I held the 510.....

[NrthrnHrse]

I held the 510 at my local camera shop. WOW. It's smaller than my Evolt 300 and the focusing is amazing. Really spot on. In fact, I sold my 200 lens to help raise funds for the purchase of said lens and camera and IT WILL BE MINE..... OH YES IT WILL BE MINE..... cue evil laugh......

[jebir]

Hi Lara,

me too, I tried it out this weekend and the feel is so much more solid than the E-500 - more like a mini E-1 in my hand.

I'm afraid I will have to buy one for my wife really soon, I just have to convince her that she needs it...

Cheers, Jens.

[windsprite]

I held the 510 at my local camera shop. WOW. It's smaller than my Evolt 300 and the focusing is amazing. Really spot on. In fact, I sold my 200 lens to help raise funds for the purchase of said lens and camera and IT WILL BE MINE..... OH YES IT WILL BE MINE..... cue evil laugh......

Heh heh. You have been absorbed. When I saw your 50-200 for sale, I suspected that was what was going on. I hope you get the 510 in your clutches soon. You are sure to have a lot of fun with it!

Jens, simply invite your wife on a romantic cruise and secretly hire a kid to come and offer to take your picture and "accidently" drop your E-1 over the side of the boat.

I know, I know. You want both the E-1 and E-510. Just teasing!

[llpoolej]

Yeah Lara, you will like it. I like it even more than I like my E-1 and you know what an E-1 fanboy I am! CAF actually WORKS!

[E B]

It really is a nice camera. It's replaced the E-1 in my affections and now I reserve the E-1 only for inclement weather use.

[jebir]

all this praise of the new camera finaly made me yield. At least I could hold out longer than you! (But for what purpose ? -Other than delaying my joy of using the new camera...)

Now that I soon will have a superior camera... What to do with all my E-1 bodies, and HLD-2s?

Cheers, Jens.

[windsprite]

Ha! Jens has been absorbed, too!

Now that I soon will have a superior camera... What to do with all my E-1 bodies, and HLD-2s?

I'll take one off your hands. The rest of us don't really have 510s. We were just faking the EXIF to fool you into buying one.

all this praise of the new camera finaly made me yield. At least I could hold out longer than you! (But for what purpose ? -Other than delaying my joy of using the new camera...)

Okay, you are stronger-willed than me. But you are weaker than Lara! It sounds like she hasn't ordered hers yet.

Actually, it took 3 weeks after the 510 was available in Japan for me to break down, and I wondered the same thing: what did I gain from waiting? Oh, now I remember ... about $250! I hope I can be at least as "strong" when the E-3 comes out.

Anyway, congratulations, Jens. Looking forward to your images.

[llpoolej]

I am having a big duuuuuh moment there Julie, I didn't even know you had broken down and bought it...... Your thoughts?? AF??

[mckennma]

I am looking for getting the E-510 to replace my E-500.

[windsprite]

I am having a big duuuuuh moment there Julie, I didn't even know you had broken down and bought it...... Your thoughts?? AF??

I got it about 2 1/2 weeks ago. The colorful horse pics I posted recently were done with the 510. Also the horse race pics. I like the image quality very much. It reminds me of the E-1. Sharp but smooth images. The color gradations are also more subtle than the E-500; again, closer to E-1. Right now I'm shooting NF OFF, sharpening -2, Natural with saturation +1, but that could change.

The noise looks great for the most part. The horse race shots were done at ISO 400 (the last one was 800), no noise filtering in camera or in post. I notice more banding at 800 and 1600 than I am used to seeing on the E-500, but it's not horrible, I guess. 1600 is usable for action as long as you don't crop much, although there is some loss of detail. I didn't really like to go over 640 on my E-500 for action, and forget about 1600.

C-AF is MUCH improved. If you look at the "setting up your E-1 for action" thread in Technical, I posted a GIF "movie" of my boy dog running top speed straight at the camera in low light (ISO 1600 necessary). It is a sequence of four shots, all in focus. It was impossible to get even two with E-500. The only caveat is, I don't notice much difference in AF with the 50-200; the 40-150 is just amazing, though, and until the SWD 50-200 comes out, as long as I have reasonably good light, I will be using the 40-150 for action. Too bad it's only f/5.6 at the long end.

I like the build, and I like the IS, although realistically I don't know how much I'll use it. I shut it off for action, except panning. It might be useful for macros. I have used live view a few times to take over-head crowd shots, close to the ground shots, and sneak shots on the street. It's not something I'll use a lot, but it's nice to have.

Again, the AF is the most amazing thing to me. I had been seriously considering a D200, but now I honestly feel that if I don't get a shot with the E-510, it's my fault, not the camera's.

In short, all is as you said. Thanks for the recommendation!

[laingjd]

I held the 510 at my local camera shop. WOW. It's smaller than my Evolt 300 and the focusing is amazing. Really spot on. In fact, I sold my 200 lens to help raise funds for the purchase of said lens and camera and IT WILL BE MINE..... OH YES IT WILL BE MINE..... cue evil laugh......

Sounds like you held it and it held you back............Love is in bloom!