I like new toys, I admit it! I recently decided I’m going to buy myself a nice new Digital SLR camera. I’ve always been vaguely into photography – we’ve got a couple of SLR cameras, one was my grandad’s, the other my dad’s, but they are 35mm film-based, so you have to have stuff developed. I’m too used to the wonder of digital’s instant results these days to wait for film to come back. I’ve felt other cameras, like my current Olympus C-50 are great cameras, but they are all auto, point and click. You can never get particularly ‘arty’ with them, or do anything great.
Some time ago I came across the Olympus E500 and just decided I must have it, but I found it a little bit hard justifying the cost to myself. I only ever take snappy shots, and they are rare, so there didn’t seem much point. Well, I’ve now decided that I’m going to get the camera, and actually go out and about to take pictures with it. The camera has had pretty good reviews all around, and ‘customer’ reviews I’ve seen on many sites are very favourable, so it looks like a damn good option.
Olympus do the E500 in three ways – body only, body plus a 14-45mm lens, or body plus the 14-45mm, and a 40-150mm lens. I’m keen to get the latter bundle because it’s damn good value for money. The trouble is, everybody else seems to thing the same, so finding stock is pretty hard. I’m hoping that the low stock is either due to demand, or Olympus are soon to drop the price so are clearing stock.
As a result, I’ve yet to actually order the camera. I’m sitting on my hands until stock reappears, then I’ll go order it. In the mean time, I’ve ordered a book from Amazon about digital SLRs, so I can give that a read.
