Early in 2005 I was planning a trip to Hong Kong and I really wanted to get some great photographs of the places I visited. At the time I had a Canon SD410, which is a really good point and shoot camera but I wanted something a little more powerful. So I began the journey of finding a new camera for my upcoming trip. I have always enjoyed taking and viewing photographs. After doing quite a bit of research and after reading numerous reviews I decided on a Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) type camera. That brought me to Olympus E-500 dual lens kit. The kit arrived n November 23, 2005 and I have been using it ever since.

Since I had chosen a DSLR type camera I knew that the learning curve was going to be steeper then that of the point and shoot camera. In the beginning I really didn't know anything about general photography nor was I really interested in all the theory. In my mind I was shooting in digital and I didn't have know any of the techniques that applied to film based photography. Wrong.... I shortly came to the conclusion that nothing is farther from the truth. Digital photography is nothing more then a modern enhancement to traditional photography. Almost all the rules and techniques that apply to film based photography also apply to the digital realm as well. While you don't have to know anything about photogaphy to take pictures, you will have to understand photography to make your pictures stand out from the rest and to get the most from your camera.

When you get your E500 you will probably be overwhelmed by all the controllable functions it has. This is especially true when you start reading the 200+ page manual it comes with and are not familiar with the entire photography lingo. The manual is written for someone with experience in photographic controls, and this is how it should be. You use the manual as a guide to setup your camera's functions and not as a how to guide for photography. No matter how hard you look you won't find those answers in the manual. This is not to say that you shouldn't read your manual and play with your camera. You want to do this when you first get it and get comfortable with the controls. But if things are not clear or you still have questions don't worry. There are some really good books that I will recommend you read that will answer the majority of your questions.

The goal of this website is to provide as much information as possible on getting the most out of your E-500. All the information that will be contained within will be based on my experience and information collected from books and websites. I would also love to hear from you on your experiences on the E-500. So if you have information to share send me an This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it !

There is one more thing. When I started using my E-500 and working with the RAW images there was always a burning question in the back of my mind. After I made adjustments to my photos I was always asking am I using the proper settings? An example would be adjusting the white balance setting to what I thought looked good, but was it right? Is this how someone else would do it? The answer is there is no answer. Follow the words of wisdom below:

In essence the settings or adjustments you make are the way you want the scene or object to look. This is why photography is a creative and artistic discipline. There are no wrong settings.... but some may be better. :)