Hi James!

I was waiting to comment on your field review of the Olympus E-520 until you posted a notice about it. Since it has been up several days now and I have not seen it mentioned by you or anyone else, I wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed it. My experience with the 520's predecessor, the E-510, mirrors yours with the E-520.

I agree that Olympus has produced some surprisingly good, very light weight, and inexpensive Standard Grade "kit" lenses. As you know, in the right hands, they are capable of producing some good quality images. The 70-300 mm zoom which you tested, has been very well received in the Oly community, despite it's limited low-light performance. With Oly's 2X "crop factor" the Zuiko 70-300 mm zoom gives you a lot of reach for a little cost in both dollars and weight. The new Zuiko 9-18 mm wide angle zoom is proving to be very popular as well.

Of course, as you mention, there is a price to be paid. Less than stellar high ISO performance and limited dynamic range trouble some users. I do not shoot professionally and most of my shots are taken to memorialize family activities and travel. I have never actually printed anything larger than 8 X 10. As a result, neither of these shortcomings bother me much. O.K., the blown highlights thing does get a little irritating sometimes. Probably because I do a lot of shooting in Arizona's mid-day sun.

In any event, I wanted to let you know that I enjoyed the article. Thanks!

Jim