Olympus Evolt E-500 Lens Recommendations

[DocMig]

I am new to digital SLR photography and would like some recommendations on a good wide angle lens and a good telephoto lens for landscape and vacation photography for an upcoming trip.
Many thanks in advance.

[Greg McCary]

I think the best walk around lens is the 14-54mm, it is fast, tough and affordable at about 400.00. For wide angle the new 9-18mm runs about 529.00 or you could get the Sigma 10-20mm about 100.00 cheaper at 429.00. The 14-54 really works well for my landscape work. It is the first lens upgrade I suggest to anyone. It is a big step up from the kit lens.

[Sushigaijin]

Another vote for the 14-54, it's a great lens for general use. The 12-60 is another great walkaround option but it's quite a bit more expensive. For me it made sense to get the 12-60 and sell my 14-54 because it saved me the expense of a separate wide angle; 12mm is wide enough while 14mm wasn't quite. Either of those lenses will make nice landscape and travel lenses.

the 18-180 gets pretty good marks as a do-it-all option, but I'd rather have the higher quality and wider lenses myself.

[Dougjgreen]

When I was using Olympuses, for me, the most important thing was raeally high quality, low distortion wide angle. So I went with the Olympus 11-22. While the 14-54 and 12-60 are very sharp at the wide end, they are NOT free from barrel distortion. The 11-22 is remarkably distortion-free. I didn't bother with any kit lens, and I went right to the 40-150 for inexpensive light weight telephoto. The 9-18 was not available at the time, so I can't comment on how it compares to the 11-22, but I certainly prefer the fast maximum aperture (f2.8~3.5) of the 11-22.

If I need something in the middle, I occasionally used a manual focus 28mm f2.8 to fill in the gap, but this was rare. I also used older Manual focus macro lenses for my closeup work.

[Atomic2]

I also agree that the first thing you should be thinking of doing is stepping up the kit lens. The 14-54 is phenomenal, but for me there is nothing like the 12-60. If you can afford it, this is the lens you MUST have.
http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Ol...o_review.shtml
in the video, the difference between 12mm, and 14mm is demonstrated at about 3:30

[Photo-John]

Here's another vote for the 12-60mm lens. I love it. Most of the time, all I carry is the 12-60mm and the 70-300mm. That's a 35mm equivalent of 24mm to 600mm - and it easily fits in my ski or mountain bike pack. That's why I love Olympus!

[Photo-John]

Oh yeah, here's a gallery of photos taken with the 12-60mm lens:

Olympus Zuiko 12-60mm Lens Gallery >>

By the way, you can use the gallery to find photos taken with any camera or lens. Just use the camera and lens dropdowns on the search page: http://gallery.photographyreview.com/search.php?cat=all

That search ability is one reason it's important to always use the camera and lens dropdowns when you upload photos to the gallery. And if you use the forums upload, please visit your gallery and update the information on your photos so that they show the camera and lens. This makes the gallery a much more useful resource for everyone

[MihaiG]

I have an Evolt 500 with the 2-lens kit that comes with the camera. I've been very happy with the quality of pictures taken, although I am still learning all the capabilities of the camera. In today's fast paced life, I tend to stick with the Auto mode, instead of using different modes or using a manual setting.


Regards,
Mihai.

[sz.attila.bp]

this is great