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Olympus Evolt E520 10MP Digital SLR Camera with Image Stabilization w/ 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Lens
From Olympus
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Customer Reviews

A Great DSLR – Highly Recommended!
This is my first DSLR. I bought this and the Canon XSI at the same time and tried them both for a week. To make a long story short, I returned the XSI and kept the E520. It was just easier to take good pictures indoors, which is where I do most of my shooting. The Canon took more effort to produce good pictures. Plus I liked the interface of the Olympus more.

The XSI has a better viewfinder and a slightly better autofocus system but the Olympus image quality won me over in the end. Its white balance and exposure was just easier to get right than the Canon.

The key is to purchase a camera that you will use and the Olympus does that for me.

Happy I waited.
I am coming from an Olympus C-8080 and a Panasonic DMC-FZ18. Both of these are decent cameras, but not quite SLR quality. Also, the Panasonic is the worst macro camera I have owned. Since I was looking for more options with macro/closeup photography, I wanted a DSLR. My old SLR was an OM2n (back in the prehistoric camera days). I considered getting the E-510 or Nikon D60. Both are decent cameras, but after seeing pictures, decided to stick with Olympus and wait for the 520. I am glad I did!
I normally have a problem with a bit of camera shake and don’t use a tripod. I just shot 400 pics and not one bit of camera shake! I was surprised to find out that I didn’t even have Image stablization enabled. It is very easy to hold this camera steady. The lens and the viewfinder are crystal clear. I stongly suggest that you get the fastest CF card you can to record your pictures, and at least 4GB. I should tell you though, that I am shooting in both raw and fine jpeg format. This typically takes longer to write. The xd cards are too slow when shooting raw and fine jpeg. Another thing to make yourself aware of: Liveview does not seem perfected in any camera yet. It may take some time, but it is a bit bothersome, because there is a wait between recording photos when using Liveview. If you don’t mind using the viewfinder,or waiting about 2 seconds between pictures, it’s not a problem. Also, my battery compartment door seems to stick a bit. May need broken in, or it’s just tight.
On the plus side: I have only had this camera 36 hours and already feel totally comfortable with it. I have heard people say that it’s not user-friendly. I disagree with that statement IF: you have previously owned and used Olympus cameras. This camera isn’t that foreign when coming from Olympus. Yes, it takes getting used to the buttons a bit, and my thumb does accidentally hit a button, but heck, I haven’t even had the camera a couple of days. I also suggest that you buy the telephoto lens. Unless you shoot all wide-angle pictures, you will not be satisfied with this lens package. Regarding the Olympus lenses … Primo, very good quality for a zoom/package deal. Much better quality than I expected. I like my pictures to be as crisp as possible, with the lowest noise (who doesn’t?), so I have experimented with shutting noise reduction off and using software to reduce noise. The results were good in my test results. The scene modes of the camera are good. I haven’t used them all yet (I had to put the camera down and get some sleep sometime in the past 36 hours), but am impressed with face detection on, macro, night modes. The flash is fairly strong. I have never had a built in flash, which doesn’t give some type of red eye or blue eyes in dogs, this has not happened yet with the 520. Impressive, but I would suggest if doing closeup, that you diffuse the flash, or stand back a bit and zoom on the subject. REVISION: If you use the Macro nature mode, it seems to adjust the flash a bit. Also, if you like to experiment, play withe the “Vivid mode” a bit. I’m usually not a fan of modes, but in bright sunlight, my colors came out exactly as they should be.
If you are considering buying a more expensive camera and are NOT doing professional studio work, I would say; don’t waste your money. Get this camera, because you will be impressed. If you are doing studio work, I would still tell you to get this camera, but get a better lens. After all, it’s not always about the camera, but it is always about the lens. Anyone who has ever bought a no-name, camera-store “pushed on you” lens, knows what I am talking about.
When my next lens arrives, I will post more information under the “40-150mm Olympus zoom lens”. Highly recommend this camera!
REVISION: Today, I received the adapter to let me use my old OM-2N lenses. I bought a generic one through ebay and it works just fine. I attached my old Tamron 90mm SP macro lens and began shooting. First, be aware that everything has to be done manually. This may not be practical if you need speed when focusing, unless you have mastered, manual focusing. I find that I shake the camera more with the heavier, manual lens, but with practice, I think that can be overcome. In other words, if you own the old OM lenses and don’t have the money to get a new lens, buy the adapter and be prepared to make some adjustments.
If you have a flash/lighting system and a tripod, those adjustments will be lessened. I don’t think I would do this for the life of the camera, but I would use the old OM lens (especially if you have a high quality one), until I could afford a new digital lens. I also have the 40-150mm digital lens (the one they give in the package deals), and am very impressed with the quality. I have posted some pictures, so you can get an idea of what this camera can do. If you scroll over the pictures, you will see the pictures I shot with the old OM-2N lens. I didn’t make any revisions, so that you can get an idea of how the pictures come out of the camera (no photoshop).

A New Era in DSLR
I have done quite a lot of analysis before buying this camera, have used Nikon D40, D40x, D80, D200, Canon D350, D400, D450; but finally it was the Olympus E520 I fell in love with. I recently bought this camera in Hong Kong, when it wasn’t even released anywhere in the rest of the world yet.

Why did I like it? The ease of use, I have used a prosumer camera for a couple of years now, and was waiting for a camera with similar ease of use, and Olympus heard my prayers.

Technology wise, its one of the best FourThirds system in the market, this has enabled smaller lenses. The Live View is amazing (though I prefer using the optical viewfinder, my wife loves the Live view), it has Face detection and multi-point focus, all I can say is that it is the best as yet (the Canon D450 liveView is really bad), the kit lens is very good too, awesome wide angle. The assisted manual focus is extremely useful; the auto focus is super fast. There are multiple RAW file formats to choose from. The Sensor based Image stabilization works like a charm, better than the optical image stabilization. The playback features are the best, anybody would want to see the photos they clicked a but closer, it is such a pain to zoom the preview on the Canons and the Nikons, in this even my 7 year old niece can do it. The image quality, you might have seen them on the internet, its comparable to any of the professional cameras.

One small drawback i have noticed is the built in flash, its not as powerful as the Nikon, though we can increase the flash power, but the default setting is not as powerful as the Nikon.