Can anyone suggest some pros or cons to the E-500 or the D-70. I'm using a Olympus C-5060,Ikelite housing with DS-125 and DS-50 strobes now. I'd like to move to an SLR but I'm familiar with the Olympus outlay but the N-70 gets mentioned more. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

I would suggest looking at what lenses are available for the E500, which housing mfgs. make a housing for it and last; which of the limited lenses they make ports for.


Dave

There was a very similar thread recently. I suggest you check it out:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...l=olympus+e-500

The Olympus E-System is different from other DSLR systems in many aspects. I would focus on those points to find out if you like them or not (4:3 aspect ratio instead of 3:2, manual focus only by wire – no mechanical link, limited filter photography - 7-14mm takes no filters for example, gear extension is expensive – adding 7-14mm wideangle + dome costs somewhat 3000€ over here, etc.).

This has been discussed here as well:
http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...4&st=0&p=69175&

I know many Olympus digicam users who focus on the E System when switching to DSLR. But I think it's worth to compare with other brands as you do, to find out what works best for you.

Julian

I previously owned a 5060, and I recently made the switch to The Canon EOS 350D with a Sea&Sea housing.

But since you are already into ikelite with the strobes, Perhaps an Ike housing is better for you. If you choose the Nikon D70s, or the Canon 350d is less imortant, I went with Canon.

/Jonas

You might look into the storage speed of RAW files if you plan on shooting them. After 4 shots rather quickly the E-500 I believe bogs down and can't take another for several seconds while it writes to the card. I don't believe the same limitation exists for the Nikon.

Part of the reason is that the Olympus raw files are not compressed. It's about 1.5x bigger than the 8 Mpixel Canons and 2x bigger than the 6 Mpixel Nikons. You'll also have to get a bigger card to get the same number of shots as the other two. Probably a small consideration since the cost of memeory have dropped so much in the past year.

Hi Diverdog,

It is clear that Canon and Nikon control the lions share of the DSLR market and that Olympus is far behind in third place. As a result most of the housing manufacturers are building for the two top brands.

Ikelite however builds a housing for all three Olympus DSLRs, the E-1, E-300 and E-500. They also have an extensive line of ports for these housings.

It is also clear that most of the comments within this DSLR fourm releate to the Canon and Nikon cameras and that the Olympus DSLRs offen draw negative comments with little support.

Regarding limited lens selection, Olympus now has an outstanding 7 to 14 mm zoom, a 50 mm F2 macro and a 35 mm marco and an 8 mm fisheye due out by PMA in February. In 35 mm terms thats 14 to 28, 100 mm at 1:1 and 70 mm at 2:1 and fisheye.

Olympus raw files are larger than others of the same MP range. The files are uncompressed and contain no sharpening.
Regarding raw burst write speed to a SandDisk 1 GB Extreme III SD card the numbers are as follows.
Olympus E-500 9854 KB/Sec.
Nikon D50 3746 KB/Sec. the D70 is even slower.
Canon EOS 350D 6152 KB/Sec. the 5D is slower.
(from DP Review camera tests)

If you want to talk about a down side to the E-500 compaired to the D-70 it is that the viewfinder is slightly smaller. The E-1 and E-300 viewfinders are as large or larger than the D70 (D70s).

All of these cameras will take great photos and Olympus lens/body lineup is expanding in 2006.
You will also be seeing other manufacturers entering the 4/3's body and lens market in 2006. This system has only been in place since Nov of 03 and is gaining market share.

I hope to see other housing manufacturers begin to consider the merits of building for more than the chosen two.

Phil Rudin

The sales figures for 2005 show that Nikon and Canon control 90% of the digital SLR market. The remaining 10% is split between Olympus, Pentax, and Konica-Minolta.

With 90% of the market share, it's no wonder why >90% of the underwater camera housing market is dedicated to Nikon and Canon. Because the housing and ports literally ALWAYS costs more than the camera body, please take this into consideration. You are buying into a SYSTEM, not just buying an SLR camera body. Saving $200 on the camera up front can actually end up COSTING you more in the future because you are stuck with very few underwater housing and accessory choices.

Cheers
James

Hi James,

Olympus is still making a profit from its film cameras, their DSLRs account for 3% of sales. Olympus has stated that it plans to reduce sales of DIGIcams (point n shoot) and increase sales of DSLRs to 30% of sales in the next five years.

While I am sure Olympus will not over take Canon and Nikon ( nor do I care) they will continue to impact the DSLR market and for those not already owning a boat load of C or N lenses are quite competitive.

The last time I bought strobes, Nikon (nikonos) and Ikelite had the large bulk of the market and I got some Z-220's from a company called Inon that no one had ever heard of. They are still working as well as the day I bought them.

If Diverdog is the kind of guy who always likes to play it safe then Canon or Nikon may be the best choice for him.

Phil Rudin

First, Thank you all for your time and consideration in the answers and comments so far, they are very helpful and I welcome any more. One thing I haven't considered, or didn't think I would need, are any other lenses than what is already available. I've got a wide angle Olympus on my Ikelite housing now and didn't think more than a couple of lenses would be needed. It looks like I could be wrong though. I surely want my next system to have plenty of room to grow into and not hit any walls early in the going. I was hoping to get away with one, maybe two, lenses that would be a good "all around" choice...... If that is possible in underwater photography. Any suggestions for that lense that covers 95% of everyday photos?

That ideal lens would be a fisheye macro zoom lens, with a reproduction ratio of say 2:1 at the telephoto end, and a max aperture of 1:1.4. Unfortunately, that lens does not and will never exist.

If you consider taking nothing else than one type of photos (e.g. macro), then you can get away with one lens only. So far, I've met very few photographers (only 1) that really only take one type of pictures. This means that you will likely need at least 2 lenses for a start (one macro, and one wide-angle). Subsequently you'll surely complement your lens line-up to increase the type of shots you take.

My .02cents worth.

Mat

Now that Konica-Minolta are withdrawing from the photo market, figures are likely to maintain their current trend, with Nikon and Canon keeping the lion's share.

http://konicaminolta.com/releases/2006/0119_03_01.html
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0601/06011901...aminoltaout.asp

If you are not in a rush, you may want to checkout Olympus new DSLR due to be announced on Thursday, 26 Jan. It appears to have a larger viewfinder and active LCD.

Phil Rudin

Its a sad story. Im a Minolta user and was a bit shocked. Hopefully minolta mount will survive under the name of sony. Maybe sony will have a better marketing strategy and rise a real competition against C and N on the dSLR market.
Maybe minolta users wil benefit from this merge.
The future will tell.