Shooting with the E-510

[Greg McCary]

Now that the 510 has been out for awhile I was wondering what everyone shooting one thinks about Olympus's improvements over the E-500? What are your likes and dislikes with the 510?
Me I really like the IS. I have shot at some pretty slow shutter speeds with some great results. Even though the slower you shot the more noise it produces. But on the good side I feel that there is improvement with High ISO noise issue.
Being old school I really thought to that I wouldn't use the live preview much. But I find it very helpful when setting up a landscape on a tripod. You can place a grid, scale or live histogram on the LCD while shooting but have yet to even use this feature. You can change exposure and F/stop and watch it change right on the screen.
You can also fine tune the white balance beyond the normal settings.
The colors that the 510 produces also seem more natural to me. I do little post processing to the final image.
When working with IS and live preview the camera is fairly noisy. You can here the gyros spinning when you use the is and live preview is noisy turning on, off and focusing with. The editing software that comes with the camera, Olympus Master 2, is an improvement but still is nothing to use over the long haul. I find it slow when working with Raw files and it has locked my computer up a couple of times. The 510's Raw files will not work in Raw Shooter and I had to upgrade LightRoom from 1.0 to 1.1 to get LightRoom to see all of the files.
Not shooting Olys for long I have little to compare it to but I really enjoy the camera and hope to get years of service with it. I feel the I have raised the bar quiet a bit since going digital and the 510 has been a great camera to work with.
Greg

[Photo-John]

Greg-
Larry Chen, who has done a bunch of our digital camera pro reviews, is currently wrapping up a review of the Olympus E-510. I hope to have it complete and live sometime next week. I haven't actually had my hands on the camera, aside from a few minutes at PMA, in the spring. But Larry shipped the camera to me so I can do studio tests and product shots. So I'll get to play with it in a few days. I'm looking forward to it.

Have you posted a review for your E-510 yet? I know we need more reviews for that camera.

Write A Review >>

[Greg McCary]

Greg-
Larry Chen, who has done a bunch of our digital camera pro reviews, is currently wrapping up a review of the Olympus E-510. I hope to have it complete and live sometime next week. I haven't actually had my hands on the camera, aside from a few minutes at PMA, in the spring. But Larry shipped the camera to me so I can do studio tests and product shots. So I'll get to play with it in a few days. I'm looking forward to it.

Have you posted a review for your E-510 yet? I know we need more reviews for that camera.

Write A Review >>

Not yet I wanted to give it sometime until I really learned the camera. I will write one soon. It is a really good camera with many features you just don't read about in the adds. I can tell the quality of my images have improved.
Greg

[Marc2B4]

Greg,
The 510 has me a bit curious with it's new features and the 10MP CCD. Everything I've read about it and my handling of it indicates it's not as durable as the E-1 and the battery cover is really flimsy. Can you give me your impressions and thoughts on the durability of the body? I think I'm just going to wait for the E-3 or whatever they call it, as long as I see an 07 release. Anything longer, and Oly will loose me back to Nikon. Thanks

Mark

[Greg McCary]

Greg,
The 510 has me a bit curious with it's new features and the 10MP CCD. Everything I've read about it and my handling of it indicates it's not as durable as the E-1 and the battery cover is really flimsy. Can you give me your impressions and thoughts on the durability of the body? I think I'm just going to wait for the E-3 or whatever they call it, as long as I see an 07 release. Anything longer, and Oly will loose me back to Nikon. Thanks

Mark

I read the E3 should be out by the end of the year, but I read that in Digital Photography. I feel the 510 is a tough as any camera on the market unless you go to a pro body. I have used Canon and Nikons and neither seem any thougher than the other. But then again I am old school and "all cameras" are not built tough to what I am use to. I have dropped mine three times. Twice in the bag and once about six feet and it landed on the lens hood and I kept shooting. My worry is what is the life span of the gyros. The IS really works. Unlike the IS on a P&S which I consider false advertising. All it is on a P&S is a higher shutter speed. I think the 510 is as tough as I have seen. The 510 feels more durable than the 500. But that's just "feels like". I hope it last a long time. I am enjoying mine. The battery door is an easy replace if it breaks. It's removable.
Greg

[jeppy81]

Hi. Looking through all the comments here made me think of something. I'm a Olympus user since stylus 810 (compact). Right after I bought that camera last year (2006) I finally realized that olympus does not have a group of DSLR which may lined up like canon eos series. But right after I bought E-510 series and have a test shot with it, I totally mesmerised with the stunning images produced by that camera. Although I'm still new with E-510 but I have shoot a lot of images with it. I bring it where ever I go, no matter what occasion I just shoot with it. For me oly E-510 will be the best start for them who wants to become a semi-pro photographer. Since its light weight than its little brother (E3) you can go for travel with it. Just attach the lens kit and you can see the images produced are high quality. But if you hungry for more, maybe you would like to buy telephoto/macro lens which lined up in FOUR THIRD systems. I also have SIGMA 105MM EX DG Macro. Just fantastic!

Well, what I can say here again was...Oly E-10 will be the greatest buy for them who would like to begin their DSLR journey in photography. Happy hunting!

my flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14766627@N06/