Olympus E-520: Update to a Top Seller

Olympus E-520 vs. Canon XS and XSi

All crops are 150x250 pixels, and images were captured at f4, manually focused, on a tripod at the same position. Color balance in all cases was manually set to tungsten as all images were illuminated with a single tungsten 100W bulb high to the right side of the image. The XSi at 12.2MP represents a smaller area at the same pixel resolution as the 10.1MP E-520 and XS. The full-size images, which you can see by clicking on any crop, represent the same field of view regardless of the resolution.

ISO Comparison – Canon XSi vs. Olympus E-520 vs. Canon XS
ISO	Canon XSi	Olympus E-520	Canon XS
100
200
400
800
1600
Click on any of the above image crops for the full image. Note: Full size images are between 3.3MB and 5.6MB!

It should be apparent that despite the XSi's 20% increase in resolution image noise is all but the same at ISO speeds to 800. At ISO 1600 the XSi does exhibit slightly more noise than the Canon XS but results remain very similar. In total, this performance is certainly good news for those considering the purchase of the XSi or XS or E-520. Performance of the XS and XSi are remarkably similar, and the improvement in the performance of the E-520 compared to the earlier model makes it much more competitive with the XS than we saw in results from the earlier Olympus entry DSLRs.

One of the more interesting aspects of this comparison is the different color philosophies between Canon and Olympus. All three cameras were set for tungsten white balance, but to our eyes the Olympus E-520 results are much more accurate. Canon continues to spec their tungsten preset at a higher Kelvin temperature more commonly seen in tungsten studio lights, which are a higher temperature than tungsten home lighting. You will need to keep this in mind when shooting indoors without flash with a Canon DSLR. The results are even "warmer" under tungsten when the Canon is set to Auto White Balance.