Although there aren't a lot of Olympus E-system users in here, I went the same route when buying an E-1 with two lenses. The E-300 is a very nice camera, able to take great pictures. The advantages are the relative small package in which the two lens kit comes. Both lenses are pretty good, and offer great value for the money. To see what they're capable of on a E-300, take a look at the China galleries by Bram Bos. Personally, I love the images coming straight out of the camera, and the fact that their dust cure so far really works for me. Do remember to install the firmware upgrade on the E-300, since this is supposed to help with the white balance issues the first firmware suffered from.
Disadvantages would be that you don't have a whole load of lenses to choose from. The zoom ranges are pretty good covered (with the kit lenses, the medium lenses as the 11-22, 14-54 and 50-200, and the 7-14 and announced f2 pro lenses), but primes (other than the 50mm macro) and specialist lenses like TSE lenses are currently not offered in the Digital Zuiko range. If you're in the USA, you'd be able to get a free OM adapter, allowing you to use OM lenses. That would mean manual focus, and some stopping down in some cases. Also some doubt where the 4/3 system (lenses and sensor) is heading, but esp. since Panasonic announced they're going to develop DSLRs with Olympus for this system, I have good hopes.
All in all: I really liked going to the E-system from my 828. But then again: I like doing things a bit differently.
edit: What I forgot to mention: if you're planning to tons of high ISO and sports shots, you might not be happy with the E-300 and the two kit lenses. For high ISO (Canon) and speed of AF (sports; Canon/Nikon) others might be more qualified. I don't know what's around the corner (both Panasonic and Olympus have announced to release new bodies), but I have seen people moving from Olympus to Canon and Nikon for those needs.
Thanks for the info. I would want to be able to take more natural light, indoor shots of my kids. As long as I could use ISO 400 and 800 on occasion that would be good. From the samples I've seen ISO 400 looks good. I haven't seen too many ISO 800 samples though. Do you have any?
Also, as for the focus speed for sports, is it as fast or faster than the 828?
And does the 3 point focus pose any problems for sports or action/movement?
Although there aren't a lot of Olympus E-system users in here, I went the same route when buying an E-1 with two lenses. The E-300 is a very nice camera, able to take great pictures. The advantages are the relative small package in which the two lens kit comes. Both lenses are pretty good, and offer great value for the money. To see what they're capable of on a E-300, take a look at the China galleries by Bram Bos. Personally, I love the images coming straight out of the camera, and the fact that their dust cure so far really works for me. Do remember to install the firmware upgrade on the E-300, since this is supposed to help with the white balance issues the first firmware suffered from.
Disadvantages would be that you don't have a whole load of lenses to choose from. The zoom ranges are pretty good covered (with the kit lenses, the medium lenses as the 11-22, 14-54 and 50-200, and the 7-14 and announced f2 pro lenses), but primes (other than the 50mm macro) and specialist lenses like TSE lenses are currently not offered in the Digital Zuiko range. If you're in the USA, you'd be able to get a free OM adapter, allowing you to use OM lenses. That would mean manual focus, and some stopping down in some cases. Also some doubt where the 4/3 system (lenses and sensor) is heading, but esp. since Panasonic announced they're going to develop DSLRs with Olympus for this system, I have good hopes.
All in all: I really liked going to the E-system from my 828. But then again: I like doing things a bit differently.
edit: What I forgot to mention: if you're planning to tons of high ISO and sports shots, you might not be happy with the E-300 and the two kit lenses. For high ISO (Canon) and speed of AF (sports; Canon/Nikon) others might be more qualified. I don't know what's around the corner (both Panasonic and Olympus have announced to release new bodies), but I have seen people moving from Olympus to Canon and Nikon for those needs.
The problem is: I don't use an E-300, but an E-1, so I can't help you with high ISO shots from the E-300, nor with its focus speed. I do know that the kit lenses in the E-300 package will not be as fast in focussing as the lenses I had, the 14-54 and the 50-200. Bram Bos, whos gallery I pointed you to, states that he doesn't have any problem with the focussing on the 14-45 and 40-150 though. I don't think sports is his game though. For my type of usage, the 3 focus point is almost a non issue. Most of the times I use only one, the central one.
If you'd like to get detailed information on the E-300, and specific user questions answered that remain unanswered in here, you might want to try the Olympus SLR forum on Dpreview. I've found the people in there extremely helpful, and willing to share their experiences. As for images from the E-300, you could also take a look at www.myfourthirds.com, although it has been down quite often recently due to hosting issues.
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Disadvantages would be that you don't have a whole load of lenses to choose from. The zoom ranges are pretty good covered (with the kit lenses, the medium lenses as the 11-22, 14-54 and 50-200, and the 7-14 and announced f2 pro lenses), but primes (other than the 50mm macro) and specialist lenses like TSE lenses are currently not offered in the Digital Zuiko range. If you're in the USA, you'd be able to get a free OM adapter, allowing you to use OM lenses. That would mean manual focus, and some stopping down in some cases. Also some doubt where the 4/3 system (lenses and sensor) is heading, but esp. since Panasonic announced they're going to develop DSLRs with Olympus for this system, I have good hopes.
All in all: I really liked going to the E-system from my 828. But then again: I like doing things a bit differently.
edit: What I forgot to mention: if you're planning to tons of high ISO and sports shots, you might not be happy with the E-300 and the two kit lenses. For high ISO (Canon) and speed of AF (sports; Canon/Nikon) others might be more qualified. I don't know what's around the corner (both Panasonic and Olympus have announced to release new bodies), but I have seen people moving from Olympus to Canon and Nikon for those needs.
Also, as for the focus speed for sports, is it as fast or faster than the 828?
And does the 3 point focus pose any problems for sports or action/movement?
Thanks again for your help.
If you'd like to get detailed information on the E-300, and specific user questions answered that remain unanswered in here, you might want to try the Olympus SLR forum on Dpreview. I've found the people in there extremely helpful, and willing to share their experiences. As for images from the E-300, you could also take a look at www.myfourthirds.com, although it has been down quite often recently due to hosting issues.