Twin Lens Kit or Not...

Anna09

Hi everyone, Am new to this and to photography and hoping for some advice. Have my pennies saved and want to buy the Olympus E420. Should I go for the twin lens kit? Have been calling round to get prices and it will cost about a 100 more. I'm unsure of the benefits of the twin lens and really am beginner stage at photography but plan on changing that. Thanks in advance..Anna

bullpost

I'd definitely consider it. In general these bundled lenses can be of questionable quality but the Olympus ones are the exception normally and are well worth the money, particularily if you're a beginner. I bought an Olympus E300 with twin lens kit a few years back and am very happy with it.

majiktripp

I bought the E-420 in NZ for $999NZ (2.4nz to 1 euro) including the 14-42mm and 40-150mm lens combo. Its a very impressive little camera. I was torn between it and the Canon G10 at the time but ended up getting both for the sake of it. The E-420 has a 2x sensor so you 14-42 is really 28-84 in 35mm terms, and the 40-150 becomes 80-300. These two lenses cover a huge spectrum and allow you great versitility for shooting many situations. The only thing that I found lacking was no image stabiliser (which the E-520 has built in) so any shoots using the 40-150mm lens at 150mm full zoom would require a very steady hand or a tripod. Minor gripe aside I do recommend it a lot. Also combined with the Pancake Zuiko 25mm f/2.8 lens its a brilliant duo. Where are you thinking of buying it?

AnCatDubh

When I originally went DSLR I went with a single kit lens however once you start to look at what people can do around these parts you will be aching in the first instance for better zoom capability to isolate your subjects in your composition. Shortly after I bought my DSLR I bought a twin lens kit. Nothing special - just a sigma 28-80 and a 70-300 which gave me the zoom capacity that I yearned for. It was cheapish but I think was rated about f3.5 - f4+

At that stage you think about light and will yearn for for a lens(s) which have very wide apertures f2.8 or lower to make your low light shooting easier / better. Now, why wouldn't you link the twin lens with wide apertures? Essentially if you are saving the pennies as I was at the time, you will have to sell a house, partner, car or child to pay for the better aperture capable lens - will probably cost you more than you are about to invest in the camera kit.

So basically the purchase of a dual kit lens gets you over one craving and prepares you for a second that you are likely to have to save for (unless you can borrow like the government )

Any kit lens won't be the best in the world - they are intended to get people going. Having said that I still have mine and still use it on regular occasions.

When I upgraded the DSLR to a new body I went without the kit lens as there was no real advantage.

duffarama

Go for it, I got a previous version of that camera a couple of years ago (e-410) and got the twin lens kit. Both lenses are of fine quality optically. Sure the aperture is a bit small but nearly all kit lenses are.

Keep in mind that if you find yourself using one lens more than the other that you can probably sell the one you don't use for €100

Imposter

I got the E520 with the twin lens kit last year and am very impressed with it.

I guess the most important question with regard to what lens you need is what do you think you'll be taking photos of?

Anna09

Thanks everyone. Am going to go for it. Am in England this weekend and found a shop in a small country town who will knock another £50 off the twin lens kit for me.