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The Nature, Wildlife and Pet Photography Forum Presents:

Olympus 510 Field Review by John Isaac

Edited by James Morrissey

(c) 2007, NWP Photo Forum and John Isaac

I started working on this review for the Nature, Wildlife and Pet Photography Forum after James Morrissey interviewed me for this website. I have been a professional photographer for over 40 years, having worked in the field for the UN for 29. This is probably the 10th year that I am using Olympus as my camera of choice. I am very excited to share my findings of the E-510 with you.

For those not familiar with the Olmpus E-510's specs, let me take a moment to share them. The E-510 is a 10 megapixel dSLR based upon the 4/3 Lens System with built-in image stabiliser in the body. The camera shoots at 3 fps for up to 7 frames in RAW. Other features include Olympus' Supersonic Wave Filter for dust protection, Live View LCD, and a pop-up flash.

As I was saying earlier, I have been using Olympus cameras since the beginning. I have used several models, from the C-2100 to their latest E-510. During this time, digital photography technology has changed, improving with every passing model. However, it takes more than just a camera to create a great photogaph. I still remember many years ago, when I was just getting into it all, how impressed I was with their C-2100 ultra zoom (2.1 mega pixel, image stabilized). For example, I remember one occasion when I was in Kanha National Park in India photographing tigers while sitting on an elephant's back with two other professional photographers with their film cameras and long lenses. We were jostling for position atop the elephant but the two other photographers took most of the space, leaving me little room. However, with my little C-2100, I somehow managed to shoot the critical images without a tripod. Many months later those two photographers were very impressed with what I did with the Olympus C-2100 when they saw the images in a photo magazine where they were reproduced as a full and half page spread. But now, after almost 10 years of photographing with Olympus cameras, the E-510 truly impressed me with its amazing performance.

Many of my other photographer friends have tried several times to convince me to switch to a camera with more mega pixels and more focusing points. However, the E-510 camera is so nice, and I am very happy that I chose to stick with Olympus as my camera system of choice. To me, the 4/3 System has many advantages. For example, with those systems I would have had to lug all those heavy lenses and humongous cameras to the field. My entire gear fits into a Lowepro Rolling Compu Trekker bag. I am talking about my 90mm-250mm lens, two bodies, 50mm to 200mm lens, 150mm f/2 lens, 1.4x teleconverter, 50 mm macro 14mm-54mm lens, plus my laptop and a small tripod. That is the way I like to travel. *Editor's note, all 4/3 System lenses have a FOV 2x that of a 35mm lens system. For example, the 90-250 F2.8 Lens has a Field of View equivalent to a 180mm to 500mm lens.

Golden Oriole and Drongo - Taken with E-510

It always comes back to the lenses for me. This is the reason why I switched to the 4/3s System. The Zuiko lenses have proven to be the sharpest that I have used in my 40 year photography career. For those who are not aware, Zuiko means “Light of the Gods” in Japanese. I believe that the name was given for a very good reason. For me, the lenses are like my eyes. It is the most important component of my photography equipment. I am not so sure if many of the readers know that Olympus was the first camera manufacturer to drop their film line and totally designed all their lenses for digital capturing from the bottom up.

Since the E-1 was introduced, Olympus has slowly built up a robust line of lenses. I believe that the 90mm-250mm lens is the best zoom lens available for a serious bird and wildlife photographer. I’ve been frustrated so many times in the past when I’m shooting with a super telephoto lens and the subject – a bird or other animal – moved so fast and got too close to the focusing range of the telephoto lens. Now with this lens I have such a big advantage because I can zoom out and still can focus on the moving subject. The 2x Field of View also means that the lenses are lighter and sharper than lenses designed for 35mm. With the in-camera image stabilization, I can even hand hold this lens.

I am including a few images from last week while I was in New Jersey at my sister-in-law Karen’s house in her wonderful garden (on Father’s day) with my 50 macro, the ring flash and the E-510.

flax - Taken with the E-510 using a 50 macro and ring flash.

fuchia - Taken with the E-510 using a 50 macro and ring flash.

Moment to moment handling of the 510 is very nice. Olympus ergnomics are excellent, and I find operation of the camera to be a breeze. Control knobs on top of the camera are clean and easily laid out. Likewise, I find the menus viewed in the LCD to be straight forward and easy to navigate. As I had mentioned earlier, the camera shoots 3 fps for 7 frames. I have not found many situations where I have had trouble with the buffer as the camera clears it quickly. This is particularly true if I use a fast card like my Lexar Pro Cards. A nice feature of the E-510 is that it can handle both xD and Compact Flash memory cards using two separate slots.

The new 510 has proven to me that I generally do not even need a tripod for my wildlife photography. And that is exactly what I did this time when I went to India on assignment for Town and Country Magazine to do a travel story in Jaipur, India. I tested the 510 and the 410 bodies with all the lenses that I have mentioned above. I was also able to get to the tiger sanctuary in Sawai Madhapur, Rajasthan and was able to track and photograph the tigress, Machli, and her two cubs.

The tigress Machli: Taken with E-510

The tigress Machli's two cubs in the water on a very hot day (50 degrees Celsius) - Taken with E-510

Pink Lily was taken with the 50mm macro - Taken with E-510

The Image Stabilization system that is employed by Olympus, being built in the camera, is very different from camera systems such as Nikon and Canon, that incorporate stabilization in the lens. While both systems are excellent, this has been great for me because every lens that I have for the Olympus is now an image stabilized lens. The following image of the tigress was taken with the E-510 and the 90mm-250mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter (236mm focal length) hand held at 1/80th of a second exposure.

The tigress Machli - Taken with E-510 and the 90mm-250mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter (236mm focal length) hand held at 1/80th of a second exposure.

The in-body chip stabilization sometimes enables you to make a very interesting movement photo when you pan the camera. Here is an image of my friend, Nicole, in SOHO, in New York City, on a rainy day taken at 1/5th of a second at f/7.1. I did a few tiger photos like that when I was in India and they were very interesting and easy to achieve (Editor's note: John has told us that he will make them available to us when we publish his Showcase Interview).

Nicole in SOHO, New York City on a rainy day - Taken with E-510

Earlier in the article, I was talking about the pressure I felt from some of my working professional friends to move from Olympus to a system that had more bells and whistles. Specifically, the 3 point autofocus system comes to mind as something that would be improved. I have never been of the mindset that more is necessarilly better, and I have watched by the sidelines as many people using these cameras from other top brands have complained about all sorts of focus issues they have had (and continue to have). All the wildlife shooting including the birds that I do, I usually end up using just the center focusing point. The AF on all of the new 4/3s Olympus cameras (E-400, 410 and 510) is very sure, fast and improved over prior models. I know that this is a review of the E-510, but since I believe that they all share the same 3 point AF system, it is fair to show the following two photographs from the E-400 (Editor's Note, the E-400 was never released here in the USA).

Taken with E-400 with 150mm F2 Lens and teleconverter in the Singapore Bird Park

The following photograph, I also took with the E-400. It was what really impressed me with the new AF system that is being employed by the E-400/410 and E-510 cameras. As you can see, it is not just the number of points that count, but how well the system actually works.

Taken with E-400 in India on a prior trip.

The other camera feature that I think is so important, and still sets Olympus apart from other camera companies, is the Ultrasonic Wave Filter. When you are in the jungle in the middle of the summer, dust is the major problem for a photographer who is in a jeep or on top of an elephant changing lenses every so often. Olympus’ dust reduction technology is much appreciated. Other companies are starting to come out with their own versions of dust protection, but only Olympus is offering this in every single model.

Another feature that is distinctive to some Olympus Cameras is the Live View capability. Some tough shots can be handled with ease with this feature. The E-510's Live View is enhanced from the earlier E-330. Olympus has simplified the system and improved many of its features. For example, the Live View system now accounts for exposure compensation, white balance, and even shows a live histogram of the exposure. The Live View can also be used to magnify a small section of the image so that it makes it easier to manual focus.

I know that high ISO image quality is a very important feature for people who are purchasing a dSLR. I have never used the in-camera noise reduction that Olympus offers - mostly because I don't feel it needs it. On rare occasions when I need to clean up an image, I use Noise Ninja. While images at ISOs 100 to 400 remind me of Kodachrome, images taken at ISO 800 and 1600 remind me more of Ektachrome film.

The following photograph of the tiger behind the brush was taken at ISO 800. Here, I hope to again illustrate the advantages of photographing with only one AF point, as I was able to quickly focus in on the tiger, ignoring all of the debris, and then recompose the image as I wanted to.

Taken with E-510 at ISO 800

I was so impressed that even at 1600 ISO, the noise was very very low and almost unnoticeable, without any noise enhancement. Unfortunately, I am working on a deadline for a magazine and I cannot publish the ISO 1600 shots yet here at NWP, however, I promise that some will be available for my upcoming interview. I know that this is a bit of a tease for many because high ISO capability is important, but please come back for my interview and you will see what I am talking about. (Editor's note, once these images become available for John's interview, they will be incorporated into this field review).

The following image, The Langore monkey with her baby, was taken in India with the 510 and 50mm-200mm lens, ISO rating at 400.

Langore monkey with her baby - Taken with E-510

The last thing I want to mention about the 510, and this really applies to all of the Olympus professional and pro-sumer bodies - are that they are made very tough. So far, I have not had any breakdowns in the field with any of the bodies I have used. In the last three years, I made 9 trips to Kashmir in India where I’ve been working on a photo book which will be released by WW Norton in the Fall of 2008. For this project, I used the Olympus E-1 in the snow, dust and rain and completed my work entirely with 4.9 megapixel images. I shot some 36,000 photographs and I never had any problems with the E-1 professional camera. I am now thrilled to be using the E-510 which is a 10 megapixel camera with almost all the great features of a pro body.

If you would like to learn more about John Isaac and his work, you can visit his web site at www.johnisaac.com.

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