Lenses for the E-volt 500?

[mykb93]

Anyone,

 

Since I am new to this, and well, pretty much broke as a bag of glass. I was

wondering what type of lenses will fit the evolt other then the 800-2000

olympus lenses and the Zuiko that it came with? I bought the 2 lens kit, and

have the 40-150/3.5-4.5 and the 14-45/3.5-5.6. As you can tell by my port, I

have not decided what excatly it is I want to shoot, but I just like shooting.

Please any advise would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Mike<div></div>

[glenbarrington]

I have the same 2 lens kit as you. My first lens purchase was the Oly 12 - 54mm F/2.8 - F3.5 zoom lens. Even though it somewhat duplicates the 14-45 in "reach" it is a full f/stop faster and a bit sharper when wide open.

 

I use this lens a lot. Primarily because it mkes the E500 handle a WHOLE lot better in low light and it focuses closer, so close up photos are much easier (though true macros can't be done with this lens) The extra f/stop makes it focus faster and lets you shoot in lower levels of light. I paid less than $400 for this lens, which is very inexpensive for a lens of this quality.

 

I've found the kit telephoto to be pretty good. Especially considering it is a kit lens. I think it is an excellent general purpose tele-zoom. You'd need a longer lens for birding or other wildlife photos though, say something in the 200 - 600 mm range.

 

To tell the truth, I don't think I'd buy any additional lenses until I ran into the limits of the lenses I have. I say save your lens money until you start losing shots because the lenses you have can't cut it anymore. And at that point, you will know which kind of lenses you need. You won't be buying blind.

 

I'd buy a good tripod or an external flash unit first. Those will likely be needed before a new lens.

[glenbarrington]

Clarification, my lens purchase was a 14 - 54 mm lens not a 12 - 54. Sorry about that! I got the 14-54 lens confused with the newly announced 12-60mm lens (which is expected to cost quite a bit more)

[ronhartman]

The two kit lenses cover a wide range. You'll have to see in what situations they are lacking. Need wider angle, more telephoto, macro, faster lens? The kit lenses are a real bargain, so any other lenses will cost more. Sigma also makes a few lenses to fit the E-Volt cameras.

[GerrySiegel]

Go for a dedicated flash first,before lens upgrading. My two kopeks.

Then consider the 14-54, it is worth thinking about down stream IMO but not right away.

[mykb93]

Thanks everyone for yuns input. I decided like most of yawl said, and bought a FL-36 flash insted of a lens. I will let yuns know how it goes.

[john_hermanson2]

Upgrading the optics is a good idea, considering the fact that the lenses which come with the kit are considered entry level (kinda like comparing an OM-10 to a 1N). I bought a 14-54mm f2.8 and the improvement in every picture is definitely noticeable. John, www.zuiko.com

[eric_arnold]

sorry, but the oly short kit lens sucks. its slower than the telephoto at a shorter reach! since the low-light focusing problems on the e-500 are well-known, consider the sigma 18-50 ex, which is a 2.8 and a semi-macro. it's comparable in price to the zuiko 14-54 and gives you a constant aperture all the way through the focal range. right now, sigma is the only 3rd party manufacurer making 4/3 lenses, and this is considered one of their best, beating out lenses which cost 3x as much in some tests.

[albert lecourt]

I too found the 14-54 f2.8 lens makes the E a camera. The kit zoom is a decent lens for the money. For birding, you have to consider the new Sigma 50-500 zoom lens for the OLY. Overall, the 4/3 system and new lenses such as the Sigma EX will put you in the ball game with some decent quality photos.

[steve_adams5]

I have 4 new lenses to add to my collection on the way,

 

i have the oly 14-45, which, contrary to what eric said, is a great lens for the money, the kit canon is like a toy compared to it, I also have the sigma 55-200mm and im impressed with that as well.

 

I ordered the 11-22mm oly, 35mm oly, 105mm sigma and the 135-400mm sigma and should be in my posession in 3 wks or so...

 

these will up my photography resume greatly for lots of different shots.

[jay_shinzo]

What's the best way to try any of these lenses out? I've been looking to upgrade my kit lenses for soo long now. I really like the results (in store only) I've seen out of oly 35mm and 50mm fixed lenses. But, I'm not that advanced yet, I don't want to be tied down to a fixed lens because I want an everyday, shoot everything lens.

 

I haven't seen a store that rents oly lenses yet, so is buying the lens the only way to try it out? Is there a source online that shows and compares the kinds of shots each lens can take?

[msr]

Very interesting reading guys. Thanks Albert for taling me to this forum, and thanks Mike for starting it. I only have the 2 Zuiko kit. And this is a excellent (only) mean to consider different options before buying something else. I use musch more the zoom than the 14-45. My main difficulty has been with the focus as many of you mentioned