I'm in no way a professional photographer, but I enjoy and love photography as a hobby. And I found that with Olympus SLR cameras, sometimes it's not about finding THE best camera. For hobbyists like me, maybe the more important thing is to find the best camera deal without compromising much of the quality. This is why I went for the 8-megapixel Evolt E500 digital SLR camera with 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 and 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 Zuiko lenses.

My brother has been a SLR camera user for years, and he currently has a 20D with 420EX flash and very expensive L series lenses. When I bought the E500 and the dual lens kit, even my brother had to agree that among all the cameras in the market right now, my E500 dual lens kit is the best deal for my money. We both also agreed that the E500 is lighter and more ergonomic than his 20D. Although my E500 pales in comparison to my brother's 20D in terms of taking pictures in low light, I read that this problem has been resolved in the E300 and with firmware upgrades.

We also loved how the rear LCD controls can access pretty much everything from exposure to flash speed to ISO, making it more user-friendly especially for newbie SLR users like me. However, my brother said that it would be nice if Olympus SLR cameras also had the small LCD up top which is found in Canon cameras that provides supplementary details and information on camera modes and settings. Six months later, I'm still very happy with my E500 and I've been using it more frequently. I even managed to talk three of my friends into getting the E500 dual lens kit as well.

My brother and I went to India just recently to tour Agra, visit the Sikhanders tomb, Taj Mahal, and other amazing sites in the country. At the end of the trip, I have to say, my pictures looked better than the ones my brother had taken with his fancy camera and ridiculously expensive accessories. Well, his pictures definitely showed more detail, but in terms of color saturation and overall look and presentation, my pictures were better.

I do admit, however, that my camera wasn't able to take good action shots when we were on a speeding bus. My brother's camera came out with amazing action shots and low-light pictures. When I tried taking pictures in the evening, some of my pictures didn't have proper focus, unlike my brother's camera which also focused on the same subject as mine. Like I said, I'm not a pro, so maybe some of the "flaws" I report here may be caused not by the camera but by the user.