Why I Use the Olympus E-System

 

First, let me be clear: this is not a "Olympus is better than Canon/Nikon/Etc." article. Not going there. This is an article on why I chose to use Olympus.
I am not going to tell you what is best for you to do- only you know that.
During the summer of 2006, I began thinking about purchasing a more "serious" camera. There was discussion of a friend and myself shooting a wedding for a co-worker of my wife, and I wanted to be somewhat prepared.
So I started doing some research.
I had always heard good things about Fuji cameras, and I wanted a good zoom range, so I quickly narrowed my search towards the Fuji S9100, a 9 mega-pixel bridge camera with a fixed lens. However the reviews on it were all over the place- good & bad. I also wanted something with very little shutter lag. I was being nudged towards a DSLR camera.
Which took me to the Nikon D50.
By all accounts an excellent camera, but it was "only" 6 mega-pixels. I wanted a bit more, the Fuji was 9, I was to be moving up from 4. And it only came with 1 lens.
With the money I had available at the time this would be a one-time shot for purchase; I knew if I bought something with interchangeable lenses and I had only 1 lens it would drive me crazy.
Then I fould the Olympus e-500.
Eight mega-pixels, two lenses in the kit, DSLR so no shutter lag, decent pricing.
And after researching the 4-3rds sensor format, and thinking I would probably want to be printing larger photos, like 8x10's, and the cropping involved with the 3x2 sensors in the Nikon, Canon, etc., it made more sense to get the 4-3rds format. I would be losing less pixels- essentially making an 8 mega-pixel camera almost the equal of a 10 megapixel camera.
Now, I don't shoot much in low light situations, so the high-ISO noise issue didn't concern me too much. However, I have taken several good photos at ISO 1600 with the E-500 that turned out quite well, especially after a pass through Neat Image for noise reduction.

And besides, everyone has a Canon or a Nikon. Dare to be different, right?

My wish list for the e-500:
Better auto-focus.
Battery-grip.
(huh...sounds like an E-3...)

Please see the Mega-pixel comparison chart.

-Brad