Oly 70-300mm Lens

[Willo]

Thank you all for the further advice. The lens went before I could make an offer but judging by what you have all said I will be better off going elsewhere.

Jim - thanks for pointing me towards the 30mm, I hadn't considered it before. It could be a bit slow for some of my intended shooting locations. The speed and more robust build of the 50mm are strong attractions.

Davy - the Bigma is another lens I have been considering but currently feel that,discretion being the better part of valour, I should get some experience of using a dslr before going moving onto that monster. It is good to know it can be used to good effect on an Oly. At least I now know I will get a decent price for a second hand &0-300mm if I come to sell it through my local shop

Andy - I too am eagerly awaiting what Olympus pull out of their hat over the next few months. An E620 with video would be useful as I do use the function (somewhat infrequently) on my current camera and have some nice footage of water voles and buzzards amongst other things. Also it would be good to see if they produce an equivalent to the Panasonic G1 but with their image stabilisation. Luckily I still have some saving to do so can still wait (although it may be many years until I am within range of an E-5). Funnily enough my local camera shop has run out of all Oly bodies except the various PENs and told me to hang fire for a month or two as "there should be something new on the horizon". A tad disappointed that nothing came from PMA.

[AndyElliott]

There are plenty of good deals on the E-600 at Currys at the moment. The lack of E-5 announcement was a nuisance - apparently it has been put back according to reliable sources. I would expect an E-620 with video sooner though.

Andy

[DavyG]

Originally Posted by AndyElliott

There are plenty of good deals on the E-600 at Currys at the moment. The lack of E-5 announcement was a nuisance - apparently it has been put back according to reliable sources. I would expect an E-620 with video sooner though.

Andy

Hi Andy,

To the best of my knowledge the "E5", if indeed it will be called that, wasn't put back, it's existence or production has never been officially acknowledged.

I have yet to see anything from reliable sources regarding the next Oly DSLR, all I've seen so far has been speculation and rumour, that includes successors for the E3, E30 and E620.

Personally, I'll be happy to continue using the kit I have, it still works.

I won't be purchasing anymore SHG lenses though until I'm sure of the way forward for Olympus DSLR's.

Dave

[AndyElliott]

Originally Posted by DavyG

Hi Andy,

To the best of my knowledge the "E5", if indeed it will be called that, wasn't put back, it's existence or production has never been officially acknowledged.

I have yet to see anything from reliable sources regarding the next Oly DSLR, all I've seen so far has been speculation and rumour, that includes successors for the E3, E30 and E620.

Personally, I'll be happy to continue using the kit I have, it still works.

I won't be purchasing any more SHG lenses though until I'm sure of the way forward for Olympus DSLR's.

Dave

I wasn't referring to an official announcement... I don't have any worries that the way forward for Olympus DSLRs is solid. Their USP is their superior lenses. The mFT lenses are inevitably compromised by their size. With such a large set of classic fourthirds lenses, Olympus would be insane to concentrate only on micro fourthirds. This has been echoed in their recent press statement. The speculation (some of this is from Olympus) that the E-System may eventually go mirrorless does not worry me at all. I think that as the technology matures, EVFs will be better than current OVFs and on-sensor phase-difference AF will become a reality. Faster burst rates and much quieter shutter releases will be possible.

The key reason why Olympus will not drop their E-System cameras (whether they stay as DSLRs beyond 5 years from now is not really relevant) is their lenses. The larger lenses need larger bodies to balance them - this is also recognised by Olympus too - it won't just be about smaller bodies.

I think a lot of the 'worry' is because of the marketing effort on microfourthirds. I think it was entirely right for Olympus to concentrate on making sure that mFT was released and pushed properly. In the mean time, classic fourthirds users have felt a bit unloved. I expect that to be redressed in the next few months.

FWIW, my guess would be an E-620 replacement with video by the middle of the year and the E-5 (or whatever it will be called) in September.

In the mean time, yes, I'll continue to use my E-3, it works perfectly...

Andy