Pics of my new DSLR camera!

[Number Of The Priest]

Just got back from picking up my new beauty... Olympus EVOLT E-500 Dual lens kit with Zuiko Digital 14-45mm F3.5-5.6 and Zuiko Digital 40-150mm F3.5-4.5 lenses. A steal at C$598.88! Been waiting for a local place to sell a DSLR kit for under C$600 for a while now. The Nikon D40 kit never went quite as low even though that was my initial choice.

The negative aspects of this camera are that it doesn't even come with a low-capacity CompactFlash memory card (I am an SD card user) for me to play around with, and it's stuck with USB1. I'm currently hunting high-speed CompactFlash cards on eBay and I'll just plug the card into my printer's USB2 card reader.

So I finally moved up to the world of DSLR! Expect some awesome guitar photos from me over the next little while as I learn to master this new beast.

[Newc]

Nice.

Been thinking of ditching my Olympus D600L and Sony Mavica 350 as well as my two video cameras (JVC Hi8 and Panasonic AGEZ1 MiniDV) and getting a recent camera, but I'd rather have 3CCDs as well as still image ability, and a built-in flash/constant video light, PC-compatible outputs/interface, etc

[AfterForever]

haha pics of a photocamera..

[Number Of The Priest]

Been thinking of ditching my Olympus D600L and Sony Mavica 350 as well as my two video cameras (JVC Hi8 and Panasonic AGEZ1 MiniDV) and getting a recent camera, but I'd rather have 3CCDs as well as still image ability, and a built-in flash/constant video light, PC-compatible outputs/interface, etc

Newcenmod them into one frankencamera that does it all. Mwa-ha-haaaaa! *thunderclap*

haha pics of a photocamera..

You wanna fight?

[HuntinDoug]

But can it take a picture of itself...?

[Newc]

It's better than video of a still camera, or a still image from a video camera to illustrate its image quality

And I wish I could Newcenstein my own camera - it'd sure make it easier to decide which one I want to lug to NAMM

Since we're talking cameras, the D600 is actually still a good camera, it's just that it can only use 8MB Flash cards, which is about 10 high-res pics. Those pics are great, of course, and huge, and uncompressed, but there's no way to upgrade the camera to a modern storage format. If you remember all my old super-duper close-ups I used to post where dust looked like boulders, and you could count the string wraps (and minor paint chips looked like sectarian violence), that was the D600. It's a great portrait and closeup camera, but can't do video and isn't good from across the room.

The Mavica 350 records to miniCDs, but I prefer CDRWs, which are impossible to find locally. It does good all around, but disc speed/access time is slow, especially when the disc gets full. It's a good camera for close-ups, (though I have no add-on lenses like for the D600), portraits, and fair-distance shots, but the lack of spare miniCDRWs and boot-up time is really starting to wear on me.

The JVC Hi8 gets very good image quality up close and in good light. I've actually used it at work to film training videos but switched to the Panasonic 3CCD camera to reshoot some scenes of the machines in motion, and the differences in image quality between the two cameras is almost undetectable to me. That's not to say the Panasonic looks like crap, but the JVC looks good.

However, neither camera has a direct-to-PC interface, and they're huge by today's standards (about the size of a Crybaby pedal).
I have to use an external video capture device to transfer the tapes, and that's a slow process. As well, my PC has an ongoing issue with Firewire ports (which my vidcap box uses). Plus, tapes wear and are more affected by magnetic/electronic fields.

I was looking at the JVC hard drive-equipped cameras, and one of the local WalMarts had some of the MG130s on clearance for less than $400 IIRC, but I passed on them because I didn't know much about them (image quality, etc). Scanning Ebay for the same models, I also found the models higher up the chain comparably priced, and with bigger drives, (and the 3CCD model for $1500 ) but if I'm going for HD storage, I'd want the ability to upgrade the drive myself and not be "stuck" with 30GB and wanting the new 100GB drive when they become affordable.

And that $1500 model shoots in HiDef and 16:9....

[wilkinsi]

needs a floyd :ROTF: :ROTF:

[Newc]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Olympus-Evolt-E-...QQcmdZViewItem

That looks like a good deal.

And it says it has USB 2, yet yours is stuck at USB 1?

What about rapid-fire shots? Like with film cameras where you take multiple shots one behind the other? Have you had a chance to try that out? The spec list at the link I posted mentions it can do 4 sequential frames? Is that all? Or am I misreading it? It says "Max. Frame Number on Sequential Shooting: RAW; TIFF:4 Frames
JPEG (HQ, SQ); Up to full capacity with high speed Media (with SanDisk Extreme III CF card on default image quality mode {HQ 1/8}) "

Does this mean that I can rapid-fire for the full capacity of a given CF card in JPEG mode?

TESTS! We need TESTS!

[Joe_Steeler]

Looks sweet!!

[Newc]

Is there a max size limit to the CF or Microdrive you can use with this camera?

[Number Of The Priest]

Haha, I'll get back to all the queries afterwards after I learn more. My battery is still charging. And I still don't have a CF card yet. Trying to contact one of my photography friends who uses a Sandisk Ultra II card so I can determine whether I can live with Ultra II or need an Extreme III or Extreme IV.

The stats I got were from the Imaging Resource website that Xenophobe links us to: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/EV500/EV500A.HTM

I LOVE that website!

I THINK I may have misread some of the stats... it DOES say low-speed USB which I interpreted as USB1. And I forget how many rapid shots it can do. I'm plowing through the instruction manual which is 215 pages and trying to absorb everything...

[roodyrocker]

Congrats on the new camera. On the side I shoot for one of the drag racing car magazines. I have a Nikon D100 and this year got a D200. They use CF cards as do many of the Cannons and other high end DSLR's. You can find CF cards on sale at local Circuit City's, Best Buy's etc... for pretty reasonable. I hate to think what I paid for a 1GB card a few years back compared to now These are awesome cameras! BTW, if you don't mind buying used, you can find the D100 Nikon on E-Bay used for fairly cheap, roughly $500 for the body, they were close to $2K new about three years ago. They also have a Continuous shooting mode for quick bursts for action shots but I don't think you'll need that to photograph your Jacksons A 1GB card will hold near 300 shoots on a high resolution.

Rudy
www.wickedrocks.com

[Newc]

They also have a Continuous shooting mode for quick bursts for action shots but I don't think you'll need that to photograph your Jacksons
Rudy
www.wickedrocks.com

True, but then again, there's not much sense in shooting any action shots with a camera that can only do one-at-a-time shots

[bibz]

Sweet camera man, I prefer these over the canon rebel xt's, and the nikon d40x is gonna stay expensive for a while. Good buy too!

[Number Of The Priest]

Here are some test shots from yesterday. Click on the small images for larger versions.