Can I have some advice? - Olympus E-420 vs E-510?

[Darkwolf176]

Hi I'm almost a complete beginner when it comes to photography, however I have used my Dad's SLR before so I decided to buy one for when I go to university.

I decided on the Olympus E-420 and bought one on Ebay for only £210 (still waiting for it to arrive)

However one of my mum's friends has just given me their Olympus E-510 as a University leaving present and I was wondering which one should I stick with and what the pros of cons each.

The E-510 has image stabilization would you say this is a dealbreaker? According to a camera comparison site. the e-420 has a few other minor improvements such as LCD size, a slightly faster continuous drive and 11-point TTL Contrast Detect (something that the e-510 doesn't have) as well as an overall lighter weight.

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[Don Kondra]

Image stabilization is a big deal for hand held shots.

The 11 focus points is handy but 90% of my shots are center anyway.

Sounds like there is no need to rush this, use them both and decide.

Cheers, Don

 

[Darkwolf176]

Thanks,

I see that in your sig you own an Olympus-510, would you recommend it to a beginner?

 

[Kofman13]

The Olympus e-510 was my first DSLR. It was really great and had superb build quality.

 

[Don Kondra]

Thanks,

I see that in your sig you own an Olympus-510, would you recommend it to a beginner?

Short answer is yes. It has all the features you would expect and more for a camera in it's class.

You will also see from my signature I liked it well enough to stick with the Olympus brand as I upgraded my bodies.

Cheers, Don

 

[KKJUN]

Well, if you got both, just keep the 510. The IS really works great IMO. I did shutter speeds of 1/2 handheld and the resulsts were still pretty sharp.