I finally got my Elympus Evolt E-510

Niels81cal · Jun 13, 2008

Hello,

After days of research I decided to go for the E-510 from Olympus.
I went for the two Lens Kit (14-42 / 40-150). My first impression is
pretty positive. The AF works fast (compared to my Fuji Finepix S6000fd).
The picture quality is slightly better - the colors look more natural.

The S6000fd has a feature called "face detection". The E-510 doesn't have this feature, but the E-520 will have it. But I believe that I can shoot pictures
without his feature ...

Here are two sample pictures.... The second one is not that good because
it was suddenly really cloudy outside.

What type of external flash and telephoto lens would you recommend??

Should I use Olympus genuine accessorizes only or are there other brands like Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Quantaray, ... you can recommend?

Cathy1973 · Jun 13, 2008

Congrats on your purchase!

If you go to the olympus dslr forum you might find a lot more experienced people that can give their opinions.

I have the e-510 though and I didn't shop around too much for a flash. I went to my local camera store and they recommended the olympus flash. There are 3, depending on what you need. I got the middle one - the FL-36. It seems to work perfectly for everything I've needed it for. It can rotate and swivel and point in a variety of directions.

I love it. The recharge time can be a bit slow as the battery starts to fade but it hasn't been too much of an issue.

Hope that helps!

AnandaSim · Jun 14, 2008

Niels81cal said:
After days of research I decided to go for the E-510 from Olympus.
I went for the two Lens Kit (14-42 / 40-150). My first impression is
pretty positive. The AF works fast (compared to my Fuji Finepix
S6000fd).

Congrats.

Niels81cal said:
The picture quality is slightly better - the colors look more natural.

In the Finepix and more in DSLR, the emphasis is that you have a tool to shoot better photos with a little more work. Lower range Point and Shoot are designed to be as much no fuss shoot and that's it type of cameras.

Niels81cal said:
The S6000fd has a feature called "face detection". The E-510 doesn't
have this feature, but the E-520 will have it. But I believe that I

I don't see any faces in the two shots above. So FD doesn't work anyway for those two photos.

Niels81cal said:
Here are two sample pictures.... The second one is not that good because
it was suddenly really cloudy outside.

Actually, nothing wrong with the second one. A one touch adjust in Picasa or some easy to use photo program makes the walls whiter and gives "pop" to the photo.

Niels81cal said:
What type of external flash and telephoto lens would you recommend??

There are the Olympus FL flashes - they work specially with the metering of the camera. There is one Metz flash that does that also and one Promaster. I haven't seen many others that work with the metering of the camera.

Niels81cal said:
Should I use Olympus genuine accessorizes only or are there other
brands like Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Quantaray, ... you can recommend?

Unlike the other brands, there are not many other brand lens choices for the Olympus. Olympus has a bunch of low cost, light weight and sharp lenses for general use. There are a few Sigma and a few Leica lenses. Nothing much else fits.

Have you visited the Oly and Four Thirds websites and looked at the catalogue of lenses?

--

Ananda
http://anandasim.spaces.live.com/
http://olympuse510.wikispaces.com/
http://picasaweb.google.com/AnandaSim/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32554587@N00/

chuxter · Jun 14, 2008

Niels81cal said:
Hello,

Hi...

For some reason, the white balance didn't work well in your second shot. It's much too "warm". This could be something you did, like select the bright, sunny WB setting...then when it gets cloudy, the color temp goes up? Try auto WB?

Niels81cal said:

You can "fix" it with a simple photo editor. It works especially well if you know the wall was painted white!

--
Charlie Davis
Nikon 5700, Sony R1, Nikon D300
HomePage: http://www.1derful.info
Bridge Blog: http://www.here-ugo.com/BridgeBlog/
'Experience: Discovering that a claw hammer will bend nails.
Epiphany: Discovering that a claw hammer is two tools...'

Deleted1929 · Jun 14, 2008

I'd suggest you don't go buying an external flash or additional lenses yet.

There are a * lot * of features in a DSLR that take time to get the hang of. The flash, you will find, is considerably more powerful than the S6500 in-built.

The 40-140 on the Olympus equates to 80-300 in 35mm terms ( which is the same reach you has with the S6500 ). That's a lot of reach. Also bare in mind your DSLR images will stand a lot more cropping, and the in-body IS will help with longer shots, so you can get more useful range than you'd expect.

Your second photo had an off-color simply because the white balance was set to fine-day ( which is presumably Olympus speak for "Sunny" ) whereas when the shot was taken it was cloudy. The light is quite different. A few moments in post processing should get you a correct white balance.

Face detection is something of a gimmick. You won't find any problems due to a lack of this "feature".

Enjoy your new E-510.

--
StephenG

Fuji S3 Pro
Pentax K100D
Fuji S9600
Fuji E900
PCLinuxOS

mike703 · Jun 14, 2008

Niels81cal said:
What type of external flash and telephoto lens would you recommend??
Should I use Olympus genuine accessorizes only or are there other
brands like Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Quantaray, ... you can recommend?

You already have a perfectly good telephoto lens (the 40-150)!
Have fun with your new camera
Best wishes
--
Mike

Niels81cal · Jun 14, 2008

chuxter said:
Niels81cal said:

Hello,

Click to expand...

Hi...

For some reason, the white balance didn't work well in your second
shot. It's much too "warm". This could be something you did, like
select the bright, sunny WB setting...then when it gets cloudy, the
color temp goes up? Try auto WB?

chuxter said:

Click to expand...

You can "fix" it with a simple photo editor. It works especially well
if you know the wall was painted white!

--
Charlie Davis
Nikon 5700, Sony R1, Nikon D300
HomePage: http://www.1derful.info
Bridge Blog: http://www.here-ugo.com/BridgeBlog/
'Experience: Discovering that a claw hammer will bend nails.
Epiphany: Discovering that a claw hammer is two tools...'

There is a Wild Fire in Santa Cruz, CA and yesterday evening all the smoke from the fire was blown north ... Suddenly there was a enormous dark brown cloud over me .... It looked a bit like ID4 (the movie)

The sun turned red and it was almost like late evening ... That's why the wall is slightly brown.

I just took a similar picture of the same building (my work office) again ... with no clouds

I think it looks better now. WB is and was on auto.

Here are two other pics:

Niels81cal · Jun 14, 2008

sjgcit said:
I'd suggest you don't go buying an external flash or additional
lenses yet.

There are a * lot * of features in a DSLR that take time to get the
hang of. The flash, you will find, is considerably more powerful
than the S6500 in-built.

The 40-140 on the Olympus equates to 80-300 in 35mm terms ( which is
the same reach you has with the S6500 ). That's a lot of reach.
Also bare in mind your DSLR images will stand a lot more cropping,
and the in-body IS will help with longer shots, so you can get more
useful range than you'd expect.

I like to do some more wildlife pictures. That's why I was thinking buying a lens with up to 300mm. The 40-150mm lens is good ... I guess it's a bit more zoom
compared to the S6000fd...

Deleted1929 said:
Your second photo had an off-color simply because the white balance
was set to fine-day ( which is presumably Olympus speak for "Sunny" )
whereas when the shot was taken it was cloudy. The light is quite
different. A few moments in post processing should get you a correct
white balance.

That off-color was because of natures condition (a big cloud of wildfire smoke).
I already pasted a new picture on this thread which looks better.

Deleted1929 said:
Face detection is something of a gimmick. You won't find any
problems due to a lack of this "feature".

I think so, too

Deleted1929 said:
Enjoy your new E-510.

--
StephenG

Fuji S3 Pro
Pentax K100D
Fuji S9600
Fuji E900
PCLinuxOS

Niels81cal · Jun 14, 2008

mike703 said:
Niels81cal said:

What type of external flash and telephoto lens would you recommend??
Should I use Olympus genuine accessorizes only or are there other
brands like Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Quantaray, ... you can recommend?

Click to expand...

You already have a perfectly good telephoto lens (the 40-150)!
Have fun with your new camera
Best wishes
--
Mike

The lens is great ... but for wildlife it could be with a bit higher range ....

Niels81cal · Jun 14, 2008

AnandaSim said:
Niels81cal said:

After days of research I decided to go for the E-510 from Olympus.
I went for the two Lens Kit (14-42 / 40-150). My first impression is
pretty positive. The AF works fast (compared to my Fuji Finepix
S6000fd).

Click to expand...

Congrats.

AnandaSim said:

The picture quality is slightly better - the colors look more natural.

Click to expand...

In the Finepix and more in DSLR, the emphasis is that you have a tool
to shoot better photos with a little more work. Lower range Point and
Shoot are designed to be as much no fuss shoot and that's it type of
cameras.

AnandaSim said:

The S6000fd has a feature called "face detection". The E-510 doesn't
have this feature, but the E-520 will have it. But I believe that I

Click to expand...

I don't see any faces in the two shots above. So FD doesn't work
anyway for those two photos.

AnandaSim said:

Here are two sample pictures.... The second one is not that good because
it was suddenly really cloudy outside.

Click to expand...

Actually, nothing wrong with the second one. A one touch adjust in
Picasa or some easy to use photo program makes the walls whiter and
gives "pop" to the photo.

AnandaSim said:

What type of external flash and telephoto lens would you recommend??

Click to expand...

There are the Olympus FL flashes - they work specially with the
metering of the camera. There is one Metz flash that does that also
and one Promaster. I haven't seen many others that work with the
metering of the camera.

AnandaSim said:

Should I use Olympus genuine accessorizes only or are there other
brands like Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Quantaray, ... you can recommend?

Click to expand...

Unlike the other brands, there are not many other brand lens choices
for the Olympus. Olympus has a bunch of low cost, light weight and
sharp lenses for general use. There are a few Sigma and a few Leica
lenses. Nothing much else fits.

Have you visited the Oly and Four Thirds websites and looked at the
catalogue of lenses?

--

Ananda
http://anandasim.spaces.live.com/
http://olympuse510.wikispaces.com/
http://picasaweb.google.com/AnandaSim/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32554587@N00/

Thanks for the all the hints ... I will check them out

Leejay Wu · Jun 14, 2008

On an external flash... if you look at the Olympus line, there's the FL-36 and FL-50, and the R variants of both, as well as the tiny FL-20. The numbers correspond to the maximum guide number in meters @ ISO 100.

FL-20 is small; takes two AAs; doesn't swivel, tilt or zoom. It's not useful unless you want a small flash that sits a little higher than the built-in and provides a touch more power.

The FL-36 and FL-50 are tilt/swivel flashes. The former uses 2 AAs, the latter 4; with a difference in flash power as well as cycle time. Neither's particularly subtle.

The R variations can be controlled remotely via the bodies that support it.

As for a telephoto lens, if you've got good light, you might be able to get away with the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 -- cheaper than the 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 (either version) + EC-14. If you want much longer without going near the Olympus 'Top Pro' line ($), and want an AF zoom (versus say an OM Zuiko + adapter; some people have experimented with mirror lenses), you might want to look at the Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3.

Pete Stavrakoglou · Jun 14, 2008

The only choice in third party lenses is Sigma and they make some very good lenses. I have the Sigma 50-500mm EX DG HSM lens (aka "The Bigma"). It's a nice lens and has a huge range.

There are a few flashes other than the Olympus flashes that will work with the E-510. Two from Metz - the 48 AF-1 and the 58 AF-1. I plan on getting the 48 AF-1. It slots nicely between the Olympus FL-36 and FL-50. What I like about the Metz over the Oly FL-36 are two things: 1) the Metz uses four batteries instead of two like the FL-36 so the recycle times are much faster and 2) the Metz is updatable via USB connection to your computer, no need to send it in for a firmware flash in order to use it with a future Oly camera that may not be compatible with the flash in its origianl state.
--
My humble photo gallery: http://ntotrr.smugmug.com

mike703 · Jun 15, 2008

Niels81cal said:
Niels81cal said:

You already have a perfectly good telephoto lens (the 40-150)!
Have fun with your new camera
Best wishes
--
Mike

Click to expand...

The lens is great ... but for wildlife it could be with a bit higher
range ....

Dont't forget that on yoru camera a 150mm lens equates (in terms of image magnification in the viewfinder) to 300mm on a full-frame DSLR and 200mm on a crop-sensor camera (like most of tha NIkons, Canons , Sonys and Pentaxes). Effectively you get more magnification at the same focal length, which is why your kit lens is 14-42 mm instead of the more common 17-55 mm.

If you want something very long for wildlife, there is the Olympus 70 - 300 or the Sigma 135 - 400 or Sigma 50 - 500... plus you'll need a tripod...

Best wishes

--
Mike

chuxter · Jun 15, 2008

Niels81cal said:
chuxter said:

Niels81cal said:

Hello,

Click to expand...

Hi...

For some reason, the white balance didn't work well in your second
shot. It's much too "warm". This could be something you did, like
select the bright, sunny WB setting...then when it gets cloudy, the
color temp goes up? Try auto WB?

Niels81cal said:

Click to expand...

You can "fix" it with a simple photo editor. It works especially well
if you know the wall was painted white!

Click to expand...

Niels81cal said:
There is a Wild Fire in Santa Cruz, CA and yesterday evening all the
smoke from the fire was blown north ... Suddenly there was a enormous
dark brown cloud over me .... It looked a bit like ID4 (the movie)
The sun turned red and it was almost like late evening ...
That's why the wall is slightly brown.

I just took a similar picture of the same building (my work office)
again ... with no clouds

I think it looks better now. WB is and was on auto.

I think this one looks a bit too blue. I think it's in the shade and is illuminated by the blue sky...at least that's what it looks like. Again, it's easy to "fix" in PP:

--
Charlie Davis
Nikon 5700, Sony R1, Nikon D300
HomePage: http://www.1derful.info
Bridge Blog: http://www.here-ugo.com/BridgeBlog/
'Experience: Discovering that a claw hammer will bend nails.
Epiphany: Discovering that a claw hammer is two tools...'

maddogmd11 · Jun 15, 2008

I have found the auto WB in the 510 to be pretty mediocore. Actually make a change in setting to the desired setting usually works much better.

jim
--
Olympus E-510 and a bunch of stuff to hang on it.

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I finally got my Elympus Evolt E-510

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