Olympus E-500 camera review

The Olympus E-500 digital SLR – main features:

• 8.0 million pixels with Full Frame Transfer CCD


• 6.4cm/2.5” HyperCrystal LCD (215,250 pixels)


• Supersonic Wave Filter for dust protection


• Light and compact penta type design (for classic SLR look)


• Single AF, continuous AF and manual focusing


• 49 area AE sensor


• ESP, centre-weighted average and spot exposure meteringplus high light basis and shadow basis spot metering


• Professional AE lock functionality


• Sequential shooting at 2.5fps in HQ (1/8) and SQ JPEG format up to the full memory


• card capacity when using high-speed media, such as SanDisk SDCFX (Extreme III)


• IR Hybrid Type Cut Filter for equalisation with human eyes


• 1/3 EV ISO steps


• TruePic TURBO image processor


• 21 scene programme and scene select programme modes


• Dual slot for CompactFlash/Microdrives and xD-Picture Cards : can well edit in laptop with laotop battery charger


• Built-in pop-up flash


• User-friendly menu with detailed and simplified display


• Weight: 435g, size: 129,5 x 94,5 x 66mm


• Compatible with the complete range of Olympus E-System lenses and many


• accessories 1600mAh Li-ion 7.4V rechargeable Olympus BLM-1 battery

As digital photography has gained popularity and become affordable for just about everyone, increasing numbers of photographers are demanding the higher quality and flexibility that only an SLR camera can offer, with the availability of interchangeable lenses, external flash systems and other accessories. Now, with the Olympus E-500, the promise of creative digital SLR photography is within everyone’s reach.

The Olympus EVOLT E-500 is one of the bargains among entry level digital SLR cameras. The E-500 is an alternative for the budget-conscious over Canon's EOS 350D and Nikon's D50. The camera comes with a Supersonic Wave Filter, large 2.5-inch LCD monitor and a full range of shooting modes and functions. Though not the most minute in its class, the E-500 holds a slight ergonomic edge over the popular EOS 350D. The button layout on this shooter, as compared with its predecessor the E-300, is logical and well-thought out. Its four-directional buttons double as dedicated keys for white balance, autofocus, ISO and metering,a well designed digital camera battery.

Shooting options on the E-500 are numerous and varied. This dSLR offers a breathtaking total of 15 scene modes typically available on point-and-shoots, along with four advanced shooting setting. Canon's EOS 350D and Nikon's D50 pale in comparison with only six scene modes to match. Other features on the E-500 include a new 49-division light-metering senso, rechargeable BLM-1 battery.

You can continue shooting without flash at about 0.5-second intervals in both JPEG SHQ and RAW formats. With flash, timings obtained were approximately doubled. We measured the file-write time for the E-500 on our ultra-high-speed 1GB CompactFlash card to be around 4.2 seconds when shooting in RAW and one second faster in JPEG SHQ. With a maximum resolution of 3264x2448 pixels, images can be saved as RAW, TIFF or JPEG in three quality settings, with compression levels ranging from 1/2.7 to 1/12.

The E-500's 1,500mAh Lithium-ion Olympus BLM-1 battery pack performed reasonably well in our tests. We managed to capture over 300 frames on a single charge with plenty of card formatting, picture review and use of LCD to check camera status etc. The E-500 has a built in "Supersonic Wave Filter" sensor cleaner that runs each time you turn on the camera (it vibrates 35,000 times per second to shake off dust)

The E-500 should secure Olympus a place on the lucrative consumer D-SLR shelf alongside the Nikon D50, Canon EOS 350D and Pentax *ist DL. It is a very well designed digital camera battery, combining excellent picture quality, outstanding performance and lots of creative versatility. The E-500 has so many features that it will take the real enthusiast some time to figure them all out, whereas relative beginners can simply leave the camera in Auto and get great results every time. We believe that this camera might well put Olympus back in the top three of camera manufacturers where they belong.