Olympus E-520 Expert Reviews

The EVOLT E-520 is the center of Olympus' three-pronged approach to the digital SLR market. Flanked by the cheaper and more restricted E-420 on one side and the professional-level E-3 on the other, the E-520 is designed to compete with most entry-level SL...

- Solid comfortable construction - Good color accuracy test results - Auto focus in Live View mode - Large number of image presets - High level of control and customizability for advanced users

- Very poor white balance scores - Noisy images - Live View auto focus problematic and slow - Proprietary port instead of standard USB and AV

The E-520 is a camera that manages to package a significant number of excellent features and solid controls into a great body, but really let itself down in our performance testing. There's one of the best Live View modes on the market (with auto focus),...

The Olympus E-520 digital SLR camera evolved from its predecessor, the Evolt E-510--but only just. Olympus has added a larger, more ergonomic grip, for one; the company has also increased the size of the LCD to 2.7 inches (from 2.5 inches), added a bigger...

Very impressive autofocus in daylight

Complicated customizable menus Poor performance at high ISOs

Some cameras in this class are still priced quite a bit higher, and do some things better--such as handling noise at higher ISOs--but as an entry-level DSLR, the Olympus E-520 offers decent performance and consistently good results with outdoor shooting....

I've been using the E-520 since Olympus sent me a pre-production camera in the early spring. On the surface it looks almost exactly like the E-510. However, there's a lot more to the E-520 than meets the eye. It has a new 10-megapixel sensor, new TruePic...

Light and compact, Built-in mechanical image stabilization, Super Control Panel LCD interface, Excellent, compact lenses, Lots of customization possible, 3.5 frames-per-second frame rate, Supersonic Wave Filter dust reduction system, Great value

Image quality isn't as good as the competition, Sometimes auto focus locks up, Only three auto focus points, Menus and customization options can be overwhelming

Our review of the Olympus E-520 has been completed using a production-level camera. Thank you for your patience!

Very good photo quality (though see issues below) Good value for the money; doesn't feel "cheap" Sensor-shift image stabilization Dust reduction system Live view with contrast detect AF and face detection (with some lenses) on a 2.7" LCD display Full manu...

Photos on the soft side, especially at high ISOs Images are noisy when noise filter is lowered; banding at highest sensitivities Tends to clip highlights easily; occasional overexposure Small optical viewfinder Slow contrast detect AF, unimpressive face d...

If you purchase the E-520 lens kit, then you'll get Olympus' fairly new 14 - 42 mm lens. On the E-520 (and all other FourThirds cameras), that's equivalent to 28 - 84 mm. This is a pretty nice lens, as kit lenses go, with good sharpness and decent build q...

The Olympus E-520 is a refreshed version of Olympus's upper-entry-level camera, the E-510. As such it's a slightly bulked-up E-420 with image stabilization, which makes it one of the most feature-packed and customizable cameras available for under £500/$8

Good image quality at low ISO settings, JPEG engine conveys just about everything that is captured, In-body image stabilization means the benefit is seen with all lenses, Control panel display allows quick access to the important shooting parameters, Gene...

Dynamic range limited compared to the rest of class - can lead to more easily clipped highlights, Small viewfinder, Comparatively soft image output in JPEG and RAW, Disappointing high ISO performance, Auto white balance and presets not brilliant (though t...

The new 10 megapixel Olympus E-520 DSLR camera is an evolutionary upgrade to last year's popular E-510 model. It boasts some notable advancements including wireless TTL flash control, Shadow Adjustment Technology, improved image processing, two extra scen...

The Olympus E-520 is a lightweight 10 Megapixel DSLR with built-in Image Stabilisation and Live View facilities. Announced in May 2008, it's the successor to one of the best-selling models of last year, the popular E-510

Built-in stabilisation which works with any lens., Very effective anti-dust system., Live View with contrast AF and face detection., Quick handling and broad customisation., Built-in stabilisation which works with any lens., Very effective anti-dust...

Smaller viewfinder than rivals., Can't see stabilisation in optical viewfinder., Relatively basic 3-point AF system., Screen doesn't flip-out., Smaller viewfinder than rivals., Can't see stabilisation in optical viewfinder., Relatively basic 3-point AF...

Testing notes: we tested a final production Olympus E-520 with the standard 14-42mm kit lens, both of which were running firmware 1.0 when supplied; we updated the lens firmware to v1.2 in order to support the E-520's contrast-based 'Imager' AF in Live Vi...

Olympus introduces an update to the best-selling E-510 Digital SLR. Faster Processing, Improved Image Stabilization, and the addition of Contrast-Detect AF are all promised.

It does appear the new E-520 brings over a substantial amount of E-3 technology, but it does borrow form other top four-thirds cameras as well. It even brings over contrast detect focusing with 11 points from Panasonic/Leica. However, the 3-point autofocu...

Olympus has launched the E-520, an update of its E-510 digital SLR camera released in June last year. The key new features in the Olympus E-520 include in-body image stabilizer with a compensation effect of up to 4 EV steps allowing image stabilization sh

Olympus launches the E-520, an updated version of the E-510 digital SLR camera released in June last year. Thanks to a powerful built-in image stabilizer with a compensation effect of up to 4 EV steps, image stabilization shooting is available at magnific...