Oct 21, 2005

Olympus EVOLT E500 8MP Digital SLR review

Olympus has just recently introduced their new EVOLT E-500 digital SLR. Looks lhe E-500 has many of the same features as the E-300 but it has as more traditional (YAY!) body, a larger LCD display, new noise reduction software, and much more. The EVOLT E-500 is their third camera in their Four-thirds system, this camera could be their finest offering yet. The E-500 features an eight megapixel Kodak 4/3 Type CCD sensor.

DPReview have just posted their review. Here's what Phil Askey thinks of the lates from Olympus-
"Image quality is on the whole very good, resolution essentially as good as the EOS 350D (Digital Rebel XT), although perhaps not as per-pixel crisp, and an Olympus-like contrasty tone / vivid color look to images. My only disappointments are with the way the cameras image pipeline deals with highlights which can look 'hard clipped', the over-processed looking sharpening and noise at ISO 1600. The E-500 still has (essentially) the same sensor as the E-300 and despite improved noise reduction it's still no match for Canon's excellent CMOS sensor at higher sensitivities (above ISO 400). Hence if you find yourself shooting a lot of ISO 800 and 1600 images you may wish to think harder about the Canon offerings. Other negatives include the small viewfinder which can make it difficult to visualize focus distance, and the not-so-instant-startup (1.7 sec power on).

Dive into the E-500s menus and you soon realize this camera offers far more from a features point of view than the competition, you just don't find features like this on a $699 camera; manual flash power, flash bracketing, manual focus bracketing, test picture, customizable buttons and dial, custom mirror-lockup, in-camera RAW development, lens shading correction. So despite some shortcomings, and assuming you can forgive the small viewfinder view you'll be hard pushed to argue with the 'value proposition' the E-500 represents. As a bonus you can always put some of the savings towards one of the excellent Olympus E system lenses (of which there are now considerably more to choose from)."

Accessories
Tamrac 5273 Expedition 3 SLR Photo Backpack (Forest Green)?
SLIK U212 DLX Heavy Duty Tripod
Olympus FL-20 Electronic Flash for SP series, C5000, C750, C770, C5060, C7070, C8080, E1, E300 & E500 Digital Cameras
Olympus FL-50 Electronic Flash for Olympus C7070, E1, E300 & E500 Digital SLR Cameras
Olympus 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Zuiko ED Digital SLR Lens for E1, E300 & E500 Cameras

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