newbie question

[Ttom]

This is my first post here and I'm just as green as grass so bare with me please.

I bought an Olympus E-500 several months ago to take pictures of my daughter playing basketball. I don't think the kit lense ( zuiko 40-150mm f3.5-4.5 ) is going to take me where I want to go and I'm discovering that Olympus seems to have some really nice, and really high if not over priced glass. I can't spend $5000 for glass right now, just can't do it but I could go $1000 to $1500 I guess.
Do you think I could make a significant improvment for that kind of money, if so what would you recommend.
Also I'm hoping to take lots of pictures of our local simi pro baseball team this summer if they don't run me off. ;)

[Redo]

Welcome Tom. What is bothering you about your lens. Speed is one obvious point for that lens but is also too long?

Red

[mjs1973]

Welcome to the Forum Ttom. I'll start off by saying that I know NOTHING about Olympus gear so I don't have any specific lens suggestions for you. I can tell you tho, that many of the sports shooters here LOVE the 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses. I would look for something in that zoom range, and speed for your Olympus. I know there are some Canon shooters here who have gone with the Sigma version of this lens because they couldn't afford the Canon lens. Again, I don't know if Sigma makes this lens in an Olympus mount, but something to look into.

[JSPhoto]

A 70-200mm f2.8 is the way to go but I don't know if Olympus makes one. This should make a big difference, but again, I do not know the quality of the Olympus lens. I don't think Sigma makse an Olympus mount lens, but it would be a good choice if they did.
It's fast and sharp glass.

As for taking photos at your minor league ball games, you may want to check with them about it, it could save you a lot of headaches later, and who knows, maybe you can get a deal with them so you can afford to go deeper into the wallet for better len(es).

JS

[Ttom]

Thanks for the replys.
Olympus uses the 4/3 and I saw where Sigma is supposed to be coming out with some 4/3 lenses but I haven't found any yet.

[Redo]

For fast lenses the Oly 90-250 is an f2 is it for the e-500 but I think it is $5,000. This is the real deal for Oly if you have the money. Since you don't want to spend that much there is a 50-200 f2.8-3.5 that is plenty fast and sharp for most users. The 50-200 I believe costs are around $1,000.

It looks like Panasonic/Leica is designing 4/3rds cameras so it looks like you will have options in the future for any glass you buy today. Good luck and happy shooting.

Red