I got into cameras beyond some excellent "point and shoot" with the Olympus e-620.
The deal for a normal guy not a PRO is $$.
For birding, the deal is a lens that can reach out. Cameras are expensive, but lens are just silly $$$$$.

Olympus got into the 4/3 market, and in my opinion they have crushed it and have no equal as to the common man.
A 4/3 lens doubles, so a 300mm lens is the equal of a 600mm lens. Olympus puts great emphasis on camera image stabilization as common guys don't often use a tripod.
Serious birders use a spotting scope or a camera on a tripod. I ain't that serious, but am a lot more mobile.

Major camera makers like Cannon and Nikon make excellent gear.
A full frame 600mm Cannon lens with built in stabilization is only $12,999, and weighs 7 pounds.
A 300mm Olympus 4/3 (so 600mm) is $2499 and weighs just 3.2 pounds.
I am not saying any common guy needs either of these lens, but it is the same through out the lines.


Holding the Cannon 600mm in your hands even with the image stabilization is seldom what is done even by Pros due to weight.
The Olympus can obtain very good photos hand held.

As to camera bodies, most of the top brands are very similar and all produce great results even on complete auto. The deal is the lens available.
Oympus like others has a 2X converter that doubles. It was $500 and can still be found on ebay for much less. That means that for just one f stop a lens is doubled.
The lens in the contest (15-54mm zoom) is a 28-108 on this 4/3 camera.