E-500 Review

MikeFromCA · Nov 8, 2005

First time poster after lurking for the last few months. Thanks to all for helping me make informed decisions (read: obsessing over the details). This site is great and have found it immensely helpful. I happened to come across a review for you folks who might be sitting on the fence on the E-500 at the "other" site. Let's just say that it's a site that is a "resource" for digital cameras. I won't link on this site out of respect for the keeper(s) of this site. The review of the camera is very favorable and confirms the comments that many have here.

--
Improvising since 73'

BayAreaMD · Nov 8, 2005

Well, Jeff Keller links directly to Phil's review as a second source for more information, so I doubt Phil would have a problem with posting the link: http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/olympus/e500-review/

Overall, another very positive review. I thought the high ISO comparison shots were encouraging - I expected worse results compared to the 20D and DSC-R1.

Todd Kim · Nov 9, 2005

"""Overall there's much to like about the E-500. While it's not the best digital SLR in its class, it may be the best value. It offers a lot of features, good performance and photo quality, and a nicely designed body that costs less than you'd expect. If you're moving up to a digital SLR and don't currently own any lenses, the E-500 should be on your shopping list. Even if you already have a couple of lenses from Canon/Minolta/Nikon/Pentax it's still worth a look. """

In his conclusion he says its not the best in its class.... would the Canon be considered to be the best in its class??

shg · Nov 9, 2005

Todd Kim said:
"""Overall there's much to like about the E-500. While it's not the
best digital SLR in its class, it may be the best value. It offers
a lot of features, good performance and photo quality, and a nicely
designed body that costs less than you'd expect. If you're moving
up to a digital SLR and don't currently own any lenses, the E-500
should be on your shopping list. Even if you already have a couple
of lenses from Canon/Minolta/Nikon/Pentax it's still worth a look.
"""

In his conclusion he says its not the best in its class.... would
the Canon be considered to be the best in its class??

i noticed the same, i think he compares it with 350d, 50d, and the one from pentax 1stD? and maybe fujy S2 pro too if i am not mistaken, however, seems he or maybe others too, didnt care for the value/performance, the price with 2 lenses specialy from costco is unbeatable and amazing, and i think to get the same results with other brands you need to spend an extra $500, this is why i didnt find his conclusion cery accurate when it compared by price/performance wise.
--
http://www.pbase.com/shg2

Ronnie H · Nov 9, 2005

Get the E-500, its a amazing camera, I spent many days on that fence reading reviews & infro till my eyes went blurry. just buy it. Ron

Rennie Petersen · Nov 9, 2005

He's not as positive as Phil Askey, but his review doesn't make me regret my ordering an E-500.

I haven't read the review too closely, but he doesn't say anything about the image quality with lenses other than the kit lenses, does he?

Rennie

--
Sony F717, Sony P100, Canon S820
http://www.pbase.com/renniep

Edwaste · Nov 9, 2005

A very fair review.

Except when comparing the E-500 with the Canon 20D. He didn't use the typical kit lens, but rather the more expensive 17 - 85 mm EF-S lens.

I understand that the reviewer used what cameras and lenses he had on hand. It still should be considered when making your camera choice.

I find the default sharpness settings on the E-500 and Canon 20D* a bit softer than it has to be. I'm finding the results from kicking the sharpness up 1 or 2 clicks during the RAW> JPEG conversion very pleasing.

I don't understand what he meant by "not the best DSLR in it's class".
I don't think any DSLR in this price range stands out as clearly the best.

All have their warts and beauty marks. When I made my choice to buy the E-500, it was based on "real world" images posted by other E-500 users. That means more to me than lab test results.

I use both cameras on a regular basis.

Calico Cat · Nov 9, 2005

In the comparison shots, the 20D and R1 both display more resolution. Look at the graphics of the vegetables on the pepper sauce bottle at the bottom of the frame. I rank it R1 best, 20D second, E-500 last place.

If you are looking for the sharpest picture, the R1 is definitely a best buy, although it doesn't offer all the versatility of a DSLR.

Cephalotus · Nov 9, 2005

Calico Cat said:
In the comparison shots, the 20D and R1 both display more
resolution. Look at the graphics of the vegetables on the pepper
sauce bottle at the bottom of the frame. I rank it R1 best, 20D
second, E-500 last place.

I just wonder why the 100% crop from the E-500 is so much smaller than the crop from 20D. Both have 8MP so the crops should be roughly the same size.

But what do I know...

Calico Cat · Nov 9, 2005

Cephalotus said:
Cephalotus said:

In the comparison shots, the 20D and R1 both display more
resolution. Look at the graphics of the vegetables on the pepper
sauce bottle at the bottom of the frame. I rank it R1 best, 20D
second, E-500 last place.

Click to expand...

I just wonder why the 100% crop from the E-500 is so much smaller
than the crop from 20D. Both have 8MP so the crops should be
roughly the same size.

But what do I know...

The E-500 has more vertical resolution but less horizontal resolution compared to the 20D. The tester could have chosen to match the horizontal framing to make the E-500 look bad.

Phil Askey uses vertical framing, but the E-500 still lacked resolution compared to the Canon 350D he tested it against.

I'm not saying that it's that big of a difference or a reason to buy Canon over Olympus. The E-500 had considerably more resolution than the 6MP Nikon DSLR.

Rennie Petersen · Nov 9, 2005

It looks like when he was taking the E-500 test shot he zoomed out a bit, and when taking the 20D test shot he zoomed in a bit, relative to the R1 shot. That gives the 20D an unfair advantage.

Olympus E-500
image 3264 x 2448 = 7990272 pixels

left of whisky bottle to right of wine bottle 2812 pixels = 86% of horizontal resolution

Canon 20D
image 3504 x 2336 = 8185344 pixels

left of whisky bottle to right of wine bottle 3054 pixels = 94% of horizontal resolution

Sony R1
image 3888 x 2592 = 10077696 pixels

left of whisky bottle to right of wine bottle 3441 pixels = 89% of horizontal resolution

Also, as pointed out by someone else, the 20D test shots were made using a better lens than the kit lens, while the E-500 shots were made with the kit lens.

Rennie
--
Sony F717, Sony P100, Canon S820
http://www.pbase.com/renniep

Quest21 · Nov 9, 2005

Just curious, why did you buy E500?
Since XT have better resolution and maybe less CA.

By looking at those samples at iso400 Sony wins over both cameras, as far as White Balance, Noise and Resolution...

Calico Cat said:
In the comparison shots, the 20D and R1 both display more
resolution. Look at the graphics of the vegetables on the pepper
sauce bottle at the bottom of the frame. I rank it R1 best, 20D
second, E-500 last place.

If you are looking for the sharpest picture, the R1 is definitely a
best buy, although it doesn't offer all the versatility of a DSLR.

--

http://aphoto.smugmug.com/

Calico Cat · Nov 9, 2005

Quest21 said:
Just curious, why did you buy E500?
Since XT have better resolution and maybe less CA.
By looking at those samples at iso400 Sony wins over both cameras,
as far as White Balance, Noise and Resolution...

I bought the E-500 because of the dust protection and because of the F2.8 14-54mm lens that only weighs 1 lb yet supposedly offers top quality, and because you get a 40-150mm lens with the kit that was reputedly also of good quality.

Indeed the R1 has no weight advantage over the E-500 + 14-54 lens.

Canon isn't commited to making lenses for it's small sensor sized cameras. This turns me off.

The E500, though having slightly less resolution than the XT, has much better resolution than the 6MP cameras based on the test images from the reviews.

Hokuto · Nov 9, 2005

shg said:
Todd Kim said:

"While it's not the best digital SLR in its class, it may be the best value.

Click to expand...

. . . .

shg said:
shg said:

In his conclusion he says its not the best in its class.... would
the Canon be considered to be the best in its class??

Click to expand...

Sigh. Does "best value" not have something to do with "best"? Without sharing his secret standard for "best," the reviewer's claim is simply meaningless. I hate it when reviewers make that kind of offhand, and undefined, unsupported claim of "best camera" or "worst camera." Is there a universal standard for "best"? No. IMO, the XT is the worst camera of the intro-level four that I've tried (E-300, E-500, D50, XT)-- if you think in terms of ergonomics . It may be best according to some other standard, but hey, I want to hear the standard spelled out in the same breath that someone says "best" or "worst."

--
'And only the stump, or fishy part of him remained'

http://www2.gol.com/users/nhavens
A Contemplative Companion to Fujino Township

Quest21 · Nov 9, 2005

One more thing, if you want the best image quality from E500 shoot RAW.

I can't wait till they upgrade ACR for CS2. I don't like JPEG from E500 but RAW is great. No artifacts and more details. It's from my experience using E300.

Calico Cat said:
Quest21 said:

Just curious, why did you buy E500?
Since XT have better resolution and maybe less CA.
By looking at those samples at iso400 Sony wins over both cameras,
as far as White Balance, Noise and Resolution...

Click to expand...

I bought the E-500 because of the dust protection and because of
the F2.8 14-54mm lens that only weighs 1 lb yet supposedly offers
top quality, and because you get a 40-150mm lens with the kit that
was reputedly also of good quality.

Indeed the R1 has no weight advantage over the E-500 + 14-54 lens.

Canon isn't commited to making lenses for it's small sensor sized
cameras. This turns me off.

The E500, though having slightly less resolution than the XT, has
much better resolution than the 6MP cameras based on the test
images from the reviews.

--

http://aphoto.smugmug.com/

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E-500 Review

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