Front (6.5)
The front of the Olympus E-300 is pleasantly uncluttered. At the lower right, there’s a large button that unlocks the lens so it can be removed. The pop-up flash is above and to the left of the lens mount. To the left of that, there’s a small red window for the self-timer lamp and infrared remote control.
Cosmetically, Olympus spruced up the front of the E-300 with a Four-Thirds logo and the “8.0 Megapixel” branding to the right of the lens, with “OLYMPUS” just above it. To the left, the camera is labeled “E-300 EVOLT.” There’s an odd ledge wrapping around the grip, just under the shutter release. It’s right where Olympus could have placed the seemingly necessary jog dial, but did not. Below this ledge, running vertically up the right-hand grip, is the marring protrusion I wrote of earlier.
Back (6.0)
The back of a digital camera is always the heart of its interface, and this is especially true of the E-300 since there is no LCD display on top of the camera as is often the case with digital SLRs.
The viewfinder is at the top left segment of the camera’s back face. There’s a round, rotating diopter adjustment on the left side. Fortunately, the adjustment did not move accidentally while I used the camera - a good sign. Directly below the diopter adjustment, there is a column of dedicated buttons which control (from top to bottom): flash options, white balance, image format and quality, image deletion, and information display. Each button brings up a display on the 1.8-inch LCD to the right of the column of buttons. To the lower right of the LCD is a circular cluster of four separate buttons arranged and shaped like slices of pie. Olympus calls these the “arrow pad,” and when a menu is active, they are used to navigate. In shooting mode, they have dedicated functions, controlling adjustments of exposure, white balance, ISO, and autofocus. If you press the ISO button, the control dial controls the ISO setting. Press the Autofocus button to control the autofocus options with the jog dial, and so on.
The E-300's arrow pad is mechanically a bit simpler than the usual four-way controller, which on many cameras is a concave disk that can be tilted in four directions. The four button layout utilized on the E-300 is a bit tougher and less vulnerable to accidental engagement. This is more critical on digital SLRs, which do not enable users to compose live images on the LCD screen and thus force reliance on the viewfinder while accessing controls blindly. Unfortunately, there is always the potential lose of functionality available in good four-way controllers, which allow users to navigate diagonally by pressing the disk somewhere between the cardinal points.
Below and to the right of the arrow pad, there’s an “OK” button to render alterations to settings. Above the arrow pad is the Menu button, which brings up camera settings that most users won’t change while shooting. Above that is the image review button, which displays the last image shot. Further up, just about at the top edge of the camera’s back face, is a button to activate the pop-up flash.
Left Side (7.75)
There’s a wide, beefy strap lug at the top of the left side. Lower down and toward the back, a small door covers the USB 2.0 and video out ports. The door fastens tightly and is one of the more secure port covers I have come across. At the bottom of the left side, under a tethered cover, is a small port for an external power supply. Both covers are made of a rubbery material and achieve a good seal around the openings they protect.
Right Side (6.0)
The right side has another beefy strap lug, and a large door covering the slot for loading CompactFlash or Microdrive cards. The eject button has a positive action – you have to press it twice to eject the card. Unfortunately, this door snaps shut as well, rather than latching. It’s odd and unfortunate that the door does not seal as well as the covers for the power supply and the cable jacks.
Top (6.5)
The E-300’s mode dial, at the far right on the top, is large and easy to locate by feel. The labels on the mode dial are easy to read, containing both lettered abbreviations and graphic representations of the 10 included options. Alongside the mode dial is the on/off switch that protrudes from the side of the dial and rotates around it. In front of the mode dial is the shutter release, which is also large and sits forward on a small angled plane on the hand grip. The camera’s lone jog dial sits behind the mode dial, protruding out a bit from the back of the camera.
To the left of the dials and toward the front of the camera is a gleaming blue LED, labeled “SSWF” that flickers rhythmically when the camera is switched on. The light indicates that the “Super Sonic Wave Filter” is operating, shaking away any dust that might have made its way onto the sensor. Toward the back of the camera is a symbol made up of a circle with a line running horizontally through it, which indicates the location of the imaging sensor. The indicator can be useful in setting up macro photos.
Off to the far left, over the viewfinder, is the hot shoe for dedicated Olympus flashes. The left two-thirds of the top is pretty flat, with gentle bevels at the front, back and left sides. The pop-up flash folds flush with the surface, while the hot shoe for accessory flashes protrudes slightly; neither of these are placed directly above the lens barre
