introduction to dslr

[Mr Mag00]

Hi i have never used this forum and have only just joined, but having looked through I am very pleased to be here.

to the post.. I am looking to purchase for my girlfriend a complete dslr package, hopefully i will get to use it
i have done some exhaustive searching and found this package that seems to offer everything we need to get started. we dont do a lot of photography but like to take good photographs we are moving over from an slr and digital compact.we do quite a bit of landscape, family and i dabble with wildlife when i can find the time

Olympus E-500 PRO PACKAGE (with 2 x lenses & loads of extras)+ FREE 30 Months Warranty
MULTI AWARD WINNING SLR CAMERA! See below for awards

PRO PACKAGE INCLUDES EXTRA:
Olympus 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital Lens
Olympus 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 Zuiko Digital Lens
Olympus Lithium Ion Charger & Battery Set RRP £129.99 (not included in Dixons camera package)
2GB Sandisk Ultra II Compact Flash Card RRP - £99.99
Olympus E-System Kit Case - RRP £59.99
Spare Lithium Ion Battery - RRP £34.99
30 Months Year Olympus UK Warranty

£699.99 (including VAT)

I know the nikons seem to get rave reviews, i have not discounted it. The olympus looked like a good deal to get us started i notice there is no built in flash. so are there any neagtive thoughts to this package.

I am sorry this is quite a long initial post. it is quite a substantial investment for me and want to get it right and have a package we can make additions to in the future eg flashgun and further lenses.

thank you in advance for comments, suggestions and thoughts

Mr mag00

[matt_xyz]

I don't own an E500 but I have been very tempted by it myself. The alleged weakness with it is slightly more noise due to its smaller sensor, but I don't believe this to be a major problem. I'm also not quite so sure about the range of four-thirds lenses available, but this is something I haven't looked into too much. The big plus is that it has a crop factor of 2 which effectively doubles the focal length of your lenses (so a 100mm lens is equivalent to 200mm etc). The other big plus is its dust removal system.

I'm sure it does have a built in flash by the way.

I think it sounds like a very good package, although you may need a longer lens for wildlife.

Matt

[nightshade]

Hi mrMagoo have you looked in the photographic forum? there are similar threads there.
Incidently Sony who bought out Konica Minolta(the excellent Dynax system) are about to launch a new DSLR
I like the Nikon D50, and the smaller Canon 350D but think about what you want to take pictures of, kits can be too general and a 50-500 for birds or a 150 macro lense would make more sense

[paulthomas]

That looks like a pretty good deal considering all the extras with it. I've had the E-500 for 6 months now and it's a very good, well built camera which handles very well. The lenses supplied in the kit are far superior to the kit lenses of other brands IMO. The 40-150mm in particular is a very good lens. I used mine at the weekend to photograph a falconry demonstration and got some really superb pictures with it (for most of my wildlif photography I use the 50-200mm with 1.4x telconverter). Have fun with your new camera when you get it

[John D]

Hi Mr Magoo, welcome to WAB. I hope you enjoy being a member.
I too have an Olympus E-500 and have been using it now for around three months. I find it to be very good and 'noise' isn't a problem as far as I'm concerned. I didn't buy the kit but chose to get a Sigma 55-200mm lens instead. (This gives the equivalent of 110-400mm in 35mm SLR terms.)
I have several images on the WAB Gallery see-John D

[Oy]

I have a friend who used the Olympus E-500 system.

It's a fine camera and great value for money. However, attaching the word "PRO" to it is a bit of a stretch!

[paulthomas]

Originally Posted by matt_xyz

I'm also not quite so sure about the range of four-thirds lenses available, but this is something I haven't looked into too much.

Sigma are making quite a few lenses available in 4/3rds mount this year including the Bigma . Leica will also be producing a range of 4/3rds lenses, most of them optically stablised, all of them extremely expensive I don't think they're doing anything over 150mm though. There are rumours that future Olympus bodies will incorporate some form of in-camera image stablisation.