Which accessories are in the box?

Accessories included are a Wide strap EW-100DBIII, Battery charger LC-E5E, Battery pack LP-E5, Interface cable IFC-200U, Video cable VC-100 and Software (CD-ROM).

Absolutely amazing

Decided to upgrade my wonderful eod400d and lenses. After reading quite a lot about it, I had decided against the 450d and would go for the 40d instead. However, after reading about this camera, I could not resist..... it was quite a lot more, but decided that I could buy this one and not need another camera for many years. This lens is about the best affordable standard lens for the canon eos range, and is a lovely bit of kit. Only disadvantages compared to a lesser lens and the 400d is the size and weight, however feels much more stable and well built. Now down the the picture quality...... all I can say is AMAZING! Even in low light (a common eos flaw) this camera took great shots without the flash, crystal clear..... only had it a day or so, but convinced this was well worth every penny

Not quite perfect.....

Fistly, this is a brilliant camera. It looks and handles very much like the D80(see my review). It beats the D80 in terms of high ISO noise, has a better fram rate and a bigger lcd panel at the back.
The video cabability is excellent but is marred by the lack of autofocus. You can focus manually but it is quite difficult to assess when the picture is in focus through liveview. In addition, the autofocus in liveview is veeeery slow, it can take as much as three seconds to focus and it hunts. I have no doubt that Nikon will sort these negatives when the D90 is replaced.
The camera still has a tendency to overexpose occasionally, although not as often as the D80. Pictures at default settings are 'flat' compared to the D80 and need to be pre-adjusted in the camera's settings.
Negatives aside, this is a better camera than the D90 as the final image quality has less noise and it has some useful extra 'bells and whistles'.

Price v Performance - excellent

You will read many things about the A200 in various online reviews and may even think this camera is slightly sub standard in some respects (no live view, strange button positions, noisy focus, loud shutter click etc.). Well, what I would say as a beginner in DSLR and having nothing to compare it with, it has simply blown me away. You can pick as many holes as you like, even in top quality equipment costing thousands, so don't read too much into the reviews and accept that this is an entry level model at an entry level price made by a company that knows a thing or two about technology and risking their reputation if they sell you short in a market they want to capture. And don't forget, you can always upgrade to a better body later if you want to get serious but personally I'm totally content with what I have and not disappointed in any way - despite my initial reservations.

So just a little bit of feedback from a user to someone wondering whether to shell out; SteadyShot works a treat and has taken excellent photos when I know the camera wasnt steady and the light was poor - and will also save you a lot of dosh on lenses. Given an hour of practice the buttons and menus will become very familiar and easy to access, so much so that you may even enjoy using them. The 2.7" LCD is perfect size with all the information you need at a glance, plus menus that rotate with the camera, nice touch. If you're used to a compact the built in auto flash will probably surprise you by its wide range. The focussing speed is virtually instantaneous and the wide / spot focus system does exactly what it says - and spot will focus through closely spaced tree branches to something behind. You'll even see the part of the focus area light in red on the part of the subject which the camera has focussed on. The 18 - 70 does what it says on the box with a universal range that will suit the majority of requirements, its sharp and no readily apparent distortion. Battery life and a staggering 990 images at fine resolution onto a 4GB SanDisk Extreme III CF is not to be sneezed at either. And although it may be made of plastic and some people may express their dislike, it looks good, feels good and has the Sony name on it which is an extra bonus. It certainly does not look or feel cheap.

Two other points to mention, I read some very good reviews on the Tamron 70 - 300mm lens (with macro) which I bought instead of the Sony telephoto at a similar price and found to be excellent, and you'll need a CF card cos there isnt one with the kit. Fortunately I knew before I bought the camera so I wasnt disappointed when it arrived and couldn't play with it.

All in all the dogs... the best bit of kit I've bought in years and unlike other technology that always seems to fall short of expectations after you've purchased it, this kit just seems to get better and better the more I use it. Total respect!

Unbeatable

Sit down quietly with the specifications of this camera from the Olympus UK home-page on your screen, and read what this camera can do. Then you read these reviews, so that I can tell you that this camera does all of that, very well, and with ease. In fact, there are functions I may never use again, but it's there if you need it.

You don't have to be always on edge using it. Stick it in Auto or P (program) mode and fire away. It'll do the rest for you, without even the suggestion of not quite fulfilling its promise. Then just look at what you and your Olympus can do. For the next time, look at what the Olympus E420 has to offer, and try something a bit different. And so on. All good Olympus cameras seem to"grow" on the people who own them, and my first Olympus dates back to 1977.

And this is a"good" Olympus, which makes it a superb camera when compared with Brand-X. The build quality is impeccable, the functions are intuitive, as long as you don't try to run before you can walk, and the results are outstanding. It certainly will grow on you. I cannot imagine I will ever need more from a stills camera.

I bought mine in this bundle, with two zoom lenses, and I've added an Olympus flash, the FL-36, and an Olympus macro lens, the 35mm f3.5 macro, (which also doubles up as a fixed lens, for all purposes except"wide" applications.) Their integration into the E-series body is just perfect. If flash or macro photography are important to you, put in the money to buy these Olympus accessories. As soon as you use them you will be glad you didn't try for any short-cuts.

There are extra functions available on the E520, but that camera has all the characteristics that have got me enthusing in this E420. You pays your money and you takes your choice, but you enjoy your Olympus in either case.

Why are you reading this, go get one and start shooting !

I recently upgraded from the 20D, and had read some mixed reviews about how much better the 5D was, one saying there is not much difference up to A4......well I am hear to tell you this is far from true.

The 5D has astonished me from the start. Having the same layout as the 20D made it an easy transition. I think the sharpness and color rendition are more than significanly better than the 20D....having the 24-105mm L series obviously helps though.

You also appreciate the full frame sensor...especially with scenery shots....

You won't need to spend as much time on Photoshop either, perhaps just the odd tweak here and there.

This is a fantastic camera and worth every penny.

Probably good - but often broken

I think this is an excellent camera - at least judging by its description. I have had to send two of them back as the CMOS chip was damaged, and individual pixels were broken. Maybe this whole batch is faulty - definitely something Amazon should look into.

I am trying again - third time lucky... :)

Olympus E520 - a good compromise camera

Most people like to rave about the kit they buy. Cognitive dissonance! Let's be impartial. I've used the E520 for a month after buying through Amazon. It's a competitive camera in its price range. The compromises are all about the Four Thirds standard. Shorter focal lengths (half those of 35mm film cameras) go towards lighter weight and very good zoom range effectively 28mm - 300mm in 35mm equivalent with the two kit lenses. But also a smaller sensor for the megapixels with consequent noise problems to manage. You have to study the manual to get the best out of the E520. The most useful online review is of its immediate predecessor the E510, in dpreview.com. Olympus' compromise has been to add strong automatic noise reduction which makes for softer, more blurry image definition and then to counteract that by a high default level of sharpening. Frankly, that doesn't work very well. For clearer images with more detail comparable to the Canon EOS 400 series and the Nikon D80 you will want to use Program mode with noise reduction off, sharpening reduced and ISO in the range 100 - 400. This is not the best camera for good image quality with low available light and higher ISOs (it goes up to 1600) although you still get usable images with noise reduction at auto then. Strong points are light weight, practical handling, battery performance, good kit lenses, good image stabilisation, acclaimed dust control, very good white balance, lovely natural colours, a good range of features including live view (with enlargement for fine focus adjustment), bracketing, scope to customise. Weak points are low light performance, soft images on auto, three point autofocus, small tunnel-like view through the finder (a Four-Thirds problem), lowish dynamic range with a tendency to clip highlights, diffraction blur at small apertures. Olympus have made the most of the Four Thirds system's potential advantages and have tried to compensate for its deficiencies by in-camera processing. Lastly, Olympus trumpet their shadow adjustment and gradation features but I haven't found them worth writing about. All up, a good camera if you want light weight, practical features, good handling at the expense of some image quality especially in lower light. Next time I'd save more money and go up a league or two...Olympus E-520 DSLR with ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 & ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40-150mm 1:4.0-5.6 lenses

Best Camera I've used yet!

I bought the H5 to replace my older Sony PSC73 which had been a good camera but only 4MP. I'm very happy with the results achieved from the H5, including the speed mode to photogarphing buses moving at high speed and the result 'pin sharp'. The 12X zoom is also ace too, found to be very useful at times. I was considering a Cannon EOS like a friend had but notice him struggle with all the functions and gain not amazing results so the H5 fitted the bill well.

Full Frame DSLR!

What more needs to be said? Everything from the build quality, handling to photo quality of this camera is stunning! And this pack is all the camera most people would ever need - wide angle to portrait/short telephoto L lens included!
It's built like a ROCK, and the resolution matches the Nikon D3 at under HALF the price!!!

Why get any other camera? and WHY settle for a cropped frame DSLR which is inferior in every way? With prices like these, you'd be silly to invest in anything else!

My second Canon camera is awesome!

I have used a Canon G5 for the past 3 years, and have used my 20d for the last 15 months, it has to be the best purchase yet. I find the the extra battery grip BG-E2 helps with the balance when using my 24-70mm f2.8 lens, as well as it having the extra battery and controls neatly placed where you need them.

I am amazed at the lowlight ability the camera has, as I often shoot without flash indoors and with or without a tripod I have got some awesome shots. Also to underline its simplicity I have had my 2 daughters use it on two separate birthday celebrations to shoot many shots, 370 between us all! They were celebrating their 18th and 14th birthdays, and they both were able to shoot some great shots on AF without the need to go to AUTO. I am sure with some more practice they both could feel confident to go manual, as the 24-70 does have an excellent sweet-spot with manual focusing.

I also recommend, get as much memory as you can afford (I use 1x4gb 2x2gb Scandisk extreme III and still come very close to filling them) and the best glass you can afford, and if possible the fastest as well. F1.2 for close work gives some amazing DOF possibilities, and if you use a long Prime or zoom then F4 will give some great results, especially if you have image stabilisation which will ensure sharp shots are possible.
If you have not got one yet.....go and find one!