OLYMPUS E-510 DSLR Review
The low-down: This digital single lens reflex is built around the Four Thirds system of sensor (10 megapixels) and lens, pioneered by Olympus. The camera has “live view”, meaning that the LCD screen can be selected as the viewfinder – and the implementation on the E-510 is an improvement over the earlier versions on the 300 series cameras. There is no body-top camera status LCD, and the viewfinder is not the brightest, but over all construction quality is good. The camera is smaller and lighter than the competition and the kit lens (28?84mm film equivalent) is very light indeed. There is in-body image stabilisation and auto sensor cleaning when the camera is turned off.

Like: The image quality is excellent. Pictures are sharp and detailed which is probably partly due to the sensor being smaller than on other DSLRs, because a smaller sensor tends to give greater depth of field at any given focal length. We liked the consistency of image quality, including focus, resolution and colour. We found no bleeding in areas of solid colours and detail was well preserved even in red and yellow patches. On board flash performance is good.

Dislike: Auto white balance is not reliable in some situations, such as late afternoon light. The viewfinder is really dim, and we are not convinced that removing camera status indicators from the body top is a good move. No doubt it saves money, and the LCD information read-out is comprehensive and gives easy access to most camera settings, but we’ve got used to status screens on top.

Verdict: This is a camera we would recommend to anyone who wants the image quality of a good SLR without having to think too much. It’s light weight will also appeal. And now that Panasonic/Leica is in the Four Thirds camp there should be some cheaper third party lenses coming onto the market. Olympus have fitted a CF card slot as well as their own xD slot, which makes sense because CF cards are cheaper and available everywhere.

This is the Full Specification

Lens mount: Four Thirds

Body material: Glass reinforced plastics

Image Sensor
Effective pixels: 10 Megapixels
Filter array: Primary colour filter (RGB)
Full resolution: 10.9 Megapixels
Type: 4/3” Live MOS sensor
Aspect ratio & area: 4:3 / 17.3 x 13.0mm
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