Olympus deal

I see that Currys are doing an offer on the E410SE + 17-45 lens with the
40-150 and a case for the price of the camera - £349.

Is this a good buy or is this camera not up to scratch - whatever the
'SE' version is. I notice it has a plastic lens mount which would tend
to put me off.

I am, incidentally, a Nikon user - I am looking at this offer for my
daughter.

 

That looks like the same two lenses they tried selling with the E500
last year (and put me off buying the kit from them), note the older
17-45 lens, rather than the standard 14-42 (which is supposed to be a
rather nice lens).

The Olympus lenses have an equivalence ratio (over 35mm cameras) of 2x,
so the 17-45 lens is equivalent to 34-90, where the newer lens is 28-84,
which gives you a slightly wider angle at the lower end.

It's possible that they've even bundled a third party lens, they were
doing this as well last year, although some of the Sigma lenses are
quite good.

 

No, this is all Olympus, plus - as I have found out today - it includes
a 1Gb card and a proper Olympus 'nose' bag.

If you buy the camera and std zoom only you get £50 cash-back from
Olympus, effectively the long zoom, card, and case costs £50. Not a bad
deal to my mind?

 

Not a bad deal whatever way you look at it is it.

Not at all. The long zoom is a good lens, but it's just that standard
one that's very old now, they were trying to get rid of those over a
year ago.

Anyway, that's a little less than I paid for my E500 bundle a year ago
(twin lens kit (but with the 14-45 lens), spare battery, 1A filters, E
System bag, cleaning stuff and a 1GB Sandisk III card).

Ignoring brand comparisons, this ain't a bad little camera at all.

 

Sadly the quality of some of these free cases is rather poor, whatever the
brand.
I'd rather pay 20 pounds for a Lowepro case (very high quality).
Regards Mike.

 

Some of the magazine subscriptions give these away - OK they'll be small
ones, but I've seen them big enough for the camera with small lens, the
larger lens and a few accessories.