Help with dSLR Selection
Once upon a time I shot film SLRs and even did quite a bit of dark room work. I largely left photography but have been using compact digital cameras for a few years and think I'd like to get more serious again. I'm intrigued by the Olympus e620. I'd probably start with the two lens kit with a FL36R flash. At some point I'd likely add the 14-54 because of speed and optics and I'd probably also add a 9-18 because I seem to enjoy shooting at relatively wide angles. Part of the appeal is that it's relatively light and would be good for hiking an travel. Secondly, from looking at online galleries I've been impressed with the out of camera jpeg quality and think it generates especially pleasing skin tones. To the best of my knowledge there is only 1 brick and mortar within an hour or so of my location that handles Olympus dSLRs. Went in to do some looking, said I'd like to look at the Nikon D5000, Canon T1i, and e620. The salesman basically said something like "Olympus? Why are you interested in the Olympus? Basically has come down to either the e620 or Nikon D5000. Just didn't like the way the Canon felt in my hands as well. My primary uses will be landscape work and I like to shoot architecture and street photos when traveling. I also think I'd like to do more macro work. I know the Nikon will have less noise at higher isos (of course I used to often shoot Kodachrome 25 and later some Velvia 100 to avoid grain) so I'm not sure this is a huge advantage for my purposes. Based on what I've read I also think that one could ultimately recover a bit more detail from the Nikon RAW files in PP, but again I'm not sure how big an advantage that is in most real world applications. I seem to be leaning slightly toward the Olympus but feel the Nikon might be a safer purchase. My interaction with the salesman almost made me feel I'd be foolish to consider anything other than Canon or Nikon. So I'm suffering from paralysis by analysis and I'm looking for users of either or both of these systems to comment. Would I be foolish to go with Olympus? Thanks.
0
Comments
The Olympus E620 is actually fairly similar to other competing cameras regarding high-ISO noise. Lens selection is a bit less for Olympus system cameras than Nikon and Canon, but the important lenses are there. The best Olympus Four-Thirds lenses are also very expensive, but some would say they are worth it.
You might also consider the new Pentax K-7. It's fairly small, although it does weigh more than the Olympus E620.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
I stopped by my favorite shops and talked to the staff. They were very much in favor of the Olympus systems. They said they dont say much about them due to negative comments from the Canonphile and Nikonnuts. But it is like the underdog system that is very good and has excellent reliability and service. Which is also stated in Consumer Reports research.
I do not like the smaller units because of my big hands, the E-3 was very similar in feel to my D300. Cant say I am big on the AF (system lack of multiple focus points) but I am used to the Nikon. But it works very well for what it is, fast with the lens I had on the model I was trying out.
Go with what you like and feels good for you. The Oly is very competitive in price.
http://kadvantage.smugmug.com/
With the D5000 you are missing out on lots of features that the E-620 has, and it wont work with all Nikon lenses (it wont AF on non AF-S ones, and it wont meter any MF lenses).
I shoot both systems but for most people who are not looking to be jumping to a D300/700 I recommend Olympus highly.
What types of photos will you be doing?
The Olympus standard grade lenses are much better than Nikon's and offer you a huge advantage. The 40-150 Olympus is smaller than the 18-55 VR Nikkor and is about 100 dollars, which means you can always have a backup telephoto in your bag because you never know when you might need it.
I actually was planning to only use my Nikon gear with the Fuji S5 because it acts totally different than any other digital camera, and go with a E-30 along with a tons of higher end Olympus lenses. For me it didn't work since I have to wear wrist braces and the larger Olympus bodies don't ergonomically work with them. (The E-420 though is as perfect of a camera as I have ever held.)
I did months of reviewing all different types of bodies and crop sensor VS crop sensor there was not much of a difference between 4/3 and the others but Olympus does offer much nicer colors than Nikon and the lenses are smaller/amazingly sharp which was a big point for me.
Honestly the only Nikon sensor I would buy over the current 4/3 is the full frame D700 one which well I did end up getting. It has capabilities that well other cameras can't match just like the Fuji sensor. The issue is to get the images where I want them in color I have to do A LOT more work on Nikon files than Olympus.
The way I view it is with Olympus I take a shot and it is 90% of the way to how I want it. With the D700 (and all other Nikons I have tried recently are like this) you take the shot and your image is in there, but you need to pull it out with a good bit of post processing sometimes.
Since 4/3 is my secondary system I use all standard grade lenses (9-18, 14-42, 40-150, and 35mm macro) and can hold a whole system in a tiny bag. I can change the lenses with basically no fear of dust getting on the lenses as well which is a great feature. And the control menu on the Olympus cameras is the next best thing to physical controls found on bodies at the D300 and up level.