Upgrade now or wait?

[Zach933]

I've decided I'm going to upgrade my E-410 due to the lack of image stabilization. I've been getting very frustrated taking wildlife shots and having 48/50 blurry. My lenses are the 14-42mm, 40-150mm, and a half dozen Minolta manual focus lenses (with adapter). I could either buy a 510 for $270, a 520 for $300-350, or wait about a year and get an E-30. Is there any major advantages to the 520 over the 510 (most likely choice)? I'm happy with most other pictures I get from my 410, but wildlife photography is one of my favorite hobbies. I would like to stick with the 4/3 system. Does anyone have any opinions?
Zach

[Raigoki]

hmm,

how long have you been using your e-410?
i have a film camera (OM-1) and some zoom lenses and the results are quite acceptable. (maybe i have steady hands or something.)

regarding the difference with e510 and e520,
if you like strobe lighting, then you have to go with e520. (it has wireless RC flash system)

[inkista]

I use a 400mm lens for birding on a Canon body. It's non-IS. And I manage to get unblurry shots. I think you may want to look at your handholding technique, first, rather than relying on stabilization to do the work for you. Good equipment can't make up for bad technique.

The first thing to check is that your shutter speed is high enough to eliminate camera shake blur from handholding. The rule of thumb is that your shutter speed must be at or above 1/focal_length. Some folks throw in a crop factor, some don't. It's a guideline, not a hard and fast thing. But what this means is that if you're shooting at 300mm, your shutter speed should be 1/300s or faster. If you throw in the 4/3 crop, 1/600s or faster. This is probably your main culprit. Whenever I'm shooting birds in flight with my 400mm lens, I'm typically at iso 400 and higher to get my shutter speed up to 1/500s or faster.

And this 1/focal_length rule presupposes you have good handholding technique. Make sure that you're supporting the bulk of the camera/lens combination weight on the palm of your left hand. Your left hand should be underneath the camera body or lens, palm up, with your pinkie closest to you, your thumb and forefinger farthest away and wrapped around the lens to turn the zoom/focus rings from the bottom of the lens.

There are a number of alternative holds or bracing methods as well. You could use the "machine-gun" hold, or brace yourself against a wall/tree. Control your breathing. Kneel and brace your elbow on your knee. Do the Joe McNally grip. You can google up a ton of these kinds of tips around the web. Even here on DPS.

You also do not require in-body stabilization to stabilize the lens. You can prop it on a fence rail, or use a monopod instead. That will get you the same two-to-three stop advantage that IBIS would.