Olympus E500 or Nikon D40

[yvelau]

I am considering buting an Olympus E500 dual lens kit at $800
...or a D40 basic kit at $850.

love D40..because alot of positive comment but only comes with 55mm lens.
E500 is alot cheaper. lens covered till 150mm...but seems to have problem with noise and low light auto focus.

pls help!

[MIA]

Originally Posted by yvelau I am considering buting an Olympus E500 dual lens kit at $800 ...or a D40 basic kit at $850. love D40..because alot of positive comment but only comes with 55mm lens. E500 is alot cheaper. lens covered till 150mm...but seems to have problem with noise and low light auto focus. pls help!

Quality Images = Olympus
Faster Focusing = Nikon

I recommend Oly !

[wetmarket]

yeah.. if you are keen, maybe u can take a look at the latest E System from Oly. The E410 and the E510....

http://www.olympus-esystem.com/dea/

[tunghk]

Below are my own opnion :

size : olympus

kit lens quality : olympus

function : not sure (I think almost similiar)

nosie : not a big problem cos can use software to "clean up". And how often you boost your ISO??

Used market size : nikon

[dorts]

If you are going for picture quality and colour, Olympus. Olympus colours are very vibrant.

[guoliang]

currently am using a D40, not that bad, still can satisfy me

am using 18-135mm on my D40, its like totally don't need anything else already!! but for oly if you want further distance you have to change lens le... and i find that very troublesome and will cause more dust inside the cam.. then if want wide angle... have to change again...

but so far... oly focus speed slower then nikon le...

at first i also tot of buying E500... but my friend told me not to because slower in focus...

but i believe there are post here doing camera rental... try rent it first and fully utilize both cam... then decide

cheers

[OlyFlyer]

Originally Posted by yvelau I am considering buting an Olympus E500 dual lens kit at $800 ...or a D40 basic kit at $850. love D40..because alot of positive comment but only comes with 55mm lens. E500 is alot cheaper. lens covered till 150mm...but seems to have problem with noise and low light auto focus. pls help!

Why ask here? Do you expect a massive N support saying get the D40?

I don't have any N experience as most here have biased opinions. No camera is perfect. IMO, the D40 is a very basic camera while the E-500 is much more advanced. The price/quality is also better for Oly. If noise is an issue, I suspect it is just something everybody talks about, so you bring it up, then get another camera. I don't say D40 because AFAIK, even that can have problems at high ISO. Samples images I have seen from the E-410 at high ISO are terribly good, I dare say better than almost any other camera can take.

Then there is the SSWF. Oly has it N has it not. It is working so well that after one year, I still did not had to clean my CCD. So, as time goes by, Oly gets cheaper. If you often change lenses, as I do, you WILL get dust into the camera body no matter what N ppl say. DUST IS A REAL ISSUE!

I guess if you ask the same question over at N they come up with many arguments why you should take the D40, but if the noise is the only argument against Oly, I say get Oly. Ask yourself how often you have ever used a film over ISO400. If the answer is never, than noise is not a problem. But if you in future constanly plan to use ISO1600 than you will not get sharp images with any camera, some are better but all noisy. Oly has a different kind of noise, more like film grain. Anyway, than I say get the E-410 or wait for the E-510. IMO all three models are better than the D40.

[drewdam]

Originally Posted by guoliang currently am using a D40, not that bad, still can satisfy me am using 18-135mm on my D40, its like totally don't need anything else already!! but for oly if you want further distance you have to change lens le... and i find that very troublesome and will cause more dust inside the cam.. then if want wide angle... have to change again... but so far... oly focus speed slower then nikon le... at first i also tot of buying E500... but my friend told me not to because slower in focus... but i believe there are post here doing camera rental... try rent it first and fully utilize both cam... then decide cheers

ask nikon user, will they mind change lens? if they are into slr...

yes dust is a problem for some of the dslr cos it doesnt come with SSWF

[psychobiologist]

well... there wont be an end to this topic, for nikon lovers will vote for nikon whereas oly fans will vote for the oly e500.

having a d40 as my spare body, its actually one of my most used cameras for every day use. shutter count for the d40's probably 4 times that of my main.

i'll not compare between brands here but offer you my impressions of the d40

1) very light, i can snap with 1 hand w/o any shaking
2) the kit lens 18-55 II has got an amazing MTF50 as a kit lens, if one is bothered abt sharpness at that level. The 18-135 has just as good results, but more barrel towards the wider end. http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/len...6_II/index.htm
3) Image engine for the d40 is very good, pictures straight out of the cam is great.
4) by far one of the lowest noise amongst nikon dslrs, at least in my opinion/experience shooting in darkness etc, the noise is much lower than the d70/d80.
5) i love the lcd. heh.
6) on manual focus, as you rotate the focus ring, if the object is in focus, there will be a green indicator light in the view finder that comes on.


cons
1) you cannot AF with non AFS lenses,
2) the only AFS prime lense so far for nikon is the 105mm VR f2.8 (no worries if you are into macros though, cuz most macros are best done on manual focus)


i like it, because with it, i'm more into shooting and less bothered by all the clutter of buttons, and features that i probably might not use much.

haha why not make things a little more complicated by inquiring.. why not canon as well!!.. 400d's decent too, loads of features too. ok how abt pentax then? or.. sony..

[zanshin]

i have the e500 personally and uses the d40 in my work.

so my humble comparisons here........

focus speed : i dun feel any much difference most of the time, but e500 could be slower in low light and contrast. btw the d40 kits lens is not designed for manual focus as the focus ring is at the edge of the lens and so thin.

noise : e500 goes down to ISO100, d40 only to iso200, i seldom shoot very high iso but d40 is known to be good for noise, but some of my workmates shot at high iso(above800) is just as noisy as e500 i think.

support : d40 only uses AFS lenses, so you are not really saving that much if you intend to buy more lens

ease of use and handling : no fight olympus user interface much faster. e500 feels much better too, solid and smooth lens zoom

weight : d40 is very small so lighter but e500 feels better for guys. e500 is also a light SLR.

value : e500 got 2 lens and i dare say very good lenses esp the 40-150. e500 lens comes with lens hood.

in build flash : e500 more powerful.

other features : e500 got lots of other options not found in d40. they are in the menu. so the e500 is alot more customisable and more advanced options which might never be used but good to have.

dust : whats there to compare?? e500 is proven....

my choice e500 or save up for the new e410.........

[dorts]

Great. A guy with both cameras that can compare.

[night86mare]

Isn't the choice simple?

D40 = need to buy Autofocus lens next time = painful pocket in the long run.

E500! =D

[drewdam]

Originally Posted by night86mare Isn't the choice simple? D40 = need to buy Autofocus lens next time = painful pocket in the long run. E500! =D

hmmm coming from a P user?

[night86mare]

Originally Posted by drewdam hmmm coming from a P user?

I shoot very often with a O user. =)

Espion, that is. And honestly, if I had more money I'd save up for the E510, dust problems are killing me sometimes. P K100D is fantastic though! Come on, let all the underdog brands rally against the big ugly C and N! =D

[OlyFlyer]

Originally Posted by guoliang currently am using a D40, not that bad, still can satisfy me am using 18-135mm on my D40, its like totally don't need anything else already!! but for oly if you want further distance you have to change lens le... and i find that very troublesome and will cause more dust inside the cam.. then if want wide angle... have to change again... but so far... oly focus speed slower then nikon le... at first i also tot of buying E500... but my friend told me not to because slower in focus... but i believe there are post here doing camera rental... try rent it first and fully utilize both cam... then decide cheers

Not that it is any of my business, but why invest in a dSLR if lens changing is a problem? There are many very good superzoom compact cameras out there today that are cheaper than a dSLR. As for having to change after 135mm on Oly, may I ask why? There is an Oly 18-180mm lens out there, just in case one wishes to have one single lens only.

Your friend uses Oly? Maybe the D40 is faster than the E500 (just maybe, I have yet to test if it is true in a proper, unbiased test) but I am very sorry to say, I prefer the Oly image quality. IMO that outperforms both the Nikon D40, D50, D70, Canon 350D and 400D. I know some ppl who have been proudly showing their images but for me the colors that they produce is not the right one. I have never used N & C, so they may do something wrong but to me Oly colors are real. Sorry I had to say that...

[vendeta]

Originally Posted by guoliang currently am using a D40, not that bad, still can satisfy me am using 18-135mm on my D40, its like totally don't need anything else already!! but for oly if you want further distance you have to change lens le... and i find that very troublesome and will cause more dust inside the cam.. then if want wide angle... have to change again... but so far... oly focus speed slower then nikon le... at first i also tot of buying E500... but my friend told me not to because slower in focus... but i believe there are post here doing camera rental... try rent it first and fully utilize both cam... then decide cheers

I think your missing the point of a DSLR camera

[obewan]

One man's meat is another man's poison.

Go to the shop that allow you to try both.
Just choose the one you like.
Both brands are good.
They have their pros and cons.
Both have their limits.

Just get either one and go out shooting.
Know their limits, and you will not be disappointed.

[yvelau]

Thank you everybody for sharing.
......it is always nice to hear opinions from users of both camera.

I hope this has not caused a brand 'tension', you guys are great,
you've just helped a newbie get more info and make a better decision. Thanks

[OlyFlyer]

You are welcome. No tension at all, not even if you go for N. Please tell us about the winner.

Happy shooting! Regardless which one you go for, once you have it start learning it all the way. It will show in your pictures.

Good luck!

[Kid Shotter]

If you want to go Nikon,at least D50.E500 over D40 if you don't want incompatibility issue with lens,always change lens,very cun tele kit lens,Dust reduction system,better colour,better build,more advance interface function but trade the slightly af speed and high iso performance.