Which is a better buy......

G9 or Olympus E-410 w/14-42mm Lens?

The Oly has dropped to the G9 price level and I'm just so tempted to go up a notch over the G9. As much as I want the Canon XTI, i just can't spend too much this holiday. I'm getting a PS3 also..lol.

First of all I'm a noob and it will take me some time just to learn the basic of manual settings photography. I know the G9 is already an overkill for a noob like me, but how more complex is the Oly to use; would i be able to just start shooting at least in an "Auto" mode? Is the Oly starter lens good enough for me to start shooting and get good results? Should i just start with the G9 and learn from there before moving up to DSLR? Can the E-410 beat the G9 in low light/indoors without the IS?

Please help me decide. The holidays are coming and I'm still undecided on which camera to get.

Recomend a used Canon EOS 10D with the 50mm F1.8 lens.

Spade357 said:

G9 or Olympus E-410 w/14-42mm Lens?

Click to expand...

Spade357 said:

First of all I'm a noob and it will take me some time just to learn
the basic of manual settings photography. I know the G9 is already an
overkill for a noob like me, but how more complex is the Oly to use;
would i be able to just start shooting at least in an "Auto" mode? Is
the Oly starter lens good enough for me to start shooting and get
good results? Should i just start with the G9 and learn from there
before moving up to DSLR? Can the E-410 beat the G9 in low
light/indoors without the IS?

Click to expand...

They are such different beasts.

The Canon has a fixed 35-210 mm (equiv) f/2.8-4.8 lens. The Olympus lens you are talking about is 28-88 mm (equiv) f/3.5-5.6. The Canon is 2/3 stop faster and has much more telephoto ability. The Olympus lens is wider.

IS is no substitute for better high ISO performance. IS allows you to use a tripod or monopod less often, but it does nothing to stop subject movement. The higher ISO performance of the Olympus would easily give a 3 stop shutter speed advantage over the Canon, if it didn't have IS.

Apart from size, weight, and cost, a dSLR will always beat out a compact camera on performance. (You say they are around the same price, but to add a lens that would give you the equivalent of the Canon's 35-210 mm f/2.8-4.8, would add several hundred dollars to the price.)

Brian A.

Being someone that actually has both of those in the "old equipment closet" since I never sell anything.....I know the value of a 50mm prime and the 10D certainly was a world beater in its day, but why in the world would you recommend that to a beginner. To frustrate them with the lack of zoom and turn them off to DSLRs? Plus a camera like the K100D or E410 with built in image stabilization is probably going to yield more consistent image quality to a beginner. Best value for beginner on the market IMO is Pentax K100D + Tamron 18-200. $700 and they can shoot most anything. Add the 50mm prime when they know when and why to switch to it.

Personally I think the Pentax K100D offers more for the $ than Oly 410. I'm not a 4/3s fan though. That body + Tamron 18-200 would give you a superior kit to the G9 in every way other than size/weight for only a could hundred $ more.

Canon XT (body alone) = $425
Canon XT (with kit lens) = $500
Canon 500mm f/1.8 lens = $70

How can you go wrong? For less than $500 you get a good low-light system. for $500 you get a very acceptable landscape system. And for $570 you get both.

Jerry
--
http://jchoate.zenfolio.com/

jchoate said:

Canon 500mm f/1.8 lens = $70

Click to expand...

Sign me up for one of these, in fact I'll take two.

Brian A.

That typo really qualifies as Freudian slip! I'd love to have one too.

Jerry
--
http://jchoate.zenfolio.com/

I just rented a U-haul to go pick mine up!

Size, weight, tele-zoom and LCD of G9 are in it's favour - as for performance, that depends on what shooting + what want do with shots etc - for many instances I'd feel there wouldn't be much in it either way.

Try both out in shop (take own memory cards in if have some so can download shots at home later to compare), get feel for them and see if your tests there can help decide.

Caster

Pay a little more and get the E510 and all your lenses you buy in the future will benefit from the in-camera stabilization.

This will give you the best of both worlds because you have IS built into the camera plus you don't need to pay a fortune to get decent telephoto. Later with the the Olympus 70-300 F4/F5.6 for about $399 you will get 140-600mm FOV with the four thirds system for telephoto. With the G9 you will have only what you get with the default lens plus the possibility of adding a telephoto adapter later to the front, but not nearly as good as the 510 plus a relatively inexpensive lens.

Best regards,

Lin

Spade357 said:

G9 or Olympus E-410 w/14-42mm Lens?

The Oly has dropped to the G9 price level and I'm just so tempted to
go up a notch over the G9. As much as I want the Canon XTI, i just
can't spend too much this holiday. I'm getting a PS3 also..lol.

First of all I'm a noob and it will take me some time just to learn
the basic of manual settings photography. I know the G9 is already an
overkill for a noob like me, but how more complex is the Oly to use;
would i be able to just start shooting at least in an "Auto" mode? Is
the Oly starter lens good enough for me to start shooting and get
good results? Should i just start with the G9 and learn from there
before moving up to DSLR? Can the E-410 beat the G9 in low
light/indoors without the IS?

Please help me decide. The holidays are coming and I'm still
undecided on which camera to get.

Click to expand...

jchoate said:

Canon XT (body alone) = $425
Canon XT (with kit lens) = $500
Canon 500mm f/1.8 lens = $70

How can you go wrong? For less than $500 you get a good low-light
system. for $500 you get a very acceptable landscape system. And
for $570 you get both.

Jerry
--
http://jchoate.zenfolio.com/

Click to expand...

The Canon XT was on my list also, but from what i heard the starter lens kit are very poor compare to the competition's lens kit. I know Canon has top notch lenses also,but they are way to expensive for a new comer like me. The Oly seems to give me the best value overall.

SMPhoto said:

Personally I think the Pentax K100D offers more for the $ than Oly
410. I'm not a 4/3s fan though. That body + Tamron 18-200 would give
you a superior kit to the G9 in every way other than size/weight for
only a could hundred $ more.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I kinda worry about the 4:3 format also. I didn't get to read the reviews on the Pentax the first time, but after reading a couple reviews, it seems like a better buy over the Oly. Is the kit lens better than the Oly or better yet the Canon? Can i use one of the "pancakes" lens as a starter (to be albe to zoom is not really a concern for now)? Is 6 MP good enough for zoom in shots? Thanks.

Btw, here are my lists of cameras:

Olympus 410 - plus: small, light, 10MP, cheaper, good quality kit lens, dust filter and auto-bracketing function. minus: underexpose problem?, slow auto focus, 4:3 format.

Nikon 40D - plus: low noise, easier to use, cheap, can get excellent pictures without pp OOC and good quality starter kit lens. minus: 6MP, no auto focus on non AF-S lens?, no auto-bracketing (saves me a lot of time on exposures and I wanna try HDR) and no dust filter.

Canon XT - plus: images similar to Nikon, low noise, more features, better auto focus, 8MP (better than 6MP), burst mode, auto-bracketing and many choices of lens. minus: expensive lens, not as good built as the Oly and starter lens kit is poor.

Pentax K100D Super: plus: images similar to Nikon/Canon, good starter lens kit, low noise, quality built and auto-bracketing. That's all i know so far. minus: 6 MP...that's all so far.

Well, seems like the Pentax w/starter lens kit is the leading canditate so far.

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll post updates later on.