Friday, December 30, 2005

My first DSLR


Yesterday I traded in my old Olympus mju:400 (Stylus in the US) for a new Olympus E-500 DSLR. I wasn't that happy with my old point-and-shoot anymore and wanted to upgrade to a DSLR to have more control and be able to learn to do some more serious photography. Being on a limited budged I had to go for an entry level DSLR and after reading some reviews I was hesitant about going for the E-500. The Nikon D50 or the Canon EOS 350D Digital Rebel XT would have been a better choice according to most of the reviews I read, but most of the packs available in my local stores were 100-200 € more expensive than the Olympus one including two lenses, that not including a memory card that I would have needed to buy as well if I had gone with either Canon or Nikon. Having three of the (expensive) xD cards that Olympus uses made the decision a bit easier for me. Sure, no camera in that price range is perfect, the E-500 has a few known downsides and I will likely discover more when learning to use it but I still expect it to be a solid learning tool for a DSLR newbie like me.
Until now I only had the time to unpack it play around for a few shots, I am a bit worried about the plastic body that has a nice finish but doesn't seem to be the most robust. After reading the manual I will start putting it into action over the week-end and hope to get back with my impressions.