Olympus E-520

The Olympus E-520 DSLR has been a great choice for my first DSLR. I'm new to the DSLR world and after spending many weeks researching various DSLR brands and models I almost gave up on finding what I thought I wanted. The features I was looking for in a camera:

- As I am new to the SLR world, I wanted a camera with an auto mode that takes great pictures. Of course, I expect to learn and use the more advanced manual modes as I learn.
- Fast continuous shooting for my kids' sports events.
- Good battery life.
- Affordable lenses. I wanted a good lense for portrait type photos and one with good zoom capability.

The main focus of my research was on Nikon and Canon DSLRs for their obvious popularity. I was primarily looking at the Nikon D60, Nikon D90, and the Canon Digital Rebel XSI. All three cameras had plenty of positive reviews but the main drawback for me was the extra cost for lenses and some negative reviews on the auto modes of the cameras.

Then I stumbled upon an article for the Olympus E520 which at this point I had not considered. I found that the E520 had raving reviews about its auto mode. But the biggest selling point for me was the Image Stabilization. Olympus has image stabilization built into the camera body. This means that individual lenses do not need their own image stabilization features which means less expensive lenses. Nikon and Canon DSLRs do not have image stabilization in the camera body. So if you want image stabilization you have to buy a lens that includes it which increases the price of the each lens significantly.

I have had my E520 for about a month now and have taken about 2000 pictures so far. Indeed, the auto mode works great but learning to use the manual modes has been easy and I am now taking most of my pictures in aperture priority mode rather than auto. The E520 is a great camera and I plan on using it for a long time to come.

- This is a well built camera that feels comfortable in my hands and feels very sturdy and tough.
- The dials and buttoms seemed cluttered and unorganized at first but after getting used to them they are easy to use.
- Auto mode takes great pictures.
- Best battery life compared to any other DSLR.
- Support for both compact flash and picture cards.
- Best dust reduction system.
- Image stabilization built in to camera body rather than lenses.
- Fastest continous shooting in its class.
- Wide variety of lenses available from standard quality to professional.
- Lenses are relatively less expensive because no need for image stablization in the lens.
- Inlcudes a variety of programmed scene modes.
- Excellent value. You won't find a camera as good as this for the price.

I do love this camera but it isn't perfect. Here are some of my complaints. I should mention though that none of these weaknesses would have prevented me from buying this camera.
- Lots of noise at high ISO settings. 800 and 1600 ISO are pretty much unusable because of the noise. This is not a big problem for me but it would be nice to use those ISO settings in low light without a flash.
- Auto focus is slow and painful in low light. In low light, auto focus will strobe the built-in flash 10 or 15 times while it tries to focus. This is really really annoying to the subjects you are photographing. So, you can either use manual focus (which can be difficult in low-light settings), or use an add-on hot flash instead of the built-in flash, (I use the FL-36R). The hot flash uses a red led to illuminate the subject while it auto-focuses instead of the annoying strobe light.
- Auto white balance doesn't always get it right. To overcome this I just manually set the white balance as needed or use Photoshop to correct it afterwards.
- High grade lenses interfere with the built-in flash. You will see a small shadow at the bottom of the photo when using high grade lenses with the built-in flash. The shadow can be cropped out. Zooming the lens a bit will also eliminate the shadow.

Before buying E-520, i spent 3 months researching for the best DSLR that suits my needs...after comparing with other brands (Nikon, Canon, Sony, Pentax), my choice finally come to Olympus E-520.
I've used the camera for a month and i found myself quite pleased with the E-520. The built quality is better than competitors competing in similar level (Canon's XSi or Sony A350)...less plastic-feel, and the rubberized hand grip is also nice.
It surely doesn't feel or look cheap.

And I also find that the weight of E-520 is very compelling, almost every time i went out with friends i always take my E-520 with me...it's a very rare occasion that i didn't bring the camera with me.
No wonder the Pro reviewer of this product stated exactly the same...there's no point of having a DSLR but you left it at home.

E-520 is not without flaws though, the AF in low-light is quite hard...sometimes it just give up...for action or sport photography you might yourself missing a couple of good shots when using this camera, especially combined with low light condition... (luckily i'm currently not into those fields). For common low-light photography, E-520's weaknesses can be tricked by trying to focus on a higher contrast object first and then take the picture.

I shoot primarily nature/outdoor, candid, macro, and low-light/night photography.
I found no problem at all for the first three categories, just make sure you take lots of pictures when shooting in low light or night photography since you can't use ISO 1600 (to much noise for my liking), and that means slower shutter speed...my experience in using E-520 for low light/night photography is it will produce blurry images (caused by slow shutter speed and the maximum usable ISO 800).
Either your object is perfectly still or your hand is perfectly stable...you can produce nice night photos with E-520 ( i found myself shooting at 1-2 sec shutter speed, and 3 out of 10 images are blur free...handheld)

+ Great value for money especially with the double lens kit
+ Weight is very light, ideal for casual shooters like myself
+ Good kit lenses
+ IS feature (image stabilization) is very helpful when shooting low light/night photos, mainly because the ISO - shutter speed problem i stated before.
+ Super control panel -- might be confusing at first, but when get used to it, the control panel become very handy.

- Usable ISO in my opinion is maximum at 800 --> this means slower maximum shutter speed.
- Low light/night photography might experience problems when taking pictures...such as blurry pictures, especially handheld --> make sure you take lots of the same pictures to ensure you got at least one blur free image.
- Dynamic range is below par with the competition, i found much of my sky pictures are blown out...too bad.

Canon Xsi
Sony A350

no experience

I am really happy with my purchase so far. I really think that this camera is an excellent value especially at the sale price of $520 with the 14-42 kit lens. It took me a few days to get used to the new menu system and the Olympus way of changing settings things vs my older non SLR Canon Cameras. This is my first SLR so I really can't compare to the e510 or others. I can certainly say that the grip is better than my friend's e420, although the camera is a little heavier and larger. The button layout is pretty decent and the super control panel menu allows for quick adjustments.

I decided to get Olympus rather than other brands because I wanted to try something new and different. I read allot of great reviews for the e510 and since the e520 is supposed to fix some of the e510's shortcomings the decision was pretty easy considering the excelent pricing on this vs similar cameras. The camera is an excellent value over other brands plus I never have to worry about purchasing super expensive IS zoom lenses as I would need to do with other manufacturers.

I was skeptical of the live view hype but I have found that when taking macro shots with a tripod it comes in real handy. It allows you to digital zoom in 10x on the screen and manually focus to ensure your subject is in focus down the hairs on a spiders leg. Without live view you can only see through the viewfinder and hence, you cannot focus as precisely. The other live view feature I found very useful is to be able to see how 4 different exposures at a time will affect your results as well as a histogram before you even shoot. I tend to use live view to make some adjustments then switch it back to regular shooting to take my shots because it is so much faster. It really helps a beginner like me to learn how to make adjustments properly.

I'm very happy with my purchase so far.

- Awesome Live view!
- Light weight and fairly compact.
- Nice Grip and right hand controls.
- Excellent Value!
- Built in IS (horizontal + vertical, vertical, horizontal for those nice panning shots
- I believe it uses the E3 sensor (but don’t quote me).
- Really Low price for what you get!
- Nice Menu layout once your accustomed to using it

- I had some trouble focusing in the dark using the built in flash for focusing (with 14-42 and Prime 50mm ) The low-light focus aid is the built in flash....
- Only 3 point AF - does not seem to bother me though.
- Have to make some adjustments to the exposure when taking really bright outdoor shots.
- EV bracketing mode only allows for .3-1 stop difference max, if I could get 2-3 stops, then I would be able to use this feature for HDR shots.

- This is my first SLR, but other cameras I have owned or used are:
Canon G1
Canon Digital elph S410
Canon A95

No experience.