randy_rogers1

Through out this thread I have read nothing about the noise filter setting. Note this is not to be confused with noise reduction. I get the best results with the noise filter off. Noise reduction and noise filter are very different functions in the E510. The noise reduction is only applied during long exposures. The noise filter is applied at all exposure settings. The appearance of shots with the noise filter set at normal or high results in a noticeable reduction in detail. Here is a review that contains more information on optimizing the E510 setup:

http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/43/e510-rev.html

I would go for the E510 body only which is currently discounted with the release of the E520, and spend the cash on a new 12-60.

Paul, your previous experience using mid-level bodies with better lenses is also a good approach with Olympus system. You might consider the E510 / E520 and the Olympus 12-60. The 12-60 is clearly a step up from the kit lenses with improved optics, faster aperture, faster autofocus, and significantly better build quality. Since the E510 body is now discounted, the E510 / 12-60 combo will be very competitive (price / image quality) with anything currently in the market.

The E510 does not produce the best results out of the box. I have found that setting the contrast to -2, sharpness to -2, exposure compensation to -0.7EV, leave the noise filter off works well. Switching the noise filter to low will increase the dynamic range slightly without sacrificing too much detail in high contrast situations. Be careful to recognize the difference between the noise reduction function which is used for long exposures, and the noise filter function used to enable processing of high iso noise. Outside I usually use a polarizing filter to reduce the glare and reflections in bright sunlight or over water. The E510 seems to easily blow out the blue channel in bright sunlight hence the polarizer helps. The live view is activated from a button on the back which I would suspect you are hitting by accident while holding and/or panning. The raw output will need some post process sharpening in photoshop or other.

One feature of the e510 you will find useful is the 10x magnified live view. When on a tripod this feature is great for adjusting the focus manually without recomposing the frame.

Terri,

Olympus uses the flash as an autofocus light source. So when in low light the camera will need the flash to properly autofocus. The flash can be disabled by disabling the auto-popup

 

here is a link that will explain the flash operation in more detail:

http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/43/e510-sett.html#FLASHPLUS

 

hope that helps.

If you have the e510 keep in mind that with the stabilization you can shoot the 14-42 at about 1/15 hand held so the 2.8 aperture may be less of an issue. The 14-54 is a much better build quality that accounts for most of the cost difference.

When the e510 is first powered a small led on the top indicates the cleaning is operating.

 

there is a sharpness setting from the menu to adjust in camera sharpening. The setting ranges from -2 to +2.

 

there is a good reference here that will describe many of the e510 setup parameters here:

http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/oly-e/e510-rev.html

In Camera Noise Reduction

The Olympus e510 images shot with noise filtering off will show more detail, however the noise filter significantly affects the dynamic range. With the noise filter off there is a lower DR. If a wider DR is needed set the noise filter to low. This is rare and usually exposure compensation is all that is needed to find a level at which the highlights are unclipped. Shooting outside in full sun most of the clipped highlights I have seen are in the blue channel and using a polarizing filter seemed to cure most of that problem. The best results, at least to my eye are to shoot in the raw mode with noise filtering off, reduce the contrast and sharpening to the minimum values (-2 for both).

 

Post Processing and Noise

Olympus Master and Olympus Studio ($100) both seem to use the same jpg conversion algorithm and noise filtering as the camera. Noise filter settings are found both in the camera and the Olympus Master (Raw Development then Basic 2 tab).

 

Other Raw Conversion Tools

Adobe Camera Raw does a much better job and allowing more control and post processing noise reduction. I have also had good results with Raw Therapee (freeware). There are numerous other post processing tools available, but I have not tried them. Many of these have been reviewed and compared online.

 

Pixel Mapping

Pixel mapping is a maintenance function which removes stuck pixels from images. This function should be done at some interval, perhaps once per month? It is found on the tools 2 menu, the wrench 2 icon from the menu then scroll to pixel mapping.

 

There is a learning curve for this camera I have had mine a couple months and am still making adjustments, and learning as I go. I am happy with the results. The E510 is a great value.

All current DSLRs are capable of producing great quality images. I think it now comes down to more look and feel and what suits in choosing a camera. The primary reasons I bought the E510 are as follows:

 

1. In body image stabilization which allows the flexibility of using any lens. The stabilized lenses from Nikon and Canon are larger, heavier than non stabilized lenses. Whether it is required to see the stabilization via the viewfinder is not really and issue for me.

 

2. Cost the E510 kit with coverage of 28 ? 300mm (35mm equiv) would require buying an additional Canon lens or an expensive stabilized Nikon lens (18-200 VR). Either the Canon or Nikon were nearly 2x the cost of the E510 with an equivalent lens set. So will a 16x20 print from the Canon, Nikon, Sony, or Pentax be 2x the quality of the Olympus? The short answer.. No!

 

3. Lightweight and compact body / lens combination. I use the camera mostly outside so the weight and volume are important criteria.

 

4. The 4:3 format requires less cropping than the 3:2 APSC format. The APSC is a larger sensor but when the minimum crop is 20% for an 8x10, 16x20 there are a lot of pixels going into the bucket. The 4:3 format requires a 16.7% crop.

 

5. Very good kit lenses. Both the 14-42 and 40 ? 150 are sharp across the frame, little or no vignette. The Olympus pro lenses promise to be even better. Having read reviews and seen sample images from the Olympus 12 ? 60 looks exceptional. It might be worthwhile to get the E510 body and the 12-60 in lieu of the kit lenses?? That combination should run about $1400 which would be close to the cost 40D / 17-85 IS.

 

6. Live view, at that time I purchased the E510 there were few options for live view, at the time I thought I could take it or leave it. However, having used the live view feature now I do use that capability regularly.

 

To be fair here are the cons and nits I have with the E510:

 

1. Small viewfinder compared to other DSLRs in this class. I bought a magnifying eyecup after several weeks. This improves the viewfinder but it is still not as large or bright as the others.

 

2. The E510 sensor has a lower dynamic range by about 0.7 stops with the noise reduction disabled than Canon, Nikon, or Sony. Moving the noise filter to low increases the DR but smears some fine details. This is really pixel peeping and in general the E510 output looks great. I usually leave the noise filter off, shoot below ISO 800 and just adjust the exposure to correct burned highlights. Outside in bright sunlight the E510 histogram often shows the blue channel clipping. Using a polarizing filter seems to make a significant difference.

 

3. The standard raw development software (Olympus Master) is very basic and does not allow full manipulation of the raw files. I have been using Raw Therapee (freeware) and have had good results. Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom, and others are other options but all represent significant cost.

 

Overall I am very happy with the E510. One must realize that technology moves quickly and as with everything electronic these days tomorrow will bring something better, cheaper, smaller, and with new features ..

 

here is a great links to more information on the Olympus and 4:3 standard:

 

http://www.four-thirds.org/

 

http://www.4-3system.com/

 

http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/oly-e/index.html

I found the E510 at Fry's locally just before Christmas on sale for under 600, I forget the exact price but I did pay the sales tax in addition which is almost another $50 for no added value. I suspect you could shop on-line or watch for sales and find a reasonable deal.

I have since bought a bag, extra battery, magnifying eyecup, and a polarizing filter.. sad to say find myself "needing" all that stuff.. next I am going to get a decent flash.. so it goes.

I had researched all the available cameras out there before settling on the E-510. There are good and bad points to each and all the current crop will capture stunning photos. The key points that sold me on the Oly are:

 

1. Price. Under $600 for the E510 2 lens kit.

I had to ask myself looking at the price if cameras costing 2x were actually 2x better in any significant criteria. Having seen some comparison 16x20 prints from the competition and now the E510 I am convinced I have made the right decision. Even looking at the recently announced products it would be difficult to find the same capability as the E510 kit for less than $800 - $1000.

 

2. Kit lens quality and coverage tack sharp, light weight covers 28 -300 eq

 

3. Image stabilization in the camera body. I regularly get sharp hand held shots with the 14-42 at 1/8 sec. Using the 40 -150 less often I usually can hand hold to 1/30. The image stabilization works great it makes a significant difference in the usability of this system. I would buy the E510 over the E410 for this reason alone.

 

4. I just liked the look and feel. This turned out to be far more important than I would have suspected. The E410 is lighter and smaller, however this gets in the way of good ergonomics, I didn?t like the small grip and more complex interface to the menus. The E510 also allows adjustment of more parameters than the E410.

 

 

I would recommend going to the store, picking up both and see how each operates. I would hate to not spend a little more money (at most 25% more) and later feel I had to compromise on what I really wanted. Afterall you will be enjoying the camera long after the memory of an extra $100 has faded.

here is an interesting comparison between the Olympus 14-42 kit lens and the Leica 14-50. It would seem once again that an incremental quality improvement requires exponentially more money..

 

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Leica1450mm/index.shtml

The answer is ..

This is normal if the camera has image stabilization enabled when switched off. Turn off IS then shut the camera down .. presto no vibrating upon shutdown. This is in the manual somewhere .. I didnt find it for weeks after I had my 510 so its obscure.

hope that helps

The E510 clearly has a lower dynamic range than some of the competition probably by 1 EV regardless of how much tweaking goes on. I experimented and discovered that with the noise filter set to low there is about 0.5EV additional highlight range. It is disappointing that the noise filter shifts the dynamic range to such an extent. I also do not understand how detail may be recovered from a noise filtered raw file if the information in the raw file is not present, sharpening post processing will only enhance the edge contrast. If the edge is not present then what detail may be recovered? The best remedy for shooting here on cloudless Arizona days seems to be to use a polarizer. I have noticed more than once that blown highlights are often pegging the blue channel in the histogram. That indicates to me that perhaps the Olympus sensor is sensitive to UV.

I was not overly enthused about the E510 and bought it to try out a dslr. I also used a Nikon FE for years, shooting 40ASA film at f8 - f11 under mixed lighting conditions.

There are several features I did not appreciate until I tried the system. The stabilization is much better than I anticipated it would be, The live view and live view magnification feature on the E510 allows a combination of mirror lockup function and magnified manual focus this is great for close shots from a tripod. The online reviews of the Olympus E510 all test the camera at the default settings, I get much better results by disabling the noise filter, reducing contrast, and setting the exposure compensation to about -0.7EV. I also like Raw Therapee (freeware) to process the raw files...not much automation but more control than Olympus Master provides. I have not tried Olympus Studio.

I was originally going to wait for the spring collection to arrive and was looking forward to the next generation D80 .. however when I found the E-510 2 lens kit on sale at the local Fry's $US579 just before Christmas I couldn?t resist. Looking at enlarged prints (16x20)I have to say it is very difficult if not impossible to pick which were shot with the Olympus and kit 14-42 and which were from a friends D200 / 18-200. If anything the Olympus shots are sharper in the corners. The Olympus viewfinder is clearly the weak point; however I have ordered a magnifying eyecup which should help. The eye relief is very short on the stock eyecup. The dynamic range is perhaps a stop short of Nikon or Canon, but with some adjustment I am pleased with the results. The image stabilization works great and I get consistent sharp shots at 1/8 sec with the 14-42. It seems that the output from all leading brands is very close and camera selection comes down to other issues and features than that mystical ?image quality". For the price it is going to be hard to beat the Olympus. One must ask if the Nikon D80 /18-200 is really a 2x improvement? Or is Canon 40d 3x better? ..Hardly! Incremental quality improvements seem to require exponential cost increases.