A Couple Questions on Olympus dSLRs...

I had an e500 previously. image quality was good enough for me. only downside was the lack of image stabilisation when using a long zoom lens. I had the twin lens kit.
Subsequently, I'm now using a pentax k200d. recently obtained a super takumar 50 1.4 with original pentax adapter. i have to say its very very difficult to obtain an accurate focus using the standard focus screen. am thinking of getting a split screen, but the katzeyes are very expensive and i've read about issues with other cheaper versions. so, i'm not so sure manual focus is that easy... my impression is the e500's viewfinder is not as good as my current pentax.
 
bmattock said:
Thanks again, guys. As I said, I have no interest in Live View. Sorry, just not my thing, never will be. If I can't use an optical finder to focus, I am not interested. I focus manually on an optical focus screen. Period.

Same thing for the recommendations of $700 + lenses. Don't care how good they are, it's out of the question for me. I was asking about the Oly E-500/510 dSLR bodies because they seem to be going for around $150 USD used on eBay. That's do-able for me. I have M42 lenses by the bushel and can afford an adapter. If I wanted a $700+ lens, I'd stick with my Pentaxes, really. The goal here is very, very, cheap, and I define 'cheap' as less than $200 USD all in.

However, I sincerely appreciate the personal opinions on the ability to manually focus using the smaller Olympus dSLR screens. Anybody tried the aftermarket split-focus ring screens?
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Bill, the VFs on the older and smaller Oly DSLRs are VERY small. Like really really small. It would not be easy to focus one with an MF lens without liveview at all. However, from what you said, the 14-42mm kit lens that comes with later oly bodies can be picked up for about $50-90 used and is a fantastic little lens - really good optics considering the price and the size/weight. It compared well to my expensive canon zooms when I compared it, and there was about $1000 difference between them.
 
atelier7 said:
I had an e500 previously. image quality was good enough for me. only downside was the lack of image stabilisation when using a long zoom lens. I had the twin lens kit.
Subsequently, I'm now using a pentax k200d. recently obtained a super takumar 50 1.4 with original pentax adapter. i have to say its very very difficult to obtain an accurate focus using the standard focus screen. am thinking of getting a split screen, but the katzeyes are very expensive and i've read about issues with other cheaper versions. so, i'm not so sure manual focus is that easy... my impression is the e500's viewfinder is not as good as my current pentax.
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Atelier - at the very least get the 1.2x magnifier. It helps alot.

I use a cheap Chinese screen in my istDS - works very well. Also, the focus confirmation is very good and agrees with the split screen even in low light. I like the 50/1.4 and 85/2 on the DS.
 
atelier7 said:
I had an e500 previously. image quality was good enough for me. only downside was the lack of image stabilisation when using a long zoom lens. I had the twin lens kit.
Subsequently, I'm now using a pentax k200d. recently obtained a super takumar 50 1.4 with original pentax adapter. i have to say its very very difficult to obtain an accurate focus using the standard focus screen. am thinking of getting a split screen, but the katzeyes are very expensive and i've read about issues with other cheaper versions. so, i'm not so sure manual focus is that easy... my impression is the e500's viewfinder is not as good as my current pentax.
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Thanks, that helps a lot! For what it might be worth, I have the cheap chinese screen in my *ist DS and it's great. I also have trouble doing manual focus with my newer K200D, and I am also planning on installing a split-ring focus screen on it. I'll go with the cheap Chinese one, it worked so well in my *ist DS...
 
kuzano said:
Have had:
2- e300
1- e500
2- e510
1- e1
1-e420 (smallest of the lot)
1 panasonic L1 with the Mega OIS 14-50mm 2.8-3.5
all the kit lenses

The e300 and e500 AND the E1 are desirable for the Kodak sensor (color rendition nicer).

The 500 was a "tweener"... between the Live View of the 330 and the in body IS of the 510. It is off on price, but still has a nicer color rendition than the later sensors.

The real sleeper is the E-1 for it's color, but it's 5 Mp and most are put off by that.

The 12-60 is, from all accounts, a great lens, but was not a standard kit lens. The kit lenses for all the consumer models were 14-45 1st and second version and the 14-42. the long kit lens was the 40-150 also in two versions. All three of the kit lenses were better than most other manufacturers kit lenses but never met my requirements. They are, in fact, poor compared to the 14-54, 12-60 and 14-50 panasonic with IS.

For less money than the 12-60, the SHARP kit lens that came with the E1 was the 14-54mm. That lens is now selling for around $300 as opposed to much higher prices for the 12-60. The Panasonic 14-50 was equivalent to the 14-54 and the 12-60 and had "in lens Image Stabilization". However, it was a big lens.

I have used legacy OM Zuiko lenses on all my 4/3 cameras with great results. There are adaptors for LTM, Leica M, Minolta, Canon FD, and the list goes on. Aftermarket adaptors are good, and there are even adaptors with focus confirmation on the manual focus. My favorite Manual Focus lenses are a Zuiko 1.4 50mm and a Tamron (Oly mount) 35-80 f2.8 macro zoom.

The site you may want to visit is the Wrotniak site. He has done exhaustive reviewing and setting tweaking on all the Oly bodies and lenses. www.wrotniak.com as I recall. I never had highlight clipping problems with my 510's, but I used Wrotniaks settings and advice on setting up the cameras.

The new Oly's have been coming out so fast that body prices are dropping a lot. I'm considering another E1. A bit bulky, but weather sealed and incredible image quality due to the Kodak sensor, notwithstanding the 5 Mp.
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Extremely useful, thank you!
 
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