What to do...?

dd1989

dd1989

Messages
449
Name
Daniel
Edit My Images
Yes
I posted this on Flickr so just copypaste.

'I have an

E-510 with about 12,000 actuations
Olympus Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6
Olympus Zuiko 35mm 1:1 Macro
Sigma 30mm f/1.4 HSM


If I were to sell the lot, how much do you think it's worth in £?

I love the Sigma but as I have posted elsewhere in the forum, it can't focus on my E-510 properly ay any aperture. I never use the macro and in general I just find the body its self hunts for focus far too much in lower light conditions.

I'm not sure what I want to do, should I buy a dSLR from another camera maker? I'm not a brand-whore and I perfectly understand the benefits and drawbacks of other systems. Right now I have no glass that ties me in to the Olympus system and I can't help but feel something like a D7000 would serve me better. The only problem is the price and I would obviously have to sell all my gear and save up for the rest. I have no issues buying used as long as the shutter hasn't been fired a billion times.

I'm looking at PENs and other m43 cameras though too, and I admire how small they are, however I would only want the latest PEN or GF/GH with the faster AF.

A few of my friends have started doing gig photography and paid shooting in clubs for students, but there's just noway I could take my E-510 in to that situation, it would frustrate me to no end. '
 
dd1989 said:
A few of my friends have started doing gig photography and paid shooting in clubs for students, but there's just noway I could take my E-510 in to that situation, it would frustrate me to no end. '
Click to expand...

Perhaps manual focus could get around your auto focus troubles?

Would a MFT give significantly better IQ in your shooting environment?
 
woof woof said:
Perhaps manual focus could get around your auto focus troubles?

Would a MFT give significantly better IQ in your shooting environment?
Click to expand...

Manual focus through a view finder that's very small is almost impossible. Using live view in low light isn't much of an option.

I don't really need better IQ as such.priority is accurate and faster focus in low light. I know the top olympus models and lenses can do this but I could do better for less money.
 
You might need to post this in the Classified, price check section. Also keep in mind you posted it at 1 am this morning, It's 12pm on a saturday now, people will only just be getting up :P

But the camera body on Ebay with the lens is going for £220 odds, I couldn't tell you the actuations on the body's though.

John
 
I'd say the sigma it's worth about 250 and macro 150.

So my budget is going to be small. 800 or so.

How bout a Sony SLT...
 
It all depends, you could look at getting a decent second hand body and a really good lens for your budget, its what i wish i had of done.
 
If low light focusing is your main issue then getting a 2nd hand FL36 flash and mounting that adds focus assist to your camera. For some reason Oly think (thought I guess as they only make one now) focus assist isn't necessary on any of their bodies.
Using that method I can focus in darkness pretty quick.
It's probably not a long term solution as focus assist still has the potential to annoy your target, especially if performing on stage, but it's far cheaper than changing brand and getting fast glass.
 
Yesterday I shot a party on GH1 and 14-45mm with just a Yongnuo YN560 to light the way. focus was fine, didn't hunt and was accurate. From 267 shots, 4 were focussed wrong and a further 2 it couldn't find a focus lock. Mix of single point AF and face detect.

I don't use it a lot, but situations like that the camera does handle pretty well I reckon!
 
^ Contrast detection focus systems tend to have the advantage over phase detection of being highly accurate once focus is achieved. Sometime it's just getting there that's the problem.

At the time, my E-510 was simply one of the best dSLRs in its range, and it's still good. Live view, in body IS etc, but with only three AF points and only the centre being cross-type, it is a bit of an issue.

One alternative for me is to sell my E-510, the kit lens, the macro and keep the Sigma 30mm. I could then buy a used E-30 body. This would give me 11 cross type AF points and importantly for the Sigma lens, I could micro adjust the focus... It would also mean instantly being at home with a similar system being of the same brand.
 
dd1989 said:
This would give me 11 cross type AF points and importantly for the Sigma lens, I could micro adjust the focus... It would also mean instantly being at home with a similar system being of the same brand.
Click to expand...

Would all those focus points be a help or a hindrance in a low light and crowded environment? Many of the complaints we see of body or lens focus issues seem to be down to inappropriate settings or use or poor technique.
 
woof woof said:
Would all those focus points be a help or a hindrance in a low light and crowded environment? Many of the complaints we see of body or lens focus issues seem to be down to inappropriate settings or use or poor technique.
Click to expand...

The Sigma 30mm is notorious for front and back focus issues. I've done controlled testing a few times to make sure it's not just me, the lens simply can not focus on a target properly.

The E-30 has focus adjustable points for up to 20 individual lenses, so this would help a lot with this lens. I could just sell my E-510 body and kit lens, along with the macro lens, with a bit more cash I'd have enough for a used E-30 body. Just watched one go for £490 on eBay.
 
I'm looking at used D300s now...I know it doesn't have the best ISO performance in the world, but how is the AF in low light?

Such a confusing choice to make.
 
This has put a spanner in the works for me.

I'm really considering a D300 but looking at the E-3 used, around the same price if not cheaper.

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Olympus_E-3/outdoor_results.shtml

'Quite simply, the Olympus E-3 crops look much sharper and better defined than those from the Nikon D300. As we discovered in our Nikon D300 review, this camera applies a relatively modest amount of sharpening to its JPEGs using the default settings. Take a look at the second row of crops and it's clear the E-3's default settings are applying much more sharpening, although this in turn has resulted in some undesirable artefacts around some of the roof-tops.

But much more than that, the Zuiko Digital 12-60mm lens is simply performing much better here than the Nikkor DX 17-55mm, even when both are closed to a relatively conservative f8 aperture. As we've seen before, this Nikkor lens can become quite soft towards the edges and corners, but the Olympus lens is sharp across the entire frame. This lens greatly impressed us throughout our tests with the E-3 and is one of the best optics we've had the pleasure of using.

So the Olympus crops below look sharper and better defined thanks partly to greater in-camera sharpening and mostly to superior optics. As we found on our D300 review, you can retrieve more detail by applying greater sharpening to its images, but there's no denying the Olympus lens below is performing much better than the Nikkor model. '


This is what I fear about leaving the Olympus system. The lenses are just so incredible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top