It almost seems pointless to talk about how the E-3 compares to its predecessor; the time gap between them is so great that they have very little in common; the E-3 is a totally new camera that has obviously been designed to go head-to-head with the likes of Nikon's D300 and Canon's 40D at the very top of the market, at the point where the distinctions between 'high end enthusiast', 'semi professional' and 'professional' get very blurred. Before we return the E-1 to the museum of digital antiquities for good let's have a (brief) look at what's changed - and what hasn't - in the in intervening years.
New sensor (10MP Live MOS vs 5MP CCD) and latest TruPic III processor
Live view
Sensor-shift image stabilization
All-new autofocus system (11-point AF, claimed to be world's fastest with certain zoom lenses)
Faster continuous shooting, bigger buffer
Higher top shutter speed (1/8000 sec) and higher flash sync speed (1/250 sec)
Improved viewfinder (bigger, brighter)
Bigger, higher resolution vari angle screen
Masses more customization options