The story of my E-500

[OlyFlyer]

OK, do you want to read my Oly E-500 life story?
Well, before you answer NOOOOOOO! Here it is anyway.

One day in March last year I decided dSLR technology is now up to my requirement and it is time to get a new camera. My OM2n was about 25 years old, so sooner or later it will just give up. I never had a digital photo camera before because I regarded P&S as expensive toys, compacts as even more expensive toys and dSLRs as very very expensive cameras. I noticed a price drop and performance rise last year on dSLRs and so I decided to make my move.

After doing some survey, not asking on any forum but looking for facts on my own, I was left to choose between Canon 350D and Nikon D70. After some more survey I ended up with Nikon D70. Why? I don't remember all the facts but I thought that was a better camera. I always dreamed about having a Nikon but my wallet always said NO. When I bought my OM2n I actually wanted the Nikon F3 but had no money for it. So I became a happy owner of Olympus OM2n and stayed loyal for 25 years. Now it was time to switch camp, I had the money and I selected the camera. What was left was to find the best price, go ask my local dealer and order the camera. When the price survey was done I switched off my computer, went to read a magazine. Within a few minutes, everything turned upside down. In the magazine I saw an ad for Olympus E-500 dual lens kit. How could I miss that before? I had no idea at all that Oly made ANY dSLR cameras; I have never seen their ad before, only for P&S and compacts. I immediately turned on my computer and found out some more about the camera, but within a half an hour I have completely revised every previous decision and decided THIS is my next camera. Why? Well, just a feeling. But here are a few of my points.

1. SSWF

I believe dust is a big and important issue. A working technology (the only one at that time) to remove or minimize the effects of dust is important. Over the year this turned out to be true, especially now and then when I hear about people who are afraid to change lenses. I am never thinking twice about changing lens. OK, maybe in a sand storm I would not do it, but in normal conditions, outdoors or indoors just do it like before.

2. Compatibility with OM gear

I had a large collection of lenses and other OM equipment. To sell all that and buy everything new is very expensive. Again, I had no money to start from scratch and getting all the stuff at the same time. Realizing I don't have to throw away every lens and other accessory made me excited about the E-500 system. Using a simple adapter, MF-1, I can use all my OM lenses and all my macro tubes, lens reverser and TC. OK, manual focus and aperture control but it is still better than nothing. Using my flashes was also a piece of cake. Especially the T32 turned very quickly out to be my main flash until I got the FL-50.

3. Possibility to use ANY film camera lens except Canon on the E-500

Using a simple adapter any, or almost any manual focus lens or lens gear such as macro tubes or bellows made for film SLRs can be used. The only exception is Canon lenses. It is not possible to make an adapter for those, AFAIK. I have a few Pentax lenses also but never really tried that option, except with my M42 and Konica bellows. Anyway, for example a Nikon film camera user can easily switch to Oly the same way, saving all the lenses, just changing body. At the time of selecting my camera I thought this was important. Today, personally I don't care; I am not going to buy other brand film lenses.

Based mainly on 1 and 2 but partially 3 also, I completely changed my decision within one hour after seeing that E-500 ad. Visiting Olympus web showed that Oly made more than one dSLR, there was the E-1, E-300 and E-330 also. In my opinion the E-1 was outdated, low MP for the future, I did not like the shape of E-3xx so I was left with what I at that time called the "best Olympus had to offer". Next day I placed my order.

Did I regret my move? Yes and no. There were times when I hated Olympus. Lack of proper remote is a major thing. The way TTL works is another. I had no idea before that the technology has taken a step back. IMO my 25 years old OM2n and T32 combo had better flash handling than the E-system. I am thinking of pre-flash. The 100ms between pre-flash and main flash is too long. I keep catching faces with closed or blinking eyes because of the 100ms delay. I think there is definitely a need for improvement on flash technology. Other than that, no regrets at all. I love the color the camera is producing and I have no problem with the noise, just use the camera as I used film. OK, if it would work up to ISO 1600 or 3200 without noise it would be better but I don't actually care. The other thing is the number of AF points. Many complain and say three is not enough. Well, to me it is. I only use the center one anyway. AF speed could have been better, I admit. But again, compared how long it took to focus manually with my OM I think the E-500 is faster most of the times. Is it a good camera? Definitely. Is it better than my other options, the 350D and the D70? No idea. Definitely in some ways, not in others. Regarding my 1 and 2 definitely the E-500 beats both, actually they cannot even compete on those two points. I am however sure that if I had gone for the D70 I would be a happy owner of a Nikon today, writing maybe the same positive way. I would probably love that camera too.

What is your story? Care to tell us CS: ers and all the guest visitors?

[King Tiger]

Hi OlyFlyer

I am not Olympus users.
All I can say is photography is an expensive purchase and
all system got their pros and cons regardless it is Nikon, Canon and etc.

[drakon09]

Originally Posted by King Tiger Hi OlyFlyer I am not Olympus users. All I can say is photography is an expensive purchase and all system got their pros and cons regardless it is Nikon, Canon and etc.

Yeah, we know.

The FourThirds community is quite an informed bunch.

[OlyFlyer]

Originally Posted by King Tiger Hi OlyFlyer I am not Olympus users. All I can say is photography is an expensive purchase and all system got their pros and cons regardless it is Nikon, Canon and etc.

This thread is not about which is better, mine or yours. It is about how I personally ended up with an E-500, how I made the selection and which points I personally found to be the most important ones in my selection process. I think all this mine is better than yours and all systems has its pros and cons is not an interesting discussion since by now every argument has been used over and over again many times. Very early during my selection process I realized that there is no point asking any forum because it always ends up the same way, full of pointless arguments about which system is better. That's why I did my homework by myself.

Thank you for making it clear for me that photography is expensive. I only have about 35 years of SLR experience. But photography is even more expensive if you have to buy all what I had at the same time. So in my opinion, compatibility is important. Looking back today, I would say that is the most important point for me. However, if I would have started from nothing or from P&S the main reason would have been the SSWF, but maybe in that case I would not even noticed the Oly ad that changed my mind.

Yes, photography is expensive and it is great fun. Regardless of camera brand. Why don't you tell us the story on how you made your selection? I think personal views are more intersting to read than sandpit arguments over pros and cons and wich brand is better. Most of the times ppl have actually no idea about the "other" brand, just repeating what they have heard or read, so comparisions and verdicts are most times very biased and worthless.

[grantyale]

Originally Posted by OlyFlyer Most of the times ppl have actually no idea about the "other" brand, just repeating what they have heard or read, so comparisions and verdicts are most times very biased and worthless.

One never knows until he actually owns a particular system and then he loses the ability to compare it against others. It's about jumping into whatever you find reasonable and enjoy shooting.

I like the shutter release button and the screen on E500, but too bad I don't own it.

[espion]

I started with film, and had a Minolta X300 (or was it 700 - I dont remember), and yes Nikon was king in those days. Never heard of Canon.

Then after a long, long time, restarted photgraphy again - digital this time - the first thing on my mind was Nikon - advertisements do pay. And so I got a Nikon P&S. DSLR was too ex then. It was the era of the D70 in the prosumer DSLR market.

Then hit the limitations of the PnS. I could never do butterflies, by the time the image was acquired and displayed on the screen, the butterflies were long gone - there was certainly no liveview then.

Also I had my first dust problem - dust in a PnS! Sent for servicing twice but it stuck. That was when I seriously started thinking DSLR all over again. And price/performance have moved seriously too.

After the bad after taste with Nikon, all their offerings were suspect - and I think I am right about their D70 - and then also realised how very much Canon have overtaken them. So after some research, I was gunning for the 350D.

Then Oly E300 popped up, and with good reviews and I asked who is Oly? But that was all: 350D was still the goal. And just when I was literally to go out and fork cash for the 350D, came the E500 splash and its packaged offerings, in addition to - very importantly, since, as most said, this was and is an expensive hobby - the price; and - from dpreview - without any performance compromises.

It was the budget that essentially decided, or chose for me.

Only later did I fully appreciated SSWF and ZD. And now its a different story.

[dorts]

I'll like to share my newbie story too.

It was my parents who first wanted to have a DSLR. My mother ventured into Photography long time ago. She eventually had no more time for it. But decided maybe having a DSLR would be great. So I did some research for her, and told her about the D40. I wasn't in CS at that time. Ken Rockwell brought me to the D40. Soon after, I joined CS, and read about the disadvantages people complained about. (AF-S lenses only) We continued with the decision to get the Nikon D40.

Went down to Funan, Harvey Norman. We took a look at the D40, liked it. But soon after, a salesman came down. "D40 no good. It is only compatible with some lenses. I recommend the Olympus." And so he showed us the E-500. He sweet-talked to us, saying how good the E-500 is and stuff. LOL. I still wanted the D40, but my parents got the E-500 in the end, as it was cheaper and had 2 lenses instead of the D40 with only 1 lens. Buy already, what can we do? So I accepted the fact that it was not a Nikon. Played with it, and I ventured into Photography. After a few days of meddling with it, I never regretted getting the E-500. So it became "mine" instead of theirs, because I am with it most of the time.

Here is what I liked about the E-500:

1) Vibrant colours. I was shocked at what the E-500 could take. A large difference from my P&S. I looked at some other photos from other brands and found Olympus colours looked nicer.

2) Light yet solid. The E-500 although light, it feels very solid in my hands. I held my mom's canon SLR and it felt so plastic and cheap.

3) User-friendly. It was very easy to use, for a newbie like me who knew nuts about cameras. Learnt to use in like, 5 minutes?

I believe there are others I have not mentioned.

Dislikes

1) ISO performance. It isn't all that great. Max I go is 400 or else the noise will be quite visible.

2) Low light focusing. It usually hunts a lot in low light. And the AF Assist thing was irritating. But I still use it. LOL.

3) Limited lenses. Although we do not plan to have much lenses, I feel there is limited cheap lenses that I can explore with. All are quite expensive but of very good quality. I guess I'll stick with the kit lenses first.

[SleepingIdol]

For me, when I made decision to go into DSLR, honestly I do not know which brand is good, Nikon or Canon or even Sony A100 (the only brand I'm familiar with at that time). So, I dropped by at Courts just to survey the price (usually I will use prices in Courts as benchmark - as the highest - so that I can go elsewhere and later ask for bargain). Then, I saw Olympus. The prices was tempting with 2 kit lens (as compared to the other 2 with only 1 lens).

I approached the salesman but the feedback from him for E-500 not that good. Being not satisfied, I went to other shops and received mixed news. So I ended up searching for reviews from dpreview, cnet etc... and surprisingly, E-500 has a good review. One of the concerns abt DSLR is the dust issue and it seems Oly has this issue sorted out (not 100% but better than none).

So after weeks of consideration and doing my own research (without consulting anyone else other than the reviews in internet) I decided to go ahead with the E-500.

What I like about it are:

1. The SSWF.
2. The design - Light and not bulky
3. Attractive price at that time (unfortunately, 1 mth later it dropped another 200 sob sob)
4. Menus are user friendly
5. Not many people using it which means not common which naturally I feel the uniqueness of being Oly user. (just like HP, I prefer SE than Nokia which is very common)


Initially, no dislikes but when I'm more familiar and wanting to go more serious it seems Oly's lens are more expensive, lack of additional accessories like battery grip, cable shutter release etc, pc-sync (correct me if i'm wrong).

However, I still like my E-500 and proud to be the owner of it.....

The End!

[drakon09]

Salesmen recommending Olympus?

Now I've heard everything....

(I'm convinced those buggers at Courts, Harvey Norman only know Canikon...)

[dechang]

Hi all,

I've been reminded everytime I logged on here to at least post a message. I haven't done that yet since I joined this list. So, here it goes.

I bought my E-500 last November, and I don't bother to look at any other brands now. Does it meet my needs as an amateur photographer who doesn't take photos more than hobby shoots? The answer is a big YES! The colours are IMHO better than the Nikons and Canons at the same price range and specs, and it's quite easy to use. And of course, the amount of technical stuff I found on the web plus on this list, there's more than enough encouragement and reassurance that my purchase was right. I'm speaking as an ex-Nikon user (my old camera is an F601) that has given me some pretty nice performances as far as film photography is concerned.

Taking scenery pictures with the E-500 is great. Colour balance is nice, and resolution is good enough for normal viewing. But what I like best is the fine details that consistently show up in every good shot I took, and that's really heartening to see.

How did I end up buying the E-500 instead of a Nikon or even the Canon possibly? Well, as someone mentioned earlier, I was influenced by a salesperson. The real test was to take a few shots for yourself to see the difference. I was convinced. Moreover, at that time, the E-500 was on promotion. So, for the same budget, I decided to bite the bullet and go for it. I had done enough research for Nikon and Canon, so much so I was quite undecided which to go for, until I saw and tested the E-500. There's no turning back anyway (don't have the money to keep changing brands), and I'm still discovering pleasant surprises every now and then.

My wish list for the year: a macro lens and an external flash. Any suggestions, fellow members?

Best regards,

dechang

[night86mare]

Originally Posted by drakon09 Salesmen recommending Olympus? Now I've heard everything.... (I'm convinced those buggers at Courts, Harvey Norman only know Canikon...)

Can I come into 4/3 and wax lyrical about Pentax?

-runs-

[holidaydom]

Originally Posted by dechang My wish list for the year: a macro lens and an external flash. Any suggestions, fellow members?

If you're on a budget - the FL36 is a good flash and 35mm f3.5 is actually pretty decent in terms of overall performance and picture quality. (costs around S$350)

But for double the cost you can get the FL50 and 50mm f2.0 - get these and you'll never look back.

The FL50 is currently the top of the range ext. flash for OLY and the 50mm f2.0 Macro Lens has won many awards and is well know for it's clarity and sharpness.

[OlyFlyer]

Originally Posted by night86mare Can I come into 4/3 and wax lyrical about Pentax? -runs-

Yes, definitely. Actually this is not about Oly or 4/3. I'd be interested to hear N, C, S, L or any other brand ppl to open up too.

[SleepingIdol]

[quote=dechang;3061873]Hi all,

My wish list for the year: a macro lens and an external flash. Any suggestions, fellow members?

I have 50mm Macro f2.0 and FL36, good enough for me (really love the 50mm Macro lens).
Of course I cud have gone for FL50 if there is budget.

Cheers!

[Blu-By-U]

Here is how mine started. Long time user of P&S..started with the Minolta Dimage V and then to the canon isux and FujiQ1...then fell in love with the Panasonics. FX3 then FX5...all the way to the LC50 (them Leica lens were just amazing). Somewhere in between that, someone offered me the 8080WZ. Just loved the colors. Very similar to the Panasonics that I have been using.

Was traveling thru Guling/ China with the family and I smack straight into the limitations. My panorama were not coming out as I wanted. The speed was just not there. My shot to shot buffer was just too slow for my liking and the limitation of the wide.

Back home I started looking at dSLR..D80 and then poisoned by the D200 but could not bring myself to commit my savings on it. A few months pass, then Panasonic announced joining the 4/3 consortium and with it the Leica lens would be made available...Did some research, the Olympus were the originator of the 4/3 consortium. Then someone offered me a brand new E-500 twin lens kit at a very low price.

The push came when I was given a free trip to Jiuzhaigau/China. Was told of the nice scenery..I knew the 8080 would not be able to give me the wide that was needed. So that was that. Got the package E-500, twin kit lens. Played around with it for a month...just missed the Liveview.

That E-330 is another story....

[drakon09]

Originally Posted by night86mare Can I come into 4/3 and wax lyrical about Pentax? -runs-

You can wax my car while you're at it...

[OlyFlyer]

Interesting stories. It seems that most of us have had Nikon in mind before going for Oly. Actually, I wanted, just like Blu, the D200 but because I never had a digital camera before, I thought the D200 is just far too expensive to buy just for start as an entry-level camera. I just wanted to see if I like digital photography or want to go back to film before going seriously into the dSLR business. Now it is too late, My OM bodies are sold, so it looks like I am stuck. I am not even thinking about the crop factor or 35mm equivalent and all that anymore.

Blu, what happened to the E-330 story? Are you so angry that you try to hide your past?

To all: thank you for sharing your stories. It would be interesting to hear some C, N & S and other brand ppl also to hear how they ended up with whatever they have. I think stories like these may help a few newbie’s to realize that we all had some difficulties when we made our moves and reached to our wallets, regardless of previous photographic experience. Some made quick turns, like me, last minute changing mind.

Actually, there may be an error in my story. As I read some posts I realized that it might have been the D80 I was going to buy not the D70. Not that this small detail is important anymore today, but Nikon comes with a new model about every second month or so, so it is a bit confusing and makes difficult to keep track of all the models. This is also a point I like in Olympus, more of a long-term strategy than others.

[Blu-By-U]

The E-330...you have to bring that up. ok here is how I end up with the E-330...

As mentioned, I could not get use to shooting without the LV (LiveView). I was really desperate. In about 2 months I was to leave for JZG (Jiuzhaigau) and I just could not get the level right and framing was wrong and....nightmare. Got to know about the E-330 which comes with LV. That E-330 is about S$300~S$500 more than the E-500 and it comes with only 1 kit lens (14-45) So I shop around in CS and in a lot of other Olympus dedicated forum and one nice gentleman had one on sale.

A few emails and a body swap took place. Met him got the camera and had the $$$ to spare to get the FL-50. I also got the 11-22 at the same time. Happy with my camera and used it only at ISO Auto/100 only. I hardly venture beyond the ISO 200. I always say know your equipment and learn to shoot within the limitations.

Then a few weeks later, read on this forum of the banding issue!!!! Tested mine and low and behold!!!! it's BAD. too late to visit service so I went ahead with my holiday. Telling myself not to shoot at high ISO..A night concert, banding was very prominent.

Since then it have been a constant visit to Olympus service. banding, rubber pads coming loose and then memory card cover was loose. I got so fed up I left the camera at Olympus service. I said if the banding is not solved, I will not collect the camera.

Now comes another chapter...another nice gentleman was looking to get the E-330. (He is here in this forum also) Willing to swap his E-500 for a E-330. I contacted him, told him about the problems with my E-330 and if he does not mind, then I am willing to swap with him...He said he have read all my problems and is aware of the banding issues and he does not mind it. So a swap took place.

So now I am back to using the E-500.

I miss my articulate LIVEVIEW.

[microcosm]

Originally Posted by night86mare Can I come into 4/3 and wax lyrical about Pentax? -runs-

*Hands hover over "BAN" button*

Just kidding. But as long as you will wax my bro's car, you can wax all you want here... I would love to hear your story too... Pentax is a myth to me.

[microcosm]

Originally Posted by dechang Hi all, I've been reminded everytime I logged on here to at least post a message. I haven't done that yet since I joined this list. So, here it goes. My wish list for the year: a macro lens and an external flash. Any suggestions, fellow members? Best regards, dechang

Hi dechang,

Welcome to the community. It is great that you finally decided to post and join into discussions (and going off topic like most of us eventually...LOL) but this is your community now since you are an Olympian, and as long as you are ready to post, I am sure the community is ready to answer.

About the flash and macro, why don't you come by one of our meetings/gatherings? If you are joining us, I will bring both flash units for you to play with it. Whether to poison you or help you make that final decision, well... ha ha ha.

See around real soon.