Olympus E-500

The E-500 EVOLT was announced on 26th September 2005, almost exactly a year after the E-300 which was the first affordable Four Thirds System digital SLR. The E-500 features an eight megapixel Kodak 4/3 Type CCD sensor, a Four Thirds System lens mount and a more traditional pentaprism viewfinder. Appearance wise the E-500 looks more like a traditional film SLR than the long and flat E-300 with its sideways swinging mirror and viewfinder setup. Improvements over the E-300 include an all new metering system, a larger 2.5" LCD monitor, better control layout and other firmware delivered improvements.

Specification
Prices • E-500 body only (US only) [check]
US: $ 699
• E-500 + 14-45 mm lens
US: $ 799
UK: £ 600 (inc VAT)
• E-500 + 14-45 mm + 40-150 mm lenses
US: $ 899
Body material Plastic
Sensor • 4/3 type CCD (Kodak Full Frame Transfer)
• 17.3 x 13.0 mm active area
• 8.9 million total pixels
• 8.0 million effective pixels
• RGB (Primary) color filter array
• Fixed low pass filter (anti-alias filter)
• Supersonic Wave Filter (dust protection)
Image processor TruePic Turbo
Image sizes • 3264 x 2448
• 3200 x 2400
• 2560 x 1920
• 1600 x 1200
• 1280 x 960
• 1024 x 768
• 640 x 480
File formats • RAW
• RAW + JPEG
• TIFF
• JPEG (EXIF 2.2) - three levels
JPEG compression • SHQ (1/2.7)
• HQ (1/4)
• SQ (1/8 or 1/12)
File sizes
(examples,
approximate) • 3264 x 2448 RAW: 13.6 MB
• 3264 x 2448 TIFF: 24.5 MB
• 3264 x 2448 JPEG SHQ: 6.4 MB
• 3264 x 2448 JPEG HQ: 4.5 MB
• 3200 x 2400 JPEG HQ: 4.4 MB
• 2560 x 1920 JPEG HQ: 2.5 MB
• 1600 x 1200 JPEG HQ: 1.0 MB
Lenses • 4/3 standard lens mount
• Range of ZUIKO DIGITAL lenses available
• Multiply focal length by 2 for 35 mm equiv. FOV
Auto focus • 3-point TTL Phase Difference Detection
• Automatic or manual point selection
• EV 0 to 19 (ISO 100) detection range
Focus area selection • Automatic
• Manual
Focus modes • Single shot AF
• Continuous AF
• Manual focus
Manual focus Focus by wire
AF assist lamp Yes, flash strobe (flash must be raised)
Exposure modes • Program AE (with shift)
• Aperture priority AE
• Shutter priority AE
• Manual
• Scene
Scene modes • Portrait
• Landscape
• Macro
• Sports
• Night Scene & Portrait
Other scene modes • Portrait
• Landscape
• Landscape & Portrait
• Night Scene
• Night Scene & Portrait
• Firework
• Sunset
• Macro
• Sports
• High Key
• Low key
• Document
• Beach & Snow
• Candle
• Children
Sensitivity • Auto (ISO 100 - 400)
• ISO 100
• ISO 125
• ISO 160
• ISO 200
• ISO 250
• ISO 320
• ISO 400
• ISO 500 *
• ISO 640 *
• ISO 800 *
• ISO 1000 *
• ISO 1250 *
• ISO 1600 *
* With ISO Boost set to On

Metering system • 49-zone multi-pattern
• Range (Digital ESP): 1 to 20 EV (50 mm F2, ISO 100)
• Range (Spot): 3 to 17 EV (50 mm F2, ISO 100)
Metering modes • Digital ESP
• Center-Weighted Average
• Spot (2%)
• Highlight based spot
• Shadow based spot
AE Lock • AE/AF lock button
• With shutter release half-press
AE Bracketing • 3 frames
• 1/3, 1/2, 0.7 or 1.0 EV steps
Exposure steps 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV
Exposure compen. • -5.0 to +5.0 EV
• 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV steps
Shutter speed • Program AE mode: 1 - 1/4000 sec
• Aperture, Shutter Priority mode: 60 - 1/4000 sec
• Manual mode: 60 - 1/4000 sec, Bulb (up to 8 mins)
Flash X-sync speed • 1/180 sec
• 1/4000 sec (Super FP mode)
Aperture values Depends on lens: 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV steps
White balance • Auto
• 5300 K (Daylight)
• 6000 K (Cloudy)
• 7500 K (Shade)
• 3000 K (Incandescent)
• 4000 K (Fluorescent 1)
• 4500 K (Fluorescent 2)
• 6600 K (Fluorescent 3)
• Custom
• Kelvin (2000 - 14000 K)
WB fine tuning • Red - Blue: +/- 7 steps (2 mired each)
• Green - Magenta: +/- 7 steps (2 mired each)
WB Bracketing • 3 frames
• 4, 8 or 12 mired steps
Color space • sRGB
• Adobe RGB
Image parameters • Color mode (Natural, Vivid, Muted)
• Saturation (5 levels)
• Contrast (5 levels)
• Sharpness (5 levels)
• Monochrome (B&W, Sepia, Red, Green, Blue) - filter (Ye, Or, Re, Gr)
• Graduation (High Key, Normal, Low Key)
Drive modes • Single
• Continuous
Continuous • 2.5 fps
• RAW/TIFF: 4 frames maximum
• JPEG: Up to card capacity @ HQ 1/8 (with high speed media)
Self-timer • 2 sec
• 12 sec
Flash • Auto electronic pop-up
• TTL auto / manual
• Guide no. 13
• Sync modes: Auto, Red-eye reduction, Slow syncro with red-eye reduction,
Slow syncro, 2nd curtain slow syncro, Fill-in, Off
• Flash power: Up to +/- 2EV in 1, 1/2, or 1/3 EV steps
External flash • Hot shoe
• TTL Auto FP / TTL auto for Olympus dedicated flash (FL-20, FL-36, FL-50)
• Modes:Auto, Manual, Red-eye reduction, Slow syncro with red-eye reduction, Slow syncro, 2nd curtain slow syncro, Fill-in for exclusive flash.
• Flash power: Up to +/- 2EV in 1, 1/2, or 1/3 EV steps
Viewfinder • Eye-level TTL Optical Pentaprism
• Field of view 95%
• Magnification 0.9x with a 50mm lens and -1 dioptre
• Eye point 16 mm at -1 dioptre
• Dioptre adjustment -3 to +1 dioptre
• Focusing screen: Fixed type
• Mirror: Quick return mirror
Viewfinder info • AF frame (super imposed)
• AE lock
• AF confirmation mark
• Metering mode
• Exposure mode
• Shutter speed
• Aperture value
• White balance
• Exposure compensation value indicator
• Flash
• Battery check
• Record mode
• Number of storable still pictures
Control panel display • Metering mode
• Exposure mode
• Aperture value
• Shutter speed
• Exposure level indicator
• Exposure compensation value
• Exposure compensation indicator
• AE bracket
• ISO
• Colour space
• Picture mode
• Gradation
• Colour saturation compensation value
• Sharpness compensation value
• Contrast compensation value
• White balance
• White balance compensation value
• Noise reduction mode
• AE lock
• Flash mode
• Flash compensation value
• Focus mode
• AF frame
• Drive mode
• Record mode
• Number of storable still pictures
• Selected memory card
• Battery check
Orientation sensor Yes
LCD monitor • 2.5" TFT LCD monitor (wide viewing angle)
• 215,250 pixels
• 100% frame coverage
Playback functions • Single
• Magnify (2 - 14x)
• Index (4, 9, 16, 25 frames)
• Calendar view
• Rotation
• Light box view
• Slide show
• Histogram (Lum / RGB)
• Highlight & Shadow point warning
Editing • RAW development
• JPEG editing (B&W, Sepia, Red eye reduction, Color saturation, Resize)
Storage • Compact Flash (Type I and II) / Microdrive
• xD- Picture card
Connectivity • USB 2.0 (Only USB 1.1 speed)
• Video Out (NTSC / PAL)
• IR Remote control (optional)
Vertical / portrait grip None
Power BLM-1 1500 mAh Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery (supplied & charger)
Dimensions 130 x 95 x 66 mm (5.1 x 3.7 x 2.6 in)
Weight (no batt) 435 g (1.0 lb)
Weight (inc batt) 479 g (1.1 lb)
Box contents E-500 body, USB cable, video cable, Li-Ion battery pack (BLM-1) and Li-Ion battery charger (BCM-2) or CR123A battery holder (LHD-1) and 3xCR123A, shoulder strap, Olympus Master CD-ROM, instruction manual, warranty card.