NYFalls.com Talk

So I'm running up against my E-300...and I'm thinking of upgrading. Been looking at the EOS 40D, and of course the E-3 as well. Not sure what to spring for, if I should go with the Canon or stick with Oly?
Suggestions/Comments?

If you have lenes for the oly I'd stay with them. Good lenses cost and to replace what you have might get expensive fast.
When I changed from canon to nikon I knew I had to buy new lenses too, my canon lenes were old 35mm lenses that wouldn't work on the digital cameras.
My 2 cents

Go to the store and try them all out, they are all great cameras they just have different interfaces, find the one that sits best with you. If you have an investment in a lot of lenses of a certain brand I would tend to stay with them, although you can probably sell the stuff for close to what you paid for it when it comes to lenses. Go check out a Canon 5D if you want full frame landscape stuff (they are really cheap now), a 40D, the D300 from Nikon, and the E-3 oly and see which one fits you best.

I love my 40D, really have not had any problems with it so far. It would be a pain to switch lenses but like josh said selling them would not be tough.

Matt, It all depends on the glass. Although I'm an Oly user, I read reviews for all makes just to keep myself from getting biased for no good reason and never allowing me to buy another make. Oly, Canon and Nikon all make great cameras. The differences are very, very minimal between cameras in the same class. Don't listen to people that say otherwise- they are fan-boys. Don't go by what a lot of people think about the make they don't have. You'll hear a lot of people say Olympus has noise problems, but test actually show the differences are barely noticeable to the human eye at 100% - so a lot of people hear about noise problems and don't buy a camera because of it. People also complain about Canon and Nikon in the same manor (built-in flashes, exposure issues, releasing models not ready for prime time)- but then again it's being really picky and the issues are usually not noticeable.

I would say buy based on three things:
Go with what you know... You have lived with your brand for years. Are you comfortable with how the manufacturer makes the camera. The quality, the photos, the interface, the software? Do you have time to adjust to a new brand? Do you have accessories for a particular brand that you can re-use? Are there features you won't get in other cameras?
Glass?- What lenses do you have? What lenses do you want? What lenses can you afford?
Shooting style/platform Do you shoot landscapes, wildlife, still life, action, or people more? Oly has a 2x crop factor- giving lenses the extra reach. 40D is 1.6, allowing for some wide glass. IS is now big...do you shoot handheld? Does the camera you want have it built-in or do you have to buy it in all your lenses? Basically, does the camera you want fit your style of shooting?

matt -

I actually meant to ask you about the 510/520. What is the maximum F-stop that it can go up to? I noticed when I was testing out the 40D that it could go up to F40...which could be a big advantage. As of this point, I don't know if I should buy another entry-level dSLR or spring for something like the D40, D300, E-3. Not sure how much I would "gain" from having a camera that costs 1000 dollars more. It really comes down to that lens, too...My kit lenses have a bad problem with blurry corners on super-wide shots. I want clear optics. I'm not vested in lenses, so I can pretty much move platforms anywhere right now

With my lenses, the highest I can go is f22.
Shooting at the highest f-number is not something you want to do- it'll soften photos on any camera. F/40 is like shooting with a pinhole camera. A few stops down from the highest and you should be alright. I barely go above f/16 myself. What are you looking for- depth of field or ability to slow the shutter?

Well I went with the EOS 40D. I read tons of reviews, and for the price (Canon was offering instant $200 off all their DSLR's until next weekend) and the quality, it was hard to pass up. From review standpoint it looks like the 40D still compared rather well to the newer Nikon D300, which also got excellent reviews. I was able to package it out with the relatively good Canon 17-85mm IS lens, which seems to have decent optics (not L-series glass, mind you, but much better than the current glass for my E-300). The E-3 from Olympus I couldn't justify buying for almost 7-800 dollars more when it got sub-par reviews in image quality and dynamic range coverage. Olympus is still lacking when it comes to the 'prosumer' camera department. I'm excited to go to Canon from now, but sad because Olympus has been very good for me for the last several years. If I like this camera, then I will start building a nice lens library for it. Pics to come soon.

And btw, the firmware is still corrupted on my Oly E-300, so I'm going to have to send it back to Olympus to see if they can re-flash it.