Olympus - E-510 Digital Camera Review

The Olympus E-510 is my first DSLR. My uncle is a professional photographer nad has used Olympus products since his film-shooting days and recommended this brand as a good starting out camera. I stepped into this from a Canon point-and-shoot and I am so glad I did.

First of all, this camera is easy to use if you are familiar with DSLR cameras and their lenses. Olympus made this camera user-friendly and all one has to do is spend a day or two reading the manual (warning: it can be very technical) to get a grasp on what this camera can do. The image stabilization that is built into the camera body really sold this camera for me.

Next, after becoming familiar with the settings and menus on the camera body, one should become familiar with the lenses. I bought mine and it came with two kit lenses. They were a wide angle (14-42mm) and a zoom (40-150mm) lens. I used the kit lenses for about 8 months before buying my first prime lens. I bought a macro lens because I wanted a good portrait lens. I bought the 50mm macro lens and shot exclusively with that for a good 18 months before buying a long telezoom lens, the 70-300mm. Finally, after about another year of those two lenses, I bought my final lens, a wide angle 9-18mm. I have been successful in selling work shot with those three lenses. 

The three images I posted show the range of the lenses. I shot the rocker with the macro lens, the model with the long zoom and the girl on the beach woth the wide angle.

I have to say the only bad thing about this cmaera is that it is not water-sealed like the more expensive E-3. I have had my camera at the beach, in wtaer fights, and rain and it has done fine, however, having the body water-sealed is just the added extra protection I would think would come standard for this camera.

Some may think that the lenses for this camera are expensive or that there aren;t that many. If one compares, Olypus uses Zuiko lenses that are lighter in weight, cover more distances than the top competitors, thus making it easy to have fewer lenses that cover more of the spectrum of distances you shoot. Where I have a 9-18mm wide lense, my Canon friends have 2 wide angles lenses to cover that spectrum. Where my long zoom is 70-300, my Nikon friends have to have 2 very heavy lenses that cover the same distance.

Finally, Zuiko glass is the best on the market as far as quality is concerned. It is made by the makers who make Olypmus glass for medical equipment. The price is well worth the images you will get with this camera and its lenses.