[Angela]

A friend, labouring under the misapprehension that I know something about cameras, has asked me the following

"I don't know whether to buy an olympus e-500 or a Canon 350D. The olympus comes with two lenses and is new. The canon would buy second hand with one kit lense".

I thought I'd pass this one on to the experts. Any thoughts!!? It's just for personal use but she has used an SLR before and wants to get more from her pictures than a compact can give.

[stepheno]

Nobody can answer that question for her, Angela, as I think you appreciate. Both are very fine cameras but my personal approach would be -

1. If I was not going to expand on lenses and other accessories then I would buy the Olympus, good camera with two lenses covering a good range.

2. If I thought I might develop my kit and take things a lot further I would buy the Canon simply because of the range of lenses and accessories available either from Canon or a third party.

HTH

[Dabhand16]

Best advice is to handle them both and pick the one that she finds easiest to use. That is accessing and changing the setings, as well as the general feel of the camera.

I also agree with Stephano regarding the future use.

[Rob Barron]

A lot depends on the size of your friends hands Angela. I hate the feel of the E-500 just because I have fairly big hands and can't get hold of the thing properly. The 350D, whilst not as chunky as my 20D, is much easier to hold IMO.

The thing that is being mentioned about the lenses is an important one. Olympus brought in a new mount called the 4/3rds System. They would like to have persuaded other manufacturers to follow suit to get one type of lens mount but that was never going to happen. The range of lenses available for the 4/3 is nowhere near as big as for the Canon, Nikon and so forth. Some independents do make for it but not as many.

As I have often said, in terms of picture quality, your friend is going to be delighted whichever one she gets so a lot is down to which she feels handles better in her case.

Cheers,
Rob

[Angela]

Thanks guys, have passed your comments on.

[Steve]

Let us know what your friend decides and don't forget to point them at Pixalo

[Angela]

Originally Posted by Steve

Let us know what your friend decides and don't forget to point them at Pixalo

She went with the Olympus. It suited her and her needs Thanks again for your help!

[stepheno]

Good result Now, I know of a good photography forum she might be interested in......