Olympus E-520

Olympus E-520 is Olympus's Entry-Level DSLR digital camera initially announced on August of 2008. The camera comes with a 10MP, CMOS Four Thirds size sensor with a peak resolution of 3648 x 2736.

Olympus released this model to upgrade the earlier Olympus E-510 (Read Full Comparison)

The E-520 is positioned #64 out of 80 in Entry-Level DSLR cameras and all round #543 out of 1465 for cameras in our database. You can check our Smart camera search to see camera rankings based on your personalized requirements.

The following is a chart of various criteria used in the scoring system.

The Olympus E-520 is part of a family of digital cameras. You can see the full list below.

You can view the E-520 from several angles in the gallery below.

Here is a collection of benefits and drawbacks of the Olympus E-520 based on aspects that are normally seen as important in a digital camera.

The sensor dimension on the Olympus E-520 is 17.3mm x 13mm (Four Thirds). The 225 mm² sensor can resolve 3648 x 2736 pixels with aspect ratios of 4:3. The camera includes Image Stabilization (Sensor based). Optical stabilization is superior than digital stabilization since the latter can easily lead to cropping.

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The CMOS sensor boasts 10 megapixels and gives a standard ISO range of 100 to 1600. RAW format is supported therefore you have more room to maneuver in post.

The graphic below illustrates the E-520's sensor size compared to other popular sizes. The E-520 sensor comes with a crop factor of 2.1 and is presented in green.

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To get an idea of specific aspect ratios, you should refer to the graphic below.

Olympus E-520 has a weight of 1.22 lb (552 gr or 19.47 ounces) and the overall size of the camera is 136mm x 92mm x 68mm (5.4" x 3.6" x 2.7"). The weight of general Entry-Level DSLR camera is 540 gr and the Olympus E-520 is very similar when compared with other rivals.

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The following is a pic of the Olympus E-520 beside a softdrink to help you to have a feel for its size.

The top view below will show the button arrangement on the E-520.

The E-520 works with the Micro Four Thirds mount and has 162 lenses that are available. Here is a few of the lenses we have in our database that will work with the E-520.

ModelVisualizeFocal LengthApertureStabilizedWeight

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-200mm F3.5-6.312-200mmf/3.5-6.3 455g

Panasonic Lumix G Vario 35-100mm F4.0-5.6 ASPH Mega OIS35-100mmf/4.0-5.6 135g

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Rokinon 85mm F1.485mmf/1.4 539g

Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 ASPH OIS14-42mmf/3.5-5.6 165g

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-45mm F4 Pro24-90mmf/4254g

Samyang 16mm f2.0 ED AS UMC CS16mmf/2.0 583g

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Sigma 30mm F2.8 DN30mmf/2.8 135g

The E-520 has the following connectivity:

• USB Yes

Cameras which have NFC and Bluetooth support can be controlled wirelessly by smartphones. You can copy files and sometimes alter settings without the hassle of connecting directly with the camera.

Several apps also allow a Liveview and press the shutter if you aren't close to the camera. If the camera features a HDMI out, it can be connected to an external display. A good number of cameras will allow you to charge the battery with the USB port.

Olympus E-520 doesn't capture video. If you are shopping for a digital camera to shoot just images, it might not be a concern.

Olympus E-520 doesn't have weather proofing so rainy conditions can easily affect the camera.

The Olympus E-520 comes with a 2.7" fixed display with a resolution of 230k dots.

Sadly the display isn't a touch screen.

Photography Glossary

The ViewFinder specifications regarding Olympus E-520 are below:

• ViewFinder Optical (pentamirror)
• ViewFinder Coverage 95 percent
• ViewFinder Magnification 0.46x

In those bright outdoor conditions that make the camera screens washed out and tough to view, viewfinders can be pretty valuable.

Olympus E-520 can shoot continuously at 4.0 frames per second. The maximum shutter speed is 1/4000 seconds.

Olympus E-520 includes both inbuilt flash and external flash ability. The max flash sync speed is 1/180 seconds.

Olympus E-520 includes both Phase Detect Auto Focus along with Contrast Based Auto Focus. Phase Detection autofocusing is a lot snappier and accurate than Contrast Based autofocusing. The camera comes with Face detection which makes it handy for portrait photography.

It comes with 3 focus points to pick from. Olympus E-520 has manual focusing if needed during low light occasions or you want more accurate focusing control.

The battery power for the Olympus E-520 is designed to last for 650 clicks as per the CIPA benchmarks making it above the usual when compared to its category. The typical Entry-Level DSLR camera battery life is 589. Pentax K-x features the highest (1900) battery life within this kind of cameras.

Here is a collection of Entry-Level DSLR cameras which have the best battery life:

ModelVisualizeBattery LifeRAWNFCBluetooth

Pentax K-x
E-520 vs K-x1900 yesnono

Nikon D3500
E-520 vs D35001550 yesnoyes

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Nikon D3400
E-520 vs D34001200 yesnoyes

Canon SL3
E-520 vs SL31070 yesnoyes

Sony A450
E-520 vs A4501050 yesnono

The following diagram indicates a analysis of the Olympus E-520 for various forms of photography. To see more, scroll to the specific paragraph below.

The Olympus E-520 receives a score of 59 which is reasonable, meaning that it is relatively appropriate for portraits. Shooting portraits leans heavily to sensor resolution, RAW support and capability to work with external lighting.

Coming in at a very good rating of 65, the Olympus E-520 is a respectable choice to buy for street photography. A decent street photography camera comes with a perfect balance of picture quality and portability.

A decent sports photography points tally of 55 indicates the Olympus E-520 is somewhat adequate for photographing sports. A camera needs to have great autofocus plus continuous shooting for sports photography.

Portability is pretty crucial when choosing a travel camera. Over-all, the Olympus E-520 gets a moderate 52 as a travelling camera which is fairly acceptable for your holidays.

For anyone who is planning to buy a digital camera for landscape pictures, the most critical factor will no doubt be image quality. The Olympus E-520 and it's average grade of 58 for a landscape camera is reasonably suited amongst its competition.

A vlogging camera should really have a moving display, mic port and ideally IBIS. Taking everything into account, the Olympus E-520 is not really acceptable for vlogging as it receives a awful rating of 9.

If you need alternatives to the E-520, here is a collection of the highest ranked cameras that fall into the class of Entry-Level DSLR.

The diagram below gives you a summary of the E-520 vs it's highest ranked competitors suggested previously.

There are more cameras you may see as alternative options. To go through a full comparison, just click on the "compare" link.