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Product Description
Manufacturer's Description
Manufacturer's Description
E-520 & ED 14-42mm Zoom Lens
Make the most of every opportunity
The perfect moment doesn’t wait, that’s why serious photographers need serious equipment. With its pro features and top image quality, the Olympus E-520 D-SLR fits the bill perfectly. This evolution in the EISA Award-winning E-500 series incorporates a built-in image stabiliser to ensure blur-free shots irrespective of the lens attached and without the need for a tripod, and without the need for a tripod.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6
With a 35mm equivalent focal length of 28-84mm, this specially designed kit lens provides a full 3x zoom performance. Offering a broad focal range from medium wide angle to traditional telephoto, the ZUIKO DIGITAL ED
14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 is not only small but lightweight too.
Description
The E-520 makes blurred photos a thing of the past. Because its stabiliser is located in the ergonomically designed camera body rather than the lens, photographers can shoot with confidence regardless of whichever of the 20+ ZUIKO DIGITAL lenses in the range is attached.
The E-520 is fast too, offering continuous shooting at 3.5fps for up to eight RAW images in a sequence. A TruePic III image processor ensures noise levels are impressively low, even with light sensitivity settings running from ISO100 to ISO1600. For added versatility, photographers can bracket a series of shots to compare varying exposure, focus or white balance settings.
When flash is needed, E-520 owners can select either the built-in pop-up bulb or choose an optional external unit, thanks to the top-mounted hotshoe. Wireless flash control is also possible with this model, making customised lighting set ups an easy reality.
Like all Olympus E-System cameras, the E-520 incorporates a Supersonic Wave Filter to protect its sensor from the incursion of dust when changing lenses, and thus deliver blemish free results.
With the E-520, Live View via the 6.9cm/2.7" HyperCrystal II LCD has been enhanced to boost user friendliness. In addition to previewing depth of field, users can adjust exposure compensation and white balance on-screen, as well as witness the effects of auto focus, Face Detection and Shadow Adjustment Technology in real time.
Key Features
10.1 Megapixels resolution
Large 6.9cm / 2.7'' HyperCrystal II LCD
Built in image stabilisation means that any lens attached becomes immediately protected against the blurring effects of camera shake
Comfortable viewing with Autofocus Live View Dust-free photography with powerful and highly effective Supersonic Wave Filter dust reduction system
Designed for digital Four Thirds Standard
3.5 frames per second continuous shooting
Face detection for sharper portraits. Detects up to 8 faces at the same time
Shadow Adjustment Technology (SAT) to ensure even exposures, even with bright backgrounds and dark foregrounds
32 user-friendly shooting modes Professional-grade photography with all the convenience of a compact camera
LONG LIFW RECHARGEABLE LITHIUM ION BATTERY
Long-life rechargeable battery ensures extended shooting.HIGH ISO
ISO100 to ISO1600 light sensitivity.DUAL SLOT - XD/CF
Accepts xD-Picture Cards and Compact Flash card.
LCD boasts viewing angles of 176° and has a field of view that covers 100% of the frame
BUILT-IN FLASH AND WIRELESS FLASH CONTROL
Control wireless flash units remotely – eliminating the need for extra cables.TRUEPIC III IMAGE PROCESSOR
Olympus' newest-generation image processing engine. It automatically enhances important aspects of image quality including: Colour reproduction (colour range, saturation and brightness), picture sharpness (reduced image noise, improved edge reproduction), as well as providing faster processing speeds.
Product Description
- Comfortable viewing with Autofocus Live View
- Dust-free photography with a powerful Dust Reduction System
- 100% D-SLR quality
- Absolute control with professional functions
- 6.9cm / 2.7" HyperCrystal II LCD with 176x viewing angle
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
I'm new to the DSLR market having just upgraded from a compact digital. My problem was deciding which camera to go for; all the photography magazines gave similar ratings for the entry level cameras I could afford. Narrowing it down to two models, I plumped for the e520 and am I pleased I did.
I'm not in a position to compare this with anything else because I simply don't know. What I do know is that it's light and accessible, with all the buttons, switches and knobs falling easily to hand. I like the live view for the ability it gives to compose your scene beforehand and the pictures it takes are excellent. The ability to take photos in monochrome and other assorted modes is good. (Other, more experienced photographers, may mention things like 'noise' and 'RAW' but the market this camera is aimed at won't really be that bothered about such things - and, like me, I doubt they'd be able to tell the difference unless it's pointed out?) Yes, the number of extra lenses available is nowhere near that of other manufacturers, but again, the supplied kit lens and maybe another two would be ample for those whom buy this.
Not only is this a great DSLR, but I shopped around and found it in Curry's for £320 and got a 4GB CF card and camera case thrown in, but not literally, which brings the price below £300 in effect. (It's being discontinued in that chain, so you'll get a good deal.)
I'm not in a position to compare this with anything else because I simply don't know. What I do know is that it's light and accessible, with all the buttons, switches and knobs falling easily to hand. I like the live view for the ability it gives to compose your scene beforehand and the pictures it takes are excellent. The ability to take photos in monochrome and other assorted modes is good. (Other, more experienced photographers, may mention things like 'noise' and 'RAW' but the market this camera is aimed at won't really be that bothered about such things - and, like me, I doubt they'd be able to tell the difference unless it's pointed out?) Yes, the number of extra lenses available is nowhere near that of other manufacturers, but again, the supplied kit lens and maybe another two would be ample for those whom buy this.
Not only is this a great DSLR, but I shopped around and found it in Curry's for £320 and got a 4GB CF card and camera case thrown in, but not literally, which brings the price below £300 in effect. (It's being discontinued in that chain, so you'll get a good deal.)
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Barry Lees
Amazon Verified Purchase
I have owned Olympus film cameras for 30+ years and am fully acquainted with their lightweight bodies yet `pro' quality lenses and ergonomic controls. When I wanted to upgrade to a `digital darkroom' using image processing computer software, it's not surprising that I stuck with brand loyalty.
However, the E520 is a world away from the likes of the OM4. Its Zuiko lenses continue to produce quality image results and the inclusion of body features like the image stabiliser are certainly well worthwhile, but everyday operation of the multitude of options and menus is, quite frankly, a nightmare. An `instruction book' is provided and this can also be downloaded from the enclosed dvd and printed up to A4 size. Thinking that would help me to make more sense of the somewhat obscure instructions, I printed all 148 pages up to A4. No use - it would appear that the manual is meant to be read by those who designed and built the camera. For the user, it's as clear as mud.
I'm left with the impression that Olympus wanted to cram as many modes, options and buttons as possible onto the E520 for no reason other than to prove that they could, but it merely results in covering the back plate with numerous controls for the owner to hit with his/her thumbs at exactly the wrong instant.
A tutorial dvd produced by `Quickpro Camera Guides', a 3rd party firm, was previously available for the E520, but Olympus says that it was "discontinued in Europe". A pity, because reviewers have said that it should have been included with the camera when sold. The dvd that DOES come with the E520 is just an advert showing 4 models with white teeth pretending to be 2 holiday couples being amazed by an E520 on a Mediterranean beach. My sister managed to order the tutorial dvd from Amazon in the USA and brought it here on a short trip home.
As long as you can put up with the slightly hyperactive presenter talking about the "kemra", "fine toon" and so on, the dvd comes into its own by being much easier to follow than the manual which, as I said above, assumes that the owner is an expert before even opening the manual! The tutorial dvd may be `generic', as the presenter only once (I think) says "E520", but this model is the one shown. I'm not talking about the more basic operations like using depth of field to best effect, but some of the E520's many modes are well buried in the pages of the manual, and I may have overlooked them without this tutorial disc. For example, the printed manual mentions the `Control Dial' on every other page without seeming to explain - right at the beginning - what this dial actually does.
Although it would have been helpful for Olympus to include the tutorial, you may decide that it would be worthwhile spending a further $25 to get much better instructions than the book will provide. Even then, because the E520 is so complicated, it will take a LOT of practice before you can use it almost without thinking as you may have with the film cameras.
On the E520, there is a program for every shooting situation you could think of. I'm not sure yet if this enhances or stifles creativity; time will tell. To help things, when you select a program (for example, "night" or "snow"), an "example" shot is displayed on the l.c.d. screen. A wide range of fairly lightweight, yet high quality, lenses are available for this DSLR and older OM lenses can be used with a suitable adaptor.
On the electronic front, the E520 comes with a host of features like image stabilization, variable and automatic white balance, `noise' suppression, a patented `ultrasonic' cleaner to remove dust from the image sensor and even multiple face detection software for 'intelligent' focusing and exposure in each frame(!) Light metering is no longer decided by the "centre-weighted" option that served the majority of us so well in the past. In addition to centre-weighted, even the OM4's spot metering (with highlight and shadow compensation) has been added to by this model's offering of "multi-segment" (an average value of 16 equal areas).
Further controls allow colour alteration, with labels like `vivid', `natural', `muted', `portrait', `monotone' and `custom'. But this is really information overload, I feel.
All in all, an impressive amount of electronic features packed into a small body. I just wish my fingers were smaller. Or maybe I'll have to adjust the control buttons with a cocktail stick! Because I feel that I've learned from the Quickpro guide, I'll revise my initial 3 stars to 4 and persevere with the non-intuitive controls.
The tutorial dvd I mentioned states that the combination of JPEG settings (fine and normal), with image sizes (large, middle, small) gives a restricted total of 4 image qualities (LF, LN, MN and SN). However, the camera manual (p62) states that there are 12 combinations of compression rates (Super Fine, Fine, Normal and Basic) and 3 image sizes (L, M, S) but that "only 4 can be registered at one time". Instructions on how to do so are typically vague. I can't find "Super Fine" on my E520 menus. Could another customer help?
Perhaps Olympus should release their own dvd to accompany their cameras.
However, the E520 is a world away from the likes of the OM4. Its Zuiko lenses continue to produce quality image results and the inclusion of body features like the image stabiliser are certainly well worthwhile, but everyday operation of the multitude of options and menus is, quite frankly, a nightmare. An `instruction book' is provided and this can also be downloaded from the enclosed dvd and printed up to A4 size. Thinking that would help me to make more sense of the somewhat obscure instructions, I printed all 148 pages up to A4. No use - it would appear that the manual is meant to be read by those who designed and built the camera. For the user, it's as clear as mud.
I'm left with the impression that Olympus wanted to cram as many modes, options and buttons as possible onto the E520 for no reason other than to prove that they could, but it merely results in covering the back plate with numerous controls for the owner to hit with his/her thumbs at exactly the wrong instant.
A tutorial dvd produced by `Quickpro Camera Guides', a 3rd party firm, was previously available for the E520, but Olympus says that it was "discontinued in Europe". A pity, because reviewers have said that it should have been included with the camera when sold. The dvd that DOES come with the E520 is just an advert showing 4 models with white teeth pretending to be 2 holiday couples being amazed by an E520 on a Mediterranean beach. My sister managed to order the tutorial dvd from Amazon in the USA and brought it here on a short trip home.
As long as you can put up with the slightly hyperactive presenter talking about the "kemra", "fine toon" and so on, the dvd comes into its own by being much easier to follow than the manual which, as I said above, assumes that the owner is an expert before even opening the manual! The tutorial dvd may be `generic', as the presenter only once (I think) says "E520", but this model is the one shown. I'm not talking about the more basic operations like using depth of field to best effect, but some of the E520's many modes are well buried in the pages of the manual, and I may have overlooked them without this tutorial disc. For example, the printed manual mentions the `Control Dial' on every other page without seeming to explain - right at the beginning - what this dial actually does.
Although it would have been helpful for Olympus to include the tutorial, you may decide that it would be worthwhile spending a further $25 to get much better instructions than the book will provide. Even then, because the E520 is so complicated, it will take a LOT of practice before you can use it almost without thinking as you may have with the film cameras.
On the E520, there is a program for every shooting situation you could think of. I'm not sure yet if this enhances or stifles creativity; time will tell. To help things, when you select a program (for example, "night" or "snow"), an "example" shot is displayed on the l.c.d. screen. A wide range of fairly lightweight, yet high quality, lenses are available for this DSLR and older OM lenses can be used with a suitable adaptor.
On the electronic front, the E520 comes with a host of features like image stabilization, variable and automatic white balance, `noise' suppression, a patented `ultrasonic' cleaner to remove dust from the image sensor and even multiple face detection software for 'intelligent' focusing and exposure in each frame(!) Light metering is no longer decided by the "centre-weighted" option that served the majority of us so well in the past. In addition to centre-weighted, even the OM4's spot metering (with highlight and shadow compensation) has been added to by this model's offering of "multi-segment" (an average value of 16 equal areas).
Further controls allow colour alteration, with labels like `vivid', `natural', `muted', `portrait', `monotone' and `custom'. But this is really information overload, I feel.
All in all, an impressive amount of electronic features packed into a small body. I just wish my fingers were smaller. Or maybe I'll have to adjust the control buttons with a cocktail stick! Because I feel that I've learned from the Quickpro guide, I'll revise my initial 3 stars to 4 and persevere with the non-intuitive controls.
The tutorial dvd I mentioned states that the combination of JPEG settings (fine and normal), with image sizes (large, middle, small) gives a restricted total of 4 image qualities (LF, LN, MN and SN). However, the camera manual (p62) states that there are 12 combinations of compression rates (Super Fine, Fine, Normal and Basic) and 3 image sizes (L, M, S) but that "only 4 can be registered at one time". Instructions on how to do so are typically vague. I can't find "Super Fine" on my E520 menus. Could another customer help?
Perhaps Olympus should release their own dvd to accompany their cameras.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Bob Southall
I bought this camera about 12 months ago after deliberating whether to go for the Nikon, Olympus or Canon. I have had all 3 in film and finally went for the Olympus I also bought the Opympus 75-300 mm zoom) . I have since wondered if the Conon would have been a better choice, their advertising is very convincing, so good in fact that I recently cracked and bought the EOS 500d package, this includes the EFS 18-55 mmand the EF 75-300 lenses. I have used this camera for about 10 weeks now and feel fairly happy with its functions. Comparing the two cameras, I find the image quality is very good from both, the Conon's 15Meg sensor shows no better resolution than the 10.1Meg of the olympus unless you crop a massive amount. The Olympus "feels" a much better built unit and the lenses of the Canon are very poorly built. The zoom is not at all smooth and the image stabilisation on the Olympus leaves the Canon standing! I was told that having image stab in the lens was a big advantage, this is NOT so, you will read of people who have bought lenses with IS (image. stab) installed who have returned them because it wasn't working, it probably was but its effect is almost un-detectable, so much so in fact that I am not sure whether my Canon EFS 18-55mm lens actually HAS image stab. installed or not!. The Image Stab on the Olympus is in the camera and when its ON there is NO ambiguity, the image locks solid whatever lens you are using. I feel canon have built a series of lenses for the lower end of the marked and have lost the plot a bit at what is acceptable quality. The final insult comes whe you consider the Canon is made in Taiwan, the Olypmus in China.
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