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Manual Control Options
The EVOLT E-330 includes a full suite of manual controls. Exposure, ISO, white balance, and image parameters all can be adjusted directly. Like those on the E-300 before it, the EVOLT E-330's controls are labeled with a bit more technical detail than those on other cameras.
Focus
Auto Focus (4.5)
Unfortunately, the E-330 does not improve on the E-300's limited autofocus system. Both cameras have only 3 autofocus sensors, placed close together in a row at the center of the frame. The sensor sites aren't far enough apart to make much of a difference. In our experience, it's  frequently necessary to focus first, then recompose the image when the autofocus function is limited to the middle of the frame. We also found the focus mechanism to be fairly slow, though, with the help of the assist light, it did well in dark and low-contrast shooting.
Manual Focus (7.75)
Manually focusing the EVOLT E-330 through the viewfinder is very dependent on lighting – the relatively dark viewfinder made it tough to use in low light. In good light, the contrasty screen snapped nicely into focus.
Focusing on the E-330's live-preview LCD is a mixed bag. The 2.5-inch, 215,250-pixel display is bright and contrasty, but with the unmagnified view, we couldn't focus as well on it as through the viewfinder. It just doesn't snap the way an optical viewfinder does.
The EVOLT E-330 has two live preview modes. “A” mode uses a separate imaging chip in the viewfinder optical path, and “B” mode uses the same “N-MOS” (Negative CMOS) imaging chip that the E-330 uses to take images. In “A” mode, the camera's reflex mirror is in the normal viewing position and the autofocus system can operate, providing focus confirmation in manual focus mode. In “B” mode, the reflex mirror swings away, preventing the image from getting to the autofocus system, so there is no confirmation system. “B” mode offers something better, though: a 10x magnification setting, which gives a more accurate focusing option than either the optical viewfinder or the autofocus system. There are a couple of drawbacks: the LCD shows a very small section of the image and lags, slowing down focusing significantly. For stationary subjects, however, it's a powerful system.
Both the optical viewfinder and the “A” mode live view show about 92 to 94 percent of the final image, according to Olympus. Looking at our test shots, we'd guess closer to 92 – there's a lot of slop. “B” mode is 100 percent accurate, according to Olympus. Our tests indicate that it's very accurate.
 Exposure (9.0)The Olympus E-330 offers full manual exposure, plus aperture-priority, shutter priority and program modes. Program mode offers an easy “program shift” control to vary the aperture-shutter speed combination without changing the exposure value. All the modes except manual can be adjusted with an exposure compensation control that runs a remarkable 5 stops above and below the metered reading in 1/3,1/2 or full EV steps. The E-330 can also bracket exposures over the same range, taking brackets of 3 or 5 shots.
Metering (8.0)
The EVOLT E-330's 49-zone “Multi-pattern sensing system” operates in the typical evaluative, center  weighted, and spot metering patterns and adds highlight spot and shadow spot patterns, which aim to preserve detail in highlights or shadows.
The metering patterns work about as expected. Digital ESP, Olympus's name for evaluative metering, takes 49 readings across the frame and compares them to set the exposure. It is set up to detect backlighting and other tricky situations and to get a usable picture regardless. Center-weighted takes a single reading of the entire frame, weighing the center of the frame more heavily than the edges. The spot patterns read 2 percent of the frame: either the center 2 percent or the area of the active autofocus sensor.
We found that the Digital ESP system compromised in backlit situations, letting the subject go a little dark, apparently to maintain some detail in the background. This is typical of evaluative systems.
 White Balance (7.0)
The EVOLT E-330 has 7 white balance presets for sunlight, overcast, shade, tungsten light, and three fluorescent types. Our testing suggested that the presets are not very accurate. The Auto setting selects a setting without user input, and the Custom setting allows the user to input a Kelvin value. The One-touch setting allows the user to take a reading from a white object. As we noted elsewhere, the one-touch setting is the most useful white balance setting, and we're disappointed that the user must disable the burst mode button and dedicate it to white balance to activate this option.
The E-330 has two means of biasing white balance: white balance compensation, which adjusts color for auto or individual presets, and the Compensate All menu function, which applies the same compensation to all modes. Both controls allow the user to bias color on a red/blue axis and a green/magenta axis.
ISO (5.5)
The EVOLT E-330's normal ISO range runs from 100 to 400, in half or third EV increments. The extended range reaches ISO 1600 in the same steps. Olympus indicates the EVOLT E-330's poor noise and color performance at higher ISOs by referring to these settings as “extended.”
Shutter Speed (8.0)
In manual and shutter-priority modes, the E-330’s shutter runs from 60 seconds to 1/4000 second in 1/2- or 1/3-EV increments. In other modes, its long exposure limit is 2 seconds. A bulb setting is available for time exposures in manual mode.
Aperture (6.0)
The 14-45mm lens has a maximum aperture of f/3.5 to 5.6, depending on the focal length. Its minimum aperture is f/22 throughout the range. The E-330 can set the aperture in 1/3-stop increments. A maximum aperture of f/5.6 is very limiting in all but the brightest conditions. Considering how short the zoom range is – 45mm is a very moderate telephoto – it's clear that the lens was designed to be very inexpensive. There aren't any technical hurdles to overcome in making a brighter lens, particularly for the relatively small 4/3-format sensor.
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