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Olympus E-500 / EVOLT E-500 review with Zuiko Digital 14-45mm f3.5~5.6 Gordon Laing, February 2006


 



 




Outdoor
/ Resolution / Noise / Corner sharpness / Fringe and macro / Geometry / Vignetting

Olympus E-500 purple fringing comparison

  To measure purple fringing caused by lens chromatic aberrations and sensor blooming, we photographed a custom test chart, left, with areas of very high contrast. We used the bundled lenses at their widest and longest focal lengths with the aperture wide open in Aperture Priority mode. The crops are taken from the upper left corner of the chart and presented here at 100%.

The E-500 with 14-45mm lens exhibits a little purple fringing at its widest position in line with its rivals. Fringing is virtually eliminated at the telephoto end, again like most of the competition..

Olympus E-500
Canon EOS-350D
Konica Minolta Dynax 5D
Nikon D50
Olympus E-500 at 14mm f3.5
Canon EOS-350D at 18mm f3.5
Konica Minolta 5D at 18mm f3.5
Nikon D50 at 18mm f3.5
14-45mm at 14mm f3.5
18-55mm EF-S at 18mm f3.5
18-70mm DT at 18mm f3.5
18-55mm DX at 18mm f3.5
Olympus E-500 at 45mm f5.6
Canon EOS-350D at 55mm f5.6
Konica Minolta 5D at 70mm f5.6
Nikon D50 at 55mm f5.6
14-45mm at 45mm f5.6
18-55mm EF-S at 55mm f5.6
18-70mm DT at 70mm f5.6
18-55mm DX at 55mm f5.6


Olympus E-500 macro comparison

 

To measure macro performance we photographed a custom chart using the bundled lenses at a distance and focal length which delivered the maximum possible reproduction. The dark lines are 10mm apart and the result is not cropped. Smaller areas are preferred in this test.

The image left was taken with the Olympus E-500 using the 14-45mm Zuiko Digital Lens. Like most bundled Digital SLR lenses, the greatest macro reproduction was achieved with the lens zoomed all the way in - in this case to 45mm. Here the camera captured an area measuring 112x84mm which is noticeably larger then the results from its rivals with their kit lenses. In this respect the 14-45mm is not as good for close-up reproduction.


Canon EOS-350D
Konica Minolta Dynax 5D
Nikon D50
18-55mm EF-S at 55mm f8
Max area of 66x44mm at 13cm
  18-70mm DT at 70mm f8
Max area of 82x54mm at 20.5cm
  18-55mm DX at 55mm f8
Max area of 70x49mm at 13cm

Results continued...

Outdoor / Resolution / Noise / Corner sharpness / Fringe and macro / Geometry / Vignetting

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All words, images, videos and layout, copyright 2005-2009 Gordon Laing. May not be used without permission.

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