Product Description

The Olympus EVOLT E- 510 digital SLR is a great camera to help you evolve as a photographer. Only Olympus digital SLRs are engineered to be 100-percent digital. Simply put, this means your pictures will have stunning edge-to-edge sharpness that can't be beat. Olympus' Live View LCD technology is a unique feature that enhances your picture-taking experience. Whatever life brings, whatever you're photographing, you'll capture colorful memories with the E-510's proven Dust Reduction System and powerful, 10-megapixel imager.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17386 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Olympus
• Model: 262072
• Dimensions: 2.70" h x 3.60" w x 5.40" l, 1.00 pounds
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• 10-megapixel CMOS sensor captures enough detail for photo-quality 18 x 24-inch prints
• 2.5-inch Live View HyperCrystal LCD display
• Mechanical Image Stabilization with Supersonic Wave Drive technology
• Lightweight ergonomic design; kit includes 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 and 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 Zuiko lenses
• Powered by one lithium-ion battery; stores images on CF, Micro Drive, or xD Picture Cards

Manufacturer Description
The Olympus EVOLT E-510 digital SLR is a great camera to help you evolve as a photographer. Only Olympus digital SLRs are engineered to be 100-percent digital. Simply put, this means your pictures will have stunning edge-to-edge sharpness that can’t be beat. Olympus’ Live View LCD technology is a unique feature that enhances your picture-taking experience. Whatever life brings, whatever you’re photographing, you’ll capture colorful memories with the E-510’s proven Dust Reduction System and powerful, 10-megapixel imager.

EVOLT E-510 Highlights

Innovative 2.5-inch Live View HyperCrystal LCD The E-510 features a Live View LCD to provide users with the freedom to choose how they compose their shots, using either the LCD or the optical viewfinder on the back of the camera. The Olympus Live View LCD empowers users to easily compose their subjects live on the LCD before the shot has been taken, offering a level of versatility that can not be achieved by other digital SLR cameras that only offer an optical viewfinder. By holding the E-510 away from the face and using the Live View LCD to compose, it’s possible to shoot upward from a low angle for dramatic composition, in close for detailed macro photos of a butterfly’s wings or photographing a parade over a crowd of people.

The E-510’s big and bright 2.5-inch LCD display with approximately 230,000 pixels includes HyperCrystal technology, which offers many times the contrast of conventional LCD monitors, and enables images to be beautifully displayed in vivid color -- both in preview and playback. The HyperCrystal LCD also provides a wide viewing angle, which ensures images can be composed from even the most obscure angles. The larger LCD makes viewing icons and text on the camera’s menu a squint-free process.

Detailed, bright, and colorful photos with 10-megapixel Live MOS image sensor The E-510 is loaded with an impressive 10 million pixels for high-resolution photos. The 10-megapixel sensor gives photographers the flexibility to blow up their prints to the large sizes supported by many of today’s printers, or crop the image to print only a part of the image that is important to them. The high-performance Live MOS image sensor in the E-510 delivers excellent dynamic range for accurate color fidelity, and a new state-of-the-art amplifier circuit to eradicate noise and capture fine image details in the highlight and shadow areas.

Mechanical Image Stabilization for sharp images Unlike other digital SLR cameras in its class, the E-510 employs Mechanical Image Stabilization, which compensates for camera movement. This new technology complements Digital Image Stabilization, which compensates for a moving subject. Combined, Mechanical Image Stabilization and Digital Image Stabilization provide a powerful solution, ensuring blur-free photos even in active shooting situations where photographers may encounter camera shake or a moving subject. This powerful combination resides within the camera’s body, translating to blur-free images taken with any of the more than 30 digital-specific lenses.

Dust Reduction System for spot-free images Olympus’ Dust Reduction System produces spot-free photos with the exclusive Supersonic Wave Filter. The patented ultrasonic technology vibrates to remove dust and other particles from the front of the image sensor, and captures the debris on a special adhesive membrane every time you turn on the camera. These spot-free photos liberate users from hours spent retouching photographs at the computer or sending their cameras back to the manufacturer to remove dust trapped inside.

TruePic III for image clarity Olympus’ enhanced TruePic III Image Processor produces crystal clear photos using all the pixel information for each image to provide the best digital images possible for every photo with accurate color, true-to-life flesh tones, brilliant blue skies and precise tonal representation in between. TruePic III also lowers image noise by one step to reduce noise in images shot at higher ISO settings, enabling great results in low-light situations.

Lens compatibility All E-Series cameras support the Four Thirds Standard whereby Olympus and various other manufacturers produce high-quality Four Thirds-compliant lenses and accessories that are specifically designed for digital SLR image capture. Because the E-510 is part of the Olympus E-System, it is compatible with a large and growing range of Olympus E-System accessories to further enhance personal shooting styles and applications. This includes the full line-up of Zuiko Digital Specific lenses and flashes.

Easy-to-use, easy-to-handle light and ergonomic design The EVOLT E-510 is extremely portable, measuring 5.35 inches (136mm) by 3.61 inches (91.7mm) and 2.2 inches (56mm), excluding protrusions, and weighing 16.2 ounces (460 grams) body only. The new camera has a classic penta-mirror design that is light and compact enough to comfortably shoot with all day. Beyond its portable size, the E-510 delivers unparalleled ease of use -- from menus that make sense and buttons on the body that are easy to understand and operate, to automatic settings for every imaginable situation.

While the E-510 includes a full range of manual control options to customize your creativity, it also has 28 shooting modes designed to provide the ideal settings for a variety of shooting situations automatically. These include Digital Image Stabilization, Night Scene, Fireworks, Beach and Snow, and Candle Light to name a few, as well as an xD Panorama mode (for use with Olympus xD-Picture Cards). Users also benefit from special color modes and the possibility to apply a variety of Black & White filters.

Accepting both CompactFlash Type I & II, Microdrives, and xD-Picture Cards, the camera provides a choice of data storage options for enhanced flexibility, and it is possible to transfer image files from one card to the other right inside the camera.

Included 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 and 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 Zuiko lenses The versatility of the Olympus E-System comes from delivering the largest selection of "Designed-for-Digital" lenses -- more than any other manufacturer to date. Olympus’ Zuiko Digital Specific Lenses come in a wide range of focal lengths to achieve the best image result in any given situation, and impress with their spectacular clarity and edge-to-edge sharpness.

The E-410 one-lens outfit includes a compact, Zuiko Digital ED 14-42 mm f3.5-f5.6 Lens (equivalent to 28mm-84mm in 35mm photography) that perfectly matches the imager so light strikes the sensor directly to ensure rich, accurate colors and edge-to-edge sharpness. Its 3x ED Glass zoom lens covers the range most frequently used in everyday photography and weighs just 7.5 ounces, offering users an extremely dynamic, portable everyday-use zoom. Close-ups as near as 9.84 inches (0.25 m) are also possible throughout the zoom range.

The E-410 two-lens outfit adds the Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f4.0-5.6 (80-300mm equivalent) Lens, which provides users with greater telephoto power for far-away shots in a compact size. This telephoto lens is smaller than many standard zoom lenses at 2.6 inch diameter x 2.8 inch length and a weight of 8.8 ounces -- a real benefit for anyone who wants to pack a powerful zoom lens without taking up much space. It also has great close focusing abilities, and is able to capture a subject up-close from a distance of 31.5 inches (.8m).

Both lenses are exceptionally compact, allowing unimpeded mobility. They are sized for comfortable handling and designed for maximum image quality at an excellent price. Most important, these new lenses have the world-renowned ED lenses that deliver stunning high-quality images.

All E-Series cameras support the Four-Thirds Standard whereby Olympus and various other manufacturers produce high-quality Four-Thirds-compliant lenses and accessories that are specifically designed for digital SLR image capture. Because the E-410 is part of the Olympus E-System, it is compatible with a large and growing range of Olympus E-System accessories to further enhance personal shooting styles and applications. This includes the full line-up of Zuiko Digital Specific lenses and flashes.

Customer Reviews

A dSLR that both a pro and a consumer can enjoy alike
I have had this camera for about a month and after using this, I felt compelled to write this review, especially after seeing some comments from first time SLR owners.

My advice to them, please think carefully before buying a dSLR. If all you are going to do is set this camera in Auto mode and shoot, you are making a mistake, an expensive mistake. E-510 or any other dSLR is not designed to excel in this department, definitely not as good as an advanced P&S.

If you want better image quality (color, dynamic range, low noise at high ISO, interchangeable lens etc) and convenience (IS, more buttons, speed), DSLR is the way to go. With power, comes the responsibility. You should also be ready to take the challenge of trying out different settings and spend some time in post processing the RAW images. You can get dynamic range that no P&S can match, if and only if, you are ready to spend the time on it. JPEGs straight from camera will not be significantly better, unless you tweak the settings for each situation perfectly.

Most complaints about this camera are about focusing, under or over exposure. You have to learn how an SLR camera works. There are different metering and focusing modes and you have to choose carefully. Also you have to decide whether to shoot aperture priority or shutter priority based on situations. You can also choose whether to shoot for high key or shadow areas.

No SLR in auto mode can give you a perfect shot of a person when the sun is behind him/her. Either use the proper P mode, or you use spot metering (or at least fill flash).

When something is moving, shooting with slow shutter will also result in blurry image and an SLR expects that the person behind the view finder knows these basics. So my advice is, read the manual and try out all the options and find the modes that suit your needs.

Also, the default ESP metering on this camera is a bit off. It's actually set to ESP + AF in factory. In my experience, if you change Menu2 > Metering to ESP, it works better. You might also consider turning the Noise Filter off for ISO 100 shots. It makes the images sharper (even with sharpness -2) and you can get details that you can't get in any other entry level camera at this moment. But, you might get some visible grains.

What I like -

1. IS, all my lenses are stabilized and I can get sharp shots sometimes at 1/30 when using focal length of 300mm in 35mm equivalent.

2. Clean high ISO, up to 800 is completely usable with little noise reduction. ISO 1600 gives you better or same results compared to other brands, only Canon is half stop ahead.

3. Image quality. The details with noise filter off, the color and the sharpness are wonderful. The dynamic range is not best in it's class, but with RAW files and a little time with Lightroom, it's not really an issue.

4. SSWF. The dust buster in this camera works, unlike other brands (read Canon/Sony/Pentax). Never got a single dust peck on the sensor and I change lenses frequently.

5. Live view. This is the only one in this class at the moment to have this feature. Another Olympus model, E-330 has it, but it was too expensive. This feature really helps when you have time and your eyes are tired. Also when you are shooting macro in an awkward position or using a manual focus lens and want to do precise focusing with the live view magnifier. This is a life saver for me that I can still use old manual focus lenses.

6. The size, weight and ergonomics. With the kit lenses you get 28-300mm range covered and NO OTHER brand can get you this quality in this size and weight. D40x is as good in handling, but lack of IS (and the price/weight of their VR lenses) was a deal breaker.

7. Speed. It's always ready for next shot. In drive mode, you can get 3 frames a second unlimited in HQ JPEG. With RAW, it's limited to 10 shots at the same speed and after that speed reduces to around 1.6 fps. Better than most in it's class if you have a fast card. I don't miss a shot these days due to camera.

What I don't like -

1. Though viewfinder is brighter than some previous Olympus models, it could be bigger. LV helps, but it's not usable always. A small issue considering my eyes aren't too bad.

2. Focus confirmation using manual focus lenses. Though I didn't buy this camera for this purpose, it would have helped a lot. Especially when Panasonic L1 and Pentax models have it, it's just a software fix they have to do so I am hoping they'll release a firmware with this fix.

These are just minor gripes and the second one is easily fixable. All in all, I would say this camera is a winner in the hands of a little experienced person, but a new owner will just need some time to get to know this little gem. IMO, it's the best camera in it's class today if you can live with the "Made in China" sticker on it.

Oympus E-510 D-SLR
As a professional photographer I have used Cannon and Nikon cameras. I purchased an Olympus E-500 two years ago and was impressed with the sharpness, color capture, and other features. Needing a second camera I tested several Cannon and Nikon pro-level cameras. I found the Olympus E-510 equal or superior to each in edge-to-edge sharpness and color capture using color charts and sharpness charts. Additionally, the ease of use of the E-510 was a contributing factor. I am also impressed with the four-thirds system lenses produced by Olympus; they weigh less then their equivalent lenses in the Cannon or Nikor lines and I feel give better edge-to-edge sharpness. The only negative is the narrow line of pro-level lens in the Olympus line.

I recommended the E-500 to my photography students and now I'll recommend the E-510 as the cost factor is important to students. If you are looking for a solid D-SLR I highly recommend the E-510. I suggest that consideration be given to purchasing the Olympus "high-grade" lenses rather then the kit lens for the advanced photographer. The kit lenses are fine for the consumer.

Low light focusing - Olympus, do you hear?
I would give this camera five and a half stars, really, if not for one issue.
And a pretty serious one.

But first the good news: the camera is great.
It works blazing fast, controls are excellent and so is the level of control.
All important SLR options, all those many competitors usually "reserve" for "professional" models - like all metering modes, auto ISO limit, custom WB, mirror anti shock, remote control capability, manual focusing after AF and even shutter release priorities - are there.
Anti-dust system and set of two lens gives you worry free 28-300 (10.7x) range, image stabilization works surprisingly good, widely rumored problem of dynamic range that is half EV below the competition is not visible in 99.95% of the pictures. The rest 0.05% requires microscope and 100% zoom to point out the blown out highlight.

All things considered - an excellent camera and value for money.

Of course, there are many things one may complain about, like slow kit lens (and fast lens are available, but expensive) or aggressive noise filter at high ISO (and it could be turned off) or one second delay at start up (never bothered me much) etc. But all these issues are pretty minor and every camera has list of them.

***
Now the bad news - low light focusing. I just do not understand that.
Here it is: below certain light level camera just struggles to get focus. That level is somewhat below standard living room illumination - so it does not bother many people in standard situations, but try to shoot at the dark bar or at the street in the evening - and change in camera behavior is dramatic. Suddenly it may take several seconds before focus is locked - way too long. Using flash to illuminate target does not help much - flash keeps strobing and strobing and strobing again and finally, when focus is locked it takes additional second to charge it for the shot. I rarely meet people who would stand still for that long... They think I made three pictures of them already, when I accomplished, well, none!

I perfectly understand the technical issue of focusing in low light, but... I am old Olympus E10 owner - and it have never bothered me much with this issue. Cheap Canon A70 have never bothered me with this issue either - well at least nobody expects performance from $200 compact camera.
May be these old cameras are not trying to get perfect focus when they cannot, may be they limiting time to some reasonable interval - I do not know, but Olympus should fix the problem. It is a show stoppers.

For now I turn off AF illumination and switch to shutter release priority in low light situations - but I need to recognize it first. I prefer to have slightly out-of-focus pictures, than no pictures at all. Olympus, do you hear?