Hey, guys. My life has just been validated by my principal, who accepted my proposal to waive two years of art, and hopefully it'll get done. So now I'm happy. On topic-wise, my mother's crappy Kodak digital (don't ask, don't comment, PLEASE, it's what she wanted) has finally died, and we are free to buy a new camera. For her, I'm thinking of getting the Canon PowerShot SD700 IS. It's small, has image stabilization, etc. However, I'd like to get my own camera. I'm torn between getting one of those, and a beginner's dSLR. Here's the deal. The Olympus E-500 is selling for 669.99 USD at costco, a big bargain club. It comes with both the 14-45mm and 40-150mm lenses, and looks great. I will probably get an Olympus flash for it, either the -36 or the -50 (God only knows what the model numbers are). I'm not a huge photographer, nor am I a professional. However, I do enjoy photography, don't get me wrong. I don't have a lot of lenses at home, so no brand loyalty is factoring in, and I am not going to be doing any serious crazy photography with this. From your experience, is this camera (A) worth buying, (B) a good camera, and (C) appropriate for me? I can't buy anything super expensive, and I don't have any accessories for other brands to sway me (IE old Nikon lenses. although I do have konica). Thanks!
i would say stretch to a canon or nikon. the e500 doesn't really have every good high iso performance (past 800 things get unusable) so you're essentially restricted to the 100-400 range, which doesn't bode well for low light shots. it also has a very small viewfinder, and an annoying long startup time (this annoyed me greatly when the cam would go into standby automatically). depends on whether these will annoy you - so decide and make a choice
Knowing that is helpful, as I will most likely be using this as a camera to take pictures of stage shows/in darkened theatres. The viewfinder doesn't bother me much, and I was under the impression that the slow start-up times were due to the WAVE dust-vibrator thingy. I believe you can turn it off, and then run the vibrator at any time, meaning faster start-up. Does anyone else have anything to add? Please? I am about to blow about a thousand dollars on a camera (including other accessories, tax, etc), so please make it worth my while! Thanks.
Well, whatever the system is (I don't know), do not underestimate how useful a quick start-up time is. I went from a 300D with a 2 second start up to a 30D with (I think) 0.2 seconds. The difference is amazing, and stops you missing shots. Anything less than 0.2s is unnecessary IMO - by the time the camera reaches your eye, it's on
Not to be an ass, but *bump*? I'd really appreciate an answer by a few more people, I don't want to lay down a serious chunk of change (for me) and be disappointed. Thanks, y'all.
I just got mt E-500 (the dual lens kit) in June for $650 and absolutely love it to no end. I haven't compared it side by side in the field to a 350d but my mate has a D50 and the E-500 beats it a every turn. Pros -8mp, nuff said there, I was able to print beautiful 16"x20" with no problem. (would have gone bigger but thats as big as the store went) -No noise in ISO's 100-400, at 800 theres a litttle noise but at 1600 theres quite a bit -Supersonic Wave Filter to eliminate dust on the sensor -2 lenes for the price of 1 (14-50mm and 40-150mm) -Bigger than the D50/300D (I have big hands so this was great for me as the D50 is just too small for my hands) As for the long start up times, that was only an issue in the early firmware. The one I got in june was already updated and boots in about 1s with the Super sonic wave filter turned on. With it turned off, its about as fast as a 30d (had fun "racing" them at the camera store). I bought the dual lens kit of newegg for $650 after mail in rebate and I love it. I recomend it 100%. And while there is some noise at ISO 1600, It still doesn't stop it from being a good print. For some sample shots that I've taken with my e-500 check out my gallery. http://gallery.tm36usa.com All the pictures there were taken with my E-500 except for the ones in NYC (As I didnt have it when i went) If you have any other questions, post them here or feel free to shoot me a pm and Ill get back to you asap.
