Moving from 4/3 (Not Micro) to Canon EF?

[JosephW]

Hey, first post here on the forums, i'm a bit of a problem.

I'm currently using an Olympus E-520 with a 40-150mm lens (I can't seem to find the exact model online.), and i have been for a couple of months, and i'm still happy with it, but my only issue is how the unique non-mainstream Olympus's compare to the low end Canon DSLRs? I'm always on a budget and Olympus isn't very popular so it'd either be a 1100D and have a little bit of cash left over or wait and save for a 600D/550D. I'm just worried that moving from a mid-end Olympus to one of the lowest-end Canon might actually be a downgrade?

Thanks, -Joe

 

[Don Kondra]

In it's day the E-520 was a excellent camera body but if you move up to a current Canon/Nikon model, even the lower end consumer level you will see improvements in low light iso performance and dynamic range.

What you might not care for is their color rendering, Olympus colors are more natural

Cheers, Don

 

[goodguy]

My advise to you is if you want to go Canon way get the 70D model, I wouldn't recommend the Rebel series as they are using the very old sensor and its low light performance is not too impressive.
So for the lower budget I would recommend Nikon D3200, Nikon D5100 or if you can afford it the Nikon D5200 which have better low light performance and better dynamic range then the Canon Rebel (600D/550D) cameras.

 

[JosephW]

Thank you, i just wish i lived in the US, the electronics are a complete bargain over there, you can expect to pay £300-something for something £260 over there.

 

[mmaria]

I can't help you, but had to say something

I used e520 and you're the first person I heard use it too

I used it for almost five years, didn't want to upgrade. When I finally did, I bough Canon 6d.

One thing for sure is that I miss my ZD 12-60mm. I tried a few Canon lenses and neither is that good.

 

[robbins.photo]

Thank you, i just wish i lived in the US, the electronics are a complete bargain over there, you can expect to pay £300-something for something £260 over there.

My recommendation would be a used or refurbished Nikon D5100 - I use one myself and have always been extremely happy with the results. When compared with your current Olympus your looking at much better image quality, much better dynamic range, huge step up in low light performance, in fact it would be a big step up from the Olympus in most every category. They are very reasonably priced and honestly your going to be very hard pressed to find more bang for your buck.

If you'd like you can click on the link in red and take a look at my flickr account, everything there was shot with a D5100 except for the really, really old stuff - but that will give you a good idea as to the kind of image quality you can get with a D5100.

 

[JosephW]

Thank you, i just wish i lived in the US, the electronics are a complete bargain over there, you can expect to pay £300-something for something £260 over there.

My recommendation would be a used or refurbished Nikon D5100 - I use one myself and have always been extremely happy with the results. When compared with your current Olympus your looking at much better image quality, much better dynamic range, huge step up in low light performance, in fact it would be a big step up from the Olympus in most every category. They are very reasonably priced and honestly your going to be very hard pressed to find more bang for your buck.

If you'd like you can click on the link in red and take a look at my flickr account, everything there was shot with a D5100 except for the really, really old stuff - but that will give you a good idea as to the kind of image quality you can get with a D5100.

They're really cheap too- thank you for the advice!

The only real downfall with the E520 is the absolutely terrible low light performance, anything above ISO 400 is a nightmare really

 

[KmH]

Canon's entry-level (low end) camera are EF-S, not EF.

EF lenses can be used on EF-S camera bodies, but EF-S lenses cannot be used on EF camera bodies.

You will also experience a difference in the crop factor. The Olympus 4/3 image sensor i a 2x crop sensor. Canon's APS-C size image sensors only have a 1.6x crop factor.
Lastly the APS-C/full frame size DSLR image sensors have a 2:3 aspect ratio that is more rectangular than the 3:4 aspect ratio the 4/3 image sensors have.

 

[vimwiz]

Thank you, i just wish i lived in the US, the electronics are a complete bargain over there, you can expect to pay £300-something for something £260 over there.

I managed to get an Canon 1100D + the 18-90 EF-S with IS lens kit , from John Lewis for £200, down from an insane £399 at xmas, as was ex-display, and I pointed out it was £279 in Jessops at the time. You just need to shop around

Canon's entry-level (low end) camera are EF-S, not EF.
EF lenses can be used on EF-S camera bodies, but EF-S lenses cannot be used on EF camera bodies.

I have had reasonable results with using the old EF 35-80 from my (Film) EOS on my 1100D, though the depth of field was odd (At 35mm it was more like how a 50mm felt on the old body [one in picture])

 

[robbins.photo]

Thank you, i just wish i lived in the US, the electronics are a complete bargain over there, you can expect to pay £300-something for something £260 over there.

My recommendation would be a used or refurbished Nikon D5100 - I use one myself and have always been extremely happy with the results. When compared with your current Olympus your looking at much better image quality, much better dynamic range, huge step up in low light performance, in fact it would be a big step up from the Olympus in most every category. They are very reasonably priced and honestly your going to be very hard pressed to find more bang for your buck.

If you'd like you can click on the link in red and take a look at my flickr account, everything there was shot with a D5100 except for the really, really old stuff - but that will give you a good idea as to the kind of image quality you can get with a D5100.

They're really cheap too- thank you for the advice!

The only real downfall with the E520 is the absolutely terrible low light performance, anything above ISO 400 is a nightmare really

With a bit of noise reduction I can get very usable shots out of the 5100 even at ISO 6400 - the low noise to high ISO performance is outstanding even though it is an older camera. I recently added a 70-200 mm F/2.8 to my lens line up and wow what a difference that makes. I've always been very impressed with the D5100's low light capabilities - for being a non full frame camera of course - but I just don't have the budget for full frame. The low light performance was what convinced me to go with Nikon over Canon, Pentax, Sony, etc - the fact that it has a greater dynamic range than most non-nikon cameras that are even twice the price is just a bonus.. lol.

I've been very, very happy with my choice of the D5100 - and while I do plan to upgrade to a D7100, it will be because I want too, not necessarily because I need too. Hope that helps.