One Dark Night
When Olympus first revealed the E-510 to the public, I doubt many people paid attention to it. Why? Because for about RM400 less, you could get the E-410 instead, which is essentially the same camera (probably the same internal components and near identical features) but in a smaller and far prettier package.
There are some differences, of course. The E-510 has a bigger and nicer-to-hold handgrip, a larger high-capacity battery, more shortcut buttons, a few more camera settings and built-in sensor-shift image stabilisation.
 |
But are these features worth the premium pricing? Well, let’s take a closer look.
Same but different
Because it uses many of the same internal components, the E-510 and E-410 perform exactly the same, produce identical results and feel exactly the same in use.
The E-510 has a very similar GUI (graphical user interface) and button layout, which is easy to use. However, it’s far more comfortable to use for extended periods of time, thanks to its larger and well-shaped handgrip.
 |
Olympus has also included shortcuts to often-changed settings (white balance, ISO, AF mode and metering mode) on the four-way directional pad at the rear of the camera.
While this feature is very much welcome, IMHO, it feels as if it was omitted from the E-410 rather than added to the E-510 – just to artificially give the latter an added edge.
The E-510 retains the quick one-touch white balance function, though it is now triggered through the custom function button (marked “Fn”). It’s incredibly easy to use – simply point the camera at a grey card or white sheet of paper, hold down the Fn button and depress the shutter button to snap a reference shot.
After that, you’ll have perfectly balanced colours, which is excellent if you’re particularly sensitive about hues and accurate colour reproduction.
There are also a wealth of other camera settings (some unique to the E-510) including fully customisable AF/AE-lock, mirror lock-up delay and various other obscure things that will make life a little easier.
Capturing the moment
Metering on the E-510 seems a bit more sorted out than on our E-410 review unit (leading us to believe our E-410 was one of the few early production models that suffered from the documented underexposure errors).
Overall, the 49-zone multi-pattern ESP metering system does a good job of preserving highlights. However, there are instances where it’ll get the exposure wrong, especially if there’s extreme contrast in the scene (i.e. a very bright indoor lamp or the backlight from a window). In these cases, the camera’s centre-weighted and spot metering provide much more predictable exposure.
The E-510 isn’t as fast at autofocusing as the best in the business (i.e. Canon and Nikon), normally taking about a second to lock on a subject in difficult conditions where its rivals would lock almost instantly. Although the E-510 is very responsive, it isn’t as quick.
Likewise, having only three, closely spaced AF points makes it harder for the camera to track moving subjects or if you’re doing macro photography with a tripod.
Manual focus isn’t really an option, due to the camera’s tiny viewfinder. Dark and with insufficient magnification, it’s impossible to focus manually with confidence through the viewfinder unless you have 20-20 vision.
There’s also a Liveview mode which allows you to frame shots with the camera’s LCD though this is slow, clunky and only usable for completely stationary subjects.
The sensor-shift image stabilisation works, though I’m only really comfortable shooting at most two stops slower than I normally would, considerably less than the advertised four-stop compensation.
For example, if I usually shoot something at a shutter speed of 1/60 of a sec without image stabilisation, I wouldn’t shoot at less than 1/15 of a sec with it. However, this feature alone makes the E-510 more versatile than the E-410.
Automatic white balance is good, though I find myself reverting to one-touch white balance more often because it’s so easy to use and results in more accurate colour reproduction.
If you’re planning to use the built-in flash for indoor photography, make sure you turn off the AF-assist beam. It fires a continuous burst of light from the flash, sometimes depleting its charge right before you trip the shutter. As a result, the flash may not have enough power or may not even fire at all.
Analysing the results
The camera still produces pictures with rather dark tones (not the be confused with underexposure). It’s nothing that a little level/tone adjustment in Photoshop or any other advanced photo-editing software can’t fix.
However, it is a little disappointing that you can’t set your own contrast tones and curves on the E-510 itself.
But if you prefer darker tones to your photos, then you’ll absolutely love the E-510. It’s great for creating photos with dramatic lighting.
There’s a gradation setting (high, normal and low key – normal being the default), which either brightens or darkens the overall look of the image. But rather than just adjusting tone curves, it also brightens or darkens the overall image through software and by changing the E-510’s exposure bias.
Unfortunately, the E-510 also suffers from the same, narrower dynamic range than most other DSLRs. As a result, you’ll have to be extra careful when shooting under direct sunlight. If not, you’ll end up with some parts of your photo completely washed out (i.e. burned-out highlights).
There’s some good news, though. Once properly set, the E-510 is capable of some amazing results, with very nice colours and lots of detail.
Turning off the E-510’s noise filter, noise reduction and in-camera sharpening results in some of the nicest-looking JPEGs we’ve ever seen from a DSLR, with very good per-pixel sharpness and very impressive noise characteristics.
Although a hint of noise is visible from ISO 100, it appears as monochromatic grain, and stays that way even at ISO 800, which is still surprisingly clean looking for such a tiny 10-megapixel sensor.
And best of all, the E-510 maintains its colour characteristic throughout its ISO range – there’s no discernible desaturation or hue shift. In fact, it’s only at ISO 1600 where blue channel noise starts to get bothersome.
Bear in mind, however, that the E-510’s default image settings aren’t as detailed and look a lot blurrier at high ISO speeds. To get the best out of the camera, you must turn off its noise reduction.
Conclusion
It may not be as petite or as pretty as the E-410, but the E-510’s few additional features do make it a better camera.
However, I would’ve preferred it if Olympus improved a few other things to set it apart from the E-410. I was hoping for at least a bigger viewfinder, an improved autofocus sensor with more AF points and maybe more dedicated buttons.
The E-510 is one of those cameras that becomes a lot better once you’ve learnt how to get the most out of it – you need to understand its strengths and weaknesses.
Pros: Very matured image processing after some adjustments; excellent high-ISO performance; good ergonomics and handling; loads of user-adjustable settings; excellent kit lens.
Cons: Matrix metering still a little unpredictable; low dynamic range; small viewfinder.
From The Star Online
