Need Advice (the sooner the better!)

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 29 total)
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  • #812
    Madrigal
    Participant

    Hey everyone,

    I was lurking around the site of a Canadian Photo shop I have heard good things about (even though it’s across the country).

    I am really interested lately in the Olympus Evolt 500 (Mainly because of the two lens kit, features and price).

    I am a student, so I was going by the “cheaper the better” rule, in this case just finding the best price on the camera. On this site they have sale on, so the kit with the two lenses (14-45, 40-150) is $869cdn. This is still a bit out of my price range, however I just noticed (For the first time) that they had a kit on the site, limited quantities mind you, of the E-500 with one (1) 17-45 lens, but this is priced at $599cdn, which is MUCH more affordable.

    Beyond the appeal of the zoom of the other one, and the good pricing for a two lens kit, am I really losing much by just using the 17-45? I will no doubt buy lenses in the future, but right now I just want to get the SLR and get used to it, and just start doing more.

    I am really tempted only because of the pricepoint and because it is such a nice camera, any opinions on this lens and whether or not, for me, it will make a huge difference?

    Thanks!

    OH, I forgot to mention, this includes a 1gb XD card (I’d prefer CF, but for free…)

    #7527
    staplermofo
    Participant

    It all depends on what you’re planning on taking pictures of, doesn’t it?

    The 40-150mm lens is going for around $300 Cdn ($200 refurbed), so you wouldn’t be saving much buying them together anyway.

    But looking around I noticed something a little scary, lenses for this camera are incredibly expensive compared to Nikon’s and even Canon’s, and there doesn’t seem to be much 3rd party stuff out there. Plus, there’s less variety. Even Sony’s alpha seems to have more options (but at similar prices). Plus that 2x sensor size crop is painful, really painful. Even the 1.6x crop on mine is killing me.

    It’s a great deal on a great camera, and if you’re shooting stuff that calls for something short of telephoto in reasonably bright light, I’d go for it.
    f/5.6 makes me cringe, but the sample pictures look nice enough.

    So, uh, what are you planning on shooting, and under what conditions do you think you’ll be doing it?

    #7528
    Madrigal
    Participant

    Conditions for me would likely be mostly outdoors, some inside potentially darker areas, but my guess would be primarily outdoors.

    The telephoto would be nice, but it’s not something I think I will use right off the bat. I know you can get an adapter for this camera (under 200) that will allow you to add other lenses that fit Olympus film onto it, and I have a 200mm telephoto that would fit this with a ring, I use it with my OM-10.

    I was really attracted by the price since it’s even lower than what I thought I could spend and would at least get me the camera and the lens and I can go from there deciding what lenses to buy. If it turns out it’s a really shitty lens and a terrible deal I guess I’ll have to save, but the most I’ll be doing with this is probably outdoors stuff for my university newspaper.

    I suppose I should mention, similarly there is a Nikon D50 with an 18-55 DX on there for a 100 more than the package I am looking at.

    #7529
    monkeybort
    Participant

    i’d say get the nikon if you can swing it.

    #7530
    Madrigal
    Participant

    I compared the two and surprisingly they are quite similar, different on-camera features mind you but specs wise similar.

    Do you reccomend it just because of the lens?

    #7531
    monkeybort
    Participant

    lens, variety of offbrand lenses, bigger name in the photo industry, etc.

    probably mostly my brand snobbishness talking, though. 🙂

    #7532
    staplermofo
    Participant

    probably mostly my brand snobbishness talking, though. 🙂

    Buying a camera is a personal decision, and the right camera for one person might be the wrong camera for another. I don’t want to scare you out of a camera you’ll really enjoy.
    But…
    For the love all that is good in the world, hold the camera in your hands before you buy it, even if that means pestering the folks at the local camera shop then leaving to buy it cheaper elsewhere.

    Lemme tell you a short story about a guy with big hands and a tiny camera. He got HORRIBLE HAND CRAMPS, even though his “friend” assured him that the handgrip was comfy and great.
    Nothing’s worse than having little annoyances like debilitating hand pain keep you from enjoying the shooting.
    I ended up getting a handle-mount flash just so I can walk around with the @#$%ing thing and be able to sign my name at the end of the day.
    So, you know, keep that in mind.
    Grip, viewfinder, buttons, etc… make sure you’re comfortable with them in person.

    #7533
    staplermofo
    Participant

    The reason I quoted that was because the sheer abundance of Nikon fanboys/fangirls/fanborts out there suggests they’re doing something people like.

    #7534
    monkeybort
    Participant

    and i don’t even shoot nikon, i shoot canon. my roommate in college shot nikon, though, and LOVED it.

    #7535
    Madrigal
    Participant

    probably mostly my brand snobbishness talking, though. 🙂

    Buying a camera is a personal decision, and the right camera for one person might be the wrong camera for another. I don’t want to scare you out of a camera you’ll really enjoy.
    But…
    For the love all that is good in the world, hold the camera in your hands before you buy it, even if that means pestering the folks at the local camera shop then leaving to buy it cheaper elsewhere.

    Lemme tell you a short story about a guy with big hands and a tiny camera. He got HORRIBLE HAND CRAMPS, even though his “friend” assured him that the handgrip was comfy and great.
    Nothing’s worse than having little annoyances like debilitating hand pain keep you from enjoying the shooting.
    I ended up getting a handle-mount flash just so I can walk around with the @#$%ing thing and be able to sign my name at the end of the day.
    So, you know, keep that in mind.
    Grip, viewfinder, buttons, etc… make sure you’re comfortable with them in person.

    Haha don’t worry, I have been into my local shop a lot over the last 6 months checking these out. I actually appologized to the girl yesterday for never buying one but always looking.

    I have a problem with grips as well, since my hands are sizeable. The Olympus sits nicely in my right hand, but the D50 even better. There was another one I tried, I don’t recall which (might have been a digital rebel) but it was awful, I could barely hold onto it, my pinky finger was under the camera and my ring finger was practically under there too, the grip was shallow and immediately I told her I won’t even look at that one.

    As I said to her yesterday the Olympus is one that I have been consistently impressed with each time I come in, now the Nikon I have been as impressed with, it’s a stupendous camera so really I guess it will just come down to what I get for the price. I don’t really care about the MP differences, at the sizes I’ll be printing them it won’t matter much.

    Some of the features are great on the Olympus, but I guess I’ll have to look a bit deeper to see if I can find the same things in the Nikon, which I havn’t tried as extensively.

    Everyone has been helpful so far, keep it coming

    Thanks!

    #7536
    KarolA
    Participant

    Still a DSLR novice, but for what’s it worth…

    I have an Olympus which I bought earlier this year after reading some great reviews about it. It is a good camera – light weight, good feel in my (medium sized) hands, good pictures, good features, good price. It also tolerates some banging around if that’s a concern for you (I try, but am a bit of a klutz.)

    I’m relatively happy with my purchase and very, very glad I have both lenses. In fact, my only regret is the limited number of lenses available for the Olympus. Where can you find the adapter you mention?

    Otherwise, I’m quite pleased with it.

    Oh, and for me, the 17-45 lens only would be too limiting, so I’m glad I bought the kit with both lenses.

    #7537
    Madrigal
    Participant

    I’ll try and dig it up, I did find this though, an adapter that lets me connect Nikon Al lenses.

    http://cgi.ebay.ca/Nikon-AI-lens-adapter-for-Olympus-E-330-E-500-E-300-E-1_W0QQitemZ170051762790QQihZ007QQcategoryZ30059QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

    #7538
    Curious
    Participant

    i am a minolta fanboy staplermofo and proud of it …….

    well until konica got involved and killed the camera line 🙁

    that said i looked at the E500 specs and the deal breaker(s) for me are the 2x thing and the two lens thing. the reviewer at steve’s digicam seems to like these lenses but it almost reads like a PR release. “Shoot wide open or stopped all the way down and achieve superior results over 35mm film based lenses. Zuiko Digital Specific Lenses are about three times the resolution of ordinary film based lenses.” i have a bit of trouble with the three times resolution statement w/o doing the tests myself. that is a lot better. unless they are talking about really cheap film lenses. and i doubt the nikon f series are cheap and they are supposed to fit the D50.

    my latest purchase was a konica/minlota maxxum 7D which i really like. (one doesn’t love an inanimate object) a real plus for this camera is that it will mount all the maxxum film lens w/o an adapter. that means i could buy a 75-300 film tele lens at $160 that fits and works fine. there is a 1.6 factor but i can live with that.

    i was going to mention on camera control (rather than software) but see both the E500 and D50 don’t have all that many and both seem to rely on software for tweaking. which is fine 90% of the time. i have a minolta 7i and it is mostly software control and it hasn’t been a bother. you do need a good memory or the book if you are playing with the software controls in the field. or at least i do.

    so i’m leaning toward the nikon but it’s your money. and you do have an extra lens now that could work with the adapter.

    good luck no matter which you pick.

    #7539
    anneb
    Participant

    I’m left-eyed. I need to make sure my nose doesn’t bump controls when I put the viewfinder up to my eye, causing something to reset. (I sometimes worry, actually, as P&S cameras become more ‘lenses with buttons’ that they’ll lose their shape and become even more right-eyed and right-handed, as computer mice did.)

    I have this problem, and I usually wear glasses which further complicates things. I went with the Canon 30D over the Nikon D50 or D70 partly because the ergonomics of the Canon cameras (even the RebelXT–my hands aren’t all that big) worked better in my hands than the Nikon cameras. But one beef I have is that my exposure lock button falls right under my right eyeglasses lens, so when I go to push that with my thumb, I invariably smudge my glasses in the process. It isn’t a huge deal while I’m composing/shooting, cause I’m looking through my left eye, but as soon as I take the camera down from my face, I look out through a smudgy right lens. I don’t know if the Nikons would work better with that or not (can’t remember what buttons they had there), but it’s something else to consider, though it’s a minor thing.

    But to get back to the original question, as much as I love my Canons (and I have 2 digitals and my Dad’s AE-1 Program film slr on extended loan), I think Nikon for the price would serve you better than the Olympus, though I seriously considered that same camera myself. If you had the money to spring for either a Canon or a Nikon, then your choice might be harder, as they both have pretty equal (and equally minor) pros and cons. But as someone else said, the smaller 4/3 sensor Olympus uses (which gives more high ISO noise) and the limited and more expensive lens offerings might be the larger detractors in the long run. The Nikon D50 is an excellent camera, and should be found pretty reasonably priced given the D80 is out now. I don’t think you could go wrong with either Nikon or Canon, but your budget, the ergonomics of how each camera fits in your hand, and the features you want/need will ultimately have to make the final call.

    EDITED TO ADD: I’m sorry anneb–I hit the edit post instead of the quote post button. The above is from Elsinore quoting the post anneb originally had here. Mea culpa!!!

    #7540
    Madrigal
    Participant

    I checked out this adapter ring and found it on Amazon.

    It allows for the attachment of Zuiko lenses, of which I only have one 50mm 1:1.8 that I use now. The zoom lens I have is a Vivitar and will likely not attach, and as mentioned I CAN get the ring that will allow me to attach Nikon Al lenses. The Zuiko ring costs a little over $100.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 29 total)
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