• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Anybody use the E-510? (1 Viewer)

I have just noticed that Jessops have reduced the price of the E-510 with the 14-42 lens to £299.97. That's a bit of a bargain (and a bit annoying from my point of view). I guess stocks of the E-520 must be imminent.

Ron
 
NoSpringChicken said:
I have just noticed that Jessops have reduced the price of the E-510 with the 14-42 lens to £299.97. That's a bit of a bargain (and a bit annoying from my point of view). I guess stocks of the E-520 must be imminent.

Ron
Click to expand...

Price drops like that are common when a product is just about to be replaced. I bought my E-510 as soon as they became available so I probably paid a fair bit more than you did Ron ;) I think the E-520 is due out in July although it may come a week or two sooner. Now is certainly a good time pick up a bargain.
 
StrikingSlug said:
As if by magic, .....

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0805/08051301olympusE520.asp

Richard
Click to expand...

Not that magical. ;)

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=113876

I have seen a few sample photos from the E-520 posted on various websites and the DR does seem a bit better than the E-510. I went into Jessops yesterday and tortured myself by looking at the E-510 at £100 less than I paid for it about six weeks ago. Ah well, never mind. That's technology for you.

Ron
 
NoSpringChicken said:
Not that magical. ;)

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=113876

I have seen a few sample photos from the E-520 posted on various websites and the DR does seem a bit better than the E-510. I went into Jessops yesterday and tortured myself by looking at the E-510 at £100 less than I paid for it about six weeks ago. Ah well, never mind. That's technology for you.

Ron
Click to expand...

OOPS!

That's what happens when you return from a couple of weeks away and don't read all the old threads! Bad luck about the price difference. My problem is that I am taking so long to decide which one I want that each time when I think I have, a new model comes out. Then I have to go through the whole thought process all over again. At least you have a camera and are out using it! :t:

Richard
 
StrikingSlug said:
OOPS!

That's what happens when you return from a couple of weeks away and don't read all the old threads! Bad luck about the price difference. My problem is that I am taking so long to decide which one I want that each time when I think I have, a new model comes out. Then I have to go through the whole thought process all over again. At least you have a camera and are out using it! :t:

Richard
Click to expand...
Hi Richard. I'm not too worried about the reduction in price. I paid about £650 for the E-510 with the 14-42 and 70-300 lenses, so I think that was very good value anyway. At £100 less it is a really stonking buy. In the meantime, as you say, I have been using and enjoying it.

I know what you mean by not knowing when to jump in to buy a camera. There is always a shiny new 'improved' model waiting in the wings but there is normally a substantial price increase to go with it before the discounts appear.

I think the E-510 is an excellent camera and it looks as if the E-520 has one or two changes which will help to address the few shortcomings. Hopefully, it will help to improve the rather low profile which Olympus have at the moment for birding cameras.

Ron
 
Jessops no longer the list the E-510 on their website at all now, so it appears they have cleared stocks of them. You can pre-order the E-520 + 14-42 for £550! London Camera Exchange now only show the E3 on their website and none of the other models. Strange.

Ron
 
I too have an Olympus E-510 and the Sigma 50-500. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go the whole hog and invest thousands so this was a good value compromise. The IS is certainly a boon and I find I get no annoying noise with ISO 800. What I do find is that even with 1000 mm equivalent to play with, I still need to get much closer to the bird than I expected. The lens also gives very soft images at full reach (f6.3). I haven't experimented with increasing the contrast on the camera rather than in post-processing on the PC - must see how the results compare. I have generally shot SHQ JPEGs rather than Raw (or both). Even with the image stabilisation on, I think one still needs a shutter speed of 1/1000 th or faster to get decent pics, unless the target is absolutely stationary and I haven't seen too many stuffed birds about lately (!). Still, with the seabird cliffs becoming increasingly quiet, this may be the future! Fortunately there are plenty of other birds to enjoy in Argyll, especially Eider ducklings at the moment. Sadly, the metering went haywire on my E-510 and it has gone for repair. Digital Depot have kindly lent me a 410 to tide me over meantime. I can always go back to digiscoping......
Any comments from Olympus or other users would be appreciated, including the value of manual versus auto focus for birding.
 
Benderloch said:
I too have an Olympus E-510 and the Sigma 50-500. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go the whole hog and invest thousands so this was a good value compromise. The IS is certainly a boon and I find I get no annoying noise with ISO 800. What I do find is that even with 1000 mm equivalent to play with, I still need to get much closer to the bird than I expected. The lens also gives very soft images at full reach (f6.3). I haven't experimented with increasing the contrast on the camera rather than in post-processing on the PC - must see how the results compare. I have generally shot SHQ JPEGs rather than Raw (or both). Even with the image stabilisation on, I think one still needs a shutter speed of 1/1000 th or faster to get decent pics, unless the target is absolutely stationary and I haven't seen too many stuffed birds about lately (!). Still, with the seabird cliffs becoming increasingly quiet, this may be the future! Fortunately there are plenty of other birds to enjoy in Argyll, especially Eider ducklings at the moment. Sadly, the metering went haywire on my E-510 and it has gone for repair. Digital Depot have kindly lent me a 410 to tide me over meantime. I can always go back to digiscoping......
Any comments from Olympus or other users would be appreciated, including the value of manual versus auto focus for birding.
Click to expand...

At the full 500mm the 50-500 can be rather soft wide open. You'll find it much better at F8. Manual focus is OK if the subject is going to stay perfectly still for some time. I can't see any advantage over auto-focus though. I only use manual focus when photographing Badgers in the dark where the camera can't auto-focus.
 
I have started to go backwards with my E-510. I spent the day at Minsmere yesterday and didn't get a single useable shot. They were all out of focus, wrongly exposed or full noise. I have junked the lot, reset the camera to factory defaults and will have to start afresh next Sunday. It's a bit depressing but I guess it's not meant to be easy. :-C

Ron
 
I've had my 510 and 70-300 about a week now, but i am finding most of my shots of birds seem soft or out of focus :( I'm starting to think the camera is faulty.

I have turned of the noise reduction and the sharpness down. I have the IS on, is there anything else that might help? I have not had much chance to try out the manual focus yet, do many ppl use it?

Stu
 
Stu024 said:
I've had my 510 and 70-300 about a week now, but i am finding most of my shots of birds seem soft or out of focus :( I'm starting to think the camera is faulty.

I have turned of the noise reduction and the sharpness down. I have the IS on, is there anything else that might help? I have not had much chance to try out the manual focus yet, do many ppl use it?

Stu
Click to expand...

A few things spring to mind:
  • I assume you're mostly using the lens at 300mm in which case, from the feedback I've had from others, it is a bit soft wide open. Try setting the camera to Aperture Priority and set the aperture to f8
  • I'm guessing that your new to DSLRs have previously owned some type of P&S or bridge camera. Those types of camera tend to produce an over-sharpened image straight out of the camera. You always need to apply some extra sharpening to a DSLR image in post-processing.
  • IS helps but it's not a substitute for good long lens technique

You don't say if you're photographing stationary or moving objects, which IS mode you're using, whether you're using all focus points or just the centre focus point or what shutter speeds you're using so it's hard to know exactly what your problem is.
 
Agree with everything Paul said, plus - are you using a tripod? If you are using a 600mm equivalent lens, using the standard rule-of-thumb for when to use a tripod, you should be using a tripod if your shutter speed is below 1/600. OK, so you are using IS, so say that gets you 2 additional stops, which means you should use a tripod if your shutter speed is below about 1/250 or 1/125.

But these are only guidelines, of course, and generally, I'd say if you are using such a high-powered lens, you should use a tripod, period. You might be able to tell from looking at the images - if every object in the image is blurred, it is probably due to camera shake, although it's possible that the camera was so far out of focus that nothing is in focus.

As I mentioned on another thread, folks who are wondering about their cameras should do a CONTROLLED test - just set up a tripod with your camera on it and take some pictures of some stationary objects at various ISOs and also f-stops if you question the lens. If they are sharp under these conditions, then you know the faults in your bird pics were caused by operator error (or the bird moved).
 
Hi guys, thanks for the replys, I have took a few test shots of stationary objects as suggested and they have came out pretty sharp, so I am guessing the camera is fine and it is me :)

You are right in thinking this is my first dslr, i will try to keep the aperture at f8, I am using the IS mode 1 and centre focus point. Most of the shots coming out soft at 300mm have the shutter speed on 1/250 or lower.

I have just took a couple of shots in the garden of a pigeon at around 220mm/f8 and they have come out very sharp, I will try the keep the shutter speed a bit higher and hold the camera a bit steadier from now on :)
 
Hey Stu - how are you now getting on with your 70-300mm lens...? I love mine, but I will agree that it does take some getting used to.

When I first had mine, I went out and tried to take Herons about 100yds away, at 300mm, thinking they were going to turn out brilliantly etc, and found myself hugely disappointed. I stuck with it, took a dose of reality pills, and did my level best to learn what settings on the camera worked best with the lens and what I was trying to photograph.

I must be honest, I love the 70-300mm lens, it is certainly capable of producing some excellent results. I have posted links to some puffin shots on my gallery in a few other threads, so don't wish to repeat too many times here. Have a peek and see what you think.
 
Isn't it great when things just fall into place. I took this shot of a young Robin last weekend. The lighting was good and even but not too bright. I was able to get close to the bird and had enough time to concentrate on holding the camera steady and choosing my focusing point.

The result was an image which required virtually no post processing and which, to me at least, looks pretty sharp. I wish it could always be like that. There's no substitute for being close to the subject.

Ron
 

Attachments

  • Robbin'-Robin-small.jpg
    Robbin'-Robin-small.jpg
    109 KB · Views: 135
Excellent shot Ron, looks like the effort you have put into using the 70-300mm is paying off nicely. Lovely shot... pin sharp too. Nice one.
 
Isn't it great when things just fall into place. I took this shot of a young Robin last weekend. The lighting was good and even but not too bright. I was able to get close to the bird and had enough time to concentrate on holding the camera steady and choosing my focusing point.

The result was an image which required virtually no post processing and which, to me at least, looks pretty sharp. I wish it could always be like that. There's no substitute for being close to the subject.

Ron
Click to expand...

Cracking shot Ron, maybe I need to give this lens another try. I returned mine after a week following initial disappointment with the results, which was probably more down to poor technique than the quality of the lens.

Here's another robin taken with the 40-150 kit lens, though it had to be very close. Cropped and sharpened a little in Picasa.

Steve
 

Attachments

  • Robin 1.jpg
    Robin 1.jpg
    68.6 KB · Views: 110
Warning! This thread is more than 16 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

Steve Heath
OM-1 with Olympus M.Zuiko 150 x 400mm TC Pro
Replies
12
Views
3K
DCC1976
D
ammadoux
Olympus vs Nikon
Replies
0
Views
3K
ammadoux
ammadoux
J
Brand new to everything at 68 - wanted to say hello…
Replies
13
Views
380
Jdilpkle
J
M
Help needed - suitable tripod
Replies
6
Views
864
GrampaTom
G
Peter Ericsson
Sony PCM A10
Replies
2
Views
1K
Peter Ericsson
Peter Ericsson

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top