Olympus E-300 Kit with Olympus Zuiko Digital 14-54mm lens 8.0 Megapixel

Although not sold as a pro model, the E-300 is perfectly suitable for shooting paying jobs. I've used it for portraiture, copy work, and for shots used for greeting cards, using the kit lenses, and have not found it wanting. As always, the default contrast, sharpness and saturation settings may not be to your liking, but the camera is quite adaptable in that regard. Raw shooting probably gives a slight advantage in final quality, but it is debatable --and debated hotly -- whether or not it is worth the extra work. I've used the camera to shoot raw, TIFF, and SHQ Jpegs, and I would not hesitate to recommend any setting; only adding that they should be chosen according to individual taste and the requirements of the job. It focuses all the lenses I've used on it accurately, and produces nice colors. WB is easily adjusted and fine tuned and I haven't found the much hyped noise problem on this camera to be a problem at all. The noise here at high iso settings is more defined, less mushy than on some Nikons, and I have shot at all the available speeds up to 1600 and gotten useable images. I consider 400 and 800 speeds unproblematical, only addding the caveat that, as always, shooting at noisier (or in film, grainier) iso settings requires careful exposure. Underexposure at these settings can be quite ugly, but my years working in photo labs leads me to believe that it has always been thus. Expect noise at 1600, but don't panic. 1600 speed film was "noisy" too, and quite useful at certain times. Anyway, NeatImage is an inexpensive and very useful tool when an image absolutely must have the noise in it lessened.
I now shoot an E-510 mostly, and the layout of controls on this later model is significantly improved, making it more enjoyable to use. But the E-300, despite a more cumbersome approach to menus and controls, is a good, solidly built camera -- probably more solidly built than the subsequent e500 series, whatever other improvements these introduced -- and it dependably produces fine images. My only complaint is that the metering system was sometimes, and unpredictably, influenced by hot spots in the frame to underexpose the image. Once aware of that, it's easy enough to take a spot reading or an average reading with the hot area excluded, and set the camera to manual with the appropriate f-stop and shutter speed.

Nikon nazis and gadget freaks are sometimes quite unkind to this camera. So, be careful, when reading reviews of digital cameras, to separate legitimate photographic concerns from those of photographically untutored gadget geeks, one one hand, or aggressive and blind brand loyalists on the other. To be up front about the latter: I've used Olympus cameras for most of my photographic activities involving hand-held equipment, using an OM-1 35mm SLR as my prime tool for years, with an OM-2 for backup. Nikon and Canon make great cameras, but so does Olympus, and its smaller SLR profiles have usually fit my less than large hands better. The 4/3 system is likely here to stay a while, and the size of the sensor devoted to actually imaging the object is not much different to the APS sensors used by some of the competition. See http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/43/sensor-size.html for an in depth review of this topic.

If you find this camera at a good price, don't hesitate to buy it. I paid the new $1000 for mine, and though the price quickly dropped, I never felt cheated. It's that good.

I purchased this camera because it was an excellent deal, and found it to be a great backup to may E-500. When shooting at the kid's ball games I use a 14-45mm lens on the E300 and the 55-200mm on my E500. This keeps me from removing the lenses in the field and possibly getting trash in the body. I find 8 meg to be more than enough for me and with 2mb CF cards I have almost endless shots.
I have shot over a thousand pictures in the last 2 months and am more than pleased with this used camera. I would not say it is pro quality but for the soccer dad (or mom) I would be hard pressed to find a better value in a used camera.
Since you cannot find this camera new anymore I would suggest this used with the Sigma 55-200mm lens. It is not top end and is really not a great choice in low light, but for the price it would be hard to beat it.
I am enjoying my used camera very much.