Post Here first:

[craig]

In this forum post about yourself. It is locked to the public, only registered members can access this forum.
If you would like people to be able to contact you, you can add your e-mail address.
But if nothing else, add a bit about yourself.
Thanks
Tony

[MtClimber]

Hello-

I am brand new to the forum. Like a lot of you I am a long time Olympus user, dating back to the OM days. While I live in Oregon, I travel a lot presenting digital camera workshops all over the world. I am retired now, but back in those working days, I flew airplanes and retired as a Boeing 747/Lockheed L-1011 Captain for TWA.

I am currently shooting with an E-300, with the 14-45mm, 14-54mm, and the 40-150mm lenses. I hope to add an E-500 to the mix soon.

MT[img size=150]

[MtClimber]

My photo did not sucessfully attach the first time. So I will try again.

MT

[bugrarocks]

hello everyone my name is paul , im a bus driver . have just upgraded to oly e-500 from minolta z1 so its my first dslr ,you all seem really helpful with the technicallitys hence why i joined lookin forward to posin a few myself .i live in the united kingdom sheffield . first attempt with oly lol please fell free to criticise

[cloudsipper]

New member here.
Hope to receive my e500 and kit lenses next week. Not new to photography, however, starting at age 16 (48 years ago!) with an ANSCO (ARGUS?.. can\'t remember) 620 reflex, on to a Kodak Instamatic 35, Pentax Spotmatic, slight departure to a Polaroid SX70, then an Olympus OM-PC and OM-4, bunch of lenses, even had a Hasselblad for a while (doesn\'t everyone lust for one at some time in their photographic life?). Did enlarging and printing in B/W and color.
Currently using a C2500L, and keep a Leica Minilux ..(gasp.. film!!) tucked in my parka when I ski. My laptop is an I-book, and it came with Photoshop. If the group isn\'t adverse to a few non-4/3rds pics, I have a few to share. I spend a huge portion of my day in front of a monitor doing data modeling and such and look forward to getting out and taking more pictures.

[Craftysnapper]

Hi new here got the E500 twin lens kit in November and the 50mm macro a few days ago..my Canon dslr has been relagated to the cuboard since

[craig]

Hey guys. I am sure that we all are looking forward, to your posts.
T

[benherrmann]

I'm old news at DPReview - with almost 5,000 posts there since 2002 (even was recently banned). I am definitely warming up to this forum because it's dedicated to Oly users only - and having an edit function certainly helps you to correct grammatical and spelling blunders.

I'm a retired Marine Corps veteran and currently, I'm a new home sales broker assigned to the Fonville Morisey Builder Marketing Group in the Raleigh, North Carolina area. I'm married with a 26 year old son. We live in Fuquay Varina, a small town south of Raleigh.

I am totally happy owning (and keeping) the following cameras: Olympus E-1, E300, E500, C7070, C7000, and SP-350; Fuji F11; Nikon D50; Sony R1; Canon G6 and A620.

So you can see, I'm a fanatic to say the least - with my primary (just about only) love being with the Olympus line of cameras. The good thing is that it gives me the experience to have tried so many different cameras, and thus being able to offer my observations and advice regarding use, ergonomics, image quality parameters, etc.

Other hobbies/likes involve esoteric audio/video, fine cuisine (Japanese and Italian), physical fitness (weight training and cycling), and believe it or not...working in the garden.

My astrological sign: Aquarius (the dreamer).

Okay, so there it is - I hold nothing back - what you see is what you get.

[craig]

Hey Ben, Welcome to the site!
Look forward to seeing you around.
T

[gunnerx]

Hey Ben, nice to see you here. Frustration with the DPR forums setting in? Or finally boiled over? :laugh: It\'s much more civil here.

[benherrmann]

setting. I'm basically a small town person. The DPReview forums - although nice most of the time - lately have become very similar to the zoo known as the Canon and Nikon forums. And frankly, I enjoy the interaction between folks from many different countries. Call it a unique camaraderie, but I just love corresponding with folks from Canada, the UK, Germany, etc., etc.

But what really irks my jaws is that more frequently now you have a few folks (I call them pseudo intellectuals) who chime in and then shoot off with their political barbs - with some very vehement anti-American remarks, which as a former Marine...I just can't fathom (thus my replies). And I often tell these folks that politics or geopolitics are way out of line on photographic forums because it can divide folks right down the middle. What happens then is that once
"formerly" close posters take a political stand, they then tend to back away from each other in distrust. I just don't like that, but unfortunately - mainly with the huge size of the DPReview forums - this is occuring more and more each day. That's why I tend to lose my patience quickly with these types.

Coming here is basically a matter of getting into a new habit. Let's face it, we're mostly tuned to check DPReview daily. Well, this forum is great and I just absolutely love that "edit" button because I've had my share of typographic fauxpax's. It's more relaxed here also. So if you don't hear from me in awhile, just zip me an email and fire my rear end up...as I need to get accustomed to coming here.

So you will gradually see me here more often than not.

Thanks for the welcome...

[jebir]

Hi Ben,

I tell you,... this is a perfect weaning from DPR. I go there less and less the more I hang around here. I don't even check every day anymore and I even tried to figure out how to cancel my mebership there. More and more often, I have seen good posts here being referred to at DPR and vice versa so there is really no point in being at both places.

Stay around and test your self-control

Jens.

[OMSchwep]

OK, just a little bit. I'm an amateur who used to shoot semi-pro a while back (did a lot of my own photography when I edited a magazine for a large oil multinational). Started as a teenager (far too long ago..) with a fold-out 6x6 roll film camera, the kind where you needed to prime the shutter before every shot. Used close-up screw-on lenses, a distance/DOF table and a ruler to get sharp close-ups. Later got a Praktica slr, then during my first job as a sales person in a photo store I got an Olympus OM-2. That was in 1977. From about 15 years old I processed my own B/W stuff, studied photography and film for 2 years in high school, was the official school event photographer - some of you probably know the drill. Ended up with a bag full of Olympus OM gear, including 4 bodies (OM1n, OM-2, two OM-2sp) and some nice compact high-grade glass.
Almost quit serious photography when I moved house and lacked space for my darkroom. There is no real joy in photography if you cannot post-process yourself. I kept snapping a bit with pocket cameras, and later with P&S digitals to document the building of our new house in France.
Then Olympus came with the E-series. I stepped in when they offered the E-500 two-lens kit. I never even bothered with Canon or Nikon, they may be good cameras but I find them too heavy and complex.
I very quickly started shooting RAW as well as JPEG, and use RAWShooter Premium and Paintshop (I already had the latter) for post-processing. Still getting used to it all.
We are keeping the old OMs, to shoot negatives or slides that may then be scanned and processed. For manual focus they are unbeatable - I am waiting for a more or less affordable 4/3 DSLR with a similar viewer as the OMs have.
A few early shots can be found at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwep/ .
And some other stuff at our website at http://ballonbleu.free.fr. Most of what's on that site was not taken with the E-500 but with a Canon A80 P&S. Except for the album with birds.
Glad to be here, hope to be able to help anyone who has question on something a know more than nothing about... ;-).

Frank Schweppe

[sclamb]

I won't bore you with my life story, so down to where I have come from photographically.

Well, I started with a Canon EOS 600. Moved to Nikon, eventually ending up wth an F5 and an assortment of lenses. Then decided to go into stealth mode on the 35mm front, so sold up the Nikon and got a Leica M6 with 50mm f/1 Noctilux, 35mm f/2 Asph and 90mm f/2 APO Asph. Also got into medium format, and had a Hasselblad 503CW with 80mm f/2.8 and 180mm f/4. Used an Imacon scanner to scan negs and slides, and went through a long period of shooting only Agfa Scala 200X black and white slide film. There is nothing quite like a projected black and white slide.

Started yearning for an SLR again and got a Contax N1 with two zooms and the Zeiss 100mm f/2.8 Macro, one of the sharpest lenses ever made. Decided that the Contax N range was not going to last, so got out and used a Canon G4 for digital for a year or so.

That's when the digital bug bit and I got the Olympus E-1 with 14-54mm, 50-200mm and 50mm, HLD2 grip and FL50. Still use the Oly and also added a Nikon D2X and 17-55mm DX to the kitbag, with an 18-200mm and 70-200mm to come.

So that's my confession to upgraditus. The bug bit and it hasn't let go

[Grizzly]

Hello!
I,m new to this forum, I,m a very Amateur Olympus E-500 owner, I find it hard to believe that I used a Minolta SRT 101 since I purchased it in Viet Nam from the military PACEX catalog until 2002 when I decided to try out a digital camera, and I purchased a Kodak DC-215, then an Olympus C-700 in 2002, a Olympus C-750 in 2003,a Nikon CP 8800 in 2004 and now a EV500. I hope that I can enjoy and keep the EV 500 for many years. It is truly amazing what these cameras can do this day in age. I recently retired from the Government from the Utility helicopter office at Red Stone Arsenal. I love taking nature pictures and Air Show pictures, I took 2,970 pictures at the Oshkosh 2005 EAA Fly-In with my CP 8800, I hope that I will like my EV 500 , I'm tired of moving up, or at least my wife is. and it is expensive.

Thanks for listening.
Grizzly

[Swandy]

Hi Everyone,
Definitely an amateur (though I have sold a few pics here and there), but been involved with photography as a hobby/passion for almost 40 years.
Started with some Kodak brownie types. First 35MM was a fully manual Olympus (forget the model, though it did have a built in meter that you had to match a little "stick" with a circle at the end of it).
Loved the Oly P&S cameras, so I got an E10. Loved the feel of it so eventually went with the E1 - same lovely ergonomics. Got the E300 as a second/travel body. (Traded in the E1 to get some more glass - figured I would use the E300 until Oly's next body. Considering trading it in for the E330.)
That's it for now,
Steve Wandy
Staten Island, NYC

[Hokuto]

DPReview refugee looking for new home.



E-300+ ED50-200 (200mm) f8@1/160 sec (tripod) + FL50