Olympus E-520 Announced

Olympus has announced the new 10-megapixel E-520 DSLR. I've had a pre-production camera to play with for a week or so and it's a neat camera, with some definite improvements over the E-510.

Olympus E-520 Digital SLR Announcement & Preview >>

Looks great! On paper it looks like it definitely some nice tweaks. Wireless flash and an option for contrast detection AF are things I wish my 510 had. Vertical IS looks interesting, but not sure how useful it will be. Intrested in the tweaks to the chip too. All good stuff.

Although I gotta admit it's not making me want to replace my 510 with it at all. The heavily advertised "shadow adjustment technology" and face detection as I see it are a bit gimmicky. Unless results prove otherwise (I'm not holding my breath), I don't expect much real-added value from those features. A better bump in sequential shooting would appeal to me more (but maybe not others).

Still, looks like there are some nice improvements here. A nice evolutionary step from the 510, and definitely making Olympus a solid contender. I'm interested in seeing some real performance results and reviews soon.

Also, the 9-18 lens is a nice little addition to the lineup - I think an affordable wideangle is going to appeal to lots of Oly users (although I'd prefer a more middle-of-the-road high grade option).

I just added some E-520 sample photos to the preview article. For me, the most important new feature is the improved sensor. I liked the E-510. But I admit that at times I was a little bummed by the smaller dynamic range. I had a beta version of the new camera. But even so, the dynamic range appears to be much better. And high ISO noise seems better, too. We'll see for sure when I get a camera with finalized firmware.

John I am really interested in long exposure noise levels. If you get a chance to shoot something at night and post a few pictures I would appreciate it. The 9-18mm lens is also something I have been looking forward to seeing. An affordable wide angle lens. I hope you get a chance to review it as well.