Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/08/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Thanks, Jim. Yes, I do have the 14-54 f/2.8-3.5, and it is a very nice lens--probably about as good a 28-108mm equivalent zoom as one can get. It came with my E-1, which I've barely touched since I got the M8. The E-1 may go on the block soon, but the lens stays. The E-510 was the result of a nagging feeling, on a several trips and walks, that maybe in daylight, I could do as well with a DSLR as with an RF, get more precise framing, and not have to carry around as many bits and pieces of kit. Just one camera and a good moderate zoom, an extra battery and maybe a polarizer, and all's well. Autofocus negates one of my main lifelong issues with SLRs--I just don't focus well manually with them. With an RF, I'm confident. With a manual focus SLR, I hem and haw, and sometimes I don't nail it. So was it worth it? As with so many things, the answer is "yes, but." Obviously, for tele or macro, an SLR is much better. But with a DSLR, there is a trade-off between image quality, low light noise levels and operational speed vs. size and weight. So many of the things that we used to buy a different kind of film now require a different camera body to do truly well. I don't like big and heavy. So while I probably would do better with a 5D or 1D(s)Mark-x or a D3(00), that's not the route I wanted to take. I decided to stick with Olympus. The E-3 is big, heavy, and expensive. So I decided get a smaller, supposedly consumer model with image stabilization. A lightly-used E-510 appealed to my bottom-feeder instincts--last year's model at a price I couldn't refuse. So far, I'm not disappointed. The E-510 is a wonderful general-purpose camera. But there are limitations. Detail wise, the antialias-less M8 and a Summicron eats the E-510's lunch. No comparison. All 10 megapixels are not created equal, and I can see the difference clearly on the screen. But that extra detail doesn't matter so much at normal print sizes (letter size or smaller). So the E-510 is good enough much of the time. Noise is not as big an issue as the pixel peepers on dpreview would have us believe, but it is there. The Olympus doesn't have the squeaky-clean ISO 200 and 400 (320/640) files the M8 does. Again, a little judicious noise reduction in the RAW converter and you're OK, but it does take some thought balancing the scene, the noise and the need for finest detail. Quite a bit better than the E-1, though. ISO 800 is quite usable, but I'm not sure I'd want to use 1600 much. How much of a problem all this will be once the grayer days return to the Pacific Northwest remains to be seen. Blown highlights is a bit of an issue, but really only a little more than any other DSLR. Frankly, digital sucks in this respect. In a scene with a sunlit background and deep shaded subject, you're screwed. You can blow the background, or you can try pulling the dark parts out of the mud, with resultant color shifts, noise and posterization. The M8 is about the best digital camera I've seen in this respect, and even it gets challenged. Oh, for a digital sensor with the latitude of color negative film, or even Tri-X, where you could expose for the important parts of the scene and burn in the bright stuff (or scan twice for bright and dark and merge). Shooting speed: The E-510 is no sports camera. The autofocus is not fast enough for the action at the local skateboard park. Which means manually focusing on a spot and waiting for the action to come to it, or setting up continuous autofocus or AF lock for such things. Since I'm not a sports shooter, I don't care much. I trust my own eyes and the M rangefinder better for ordinary decisive-moment photography sometimes, but the E-510 is good enough most of the time. Viewfinder: Too small, very hard to manually focus. The jury's still out over whether I will get a Katz Eye screen for focusing my old OM teles, live with it, or spring for a new tele zoom. Ergonomics: The E-1 was better. More dedicated buttons, and, two control dials to the E-510's one. I like the E-510's feel in the hand better than the E-1. Neither come close to a film M or an M8 with a Thumbs-Up. On the E-510's plus side, it is versatile. It has image stabilization, which does nice things with my old OM teles. It takes stunning macros with my old OM 50/3.5 macro. It does most of the things I wanted a reasonably current DSLR for, and most of the things it doesn't do, the M8 does, or I don't care about them enough to throw a couple of thousand dollars at, and change systems in the bargain. As a real-world compromise, so far, so good, --Peter, thinking out loud... At 01:54 PM 8/31/2008 -0700, "Jim Nichols" <jhnichols@bellsouth.net> wrote: >Peter, > >Glad to see that you are enjoying the E-510. From the recorded data, I >gather that you are using the 14-54 lens, which is the same one I use. I >find this combination of camera and lens provides a very versatile kit. > >Jim Nichols >Tullahoma, TN USA >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Peter Klein" <pklein@threshinc.com> >To: <lug@leica-users.org> >Sent: Sunday, August 31, 2008 1:25 AM >Subject: [Leica] IMG: Meandering around my neighborhood > > > > Today was a day for errands and a walk. I took the Leica E-510 with me. > > > > Sometimes I think my neighborhood is just a boring suburb, with nothing > > interesting going on. And sometimes I'm reminded otherwise. Seen in the > > parking lot of our local post office: > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/album170/P8302298Ahem-w.jpg.html > > > > This scene made me think of Ste.-Exupery: > > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/album170/P8302315SteExupery-w.jpg.html > > > > A belated Friday flower. Really yummy colors. > > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/album170/P8302320Gladiolas-w.jpg.html > > > > My neighbor Pat and his brother are painting Pat's house. And > > themselves... > > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/album170/P8302326Painting-w.jpg.html > > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/album170/P8302328Painting-w.jpg.html > > > > Inspired by Daniel Ridings. Goin' down that long, lonesome road... > > > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/album170/P8302323LonesomeRd-w.jpg.html > > > > Hope everyone's having a great weekend. > > --Peter > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Leica Users Group. > > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > >