Camera Labs

Hello All,

I am looking to buy a DSLR and am a relative newbie to them. I understand a fairly good deal of photography so I dont necissarly need somthing extremly simple. I intend to do a good deal of portrait available light photography indoors as well as outdoor photography, thus I would really like to have an IS system of some sort. Two biggies that have jumped out at me are the Olympus E-510 and the Sony DSLR-A100. If there is another option that I should really consider that is a camera and lens(es) for under 1,000 USD please let me know. Also, I intend to shoot in RAW.

A100: I have looked at the Sony A100 and but have seen alot of complaints about the image quality espically the noise at higher ISOs. With image stabliization am I really going to be using higher ISOs? I have also heard that the A-Mount is fairly dated but dont know if that poses any issues?

E-510: The E-510 appears to have alot going for it. IS, dust, two lenses, etc. I dont really care about live view so that isnt a selling point for me. What I am most concerned about is the availablity of lenses compared to other SLR systems. How do the kit lenses compare to say the A100 or Rebel XTi? Also does the E-510 have image noise problems as well or any other major issues?

My price for the A100 new with the lens is aprox. $650 USD or the E-510 for around $900 with the two lenses.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Phil

Hi there. I'm not sure how the cost translates into US$ but the Pentax K10D ticks all your boxes. There's a very full user review on this very site.

Zorro.

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http://zorrofox4.deviantart.com/



Various lenses, SB800 & Manfrotto 190 with 460MG head

Hi Phil, welcome to the Cameralabs forums!

I don't think you'll have any problems sourcing either Sony or Olympus lenses.

In terms of kit lenses, I think the Olympus 14-42mm is better than most rival kit lenses including the Canon 18-55mm.

As for noise, compare our outdoor noise (noise 2) and gallery pages for each of the cameras you're considering to see which you think looks best.

After that it boils down to comparing the look and feel in person - and of course the budget - the A100 is certainly the cheapest...

As Zorro says though, also check out the Pentax K10D.

Gordon

Hi Phil,

There is some really good Minolta lenses out there but they are raising in price and is getting rare I can recommend to buy the A-100 with a used 50mm and 70-210/4 make sure it's the f/4 (beercan) it's one of the cheapest lenses I currently have but probably the best. The 50mm could easyly cost more than a brand new Canon but the 70-210 is really cheap compared to what you get, about 160-200$. I would guess that the two lenses will cost you around 300$ if you can find them... I have a review of the 50mm lens here. The higher noise of the A100 is because of a weaker anti-aliasing filter which should make the image sharper but with more noise.

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Minolta primes: 2.8/20 2.8/24 1.7/50 2.8/135
Minolta zooms: 28-135 35-70 70-210(beercan) kit
Minolta cameras: Dynax 5D 7000
M42: Pentax Asahi S-M-C Takumar 1.4/50 and 2.8/105 Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 2.4/35 Industar-61L/Z Kiron 2.8/105 Macro

Does Olympus or any other lens manufacturer produce a lens for the 4/3rds system that is the equivalent to a 50 mm wide aperture lens? And if so what is the quality like? Ive seen some 50 mm f1.7 Minolta Maxxum lenses online that could be used for the Alpha.

From Sigma teh AF 30mm 1.4 EX DC HSM or the AF 24mm 1.8 EX DG Asp Makro may be perfect lenses for you! Costs are around 380EUR though.
See test of the 30mm here: http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses ... /index.htm

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Well there's the Olympus 50mm f2.0 which is excellent, and the forthcoming Panasonic / Leica 25mm f1.4...

Remember on the Four Thirds system, the effective focal length is multiplied by 2x, so these lenses would be equivalent to 100 and 50mm on a 35mm body respectively.

Gordon

I am thinking about getting the Sigma 30 mm F1.4 and the E-510 but am curious what F-stops the aperture goes to smaller than the F1.4 max. I know the min. is F16. I know the DOF of 1.4 is extremely small and was curious on a E-510 what stops it would have in between say 1.4 and 3.5 (kit lens max aperture).

Thanks