Click on the picture for specs from Olympus.The Olympus E-500 is my first digital SLR camera. I never knew something could be so hard and so easy at the same time. I am learning everything about digital photography via forums and experimenting. For anyone who wants to step up to SLR, digital is the only way to go. You have so many options after you get the picture on your PC and on the camera itself. With a film camera once you take the picture it is yours even if it stinks. With digital you can trash it (like I do with most of my pictures for now) or enhance it with photo editing software.
The E-500
Click on the picture for specs from Olympus.
I have two lenses right now for my camera. I'll start with the Olympus lens.
This is the Olympus 17.5-45mm f3.5-5.6. This is very good for taking picture where you can't get back far enough to see and zooms in to just a little less than normal eye sight. This is not a top quality lens but it is good none the less. This lens is only available with the camera as a "kit" lens. The other options is a 14-45mm f3.5-5.6.
My second lens is a Sigma 55-200mm f4.0-5.6 telephoto lens. For the price it is hard to beat for a beginners lens. I can't see shelling out $500-$1000 on a lens when you are learning. All that stuff will come later (I hope). The Sigma lens has a switch on the side to activate the manual focus. The Olympus lenses are controlled through the camera body and then a "drive-by-wire" system on the lens. I like the mechanical feel of the focus on the Sigma. In auto focus (AF) the Sigma is still just as fast as the original Zuiko lens. The zoom appears to be more powerful than the 6x on my Fuji Finepix S3800 and much cleaner looking. If you are taking long range pictures you almost have to use a tri-pod unless it is really bright outside or you want to use a very high ISO.
I picked up a Polarized filter for the Sigma lens as well. These can make a huge difference when take picture with the sky or ocean in them. I was warned not to skimp on quality of my filter. The higher quality filters use better glass than the cheap one and this gives you a better picture in the end.
So far I am very happy with this camera and the lenses. I feel they will serve me for a long time.
Here are some samples of the pictures. All pictures are of the same trees in the middle of a field.
First the Olympus Zuiko at 17.5mm f3.5
Olympus Zuiko at 45mm f5.6
Now for the Sigma at 55mm f4.0
Sigma at 200mm f5.6
I didn't get great pictures as I was shooting though a fence while hand holding the camera but I still think the quality is useable for a beginner. I will add some more test shot that are cropped soon.