Evaluation:  
Conclusion: Great buy on a good consumer level DSLR
Review: I've had this about a month, taken it on one trip to Baja California, and shot perhaps 2,000 exposures total. Good image quality and metering. I lugged 35mm SLR's for decades and switched to point-&-shoots 15 years ago but finally succumbed to the removable lens/TTL viewing desire. My chief complaint about this camera is that it is heavy -- not a heavy as most of its competitors, but still heavy. Also the 14~42mm seems overly large, it is almost as big as the 40~150mm telephoto
Like all DSLR's, the e510 has huge number of control options you can fiddle with, and there is a learning curve to climb (and forget if you don't use the camera constantly). However, the "AUTO" defaults work well in most situations, and it isn't too difficult to learn to set the defaults to your taste for apeture and shutter priority modes.
The e-510's image stabilization does a fair job of compensating for your shaky hand, but even it couldn't stop the blur when trying to handhold the telephoto at it's maximum 150mm (300mm 35mm equivalent) range. Plan on finding something solid to rest the camera against.
One note on Olympus' 4:3 aspect ratio sensor. What it means is that for any given pixel count the Olympus gives you a few more vertical pixels but fewer horizontal ones than a 3:2 ratio sensor like most other DSLRs use. Whether this is important depends on your composing preferences. Since I end up cropping almost everything I print it makes little difference to me.
Unless you already have money tied up in lenses from another maker you want to use I highly recommend this camera.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Olympus e510 review
Review: Fantastic camera. vibrant colors. Flash strobe can get annoying when on auto focus, but that's easily looked passed with the photo you'll get.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Great DSLR
Review: I am new to the DSLR world. This Olympus camera is a real improvement over my old Canon A70. I bought this model because of the in-body image stabilization and the good price for the two lens kit. The camera is very easy to handle and lightweight with either of the two short and lightweight lenses. It can fit in a small camera bag with the two lenses. The wide lens is wonderful for landscape and indoor shots. With some tweaking of the settings, the images are color-rich and sharp. I use P mode, vivid, sharpness -2, contrast -1 and noise reduction to off. The image stabilization system works great, and it is now possible to use it with legacy lenses. Indoor pictures without flash can easily be taken with the wide lens and IS on, but the subject needs to stand still in order to reduce movement blur. I have purchased a used 50mm F1.8 OM lens with an adapter, and now very dim light pictures are possible without flash using IS, just the TV on as the light source makes good pictures. The IS is also useful for telephoto pictures, there is no need to use a tripod. I also got a long telephoto of 500mm and I can get beautiful shots hand held.
Now, the downsides. The Olympus digital lenses are quite expensive although of very good quality, but old lenses can be purchased with an adapter, as long as you can focus manually. High ISO pictures have more noise than competition, but I find the noise grain quite pleasing, so I don't mind. The viewfinder is dark and small compared to my old reflex camera, but the live view is excellent to make accurate focus. The last thing that annoys me is the fact that I can't quickly delete the picture right after the shot was made, I have to go to review mode then delete it.
Overall, I am very satisfied with my camera. Other accessories I got with my camera are: the two lenses mentioned above (50mm F1.8 and 500mm F8), some macro extension tubes (the inexpensive ones), 4GB CF card, extra battery and an external flash.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Olympus E510 is beyond my expectations, but
Review: This is my second DSLR camera and it is a wonderful piece of photographic equipment with lots of features. I found it difficult to learn everything that one can do with this camera from just reading the instruction manual and fumbling with the controls. I have had the camera a couple of months and have just purchased the 80 minute DVD video "Jump Start Guides to Olympus Evolt E-510". After reading several email information and update letters from Olympus, I felt that I was missing camera use information. This DVD was not available from Amazon, but can be purchased at the Olympus Store. It should be supplied with purchase of the camera as it explains and instructs about features and functions that one can easily miss by just reading the instruction manual. The DVD is very well done and well worth the price. Even experienced photographers can benefit from viewing this E510 DVD.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Great camera, great features, great price.
Review: I got this camera about three months ago. With the two kit lenses. I've spend months comparing Nikon, Canon and Olympus. In the end the olympus won because of the great price/quality. NIkon is more expensive, also if you look at their lensen. Canon the same story, especially if you consider the lenses with build in image stabilization. the olympus already has it build in so their lenses are cheaper. Took thousands of shots since I got it. I was surprised with the great pictures and especially the great speed compared to my great point and shoot camera.
a few pros:
Great image stabilization
Speed (I love the ability to keep on shooting without waiting)
light weight (every time I hold my friend's Canon, I clearly feel the difference)
easy to use (yes, I am a novice and don't think it is hard just read and try)
Battery life is very good, way longer than nikon/canon
great price
Cons:
LCD is useful, especially with a tripod, but beware ps users, it is not the same.
Auto focus in low light is bad, for instance in a restaurant with dimmed light. It gets even worse because the camera tries to get into focus by bursting flashes which freeks everyone out. If you get this camera you can think of leaving the great kit lenses and buy a lens from the pro series. Especially the new lenses with SWD focus systems, they are said to have blazing fast Auto Focus and nice pictures, I'm getting the 12-60mm soon ! If that is too expensive, look at the 14-54mm...
Overall I'm very satisfied with the camera and the software.
S.B. Veeger, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Europe.
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