Olympus E-520 Kit Pricelist

[kkktoh]

Hi all,

I am new here and also new to DSLR photography.
Therefore I am looking to buy a DSLR cam to play around and build up my experience using DSLR.

I am currently looking at canon E1000D, canon 450D, sony A350X and Olympus E-520.
Currently I am more towards the E-520 or the 450D.

Anyone know the price for the E-520 kit (with lens)?
I have problems finding the pricelist for it.

Thanks.

[blurboiboi]

prob you should look under four thirds forum...
2 weeks ago quote from XXX shop.. around 1070 + 7%gst (free 2pcs 2g) for dual kit...

[cityzensg]

check out this oly promo for reference...

http://www.alanphoto.com.sg/pdf/OlympusPromo.pdf

BTW my friend bought from MSColor @ 1330 for the 2-kit lens package last week

[kkktoh]

Thanks for the replies.

[azureswrath]

I wont even care about prices, when you're comparing both, i reckon you choose 1 for the specs not for the prices. Pictures of the 450d picture contrasts, colors are very dream-like, perfect for newbies. The entire camera is meant to meet everyone's demand, thier colors can easily make people go 'WOW', even if its such a boring shot. FOr the olympus side, i reckon you wouldn't like it in the long term, thier colors and dynamic ranges are just true to life and won't make you go wow. Its just.. okay.... Think about it, do you want enchanced and dreamy pictures? Go for the 450d. You want all natural, what you see is what you get? Get a e520.

Then comes the camera issues, the 450d can't take at mega low shutters, like obscene 1/15. While the olympus can cuz of the inbuilt image stabalizer! For dim light photography i'd say the olympus is a true champion.

Oh, and olympus lenses aren't cheap. When you reached a intermediate level and you're thinking of getting lenses.. That's when you wished you had a 10,000 a month pay check. A 50mm f2 price is 800 bucks atm. A canon's 50mm costs 100. THink about it, super high quality lenses at ridiculous premium prices or cheap standard stuff. In theory, there is no mid range olympus lenses; only high quality or super high quality and comes with a very high asking price or a super high asking price. Thier lens selection has a poor variety, it will come to a point when you will say olympus sucks.

As an olympus user, i will recommend you buy something else other than olympus. It seriously magnifies 'photography is an expensive hobby', inwhich buying lenses is equivalent to buying an entry level sony dslr.

[blurboiboi]

Originally Posted by azureswrath I wont even care about prices, when you're comparing both, i reckon you choose 1 for the specs not for the prices. Pictures of the 450d picture contrasts, colors are very dream-like, perfect for newbies. The entire camera is meant to meet everyone's demand, thier colors can easily make people go 'WOW', even if its such a boring shot. FOr the olympus side, i reckon you wouldn't like it in the long term, thier colors and dynamic ranges are just true to life and won't make you go wow. Its just.. okay.... Think about it, do you want enchanced and dreamy pictures? Go for the 450d. You want all natural, what you see is what you get? Get a e520. Then comes the camera issues, the 450d can't take at mega low shutters, like obscene 1/15. While the olympus can cuz of the inbuilt image stabalizer! For dim light photography i'd say the olympus is a true champion. Oh, and olympus lenses aren't cheap. When you reached a intermediate level and you're thinking of getting lenses.. That's when you wished you had a 10,000 a month pay check. A 50mm f2 price is 800 bucks atm. A canon's 50mm costs 100. THink about it, super high quality lenses at ridiculous premium prices or cheap standard stuff. In theory, there is no mid range olympus lenses; only high quality or super high quality and comes with a very high asking price or a super high asking price. Thier lens selection has a poor variety, it will come to a point when you will say olympus sucks. As an olympus user, i will recommend you buy something else other than olympus. It seriously magnifies 'photography is an expensive hobby', inwhich buying lenses is equivalent to buying an entry level sony dslr.

i think the comparison between the 2 50mms are not really valid... oly's one is a high grade lens...while canon's one is an entry level.... first thing first... canon one is definitely not sharp wide open, own 1 myself previously... second the oly's one is a macro lens, while the canon one is'nt... build quality is totally different too, one's solid while the other plastic... coupled with all the mentioned advantages, oly's 50mm is weather sealed.... and it cost me 700 last time not 800.....

i believe olympus' lens selection covers more than what any normal shooters need, of course with exception to super fast lens ( < F2),but again there's support from sigma if you really need one, 30mm f1.4 50mm f1.4 etc..its still relatively new in the dSLR market... give it some time for that... lens combo like 12-60, 50-200 will satisfy most....

not sure about the 450D... but my old 40D's colors are pretty dull... definitely not dreamy... and i believe 450d has the same image processor as the 40D... DR APS-C sensor tops a 4/3 one definitely... but its only by a little bit...

i am not trying to start a war here... hee.. just speaking from personal experiences, thats all....

[aryanto]

Hahaha I prefer my camera can capture natural colour. Why?

With Photoshop I can make dreamy colour from natural colour.
But, from dreamy colour can you make natural colour? I doubt.

I find it funny for the first time someone mention colour preference which is stated as perfect for newbie. normally people mention features and price as perfect for newbie, not colour...

[microcosm]

Originally Posted by azureswrath I wont even care about prices, when you're comparing both, i reckon you choose 1 for the specs not for the prices. Pictures of the 450d picture contrasts, colors are very dream-like, perfect for newbies. The entire camera is meant to meet everyone's demand, thier colors can easily make people go 'WOW', even if its such a boring shot. FOr the olympus side, i reckon you wouldn't like it in the long term, thier colors and dynamic ranges are just true to life and won't make you go wow. Its just.. okay.... Think about it, do you want enchanced and dreamy pictures? Go for the 450d. You want all natural, what you see is what you get? Get a e520. Then comes the camera issues, the 450d can't take at mega low shutters, like obscene 1/15. While the olympus can cuz of the inbuilt image stabalizer! For dim light photography i'd say the olympus is a true champion. Oh, and olympus lenses aren't cheap. When you reached a intermediate level and you're thinking of getting lenses.. That's when you wished you had a 10,000 a month pay check. A 50mm f2 price is 800 bucks atm. A canon's 50mm costs 100. THink about it, super high quality lenses at ridiculous premium prices or cheap standard stuff. In theory, there is no mid range olympus lenses; only high quality or super high quality and comes with a very high asking price or a super high asking price. Thier lens selection has a poor variety, it will come to a point when you will say olympus sucks. As an olympus user, i will recommend you buy something else other than olympus. It seriously magnifies 'photography is an expensive hobby', inwhich buying lenses is equivalent to buying an entry level sony dslr.

Very interesting and objective look at the comparisons... in this case, I would recommend people to also look at the Nikon D90... which is the newest DSLR to be released in this class... other comments cannot be said without turning this into a flame thread.

Regarding your comment on 520 images being what you see is what you get and 450D being dreamy and punchy, I would love to see some sample images to refresh my memories... In the 2 Olympus gallery threads within this section of the forums, I think you can find something that surprise you.

In any case, they say "one man's meat is another man's poison". At entry level, I think all systems are pretty much the same... but when one upgrades and wants better optics... it is quite simple really. It boils down to what the person wants...

What is interesting to note is that... if one opts for cheap lenses, Nikon and Canon wins hands down because they have so many third party companies making lens options for them from companies like Sigma, Tamron and Tokina and the likes, but Olympus, Panasonic and Sony sticks to their own main stable to maintain quality.

At intermediate level, lens options is all a blur, but when one moves up the higher quality lenses, surprise, but Olympus turns out to be one of the cheapest and yet providing mind blowing quality optics... this much you have to make it clear to the buyers when they are thinking about the options...

I wouldn't say which camera system is the best, because there is actually non. Every camera system has their pros and cons and every camera is merely a tool, which is what I have observed after using different camera system and talking to various photographers.

They used to say ultra wides with 115 degrees FOV and above lenses are at a premium in the Four Thirds standards, but with Micro Four Thirds, 7-14 f4 has become super affordable and small. This is the innovation that has come to the world of photography when Olympus and Panasonic comes together and put their heads together to create something new... while Canon and Nikon captures the biggest chunk in market share, think about possibilities of system expansion... Panasonic (Matsushita is the world's largest electronics company with the deepest pockets for R&D) and Olympus is the world's premier company in critical optics which means their R&D results of the past, when borrowed and applied on photography optics, means the potential is limitless. That is the only reason why I stayed with the system.

[olymac]

Originally Posted by azureswrath I wont even care about prices, when you're comparing both, i reckon you choose 1 for the specs not for the prices. Pictures of the 450d picture contrasts, colors are very dream-like, perfect for newbies. The entire camera is meant to meet everyone's demand, thier colors can easily make people go 'WOW', even if its such a boring shot. FOr the olympus side, i reckon you wouldn't like it in the long term, thier colors and dynamic ranges are just true to life and won't make you go wow. Its just.. okay.... Think about it, do you want enchanced and dreamy pictures? Go for the 450d. You want all natural, what you see is what you get? Get a e520.......

Go figure which have better specs; an equivalent Honda, Toyota or Hyundai? Which do you think have better specs; Mercedes E Class or Hyundai Azura?

Buying a camera that takes "dream-like ... enhanced and dreamy" pictures rather than one whose colours are only "just true to life ... natural" ......

Wow ... your world seems rather dull to me ..... or is it something you are smoking ?

[terencek888]

Originally Posted by azureswrath I wont even care about prices, when you're comparing both, i reckon you choose 1 for the specs not for the prices. Pictures of the 450d picture contrasts, colors are very dream-like, perfect for newbies. The entire camera is meant to meet everyone's demand, thier colors can easily make people go 'WOW', even if its such a boring shot. FOr the olympus side, i reckon you wouldn't like it in the long term, thier colors and dynamic ranges are just true to life and won't make you go wow. Its just.. okay.... Think about it, do you want enchanced and dreamy pictures? Go for the 450d. You want all natural, what you see is what you get? Get a e520. Then comes the camera issues, the 450d can't take at mega low shutters, like obscene 1/15. While the olympus can cuz of the inbuilt image stabalizer! For dim light photography i'd say the olympus is a true champion. Oh, and olympus lenses aren't cheap. When you reached a intermediate level and you're thinking of getting lenses.. That's when you wished you had a 10,000 a month pay check. A 50mm f2 price is 800 bucks atm. A canon's 50mm costs 100. THink about it, super high quality lenses at ridiculous premium prices or cheap standard stuff. In theory, there is no mid range olympus lenses; only high quality or super high quality and comes with a very high asking price or a super high asking price. Thier lens selection has a poor variety, it will come to a point when you will say olympus sucks. As an olympus user, i will recommend you buy something else other than olympus. It seriously magnifies 'photography is an expensive hobby', inwhich buying lenses is equivalent to buying an entry level sony dslr.

From what you have written, I can understand that you have rather limited knowledge of the Olympus 4/3 system.

For the start, I am not exactly sure what you mean by "dream-like". Having owned both the Canon 400D and 40D, the out-of-camera jpegs from Canon is anything but WOW. Shooting in RAW will be a bit better but you have to do a fair bit of post processing before you can get the POP out from your images. Olympus DSLR, even the lower end models, has very high quality OOC jpegs. One thing that the Oly camera really excel is the brilliant colours that it can produced. If you need proof, go check out this link: http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=427876

The high grade and the super high grade lens of Olympus system are not cheap, but they are not any more expensive comparing to those L lens of Canon or the high quality lens of Nikon. However, one thing to note is that Olympus DSLRs do come with a very good quality kit lens, comparatively speaking. So that should get you a good start with your hobby without burning a big hole in your wallet. Your comparison of Oly's 50mm f2.0 with Canon's 50mm f1.8 is not exactly how you should compare the lenses of both family. For one, The Oly lens is considered by many professionals to be one of the best lens in the industry where as the Canon one is a basic entry level, so-so image quality lens. Seriously, for $700 a pop for a lens with such good image quality that comes with weather-sealed, its considered by many to be absolute good value for money.

As I said earlier, the Olympus lens are not really expensive compare to the competition. As a matter of fact, because of how the system was designed, you actually spend less with the 4/3 system. How? For instance, I have a good coverage from 24mm to 400mm (35mm equivalent) with 2 hiigh grade/weather-proof lenses, ie. ZD 12-60mm SWD and ZD 50-200mm SWD. The lenses are relatively compact and I can easily put them into a small Tamrac Velocity 5x bag without any hassle. Try to do that with Canon, and you will end up buying at least 3 lenses for equivalent coverage and image quality. It will cost a lot more money and a bruised shoulder..

If there's an disadvantage of the Olympus system is the low-light performance. Olympus DSLR is never a champion in dim light. When shooting in high ISO, ie 800 and above, there's very noticeable noise in shadows in the images. Sometimes this can be overcome with noise reduction software, such as Noise Ninja.. This is one of the problem that bugged me from time to time..

I can share my experience why I have switched my entire Canon system to Olympus, but I think I will leave that to another day...

[microcosm]

Folks, let's not get personal here ok?

Good for us to show what the E-System is all about, but let's not get ourselves into arguments... alright?

Your friendly neighborhood moderator.

[terencek888]

Originally Posted by microcosm Folks, let's not get personal here ok? Good for us to show what the E-System is all about, but let's not get ourselves into arguments... alright? Your friendly neighborhood moderator.

Sorry boss.. just trying to get a few points across..

[microcosm]

Originally Posted by terencek888 Sorry boss.. just trying to get a few points across..

No no no, don't have to apologise... its just a reminder that even though we are passionate over the E-System or photography in general, we still are an online community and we are dealing with people, so we have to live with one another... ok? No need to apologise my friend.

Thank you for being aware of this matter. That is all that I wanted to share. And I agree with your points.

[terencek888]

Originally Posted by microcosm No no no, don't have to apologise... its just a reminder that even though we are passionate over the E-System or photography in general, we still are an online community and we are dealing with people, so we have to live with one another... ok? No need to apologise my friend. Thank you for being aware of this matter. That is all that I wanted to share. And I agree with your points.

Point noted.. and I have toned it down a bit..
Thank you for agreeing with me ..

[mcclaine]

sorry mod, am not being offensive or whatsoever but would like to ask azureswrath

Originally Posted by azureswrath As an olympus user, i will recommend you buy something else other than olympus. It seriously magnifies 'photography is an expensive hobby', inwhich buying lenses is equivalent to buying an entry level sony dslr.

are you putting a double meaning here?

to TS
all the cameras' good, but that depends on what you're looking for. if you're unsure, you can rent or do hands on at courts or harvey norman or best denki. its your preference that matters, we can't tell your hands to like the grip of this camera or that camera

price wise i'll suggest you call up shops like cathay photo, mscolour, alan photo, john or go down personally and talk shop with them, usually better price that way

and are you prepared to do PP? *postprocessing* as quoted from a fellow CS here *roughly *, photography is not just about shooting, but processing and getting the best out of the picture

cheers

[kkktoh]

woah... Inactive for a few days... my threads have so many posts already..

But thanks for the replies..

I am a newbie in DSLR photography... therefore starting off.... will not have a big budget for it initially.

Referring to microcosm post on considering the D90.. Initially I was looking at the D90 also.. but the price for the D90 Kit.... seem to be higher (between 200 to 300 bucks more) than the 450D or the E520.

As for the post-processing after taking the shoots, I think I will do it.. Even now and then, I do some touch-up on my pics using my PNS camera.

Anyway keeps the comments coming in..
I am looking at the:
1) Canon EOS 450D
2) Canon EOS 1000D
3) Olympus E520
4) Sony A350
5) Nikon D90 (not so inclined to getting this unless something special comes out).

More inclined to the EOS 450D or the Oly E520. Might be getting the DSLR end of the month..
But feel free to comment on the pros and cons of the 5 above DSLRs..
However, no flame wars (is a little difficult but tries to restraint... heehee.. :P)

[weishengg]

Originally Posted by kkktoh I am looking at the: 1) Canon EOS 450D 2) Canon EOS 1000D 3) Olympus E520 4) Sony A350 5) Nikon D90 (not so inclined to getting this unless something special comes out).

care to share if there's any reasons why you're personally more inclined towards the Oly E520 and the Canon 450D?
maybe then others could offer some more accurate advices..

[kkktoh]

Originally Posted by weishengg care to share if there's any reasons why you're personally more inclined towards the Oly E520 and the Canon 450D? maybe then others could offer some more accurate advices..

Hmmm.... Let me see...

Oly E520:

Built-in stabilisation (Sony A350 have this but seem to have more noises in low-light photography based on the samples I seen on reviews, actually the worst of all)
good quality pics (moderate in low-light photography).
Smaller than the other 4 DSLRs mentioned.
The lens kit seem better (tot of getting the dual kit lens with the 40-150mm lens).
Price quite reasonable given the features and specs present (I would say best value of the 5).

Canon 450D:
2nd best value..
Low-light photography seem to be good.
Good support in terms of lens and accessories (as Canon is one of the most popular brand ard).

The D90, in terms of picture quality, seem to be the best of the 5 even in low-light. Even have movie mode.. but might be over my budget (anyone knows good lobang for it.. :P).

Sony A350, tilted LCD display seem interesting but seem quite useless.. Low-light photography quite bad.. slow fps.. dont really like Sony stuff , tend to be overpriced (just my feeling).

Canon EOS 1000D.. priced almost the same as EOS 450D (slightly more ex) but less features (lower-end).. so must well get 450D by paying abit more..

So that's it.. Will add more opinions if I find something new from my research..

[kkktoh]

Originally Posted by terencek888 From what you have written, I can understand that you have rather limited knowledge of the Olympus 4/3 system. For the start, I am not exactly sure what you mean by "dream-like". Having owned both the Canon 400D and 40D, the out-of-camera jpegs from Canon is anything but WOW. Shooting in RAW will be a bit better but you have to do a fair bit of post processing before you can get the POP out from your images. Olympus DSLR, even the lower end models, has very high quality OOC jpegs. One thing that the Oly camera really excel is the brilliant colours that it can produced. If you need proof, go check out this link: http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=427876 The high grade and the super high grade lens of Olympus system are not cheap, but they are not any more expensive comparing to those L lens of Canon or the high quality lens of Nikon. However, one thing to note is that Olympus DSLRs do come with a very good quality kit lens, comparatively speaking. So that should get you a good start with your hobby without burning a big hole in your wallet. Your comparison of Oly's 50mm f2.0 with Canon's 50mm f1.8 is not exactly how you should compare the lenses of both family. For one, The Oly lens is considered by many professionals to be one of the best lens in the industry where as the Canon one is a basic entry level, so-so image quality lens. Seriously, for $700 a pop for a lens with such good image quality that comes with weather-sealed, its considered by many to be absolute good value for money. As I said earlier, the Olympus lens are not really expensive compare to the competition. As a matter of fact, because of how the system was designed, you actually spend less with the 4/3 system. How? For instance, I have a good coverage from 24mm to 400mm (35mm equivalent) with 2 hiigh grade/weather-proof lenses, ie. ZD 12-60mm SWD and ZD 50-200mm SWD. The lenses are relatively compact and I can easily put them into a small Tamrac Velocity 5x bag without any hassle. Try to do that with Canon, and you will end up buying at least 3 lenses for equivalent coverage and image quality. It will cost a lot more money and a bruised shoulder.. If there's an disadvantage of the Olympus system is the low-light performance. Olympus DSLR is never a champion in dim light. When shooting in high ISO, ie 800 and above, there's very noticeable noise in shadows in the images. Sometimes this can be overcome with noise reduction software, such as Noise Ninja.. This is one of the problem that bugged me from time to time.. I can share my experience why I have switched my entire Canon system to Olympus, but I think I will leave that to another day...

care to share y u switch from canon to oly?? If not convenient, can pm me about your opinions.

by the way, the pics gallery from the oly link... the pics are beautiful...
make my heart beats more toward the oly camp.. heehee. :P

[olymac]

I always felt that ONE of the biggest advantages of an Oly camera is the excellent quality jpgs OOC. Nikon tend to ? have a higher compression ratio and often have fairly discernible artifacts, e.g. changing hues of a deep blue cloudless sky. Canon's jpgs ... embelish ... they tend to be strikingly brilliant.

If you intend to shoot RAW, both Canon and Nikon's sensors may have better high ISO (Nikon doesn't even shoot at IS 100 anymore ...) performance esp in low light situations. BUT the practical side is that if you process in RAW .... lets say you spend 10 minutes per image converting RAW to jpg if you actually edit. That makes 6 pics per hour ... go figure