First Proper DSLR - Gulp

[iCardboardRobot]

Hi folks, i took the plunge and bought a relatively cheap DSLR


The Olympus E 500 , i obviously don't know too much about DSLR's, so some of you might be recoiling in horror at my choice, but it seemed like a good camera and i got it and a basic lens for under £140 on ebay. Hopefully i have made a good choice and i really look forward to updating this thread with pictures using it ! Any tips or advice, very much welcome !

[casper]

Nice one. All the best with it and looking forward to seeing some results

Review of the camera can be found here

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympuse500/

[iCardboardRobot]

upgraded already ! not a big jump, changed from the E500 to the E510, 2 more megapixels and image stabilization, which i definitely need !

Now to begin the experiment of shooting in RAW, long hours on photoshop here i come :-)

[Midas]

Look forward to seeing some of the photos myself. Just recently got my own first DSLR (Canon EOS 500d) and still getting to grips with it. Anything I've taken so far has been pretty good (although no aircraft shots yet - just landscapes, portraits etc). Can't believe I didn't get one of these years ago! Am now thinking about adding the Canon 70-300mm IS lens (in a week or two) to supplement the kit one which came with it. If anyone has any views on a better lens to get then I'm open to suggestions!

[Dave]

upgraded already ! not a big jump, changed from the E500 to the E510, 2 more megapixels and image stabilization, which i definitely need !

Now to begin the experiment of shooting in RAW, long hours on photoshop here i come :-)

That was a quick upgrade! Image Stabilisation really does help big time, especially with the longer lens and lower light conditions. The main question is qhat lenses do you have for the camera?

Am now thinking about adding the Canon 70-300mm IS lens (in a week or two) to supplement the kit one which came with it. If anyone has any views on a better lens to get then I'm open to suggestions!

The 70-300mm IS gets my thumbs up. It's a fantastic lens and gets some pretty sharp images. It might be a bit soft between 250-300mm but still a fantastic lens. Another option might be the Canon 70-200mm F4 which offers 100mm less but the quality is just immense. Either lens would be a well worth investment. I guess it depends what you want to mainly photograph?

[Midas]

Thanks for the suggestion Dave - much appreciated. I'll probably take a trip down to the "well-known" camera shop in Belfast and try a couple of the lenses to see what I think, before checking out online prices etc. I thought that with the 300mm I might get a little bit closer to some of those contrails over Lisburn!
 
Even with the current lens, I've been impressed at the quality of the photographs.
 
(I just need to pack the wife and kid off for a day now so I can go and test it at the City Airport!!)
 
 

[casper]

Am now thinking about adding the Canon 70-300mm IS lens (in a week or   two) to supplement the kit one which came with it

I have the non-IS version and am happy with the quality it produces. Certainly an L series lens is going to be much better but if funds can't run to one I'd say you can't go far wrong with a 70-300mm.

[iCardboardRobot]

upgraded already ! not a big jump, changed from the E500 to the E510, 2 more megapixels and image stabilization, which i definitely need !

Now to begin the experiment of shooting in RAW, long hours on photoshop here i come :-)

That was a quick upgrade! Image Stabilisation really does help big time, especially with the longer lens and lower light conditions. The main question is qhat lenses do you have for the camera?

The upgrade cost £30, in a second hand shop, which was good stuff.

i currently have, 17.5-40 Zuiko ed digital & 40-150 zuiko ed digital, saving up for a 70-300 zuiko ed digital, unfortunately olympus use a 4/3rd's system that takes very few lens

[Angry Turnip]

Olympus E Series cameras produce excellent images,a friend of mine has a E510 and he loves it;but as you mention the choice of lenses is a bit limited.
 
Have fun with it!

[iCardboardRobot]

Thanks angry ! Tonight was my first experience with the E510 and i really enjoyed it ! Lovely camera to use, really looking forward to saving up enough money to get my 70-300. Resisting the temptation to do a cheapo and get one of those 2X magnifying lenses to put on my 150mm, rather save the cash !

[iCardboardRobot]

well just order the 70-300mm lens, thatts the biggest you can easily get for the E510, so im looking forward to seeing what it can do

[Midas]

I also plunged for the 70-300mm lens about three weeks ago and have to say that I have been extremely impressed. In Lisburn I get a lot of flights taking off from Aldergrove and going into the City over Belfast - the lens really brings them up close. It's a great piece of kit - thanks to all who offered their advice earlier in the thread -it's much appreciated.
 
(I did try to upload a few of the photos I took with the lens last week but had a few difficulties with the upload process - will try again over next few days)

[Dave]

Congrats on the purchase guys 
 
Midas, wait until you try the lens at the airport, thats when you get to see the real quality of the lens. Try not to photograph during the midday sun though, thats when heat haze is at it's maximum and often makes photos look soft.
 
Cardboard, I presume the 70-300mm lens you bought was the Olympus 70-300mm f4-5.6 Zuiko Digital ED Lens?
It seems the Olympus cameras have a 2x crop factor meaning the 35mm (film) equivalent length is 140-600mm!
 
The Canon users have a crop factor of 1.6x on their cameras so a 70-300mm lens mounted on their camera only has a 35mm (film) equivalent length of 112-480mm!
 
The Nikon cameras have 1.5x crop factor meaning a 70-300mm lens on a Nikon camera has the 35mm (film) equivalent length of 105-460mm!
 
Simplifying all of the above, you have quite a bit more focus length than the rest of us guys    Even the guys with Canon 100-400mm lenses only have a range of (1.6 x 400mm) 640mm.

[iCardboardRobot]

Thats the one indeed Dave, didnt realise that about the crop factor, on the side of the lens it has a sticker saying 35mm eq 140-600mm as you mentioned. Really excited about getting to grips with it !

Thanks for that post Dave, helps to get a perspective on it all !