004	#1
clampBits New Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 18	E300 made in China or Japan? Hi, new to the forum. Thinking of getting E300 or Nikon D70 as I can't buy lenses for my old Minolta SLR camera. From all that I've read so far, E300 is a good buy, but the pictures are a bit noisy at ISO400 to ISO800. Are all the sets made in China or Japan? I don't really trust electronic stuffs made in China as it breaks after a year or so. I've used the C5050Z for the past year, got used to the interface and functions. Most are similar to E300 when I tried it out at a road show 2 weeks back. Any comments?

31st December 2004	#6
Evilmerlin Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Woodlands Posts: 957	Or for the low budget people E-300 14 - 45 f/3.5 - 5.6 (kit lens) 40 - 150 f/3.5 - 4.8(approx 500) __________________ Photoblog Flickr

30th December 2004	#2
serene Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 396	Both the body and the kit lens are made in China. The body is well made compared to other cameras of its class. For the lens, it is extremely light. If you do not want to buy made-in-china, you have no choice but to settle for the premier class (for eg, E-1 in Olympus case). If I am not mistaken, Nikon's D70 is either made-in-china or Thailand.

31st December 2004	#7
chancy Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Northern Singapore Posts: 556	Hello ClampBits, Reasonable quality at a reasonably price. Nikon's D70 has grabbed a big slice of the entry amateur DSLR market at very competitive price & performance points, yeah I know about the marketing part :-) There's no way Oly could match & beat this Thailand made package in this price sensitive segment of market to have the E300 made in Japan. Quality-wise drop by Dpreview & check-out feedback from the majority of E300 owners, that should be a general indicator of production quality. Where it matters, which is in the lenses, the current mid & high end lenses from Oly are made in JP. It would have been better if you made it to the last two Oly E300 product launches here. You could have a better feel of the product itself & the system you're buying into. Image quality-wise try PM Allen Teo for E300/D70 experiences or Tomcat E300/D20 experiences. I've found their contributions here to be impartial & insightful. Cheers,

4th January 2005	#8
clampBits New Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 18	yeesh, the price of the lenses are pretty steep. Din't go to product launches as I din't know where to get such info from...sigh...The weight of the 300mm is even heavier than my tripod Thanks all for the advice, have read the reviews from Allen Teo in the forums. What he gave wasn't all encouraging to nature photography, which have dampen my enthusiam to buy E300, and made me to consider on Nikon or other brands that I can easily purchase (cheaper) 3rd party lenses. One last question: do the quality of the shots really differ a lot in 8MP and 6MP cams? Or are the pixel counts only apparent when photos are printed?

5th January 2005	#12
serene Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 396	Hi Kho King, I was talking about the Oly e-300 as being made in China and not Canon's. Hope this clarifies.

5th January 2005	#13
XXX Boy Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: GEYLAND LOR 15 LO Posts: 1,104	This kind of question posted in Clubsnap forum is increasing day by day! Bottom line is that if you dun like China made products then dun buy it.