Olympus E-510

Hi everyone,
I am new to this website. I came upon the site when I read an article by John Isaac about the Olympus E-510. I just bought this camera which came with 2 kit lenses. It is my first DSLR camera. My old camera is an Olympus Camedia C-765 ultra zoom. It is a great camera and has many manual options. It produces amazing clarity with the 10x zoom feature. I recently started to photograph birds from my window with my old camera and was able to produce quite a bit of good detail with the right light and settings. I have been practicing using my new E-510 for a couple of weeks now and am disappointed with the detail I am getting on my bird pictures. I have adjusted the settings of the noise filter, sharpness, white balance, etc. It is not that it doesn't produce good quality pictures with great color, but I was expecting more clarity with a 10mp camera vs the old 4mp camera. Do I have to get the more expensive lenses to get the detail that I want?

I know there are some Olympus users here so I thought I might be able to get some pointers. I like the new camera because it has many features that I want so I will keep working with it. Here is some more information that may help you.
I have the 14-42mm and the 40-150mm lenses.

"I have been practicing using my new E-510 for a couple of weeks now and am disappointed with the detail I am getting on my bird pictures. I have adjusted the settings of the noise filter, sharpness, white balance, etc. It is not that it doesn't produce good quality pictures with great color, but I was expecting more clarity with a 10mp camera vs the old 4mp camera. Do I have to get the more expensive lenses to get the detail that I want"

Hi Diane,

Welcome aboard. Would you mind sharing some of the photographs? It may make it easier to help diagnose what the problem is.

James

Hi Diane:

First, let me echo James' welcome and his suggestion that you post a couple of samples of the problems you are experiencing. The folks here are pretty darned good at looking at an image and spotting the source of most problems.

Like you, I am also fairly new to both this forum and to shooting with a dSLR. I also have the Oly 510 with the 14-42 and 40-150 mm kit lenses, as well as the 50-200 mm pro level lens & EC-20 Teleconverter, along with some legacy Pentax SMC Takumar lenses.

While it is true that Oly's pro and top pro line of lenses are capable of producing better contrast and sharper images, both of the kit lenses you have are capable of producing sharp, well resolved images with excellent color reproduction. Of course, the enhanced performance of the pro & top pro lenses also comes with an enhanced price tag.

I know that Leonard shoots with an E-510 and Julie shoots with an E-3, and both are more qualified than I am to offer advice, but I've decided that before I go out and spend more money on better glass, I'm going to be sure I can get the most out of the glass I already have.

One thing I have learned so far is that using a dSLR is a lot different than using my old 35 mm film SLR or my Oly P&S camera. This is especially true when it comes to two important issues that affect the sharpness & detail of your photos.

The first is camera shake. I was amazed at how often pictures that looked good when I chimped them in the camera, turned out blurry on the computer screen -- especially at 100% resolution. While the in camera Image Stabilization helps a lot, it is no substitute for a tripod and/or good shooting technique.

Second, and I'm not tech savvy enough to explain how or why, but P&S cameras are designed to provide maximum DOF throughout the entire zoom range of the camera/lens. Not so with dSLR's. With the 40-150 mm zoomed all the way out, you have a 35mm equiv FOV of 300 mm. As a result, the DOF can be as shallow as a couple of inches or less. Depending on where the camera decides to focus, your entire subject could be out of focus.

I don't know if either of these issues apply to your problem, but they are ones that I am working on.

Jim

I'll post some pictures tomorrow so you can have a look at them. Thanks for responding.

I am posting a couple of bird pictures. I took the wren outside using a tripod with the sun behind me in the early evening. (f stop 5.6, iso 200, highest resolution, focal length 150mm, on A Priority. The dove was taken inside the house through a window on a tripod. A Prioity, f stop 5.6, iso 400, focal length 150mm, cloudy day light source. I believe I disabled the noise reduction and did not use the IS because it was on a tripod.

Second picture of wren. When I enlarge the pictures to get close ups, that is when I don't feel there is the sharpness I should be getting. Maybe I am hoping for too much.

The first shot looks to me like it could be improved with only a little post processing, while the second looks to me like the camera focused on the apple instead of the bird. Here's a great article about getting the best sharpness out of a 510:

http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/43/e510-fs.html

If your experience resembles mine (with my first DSLR-an E-1) your shots will continuously improve with practice. Good shooting.

Rocky
http://bl3.smugmug.com/gallery/2559031_YMWkb#134634697_uYbjn

Thank you, Rocky. I ran off the information on the website you suggested and I will try to set up my camera to my liking. I really appreciate the help all of you have given me. I will let you know what I come up with.

One of the stronger comments I can offer that is not brand specific. Any time somone gets a new camera I reccomend they read small sections at a time. One a weekend till they have gone through the entire manual. Then taking the rest of the weekend to play with the settings they learned about.

This helps you dial in your camera, and learn how to make setting changes on the fly as you approach diffent situations.

Roman

Thanks Roman. Good advice.

Rocky,
That website about getting the best sharpness out of your E510 was just what I needed. I made the adjustments and my bird photos are so much sharper. I am posting this picture of the red-bellied woodpecker to show you what I mean. Thanks so much.
Diane

Nothing like a timely reply! That's a nice, sharp shot Diane. Looking forward to some more posts, soon.

Rocky