Yeah probably true. I got this shocking news too when I purchased the 20mm F1.7. But the Panny never gave me any trouble to revisit this issue, so its ok. Touch wood though haha!

By the way, long time no see guys!

Also remember to change the Gradation to Normal. Default is Auto and it always attempt to lift the shadows revealing noise in these areas. In my opinion, the best optimization is to shoot Raw and deal with them on the post processing stage.

You have a point there. They comprise a large majority of people coming from compacts. The good news is Olympus's out of camera jpegs are great. My point was that if you shoot raw, you get to squeeze more potential from the sensor from a noise vs detail perspective. Its a challenge but its worth a try if one is willing to learn.

Yup you got it right. Its like trying to 'extend' the dynamic range in a different method. Some exposes a picture in different shots and them combine them while Olympus splits it into segments and lifts the exposure from in camera processing. The downside is that when you brighten up an area with little information to begin with, you get noise in these areas (irrespective of what ISO you're in).

Yes! I find ISO 1000 still bearable, especially when it exposes correctly. ISO 1600 for small prints are fine though.

Guys, E-P3 has been available since the start of this month July. Street price is RM2799 at Boieng Sungei Wang and RM2700-2799 at Key Color Mid Valley. Camera kit + 8GB SD.

Don't be ripped off. I got mine last week

The performance is great especially the AF. so responsive and even faster than my E-30 in low light. Noise performance still yet to be seen but I can see improvements throughout.

Best of all the price is lower than previous E-P1/2 times. It only mean that E-PL3 price will be even more attractive.

White is only available next month August. I played with the white before. glossy white finish and very classic. Silver is still better in my opinion.

KLCC Fotoflash play the RRP game hehehe... no good deals there.

Yes, the AF is really fast. Focuses faster than my DSLR. Not sure how it compares with a good kit up Canon 7D + 24-105 (this is quite a quick lens to begin with), but yes it is fast for a contrast detect AF. Most DSLR uses phase shift AF so they run differently, may not be a good comparison.

Yeah mine does feel warm after turned on for some time. The sensor has to work continuously for the liveview function, so it will emit heat a bit. Not to forget the E-P3 has a metal body so they conduct heat efficiently too. If you feel warmth, it is a good sign that it is dissipating heat (which is a good thing). If too hot for touch, then this is something else. My previous E-PL2 also has similar characteristics but my old E-PL1 is warmer (maybe something wrong on that unit).

No problem one. Wait a while longer lor... Anytime now already. But the white version is very glossy and a lot of finger prints. Silver is less finger print prone.