Olympus E-510 review

Olympus E-510 Review

Reviewed by: Philip Ryan

Reviewed on: 20 September 2007

Despite its being targeted towards entry-level users, the E-510 does have some nice customisation features. For example, you can program the Fn (function) button to control a number of different functions. Its default setting is for depth of field, but it can also be turned off completely or set to change the custom white balance, let you shoot a test picture (without saving it to your memory card) or set the camera to My Mode, which can save all the current camera settings as your own custom shooting mode.

Shooting time (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Time to first shot

Raw shot-to-shot time

Shutter lag (dim light)

Shutter lag (typical)

Olympus E-510

1.3

0.8

0.9

0.4

Nikon D40x

0.2

0.8

0.9

0.4

Canon EOS 400D

0.3

0.6

1.1

0.4

Olympus E-330

1.7

0.8

0.7

0.5

Pentax K10D

0.5

0.5

1.6

0.5

If the function button is set to My Mode, and you have saved settings for that mode, you can set the camera to all those settings by pressing that one Fn button. The AEL/AFL button can also be configured to control autoexposure and autofocus locks in various different combinations. In addition to custom white balance and the camera's white balance presets, you can also choose a Kelvin temperature from 2,000K to 14,000K.