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95 of 95 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a very good camera, 22 July 2008
Olympus E-520 DSLR with ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 & ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40-150mm 1:4.0-5.6 lensesStraight out of the box this seems a daunting camera to get to grips with - lots of menus etc. and what appears to be a steep learning curve. However, once the battery is charged and you first handle the camera, it becomes fairly intuitive,requiring a bit of exploration followed by taking some initial snaps. Suddenly you are taken by surprise at how efficiently everything works. I couldn't believe how quickly the standard lens finds focus - not in particularly low light, but low enough for a handheld shot, I focused and reframed several times before I realised that it works almost instantly. Shots are clean and of good quality: low light focus can be dealt with manually and the handbook advises this, which I think is a good idea and something a good DSLR should be able to do well. I read innumerable reviews before deciding on this two lens kit and tried a colleagues Nikon D40 which impressed me with it's handling and quality. This is more expensive, but adds value to what the NIkon has to offer. It is smallish without being tiny and has a good weight and balance that makes it comfortable to use. It's not a pro camera, but could easily be used in situations where a bulky camera would be inconvenient, so it is capable of doing the job, in my opinion. It is good for the money (you would have to spend a lot more to get better), with a good range of lenses across the price range. Just to reiterate, it is not a difficult camera to learn to use, it handles well and produces good photographs.
By way of an update to my review, I have had this camera for just over a year now and cannot understand why it is not more popular. This is not my main camera, which is a Canon 10D, inferior in many ways to the E520, but I still like using it. I don't get sharper pictures necessarily and pictures I have taken with the E520 are very sharp; ignore the criticisms which apply to all cameras reviewed. The lenses are very good, which is the key; forget about megapixels, this is not a measure of sharpness really and I still use a canon A40 2mp camera which is as sharp as you like 10 years on, if you use it properly. The camera is light and the 2 lens kit gives a good range from wide angle to telephoto. In low light use a tripod and cable release or buy a flash: I can't understand why people go on about low light capability. When I used film cameras I used a tripod or flash or uprated the film and made a feature of the grain. I have just produced an exhibition of students' work where we enlarged a small section of a shot taken on the E520 and printed them to A3 - we added up to 70% grain in photoshop just for the effect: nuff said, it's a good camera.
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64 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Olympus E520 - a good compromise camera, 30 July 2008
Most people like to rave about the kit they buy. Cognitive dissonance! Let's be impartial. I've used the E520 for a month after buying through Amazon. It's a competitive camera in its price range. The compromises are all about the Four Thirds standard. Shorter focal lengths (half those of 35mm film cameras) go towards lighter weight and very good zoom range effectively 28mm - 300mm in 35mm equivalent with the two kit lenses. But also a smaller sensor for the megapixels with consequent noise problems to manage. You have to study the manual to get the best out of the E520. The most useful online review is of its immediate predecessor the E510, in dpreview.com. Olympus' compromise has been to add strong automatic noise reduction which makes for softer, more blurry image definition and then to counteract that by a high default level of sharpening. Frankly, that doesn't work very well. For clearer images with more detail comparable to the Canon EOS 400 series and the Nikon D80 you will want to use Program mode with noise reduction off, sharpening reduced and ISO in the range 100 - 400. This is not the best camera for good image quality with low available light and higher ISOs (it goes up to 1600) although you still get usable images with noise reduction at auto then. Strong points are light weight, practical handling, battery performance, good kit lenses, good image stabilisation, acclaimed dust control, very good white balance, lovely natural colours, a good range of features including live view (with enlargement for fine focus adjustment), bracketing, scope to customise. Weak points are low light performance, soft images on auto, three point autofocus, small tunnel-like view through the finder (a Four-Thirds problem), lowish dynamic range with a tendency to clip highlights, diffraction blur at small apertures. Olympus have made the most of the Four Thirds system's potential advantages and have tried to compensate for its deficiencies by in-camera processing. Lastly, Olympus trumpet their shadow adjustment and gradation features but I haven't found them worth writing about. All up, a good camera if you want light weight, practical features, good handling at the expense of some image quality especially in lower light. Next time I'd save more money and go up a league or two...Olympus E-520 DSLR with ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 & ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40-150mm 1:4.0-5.6 lenses
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Picture This, 14 Sep 2009
This review is from: Olympus E-520 DSLR Camera With 14-42mm lens (Electronics)
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.)
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