Olympus Evolt E510 10MP Digital SLR Camera with CCD Shift Image Stabilization and 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 and 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 Zuiko Lenses

Digital Camera Trend in 2008



Great camera,

July 10, 2007

By	Craig (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

I got this camera after reviewing & trying out several different brands at local stores. Compared with the others, the only one I liked better in the hand was the N80, which is considerably more expensive & lacks anti-dust & body-based image stabilization. The viewfinder on this camera is smaller than you're used to if you've shot 35mm SLRs for years, but it's not bad.

Now that I've been using this for a couple of weeks, I like it even more. The body-based image stabilization works well, I can hand-hold the long lens of the set (150mm) for a 1/20 second shot, and it comes out very clear, no visible shake. I can't really comment on the usefulness of the anti-dust capabilities, but have switched out lenses several times, & no dust spots are apparent on my shots. Image quality is great, but the Oly software is worthless. Terrible UI, and the included software that can do decent post-processing of the raw files is trial only. Photoshop Elements w/ Adobe's raw processing & batch conversion from the camera's ORF files to DNG's works great for me. The kit lenses are good, very comparable to old Zuiko lenses from the manual focus 35mm days. Fewer lenses are available for this system than for e.g. Canon or Nikon, but most of the needed lenses are out there. Only thing I really miss is a good fast prime (25mm f/1.4 or f/1.8 would be very appreciated, Oly!) Overall, I'm totally pleased w/ this camera & would recommend it.