Why no olmpuses?

[prodigy2k7]

Not to mention the 2x crop factor, I thought 1.6x was bad (XTi), I wonder what the 2x is like... 4/3" on a DSLR is pretty small...

 

[Iron Flatline]

Olympus makes fabulous cameras, but they did get themselves a little bit snookered with the 4/3rds system. Technically it's a smart idea - develop a sensor and lens-mount from the ground up to take advantage of the new digital technology. Then that ridiculous MP race started a couple of years ago (which fortunately seems to have run its course.) Anyway, a smaller sensor like the 4/3rds sensors can't accomodate as many sensor pixels without generating noise, so people looked at them and said...

Hmm, I just noticed something. Most current DSLRs from olympus are 10MP, do they all use the same sensor? One has 10.1 (big difference...)

...which of course has nothing to do with image quality, but everything with marketing. Gotta give people some kind of metric to talk about while BBQing.

They make very good cameras, enjoy yours. Btw, I share Rick's excitement about the new Micro-4/3rds potential.

 

[prodigy2k7]

Olympus makes fabulous cameras, but they did get themselves a little bit snookered with the 4/3rds system. Technically it's a smart idea - develop a sensor and lens-mount from the ground up to take advantage of the new digital technology. Then that ridiculous MP race started a couple of years ago (which fortunately seems to have run its course.) Anyway, a smaller sensor like the 4/3rds sensors can't accomodate as many sensor pixels without generating noise, so people looked at them and said...
...which of course has nothing to do with image quality, but everything with marketing. Gotta give people some kind of metric to talk about while BBQing.

They make very good cameras, enjoy yours. Btw, I share Rick's excitement about the new Micro-4/3rds potential.

Well I just meant it was odd that they use the same number of pixels (roughly). In Canon rebels, 6 8 10 12 right?

 

[Don Kondra]

Well I just meant it was odd that they use the same number of pixels (roughly). In Canon rebels, 6 8 10 12 right?

You must mean mega pixels?

It is clear you don't know much about the Olympus system.

That's fine, I don't have a burning desire to be able to quote spec's or understand the workings of a system I don't use either, except to make an informed decision of which system to use.

I bet the nikon/canon lenses are better than the olympus ones

You would lose that bet. Do your homework before you perpetuate rumours, innuendo and falsehoods.

Don

 

[Steph]

Hi,

So I just bought a new Olympus EVOLT 510 and have been reading the forums voraciously for the last few weeks.

I never see anyone talking about Olyumpuses, recommending them, and don't even see any for sale in the used gear forum.

Why is that? Are they a bad camera?

????

-Dan

Don't worry too much about your gear and go out to take some pictures. Don't let anybody tell you that you would better off with Nikon/Canon. Nikon and Canon had the largest market shares for years. For many people, that's enough for them to believe that Nikon/Canon are the best. Moreover, people (including on this Forum) tend to perpetuate this belief when they have no idea about the quality of other produts. Actually I think other companies offer much better value for money and Olympus is one of them. To conclude, the e510 is by no means a bad camera. It has its limitations but so do cameras from Nikon and Canon. Enjoy!!

 

[Iron Flatline]

I agree. And as the record shows, I always recommend the Pentax system for people wondering about which first dSLR to get.

 

[Bifurcator]

Hi,

So I just bought a new Olympus EVOLT 510 and have been reading the forums voraciously for the last few weeks.

I never see anyone talking about Olyumpuses, recommending them, and don't even see any for sale in the used gear forum.

Why is that? Are they a bad camera?

????

-Dan

Olympus makes great products. For the money they are both better build quality and have more features than either Conon or Nikon. This is true at all levels that Olympus competes at.

So why are so many people here using Canon and Nikon cameras of the same range that Olympus competes on?

My Opinion:

• 65%
  They're cattle. No really, it's been proven (since the 1920's) that people follow hype and advertising and word of mouth over actual quality, spec, and feature set. You were smarter than the average is all. You probably did your homework first. :thumbup: It's both funny and sad to watch it here on the site too. A noob will come in see 10 signature tags naming the d40, ask which is best for a noob on a tight budget, and 3 or 4 fanboys who also haven't done their homework will answer up get the d4o. And sure enough a week later they're back with the d40. It doesn't matter that it's the worst dSLR camera on the market. Nikon makes AWESOME cameras but the d40 ain't one of them! Doesn't matter tho... they just follow the pack. Like I said; funny and sad.
  
  
• 25%
  They already had lenses and equipment from earlier Nikon or Canon products. This is a big one. They may also be purchasing it as a backup system - etc. etc.
  
  
• 8%
  They purchased the body based on a lens or two that they wanted. If there was just that perfect lens they thought was better and had a supreme price|performance ratio it wouldn't be unreasonable to purchase a body for that lens or lenses.
  
  
• 2%
  They're brand name whores and they think having a "Nikon" or "Canon" makes a statement about who they are. I don't get this one myself but I've seen people admit to it. This is actually kind of linked to the 65% group though.
  

Never assume that the most popular thing is also the best thing. There are just too many cases where the opposite is true.

 

[Bifurcator]

I agree. And as the record shows, I always recommend the Pentax system for people wondering about which first dSLR to get.

+1
:thumbup:

 

[pez]

I agree. And as the record shows, I always recommend the Pentax system for people wondering about which first dSLR to get.

+1 I resemble that remark...

 

[MACollum]

In regards to Olympus specifically, I think there are a lot of photographers that are not too keen on the 4/3rds format sensor. There is also much less third party support for 4/3rds.

My first digital camera was an Olympus. It had the 4:3 ratio, which was a HUGE pain. Every picture had to be cropped before it was printed. With the 3:2 ratio that I have now with my Canon, I only need to crop if I'm printing at 5x7 or 8x10.

 

[frXnz kafka]

Well that's the confusing thing. When I was buying it my olympus seemed to have everything the Nikon 40d the salesman was showing me had, plus a lot more, plus 10 MP vs 6 MP, for the exact same price

It seemed like the Olympus was the ferrari with hand stitched leather interior and the Nikon was the ford with basic everything...

*D40. 40D is a Canon camera.

Also, 10 MP on a 4/3 sensor is going to produce a lot more noise than 6 MP on an APS-C sensor. More megapixels does not mean better image, it simply means larger image.

 

[reg]

Not to mention, canon and nikon most of the time produce quality products, would you want a ferrari or a ford....

That's a really terrible analogy since Olympus consistently makes great cameras and glass. The only thing I can hold against my E-510 to date is the viewfinder size. Even high ISO isn't as big of an issue as most would think, Noiseware Pro does a great job.

Also, 10 MP on a 4/3 sensor is going to produce a lot more noise than 6 MP on an APS-C sensor. More megapixels does not mean better image, it simply means larger image.

http://a.img-dpreview.com/reviews/NikonD40/Samples/ISO/d40_iso1600_crop.jpg

vs.

http://a.img-dpreview.com/reviews/olympuse510/samples/ISO/default/e510_ISO1600_def_crop.jpg

You tell me how big of a deal the noise is. Side by side, a difference, sure. But again, I use Noiseware Pro on all my high ISO images anyway, most people do unless they're using a D3/1Ds/etc. Once you hit a certain point, you gotta quit using the 100% crops and side by side comparisons and just GO TAKE PICTURES.

 

[Bifurcator]

I agree on all points reg!

The 420 and 520 seem to have a little wider VF than the 410 and 510 maybe... But it's still a little narrow. That just takes a few days to adjust to though and it's got one of the best live-view systems out so that might be a little excusable. The E-3 VF is nice though. I think that if the 520 and 420 had two thumb dials and a nice bright and wide pentaprism they would be almost faultless. Well, they need metal body frames but other than that...

 

[F1addict]

Not to mention, canon and nikon most of the time produce quality products, would you want a ferrari or a ford....

Yeah, don't ever use a ferrari to ford comparison again.
The only time you can really use that comparison is when your trying to compare a tiny neglected $100,000 house to a brand new $900,000 mansion.
It really doesn't work for any other product out their since Ferrari is so far ahead of everybody in terms of quality/performance. A Mercedes to Acura comparison might be better. Both are quality luxury cars. Both are high end and no matter which one you go with your going to get a good car. Sure the Mercedes has more features but do those features justify the added cost, not really. You end up paying extra for a name that really doesn't matter which goes back to whatt Bifurcator was saying about brand whores and cattle


back on topic, I would have considered an Olympus but from what I read and saw, the Canons, Nikons, and Sonys I was looking at had more features. And I'm going to get the Sony because it has a few things that make it stand out above the rest, and I couldn't justify the added cost for the Canons or Nikons. I'd rather spend the $100 I'm saving by buying the Sony and spend it on getting a nicer lens. Because as some people have said in here and from what they've told me when I asked what camera I should get, they said that the lenses are the most important. For under $1000 you don't get much more or less if you go with one body over another

 

[photo28]

Sorry to just jump in but is the E-410 a good camera? I like Olympus, but im my view an Olympus camera would be hard for me to buy because they have very few lenses for around $150, many of the lenses being 300+$.