The anoraks over at DPReview's Olympus forum have gone into righteous outrage mode over a recent article by veteran commentator Thom Hogan, who, one would assume from said outrage, had compared Olympus' new E-3 with the spawn of Satan. So what was this provocative article all about ? Well, in fact, it was a well reasoned outsider analysis of Olympus' declared ambition to grab 20% of the DSLR market. Hogan (correctly, in my opinion) describes this as "dreaming", pointing out that the only realistic way Olympus would make up the 12 to 14% shortfall they need to meet their target would be to steal it from Canon. Are the likely to do this ? Well, one would hope that even the most blinkered zealot would be forced to answer "probably not". However good the current Olympus range is - and it is good enough for me - it would have be near miraculous to overturn Canon's inertia in the market, even if Canon's offering was poor, which it clearly is not. Does it actually matter, to an Olympus customer who just wants to take photos ? I would say only if Olympus' market share were to drop so far that their position would be untenable, and that seems equally unlikely. Sure, people with an investment in the E-System want it to stick around, and the anoraks in particular want new toys to buy every few months, to make measurements with. But whatever, the E-System won't be around forever. Probably neither will Canon's EOS. Nothing lasts forever, but I doubt that Olympus is going to exit the market tomorrow, and even if they did, the cameras and lenses are not going to stop working. However, if you really want future proofing, it is undeniable that Nikon has by far the best record in the SLR market, with Pentax and Leica not too far behind. But did Hogan, a Nikon fan, point that out ? Nope. He said that the E-510 and E-3 are nice cameras, but they're not going to provoke a cataclysmic shift in the market. A view worthy of derogation, scorn, and insults ? Apparently so. Thank God for the Internet...

Sardinia has been one of my favourite places since I first visited some 7 years ago. A three week visit in September this year was as pleasant as ever, and, like always, yielded a few surprises. Sardinia is perhaps the ideal place to combine a beach holiday with a bit of surreptitious photography. The thousands of beaches are often set in very photogenic landscape, and as long as you can escape the crowds - not so difficult except in August - there is inspiration everywhere. This trip was really supposed to be about relaxation, after a very grueling 9 months or so of work, but nevertheless I packed a lightweight camera kit - Olympus E400 and a couple of lenses. So lightweight that I forgot the battery charger. This was possibly a blessing in disguise, as it made me very selective, but even so, I managed to get nearly 300 frames out of a partially discharged battery. Actually I came close to running out of CF cards! However, this did mean I had to forgo long exposures and infra red shots. There are two sides to Sardinia, the coast and the inland regions. Both in turn are vary varied, within the limits obviously of a Mediterranean climate. The east coast north of Tortoli is perhaps one of the best areas for landscape photography, as most of it is given over as a national park. There are high mountains, densely forested, and some truly stupendous coastline, with dramatic sheer cliffs sheltering isolated beaches with crystal clear waters. Many of these can only be reached by sea, but the most famous, Cala Goloritze, can these days only be reached by foot, about a 1 hour trek from the nearest road. Wildlife is also plentiful, especially birds. There are various salt marshes scattered around, in particular in the south, and these provided a seasonal home to masses of flamingoes. There are also rare eagles and buzzards, in particular in the wilder areas. The east coast features the spectacular - and isolated - sand dunes of Piscinas, and further up dramatic coastlines near Bosa. Throughout Sardinia you can find weird and wonderful naturally sculptures, where the wind and water has eroded the granite into shapes Gaudi would be proud of. To cap it all, all over the island are remarkably preserved remains of the mysterious neolithic culture which predated the various Mediterranean cultures. The village of Tiscali, built inside a partly collapsed hollow in the summit of a mountain, is particularly though provoking - and a nightmare trek to reach. Of course in high summer, most of the coastal areas are over-run, and best avoided unless you're an Italian speaking lemming. But otherwise... if you get a chance, don't miss it.

Well it can't be long now. The PR machine is creaking into gear, rumour and counter-rumour is flying about, entrenched positions are being dug firmly in. The reign of the longest living DSLR (?) in the short history of DSLRs, the Olympus E-1, is about to come to an end. We all have our shopping lists, but having recently dragged the E-1 briefly out of retirement, alongside the E-400, there are a couple of things I really hope we get:

• An even better viewfinder than the E-1, with record-breaking magnification. Comparing the E-1 to the E-400, on this particular feature the E-400 is hit for 6
• Hugely improved autofocus. This 3 point AF can't go on. It has improved a lot between the E-1 and the E-400, but it still isn't very good
• A screen that is actually useful for something
• Horizontal info display in the viewfinder please. The vertical version drives me crazy. Oh, and is ISO in the display really too much to ask for ?

Of course, I can't actually afford to buy it, but that doesn't stop me wishing 😊

Recently, I've been using Lightroom pretty much exclusively for raw development, coupled with iView for in-depth photo management. To some extent, I'm using Lightroom simply because it is easier. I do suspect that a best-of-breed combination of other tools might bring a small improvement in quality, but to be frank, neither my photography nor my current lifestyle would justify this. I've been pretty much restricted to photo work on my MacBook for nearly a year, and this will carry on until we finally get our new house built. I can use my Cinema Display in the office, but I rarely have time. However, I do get this nagging feeling that Lightroom's image quality isn't quite there. In particular, it seems to do certain things behind the scenes over which I have no control, in particular on exposure - I'm finding some images opened in Lightroom and Raw Developer with no further work show highlight clipping in RD, but none in LR, even with highlight recovery at zero. I also find that LR by default gives a slightly warm rendition, and an ever so slightly plasticky feel. I can't quite put my finger on it, and it may be pure prejudice. However, it may simply somehow reflect a consensus taste on what constitutes a good rendition. Certainly it seems to be in tune with the style trends seen in sites such as Flickr, where a photo really needs to grab attention to stand out. The current issue of the Leica magazine, LFI (I can't afford the cameras, so I settle for the magazine), compares LR with CaptureOne (which I've hardly touched for a year), specifically for Leica M8 DNG files. They note that C1 does extract a touch more detail, and gives a more "film-like" rendition, but finally, the differences are hardly noticeable in print. I have the same conclusion with RD. By default, it gives both my E400 and E1 photos a sightly cooler rendition, which is highly subjective, but which I prefer. It also has a vast array of controls, and leaves you to get on with, which in some cases can be very rewarding. However, it does remain fiddly, even on a big screen, and the lack of any organised community support (a user forum) is a serious drawback, even though direct user support is excellent. There are still things about LR that drive me nuts, especially is modality and its way too complex method of handling metadata and keywords - have they never seen iView ? And RD has the edge in conversion to black and white. But LR is incredibly convenient, fun to use, and has excellent community support. So until I'm back trying to extract the last 1% of quality from a file, it looks like I've settled on Lightroom. And Satan went to the local ice rink on a flying pig.

During my last mercifully short trip to the UK, I found time to pick up some of the latest copies of a series of British photo magazines (actually, thanks to British Airways, I didn't have to try very hard to find the time). One of these magazines was the recently launched DSLR magazine. Actually, the previous time I was in London I picked up issue 1. It must be difficult for editors of these magazines to find new angles and new stories. Photography can get repetitive at times ... just take a look at any issue of Outdoor Photography (which I subscribe to). I actually like landscape photography, but in {insert deity here}'s name, how many wide angle, low viewpoint, long exposure, sunset views of incoming tides over rocky beaches do we need ? An infinite number it seems. DSLR Magazine seems, on the sample I've seen so far, to be trying a bit harder to avoid the clichés, and is also avoid the trap of getting stuck at beginner level, like Practical Photography. I've decided it is worth the (quite expensive) international subscription, to see how it turns out. DSLR magazine also runs a promising website, with plenty of user-contributed material. And as far as Olympus DSLRs are concerned, well it seems that they're fans - as well as partnering with Olympus to run monthly competitions. Want to win an E-410 ? Go an take a look here.