Olympus E-510 / EVOLT E-510

Opinion: + body
+ handling
+ features
+ price

Opinion: I have recently upgraded from an E-410 and although I received excelent results from the E-410, the E-510 is easier to hold and has an outstanding image stabilization system.

Opinion: This camera is one of the best I've used in a long time! Its a sturdy SLR that can be used for the most challenging situations, but it has an ease about it that's perfect for beginners or anyone looking to step up from beginner's-type cameras. The image quality is superb and the ease of the controls make tweaking the settings fast and efficient.

All of this and it comes at an excellent price! I highly recommend this camera!!!

Opinion: I have the E-510 since July 07. This my first post regarding this camera. I recently bought a set of Pro quality l2H Olympus lenses as a replacement for the two kit lenses. The change in the camera IQ was amazing. The 12-60 works like a champ, the 50-200 takes time to focus but gets there beautifully, the 50 is noisy and not quick to respond to focus but ammazing imagery and the 7-14 is a wonder despite that many complain about the difficulty of E-510 to get proper focus with extreme wide angles. I am still waiting for the Olympus E-X , if it ever comes, but so far no problems whatsoever with the 510 regarding failures of the camera. Requires a lot of study and dedication and thought to get good clean pictures.

Opinion: This is my first DSLR so I'm no expert, but after a lot of "window shopping, I found my camera and two kit lenses for right at $600. At first I thought that was a lot until I remembered my Minolta SRT 100 was around $120 in 1971, or about $700 today.

Not long after I bought it I found legacy lenses could be adapted. They work fine and I have two...a 50 mm and a 200 mm Zuiko. Auto is fine but working manually makes you really think about your shot.

Opinion: Moved from E-500 now the price is a real "steal".
Surprised how much better than E-500 in all respects.
12-60 lens is being sold very cheaply (£300 reduction at moment) so bought one also.
The combination has lifted my photograhs way above anything I ever dreamed of.
The "feel" of the camera and the 12-60 now puts it above any Nikon or Canon I have handled, and the results leave nothing to be desired. The focussing is so fast, and I am surprised how it copes with low light.

Opinion: This is maybe the best Olympus DSLR (from the half-dozen I've used anyway). It has nearly everything one could need:

- great JPG IQ
- IS (for old manual lenses too)
- live-view
- 10mp sensor
- good ergonomics
- loads of options/parameter control
- brilliant night (long exposure performance

From my ratings I think it's my highest-scoring camera (and I've rated a few Canikons too)...hmmm.

Having not used the high-value Olys...and forgetting the seductive joy I get from using old DSLR's like the E-1 and Canon 1D...I will quite happily say the E-510 is the best DSLR out of about 15 I have used.

Opinion: It's an amazing camera! Best DSLR I've ever had!

I've only had this camera for three weeks and I've already used it on a couple of
assignments with excellent results. It follows the intuitive handling of the E-500
which I had before, so it took me very little to learn the E-510 new features.
It's NOT a point-and-shoot though. Deafult settings are just terrible, so it requires
certain minor adjustments to get the most out of it. But you do get so much out of
it, you just cant believe it. Auto Mode is very poor and limited. So switch to
Program and do the adjustments: Picture Mode to Natural instead of Vivid (default);
Sharpness and Contrast to -2 (minus 2); AF Mode to S-AF (MF) to be able to focus
manually under low-light; Noise Filter OFF.

It's so light you can carry it all day long and not getting tired. Image quality and
colour are superb. Zuiko lenses quality is extraordinary.

Though it would seem that the E-510 has less pro features (marketing tricks) than
other competition cameras, it performs better or equal to Nikon's or Canon's same
level DSLR (both of which are way overrated due to market snobism), producing
images of flawless quality. Don't be fooled.

Opinion: Wise man said "Camera doesn't matter". That's almost true. I've been using mine for 1.5 years and have to say 4/3 is a good system but depends on what you shoot. I upgraded from kit lens to 14-54 and 70-300. No big difference in IQ for my money but made difference in performance-handling and reach. Camera overall has performed flawlesly so far. My favorite settings - vivid+1, contast0, sharpness0, normal grad. (summer), low grad. (winter-snow), noise filter-off at all times except low light (low). 70-300 is only good enough for broad daylight. IS is ON all the time. I haven't had big problems with AF 14-54 even in low light. I personally LOVE Olympus lens and in body IS, played with E-3 and 12-60 - the best camera-lens perfomance experience so far.