olympus dslr

thebaz

I have posted before that i am considering getting an entry level digital slr, still to take the actual plunge , but i was going to go with the Olympus E 500 . Checked a few shops in town , and they didn't have it in stock , to get a look and feal of actual camera. They were pushing the Nikon D50 , as an alternative , and it fealt good, and reading posts here concerning SLR's, it is all Nikon and Canon . Am i mad considering Olympus , and should i just go for more tried and tested Nikon D50 (or failing that Canon eos 350) , sorry for re-posting , but i hate parting with my cash, and am confused again

311

Olympus are not doing very well at the moment ,I'd always be concerned that whatever I bought ,was going to become obsolete.
Nikon and canon don't seem to have any problems.

Just my 2c

Brian.

elven

The main downside with non nikon/canon is that there's not so many people who use them and therefore there will be less information available, it would also affect the availability of accessories and lenses. I think that's why there's nobody here that owns one and is able to say 'yep, its great, buy one tomorrow'... so it's not to say that they aren't great, as such, such not so 'popular'.

melekalikimaka

i've heard great things about them, i have an old film slr by olypmus and the only reason i dont use it is lens...theyre not easily got around here, i think you can buy adapters tho to use other brands

thebaz

melekalikimaka wrote:

i've heard great things about them, i have an old film slr by olypmus and the only reason i dont use it is lens...theyre not easily got around here, i think you can buy adapters tho to use other brands

should be able to pick up required extra lens online, i would hope !!
I actually have a compact digital olympus , and it is great , and helped rekindle my interest in photography. But for the big leap into SLR , want to ensure i get it right

melekalikimaka

what exactly are your reasons for picking olympus, nikon/canon is the most logical option tbh, unless you've olympus equip i couldnt really see wht anyone would pick them over the big 2

thebaz

melekalikimaka wrote:

what exactly are your reasons for picking olympus, nikon/canon is the most logical option tbh, unless you've olympus equip i couldnt really see wht anyone would pick them over the big 2

Got a reccomendation here, and as i already owned a compact Olympus , i investigated .
For 817 euros you get a fair spec slr along with a 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 lens , seams very competive , but .....

thebaz

thats with pixmania
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/163249/art/olympus/e-500-14-45mm-f-3-5-5-7-4.html

who i'm a bit wary of using , as ive heard some bad reports, and would prefer to buy in Ireland , where i could get decent backup, if price is not too prohibative.

melekalikimaka

but...indeed

beans

Ebay should have the lenses you need for fairly reasonable prices. Hunt around a bit and get to know the market a bit, a good bargain will turn up

Such as my 50mm 1.4 that cost me 40euro...

311

If you're going to go down the route of Ebay for lenses why not buy the camera the same way.
I just went through AC-FOTO and sigma/tokina/tamron don't do olympus lenses. theres only 20 or so olympus lenses ,doesn't leave much room for error. Of the 20 or less ,there are 5-6 lenses that are over 2K. one is 7K

thebaz

think i'll go with Nikon d50 -- it is my cheapest option , and probably get a couple of lenses as well , AF-S DX 18-55 mm ED + AF-S DX 55-200 mm ED

raymondc

I shoot an Olympus E1 DSLR. Great for outdoor work. Dreadful performance indoors.

311

good choice ,if you ever decide to sell the D50 ,you won't have any trouble.
Good luck with it

Brian.

thebaz

raymondc wrote:

I shoot an Olympus E1 DSLR. Great for outdoor work. Dreadful performance indoors.

i would plan doing a lot of indoor photography , so my d50 choice is further confirmed (aware we are looking at different olympus models) .

melekalikimaka

yeah i have a d50...great camera.

Fajitas!

Without being too brand elitest, there's a reason people stick with Canon and Nikon...

nilhg

Hi all

I have an E500 and am very happy with it, before I bought it I had a fuji s5000 so had no investment in any equipment to tie me in to any particular brand. When I was considering a DSLR I trawled the reviews on the mags and the various photo sites and came up with a short list of the D50 the 350d and the E500, then I went int Dixons in the Jervis centre and handled them all, where I found the 350d too be uncomfortably small in my hands. The factor which on which I eventualy decided to go for the E500 was that at the time I could get the twin lens kit for the same price as the single lens version of the D50 and all the reviews had said that the kit lenses (especially the 45-150) were of higher quality than the one included with the D50.

Since I got the camera I have realised that no matter which camera I had bought I faced a very steep learning curve and am now, six months later, only starting to become reasonably confident with the camera.

My advice would be if you are only starting off with a DSLR, dont spend too much time agonising about the choice of gear buy a kit, get it in your hands and take loads of pictures, when ever you feel that you need something better the kit will be saleable, and you can go on to better things.

Good shooting

John

P.S. while typing this I was thinking would there be any connection between the obvious enthusiam for C/N and the fact that ther is a sticky at the top of the forum complaining about prices in the Irish market? Just a thought

punchdrunk

baz you got that recomendation from me,
i've handled all the popular dslr's going at the moment and i sold my dad an e-500,and i'd hardly give a ****e deal to my old man would i?

only dslr's i'd take over it would be the 30d or d200 (in the sub 2k market)

alot of people seem to get sucked into either the nikon or canon gravy train and never get out,they want to use older film lenses and flashes etc that they own so they have to get a 350d or whatever ignoring the fact that their old lenses won't be too spectactular,if they even work at all!

i often heard old photographers saying stuff like "i'm a nikon man" buying gear that they've never used or even read reviews of,just because of the name on the front!

i don't think olympus will be going anywhere anytime soon

punchdrunk

oh and dixons will shaft you with a battery holder instead of a lithium and charger the bastards
...beware!

joolsveer

I wrote this back in April and have not changed my mind despite the bias here for Canon and Nikon.

joolsveer wrote:

Why would you advise anyone not to buy cameras made by other makers? Olympus and Pentax are two of the manufacturers who have a track record in making excellent SLRs and the Olympus dSLRs get very good write ups. Until recently I had not used Canon products and though I am happy with the 1000FN and 350D I don't think they are superior to other makes e.g. Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Minolta, (these are all the brands I can think of at the moment).

gyppo

I use the Olympus E1, and I am considering buying the E500. Olympus make fine camera's (with the exception of the E300 -- ugh.....), and are often overlooked in favour of the C/N brands.

punchdrunk wrote:

alot of people seem to get sucked into either the nikon or canon gravy train and never get out,they want to use older film lenses and flashes etc that they own so they have to get a 350d or whatever ignoring the fact that their old lenses won't be too spectactular,if they even work at all!

Could'nt agree more.

raymondc wrote:

I shoot an Olympus E1 DSLR. Great for outdoor work. Dreadful performance indoors.

??
Have you used the FL-50 flash? It greatly assists AF. I have never had problems with indoor performance.

@ OP,
at the end of the day its your money you are spending, examine all the camera's out there, and buy what you like. If you go for olympus, keep an eye on Ebay for the 14-54mm lens - its a million miles better than the 14-45mm thats bundled with the E500. Also, 4/3 adapters for other lens manufacturers are widely available on ebay all the time. These will allow you to use canon, nikon, and others in manual mode on your olympus. The 40-150mm lens is supposed to be fairly good - I use a sigma 55-200 myself, which is reasonable. I've asked Santy for the zuiko 50-200:D

thebaz

punchdrunk wrote:

oh and dixons will shaft you with a battery holder instead of a lithium and charger the bastards
...beware!

thanks -- any reccomendations where to view / buy in Dublin , at a decent price and a bit of backup ?

Also , i have never used an SLR before , would the Nikon d50 be easier to start with , i.e. easier to use for a novice ? or is the Olympus easy eneogh to use, with auto features etc .

nilhg

I bought mine from Cam-Ireland, the inital price was a lot lower than here and as an added bonus I could put in my VAT number and get the German VAT deducted at source which made the price difference way too big to ignore.

Since it is your first SLR you can expect to face a fairly steep learning curve learning to use all the features to their full extent, but the camera has full auto and about 20 preset scene modes which make life easier while you learn how to do it all manually yourself.

One feature of the Olympus that you should consider is the dustbuster, it is great to know that you should never have to go poking around in the innards of your camera trying to swab away dust.

thebaz

technikdirekt.de do the olympus e500 , with dual lens for 760 euros , if the olympus is as easy to use as the Nikon d50 for a novice, and has full auto features , i may well go with the e500 -- i know i'm so decisive .....NOT

Fenster

I had a play around with that camera and its lenses and I wasn't impressed.

K_user

melekalikimaka wrote:

what exactly are your reasons for picking olympus, nikon/canon is the most logical option tbh, unless you've olympus equip i couldnt really see wht anyone would pick them over the big 2

I have an old Olympus camera at home that I’ve had for about 18 years and I’d still bring it with me today if I wasn’t “hooked” on the whole digital thing. In fact when I took my first steps into the digital world I bought an Olympus P&S, just to get a feel for things. If given the option I’d probably get an E 500, but they and their accessories, just aren’t regularly available here.