Camera Reviews?

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I am asking for a Digital SLR camera from Santa this year and was wondering if anybody has had any experience with the Olympus EVOLT 500/510. I have read alot of reviews for Canon Rebel XTI, Nikon D40x and D80 and some from Olympus. The reviews all give pro's and con's for all, It is just nice to hear from someone with first hand experience. I will be using the camera for alot of different kinds of photography, nature, my animals, portriats, etc. I have old Olumpus OM2 film cameras and Nikon FA film cameras with a few lenses for each but it doesnt sound like they will be compatible. ANy input would be greatly appreiciated.

 

[paulnj]

http://www.photographyreview.com/ca.../digital-slrs/olympus/PRD_403760_3127crx.aspx

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_reviews/e510.html

I'm a nikon/ canon guy, but in camera image stabilizing is hot!

 

[malt_geckos]

I would not reccommend an Olympus. I have one now and it pisses me off because it's SOOOO slow and blurry. We are looking at getting a Nikon D80 and looked at reviews. It's got some great reviews! The only bad thing is that the lenses cost a LOT of money. I think the Cannons are nice too...better lense price as well, but overall shutter speed(which we need fast while taking pics of our leos), and a few other things are better on the Nikon then they are on the Cannon

 

[PaulSage]

I had an Olympus E300 and later upgraded to the E500.

I hated both of them when it came time to take pictures of geckos.

I couldn't get the dang things to focus right, and the image quality was not was I expected from their specs. I think they are great cameras for outdoor photography, but good luck getting decent lighting and color if you're taking up-close gecko shots. Even outdoors, I couldn't get the geckos' colors to render accurately.

I've recently switched to a Canon EOS 40D and am very happy with it. It's taking me a while to get used to it, but it does a MUCH better job at getting decent pictures of my geckos. To be fair though, I'm using it in conjunction with a set of AlienBee flashes. I can take ONE picture of each gecko and know that it's going to be in focus and the lighting & colors won't be screwed up.

 

[malt_geckos]

Yeah Paul! That's the problem I have! I just want to throw it! The color of the leos just sucks with that camera along with the focus. It won't focus right, just like you said, and about the time I do get it to focus, the gecko moves!!!!! It does however take beautiful pictures of flowers outside.

 

[traffic]

I had an Olympus E300 and later upgraded to the E500.

I hated both of them when it came time to take pictures of geckos.

I couldn't get the dang things to focus right, and the image quality was not was I expected from their specs. I think they are great cameras for outdoor photography, but good luck getting decent lighting and color if you're taking up-close gecko shots. Even outdoors, I couldn't get the geckos' colors to render accurately.

I've recently switched to a Canon EOS 40D and am very happy with it. It's taking me a while to get used to it, but it does a MUCH better job at getting decent pictures of my geckos. To be fair though, I'm using it in conjunction with a set of AlienBee flashes. I can take ONE picture of each gecko and know that it's going to be in focus and the lighting & colors won't be screwed up.

Thanks Paul,
That really helps, Just what I was looking for. There were really good deals on ebay for olympus bodys and i was really contemplating getting on. So with your experience I will scratch that idea. Looks like either rebel xti or D80. Thanks again everybody

 

[bleeding_sarcasm]

I am using the good ol Rebel XT which... Is decent, but leaves something to be desired. I wanted to upgrade to whatever they came out with after the 30d was released [which ended up being the 40d] but it does the job. What I have found my priorities to be is a self-cleaning sensor, and image stabilization would be nice. You can take decent pictures with any of the DSLRs if you take the time to read the manual and figure out how to do it up right.
I am still not in the position to upgrade, and the new Nikon looks mighty nice. I would love to upgrade to a full frame sensor, and whatever canon [I am canon loyal] comes out with to answer the new Nikon, or to update the 5d should be excellent.

 

[bleeding_sarcasm]

There are a few things that you can do, in camera, to combat color and sharpness issues. One is to ALWAYS do a manual white balance, if you up your ISO then that typically gives you a faster shutter speed to work with [but it also gives you more noise] and honestly, for my gecko pictures I NEVER use more then 1/80th of a second. My standard is 1/30th, which isnt very fast at all, I compromise so that in turn I can get a higher f stop, and a deeper depth of field. I do get my share of blurry photos from camera shake and whatnot, but I just take.. hundreds of them, and I usually end up with a good variety of pictures per animal [which is why our site it made out to show case a minimum of 4 pictures per gecko, and a maximum of 7] and I still limit them to sessions of less then 5 minutes each.
Too fast of a shutter speed can actually work against you in some situations. I, for example, use a compact florescent lights, which, do not give a steady color at all times. it flickers and refreshes from blue to red to white to orange to, all these crazy colors, it goes WAY too fast for you to see it with your naked eye, but when you are looking at pictures taken under artificial lighting with shutter speeds faster then like a 1/150th of a second, you are going to get underexposed pictures, over exposed pictures, etc. If you lower your shutter speed, then instead of catching each refresh from the light, you are getting the more steady full effect of the light. Sucks for animals that run around, but sometimes they do just sit there, and you can get in 5 or 6 frames.

When learning, I started with a high shutter speed, and high iso, as I got more used to it, I uped the f stop sacrificing shutter speed. As I got more comfortable with that, I started stepping down the iso, and now I shoot in aperture priority, with an f stop of 18 or greater [with the kit lens] an ISO of 400, manual white balance, and a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second. With that I need a decently bright light, so I cant take good pictures of albinos, but the pictures I take of non-albinos turn out pretty decent.

If there is ONE thing I can suggest to anyone taking pictures of geckos is manual white balance for accurate color representation. Secondly, for exposure, look at your histogram! I know canons, in the play back mode, if you push info twice, it gives you a histogram so you can see where you are clipping your highlights and shadows. go off that and adjust your exposure [if you are shooting in anything other then program or manual] accordingly. Pictures on a white background you are going to need to over expose, and pictures on dark/black backgrounds, or like cork, are going to need to be under exposed. The camera is taking into consideration all the light that is being reflected into it, white reflects more light then black does. You are going to have a dark, under exposed picture on a white background if you let it do it itself, and on dark backgrounds, the geckos itself is going to look many shades brighter then it should be.

 

[paulnj]

I honestly believe that a good macro lens is key to taking gecko images, as is proper lighting. They are sharp, lightning fast, bright(focus better)and made specificly for the job.I have neither, so my 1D MKII sits in it's case with a 400L on it until I break down and get the canon 100 macro.

Steve's digicam does great reviews of cameras, so search out different bodies there for features you need.

 

[bleeding_sarcasm]

I agree, and every time I make prints in my printing class, the teacher always says "when are you going to get a nice macro lens?" and I always say "when I suddenly grow the ability to pull money out of my butt" hahah, ahh, the ways of a poor college student. Some day! That is one of the nice things about sticking with canon, if you invest in the high-quality lenses, you dont need to get new ones every time you upgrade the body.

 

[paulnj]

I have always been into wildlife imagery, so never sought out a macro setup. Now that I am not employed as a photog anymore, I need a macro...... go figure!

 

[Ccrashca069]

My mom just bought a Cannon Rebel and the big zoom len and flash. She loves it. She got a big package deal Best Buy had for it like 1 1/2 months ago. It takes good pic. She got good pics of humming birds with it.

I use a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1. It has a 10x optical zoom and is 7mpicals with optical image stabilization. Mine was like $300 and my mom's was like $1700. I like the point and shot more then taking 5 minutes before taking the picture like my mom does lmao. So in the end it is personal preferance.