Canon 300D Or Olympus E-500?

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Jamie D

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Im looking to buy a new camera for plane spotting but i dont which on to get and i was wondering if anyone could advise me which is best. The two i have cant decide between is The Canon 300D and The Olympus E-500.

Thanks for any advice.
 
"Which is best?" is the wrong question to ask, the correct question is "which is right for you?" (both now and in the future).

The first thing you need to realise is that you're not just buying a camera you're buying into a system of lenses and accessories and you need to be sure that the system you choose is going to suit both your current needs and your future plans and aspirations. The Canon EOS lens mount of the 300D gives you access to probably the widest range of lenses of any DSLR system so there are plenty of lenses to choose from at all budgets. Canon also aren't going to go out of business any time soon so there won't be a problem picking up a new body to fit your lenses if you want.

The same can't necessarily be said of the Olympus, the lens range is good but there aren't as many options and certainly not so many budget ones. Body upgrades might be there but then again they might not. What the Olympus does have going for it is the fact that the sensor is a lot smaller than the Canon's so the effective field of view you get is a lot narrower with the same focal length lens - the Olympus has a 2x "conversion factor" to the Canon's 1.6x. This means that telephoto lenses get you even closer to the action on the Olympus - for example Sigma's 50-500mm lens is available on an Olympus 4/3rds mount to give a 100-1000mm effective focal length for about £750. To get that length on a Canon you need to go over 600mm native focal length so you're either into quality sapping teleconvertors or £4K lenses.
 
Do you really mean the 300D or the 30D? You'll get a second hand 300D for next to nothing these days but you can't buy them new any more. The 30D is a fantastic piece of kit and you would not be sorry buying one. I know nothing much about the Oly though sorry to say.
 
Lets get the question answered first. The e500 is the much better camera in everyway.

Olypmus aint going out of business either and have a huge range of lenses and sigma lenses. With panasonic leica kodak and others contributing to the 4/3 system.

http://www.four-thirds.org/en/index.html
 
Just remember, the 300D has a built in fault. It concerns the mirror lift and a plastic pin.(it breaks). When you send your camera back for repair, Canon fit a steel pin. But they charge a lot. No such thing as a recall of all 300 D`s for free repair.
 
brummie said:
Lets get the question answered first. The e500 is the much better camera in everyway.

Olypmus aint going out of business either and have a huge range of lenses and sigma lenses. With panasonic leica kodak and others contributing to the 4/3 system.

http://www.four-thirds.org/en/index.html
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There speaks a man who owns an Olympus:D
 
I'm an Olympus user, so obviously i'm somewhat biased. The e500 IS a better camera. Most of the magazines and reviews say so.

However, if you are thinking about the system as a whole - canon probably has more going for it - there is simply many more accessories available, especially on the used market.

I am extremely pleased with mine though (an e500), and wouldn't hesitate to recommend Olympus to anyone.
 
brummie said:
Lets get the question answered first. The e500 is the much better camera in everyway.
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Not strictly true ;) Although it is in <b>most</b> ways.

The Olympus is lacking autofocus points (doesn't bother me in the slightest though) and noise has always been an issue with the four thirds sensor. They seem to have it under control on the e500 though, but i'd forget about anything over iso 800. Conversely, I have seen some excellent shots from an eos 350d at 1600.

I love my camera - just trying to be impartial.

I would think that a better comparison would be between the 350d and the e500. The 300d is a bit dated. The 30d on the otherhand, is miles better than them both.

(get the e500!)
 
Given the price of the E-500 I think it must be the 30D not the 300D...
 
inophoto said:
The Olympus is lacking autofocus points
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Well thats a point of view. I like to choose where it focus not the cam. I choose the subject. I only ever use the centre point of focus and AF lock. Makes so much more sense.
 
brummie said:
Well thats a point of view. I like to choose where it focus not the cam. I choose the subject. I only ever use the centre point of focus and AF lock. Makes so much more sense.
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True. That's what I do too. I think it's a better way of working. I read the other day that the Canon Mk1DS has 17 autofocus points. How could you possibly need that many? :shrug:
 
inophoto said:
True. That's what I do too. I think it's a better way of working. I read the other day that the Canon Mk1DS has 17 autofocus points. How could you possibly need that many? :shrug:
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It's a comletely different beast, thats why. Ever tried tracking a moving object on AI-Servo with one point active. The 1D's have mega complex focusing algorithms to try and sort this out and handle panning etc. I'm led to believe that it does a far superior job with some/all of the points active.

That said I dont have a 1D (a 20D actually) and use the center point only 90% of the time.
 
brummie said:
Well thats a point of view. I like to choose where it focus not the cam.
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Eh? That is the reason for having multiple focus points, so you get to chose where to focus rather than the camera choosing the middle of the frame for you.

Michael.
 
mij said:
Eh? That is the reason for having multiple focus points, so you get to chose where to focus rather than the camera choosing the middle of the frame for you.

Michael.
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Yeah and to a normal user its called Auto focus/expose lock
 
inophoto said:
True. That's what I do too. I think it's a better way of working. I read the other day that the Canon Mk1DS has 17 autofocus points. How could you possibly need that many? :shrug:
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The 1 series has 45 point AF. Why? I suppose there's a certain amount of "because it can" but the AF engine is incredibly configurable to suit the situation. I've been known to use the point immediately below the centre point for panning - it's just as sensitive but allows you to place the subject slightly lower in the frame than centre point focussing would allow.

With the centre point selected it will also expand to use a further 7 or 14 points to keep the subject in focus if it moves off the centre point - great for erratically moving subjects. You need a lot of closely packed focus points for that to work well.
 
45? That's just showing off :)

It does sound like a very comprehensive, well thought out system though. One day I might get to play with one.
 
inophoto said:
45? That's just showing off :)

It does sound like a very comprehensive, well thought out system though. One day I might get to play with one.
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It does take a bit of getting used to especially when, like me, you come from a D60 with the grand total of three AF points. I actually tend to forget about the AF to a certain degree now, it's just so quick and so accurate that you just trust that it'll get it right. The scary thing is that it does get it right most of the time.

For normal stuff my keeper ratio isn't that much different with the MkII to what it was with the D60. However if you look at the action stuff, what I considered to be excellent shots with the D60 are actually worse than ones I've thrown away from the MkII simply because of the focussing.
 
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