Olympus EVOLT E-500

Auto Mode (6.0)
Many beginners' cameras call their Auto mode "Simple" or "Easy.' Those modes generally lock the user out of every decision possible – beyond aperture and shutter speed, these Auto modes determine Focus mode, Flash mode, ISO, white balance, and even Burst mode.

The E-500's Automatic mode doesn't do that. Though it sets aperture and shutter speed, it doesn't prevent the user from setting other parameters. The big difference we could find between Automatic and Program mode was that Automatic doesn't allow slow shutter flash sync. Users who want or need a truly automatic experience should set the ISO, white balance, and flash parameters to Auto or choose an appropriate Scene mode.

Movie Mode (6.0)
The E-500 does not offer a Movie mode. With a mechanical shutter, the Evolt's sensor is hidden except when exposures are made, so it can't "see" to record movies.

Drive / Burst Mode (6.0)
The E-500 offers single-frame shooting and a Burst mode. In Super-High-Quality JPEG shooting, we got 2.5 fps for bursts of five frames. That speed is a little slow – some comparable cameras hit 3 fps. The length of burst is not as good as some competitors, but it may be enough for most users. The burst shortens one frame when shooting RAW and TIFF files. When using high-quality media (such as the SanDisk Extreme III CF card), Olympus claims the E-500 can shoot to the capacity of the memory card. It isn't the weak link when it comes to shooting action with the E-500.

Playback Mode (6.0)
Reviewing images on the Evolt E-500 benefits from the excellent LCD. Single images can be viewed at up to 14x magnification. The four-way controller allows the user to navigate through recorded images one at a time, or skipping 10 images forward or back. The E-500 also shows index displays of four, nine, 16, or 25 images at a time, or on a calendar display that highlights days on which images were shot.

The E-500 allows users to compare sections of images at 10x magnification. Its Editing mode allows RAW file conversion and editing of TIFFs and JPEGs. TIFFs and JPEGs can be cropped, their saturation can be shifted, red-eye can be fixed, and they can be converted to black and white or sepia.

The E-500 also has a slide show function that can show single images or index views of multiple shots. Pictures can be deleted one at a time, all at once, or scrolled through to delete selected images.

Custom Image Presets (6.0)
The Evolt E-500 sports a bevy of presets that generally set the camera the way an experienced photographer would when taking a standard picture of a given type. The types are: Portrait, Landscape, Landscape + Portrait, Night Scene, Night + Portrait, Children, Sport, High Key, Low Key, Macro, Candle, Sunset, Fireworks, Documents, and Beach and Snow. The modes set aperture and shutter speed. Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sport, and Night Portrait allow users to set white balance, ISO, Burst mode, and compensation for exposure, flash exposure, white balance, and several other settings. The other custom modes lock out those parameters.

Some compact cameras add more extensive image-processing to Scene modes. The E-500 doesn't – its modes simply automate the parameters that are available in Manual mode.