Canon 350D or Olympus E600

[JCKST1]

My mam currently has Nikon 1 and is wanting to change to one of the above.
She has been offered a swap of a local guy the deal is the Nikon 1 plus £100 for either a E600 or 350D.
I dnot have a clue about comeras to be honest so just been reading reviews online but both are coming back at around 4.5/5 so I personally dont know which is better.

They both come with a lot of accessories such as various lenses, carry case, tripod, spare batteries etc.

What do you think she would be best going for considering she is just starting off so something easy to use would be an advantage.

Thanks

[Upatdawn]

dont know what kit comes with the 2 cameras but the Nikon 1 must be worth £250 new? your supplier wants that and £100 for a 350d?...does your mum want to be carrying a DSLR, bag, lenses?....

[JCKST1]

Olympus comes with the following:
1 x Olympus 12.3 mega pixel DSLR Camera body (full spec can be found on Olympus website)
1 x Duracell 16GB Compact Flash card (that’s over 1200 shots on best resolution)
1 x Olympus Zuiko Auto Zoom 1:4 f= 75 – 150mm lens
1 x Olympus Zuiko Digital 14 – 42 1:35 -5.6 lens with hood
1 x Hanimex Auto zoom MC 1:45 f= 80 – 200 lens
1 x Auto Sunagor Multi Macro 1:28 f=135mm lens
1 x Super Paragon MC Auto 1:28 f= 28 lens
1 x Super Paragon PMC Auto Tele Zoom 1:45 80 – 200mm long lens
1 x Vivitar 70 – 150 2 x Matched Multiplier Tele converter lens
1 x Olympeus Battery grip
4 x Batteries
1 x Battery charger with car charger and UK & European plug attachment
1 x Wireless remote control (never used still has battery cover attached)
1 x Olympus wired remote
1 x Olympus shoulder strap
1 x Palm grip strap
Various lens adapter rings so you are not stuck to buying Olympus lenses not that you will need any.
1 x canvas messenger bag padded compartments inside and loads of storage pockets etc
1 x Aluminium case

350D is a similar set up.

[Upatdawn]

so your mums ok with all that to carry?....or at least some of it, and be swapping lenses?

[cornet]

JCKST1 said:

Olympus comes with the following:
1 x Olympus 12.3 mega pixel DSLR Camera body (full spec can be found on Olympus website)
1 x Duracell 16GB Compact Flash card (that’s over 1200 shots on best resolution)
1 x Olympus Zuiko Auto Zoom 1:4 f= 75 – 150mm lens
1 x Olympus Zuiko Digital 14 – 42 1:35 -5.6 lens with hood
1 x Hanimex Auto zoom MC 1:45 f= 80 – 200 lens
1 x Auto Sunagor Multi Macro 1:28 f=135mm lens
1 x Super Paragon MC Auto 1:28 f= 28 lens
1 x Super Paragon PMC Auto Tele Zoom 1:45 80 – 200mm long lens
1 x Vivitar 70 – 150 2 x Matched Multiplier Tele converter lens
1 x Olympeus Battery grip
4 x Batteries
1 x Battery charger with car charger and UK & European plug attachment
1 x Wireless remote control (never used still has battery cover attached)
1 x Olympus wired remote
1 x Olympus shoulder strap
1 x Palm grip strap
Various lens adapter rings so you are not stuck to buying Olympus lenses not that you will need any.
1 x canvas messenger bag padded compartments inside and loads of storage pockets etc
1 x Aluminium case

350D is a similar set up.

Do you have the list of what comes with the 350D ?

The only lenses worth anything in that are:

1 x Olympus Zuiko Auto Zoom 1:4 f= 75 – 150mm lens
1 x Olympus Zuiko Digital 14 – 42 1:35 -5.6 lens with hood

The rest of the lenses look like cheap Chinese things and are likely to be crap quality.

What are her reasons for wanting a DSLR.. that might help with the decision.

[PJ S]

An Olympus E600 is a Dixons Store Group exclusive, pared down version of the E620, and about 3.5 years old.
On ebay they go for £250 with the 14-42 kit lens, but, (not knowing which Nikon 1 your mum has - I'm presuming it's the V1 rather than J's) the V1 goes for £220 with the standard 10-30 kit lens.

The offer is so generous, it makes me pause to ask why?
There's a lot of lenses, maybe junk type, and replicated in range.

With the E600, there's not much difference according to DxO Mark overall, except a bit better low-light performance.

The 350 is from 2005, and only 8 MP, the E600 is 10 MP - for me, the Canon is a complete non-starter as a body (lenses may be a different story, but given the ones listed with the Olympus, I doubt they'll be all that good), and the Olympus is marginal at best.
I can see the appeal of a different body and a number of lenses, but it's how decent they are and if she'd used the focal lengths for the type of photography she enjoys.

Still a bit suspect on the offering.

• The rest of the lenses are going for £15 ish on ebay - might be fun to play with as they're mostly manual focus and aperture (which may not appeal and will mean having to use the camera in manual mode). Bank on them being not all that sharp apart from the centre, to avoid being disappointed.

Edited by PJ S on Tuesday 19th February 13:06

[Golaboots]

The olympus is the better camera by far. I used to have one and it was great.
The canon system is far better though, more upgradable. Olympus have dropped the four thirds format now so you're stuck if you want to upgrade.

[TooLateForAName]

With the olympus looks as if there is only one auto focus lens.

No mention of lens adapters for the various older manual focus lenses?

The real point is as said, olympus have pretty much given up on the 4/3rds range. That may or may not be an issue, I'm sure that 90% of people never go beyond the kit lens. And on the plus side means that you get a better camera/lenses for the money.

I'd say that the Olympus is a better camera though. Olympus kit lenses are excellent.

(Can I say that I have a E-510 with the 14-42 and 40-150 AF digital zooms for sale in immaculate condition for £200+p&p)

[MysteryLemon]

Olympus, hands down.

Newer and far better camera than the 350d in every way imo. The E600 is a stripped down version of the E620 though. Not sure what the differences are but it may be worth looking into.

Olympus DSLRs are lovely pieces of kit. Highly underrated.

[NJH]

Nikon 1 will have cleaner high ISO, blacks that look black, much faster responsive shooting etc. This just looks like a crazy deal to me given the v1 kit is on sale at the moment for only £220. Those old cameras are so out of date now it really makes no sense to me at all why people still look at several year old digital bodies, even high end P&S cameras have overtaken them now. I would much rather have the new XZ-2 for example from Olympus than any of their dinosaur E series SLRs (I used to own an E420 and E3 btw).

[MysteryLemon]

NJH said:

Nikon 1 will have cleaner high ISO, blacks that look black, much faster responsive shooting etc. This just looks like a crazy deal to me given the v1 kit is on sale at the moment for only £220. Those old cameras are so out of date now it really makes no sense to me at all why people still look at several year old digital bodies, even high end P&S cameras have overtaken them now. I would much rather have the new XZ-2 for example from Olympus than any of their dinosaur E series SLRs (I used to own an E420 and E3 btw).

They may be out of date in terms of features (which 2-3 year old DSLR isnt?) but as far as actually taking a decent picture, they are still very good cameras. They might not have 1080p video or 150 artfilters etc but then who the hell really wants all that crap on a photography focused camera anyway? If you want that stuff then buy a compact.

Whether trading a Nikon 1 for an older DSLR is a good idea or not is upto the OP. But as far as comparing the E600 to a 350d, its the Olympus hands down. I've owned a fair number of entry level DSLRs over the years and would rate the Olympus' the highest of the lot. They are consistantly good cameras.

[NJH]

620 was probably the highlight of the Olympus 4/3 SLR range, definitely seems like the best option out of those two. Dead end system though.

[Simpo Two]

If you want the Olympus, take that deal and sell all the old lenses on eBay.

[JCKST1]

I have been keeping an eye on the thread but responded yet.
The Nikon was a J1 not a V1 so the lower model plus my mam bought it from Andorra so got it cheap anyway.

She ended up swapping it for the E600 with all the kit listed plus a little more such as a tripod, few quides/e-books etc.

I dont really anything abotu cameras but my mam is over the moon with it. she has only just started off really so is still finding her feet but at least she will not have to go out and buy anything as it is all there.
It is more than good enough for what she is looking for at the moment and probably for the next few years!

Thanks for all the input

[MysteryLemon]

She took the best choice imo.

NJH said:

620 was probably the highlight of the Olympus 4/3 SLR range, definitely seems like the best option out of those two. Dead end system though.

This is probably true sadly. Olympus seem to have moved over totally to micro 4:3 now. They have recently announced that they havent totally ruled out new DSLRs though. There is an artical on DPreview about it. Shame if they did though as the cameras really are good bits of kit. They just suffer becuase theyre not a Nikon or Canon.

Why the industry is so hung up on these two brands is something I really do not understand. High end kit, yes, they are the industry leaders but imo, entry level kit from both of these manufacturers leave a little to be desired. You are buying into the brand, not the quality of kit.

Regardless, there are some lovely 4:3 lenses out there. The kit lenses are very very good. The 14-54mm zuiko is superb. Nikons and canons may have more choices but would you really want or need to own half of them?

Edited by MysteryLemon on Thursday 21st February 09:20

Edited by MysteryLemon on Thursday 21st February 09:21

[PJ S]

MysteryLemon said:

They just suffer becuase theyre not a Nikon or Canon.

Why the industry is so hung up on these two brands is something I really do not understand. High end kit, yes, they are the industry leaders but imo, entry level kit from both of these manufacturers leave a little to be desired. You are buying into the brand, not the quality of kit.

Agree with you 100%.

[Simpo Two]

Talking of brand, since everyone decided they wanted to be 'different' and buy Audis instead of BMWs, you now hear of 'Audi drivers' instead of 'BMW drivers'.

[Elderly]

PJ S said:

MysteryLemon said:

They just suffer becuase theyre not a Nikon or Canon.

Why the industry is so hung up on these two brands is something I really do not understand. High end kit, yes, they are the industry leaders but imo, entry level kit from both of these manufacturers leave a little to be desired. You are buying into the brand, not the quality of kit.

Agree with you 100%.

Most people have very little confidence in their own judgement,
so they choose items from the same brands that other members of their tribe already possess; they will therefore feel confident of not being criticised for not selecting the right 'badge of success'.

I presume it starts with marketing and I'm sure that it's perceived by the masses
that pros use N.and C. and hence if it's good enough for the pros,
it's the best for them too.

But there are good reasons why the pros use N. and C.; however most of those reasons generally have little relevance to the amateur.