Olympus E450 DSLR first impressions

Olympus? I know, most of you would be surprised to find me using an Olympus 4/3 system DSLR. But let me explain. I was looking for a compact camera for casual and holiday use when I came across an offer for a very compact DSLR, the Olympus E-450, going for the amazing price of SGD$480! That is roughly only about the price of a higher priced compact cameras! It was a no brainer and I got that camera to use for snap shot duties. But it turns out the 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 kit lens is no slouch! It is one marvellous kit lens that I am quite impressed with. The whole package gave me a very compact package with most of the dslr flexibility and performance. The only downside currenly I feel is that of the 4/3 system, due to the smaller sensor, has noisier pictures in settings higher than iso400. Its depth of field for the 4/3 format is also deeper than most APS and full-frame sensors of course, which can be a plus or minus depending on the type of picture you want. Its shallower than compact or prosumer cameras but not as shallow as APS or Full frame sensors. Another thing I gained through this system is my ability to reuse my Old M42 lens collection! I know Nikon systems can also use an adapter too but the problem lies with focussing at infinity. Nikon lens adapter require an additional lens correction element to allow M42 mounted lens to focus to inifinity, which somehow I feel would degrade the image quality. Did I also mention its weight? It is almost non-existant! What a joy it is to bring it along the whole day without suffering shoulder and backaches like when I carry my D700 gears! For sure the D700 is a vastly superior camera, but for its price and purpose, the Olympus has nothing to be embarrased and will definitely have a place in my camera bag, haha! Here are some of my first casual snapshots with the Olympus E-450. All the pictures were taken with the Kit lens except for the last 2 pictures which were taken with the Meyer Optik Gorlitz 50mm F2.8 M42 lens with M42 to Olympus 4/3 system adapter. Its good to revive back some of my cheaply gotten M42 lens, especially the Old European lenses which somehow have this creamy pastel and paintily effect that is often missing in modern optics.