Lawrence Ripsher

Part 2 – Design, Controls and Timings

Design

When looking at the E-410, the first thing that strikes you
about it is the retro DSLR design. It’s pretty much the same as the E-400,
which itself was based on the old OM models of
the 70’s (which revolutionized DSLR design and became best sellers and are
still classics to this day). Regarding this design, the two things that stand
out the most are wide / flat looking design and the lack of a hand grip. I
always find it interesting handing the camera to someone as the ergonomics
usually illicit and immediate response. Of the dozen or so people I’ve seen
handle it, almost all liked it. There seems to be something about removing the
handgrip on such a tiny camera that makes people feel comfortable about the
fact that it’s missing. Having said that, of the people who handled the camera,
I notice that most hold it wrong the first time. Handling an OM style camera requires much more support from the bottom hand than with a regular
DSLR. Rather than supporting it with your gripping hand, the camera should
practically rest entirely on the left / supporting hand. The right hand is just
there really to turn the dials and hit the shutter release.

Despite its great design, as with all small DSLR’s, and
particularly one without a grip, you have to give significant thought to the
“scalability” of the camera. This is not something I can imagine is going to
feel particularly comfortable with a heavy telephoto lens on. Fortunately it is
not until you really get up into the upper echelons of the Four Thirds lens
range that the gear starts to get very heavy but still, it’s something to bear
in mind. 

In terms of the body and its composition, it’s made of
polycarbonate / plastic and feels very solid. With the exception of the compact
flash compartment which is only average in construction, this camera excelled
in terms of the confident it brings when picking it up. No visible signs of
creaking, no lightweight feel to it (despite the… well… light weight). This is
very nicely put together.

Controls

In terms of the controls and handling of the camera
settings, I found the E-410 to be about where I expected it – roughly middle of
the pack. Things which I was pleased with was:

- Sensible layout and positioning of the buttons. Very
easy to find your way around and memorise

- Exposure compensation being able to be changed without
going into the menu system (probably the setting, other than aperture, I change
the most frequently)

- Exposure compensation that goes from -5.0 to +5.0 (my
Canon 5D only goes from -2.0 to +2.0)

- Sensible menu system

Beyond that, due to the size / entry level status of the
camera, there is an obvious the lack of analogue controls (i.e. controls that
enable you to change settings without having to go through the menu). This is
always one of the first sacrifices that compact or entry level DSLR’s make and
it’s the same across all manufacturers. It means that to change ISO or
whitebalance, for example, you have to go into a menu system. It’s not a gripe
as it’s the industry standard but it does require noting.

Fortunately the LCD screen is excellent and I had no problem
using it in bright sunlight. The viewfinder I’ll mention briefly and simply say
that it was as I expected. Small compared to higher end models, typical for an
entry level DSLR (maybe slightly smaller than the 400D). 

In terms of things I thought could be improved (in new versions / higher end models):

- A better positioned / designed On-Off switched. I have
no idea why the rest of the industry doesn’t just copy Nikon. Wrapping the
On-Off switch around the shutter release is a great ergonomic feature and in
contrast, on the Olympus E-410, it’s in a different position and sometimes
slightly tricky to flip when you’re in a rush (I have the same problem on my
Canon 5D).

- Better management of the menu system for changing
settings when in Live View

- Slightly better designed solution for moving between
images when zoomed in on the LCD. You can certainly do it but then have to
select a different button to move around. A bit hard to describe but lets just
say it could be done better.

- Finer ISO steps

Other than that though, I found the controls easy to use and
access. Despite my preference for an all analog system, I rarely (if ever)
found myself missing a shot because it was too slow to access a particular
setting.

Performance and
Timings

The E-410 feels very responsive. It can shoot at 3 fps,
features a satisfactorily sized RAW buffer, and has very good shutter lag.

Switching the camera on is probably the only time the camera
doesn’t meet or exceed its competitors. I believe the reason for this is
because of the dust cleaning mechanism that kicks in. Given that this feature
actually works (read here for a full review by another site) I think it’s a reasonable trade off for a half second or so delay. 

Other than that though, the camera happily zips along.

One thing I thought performed very well was the AF (Auto
Focus) system. In almost all situations it performed admirably, detecting in
situations that included low light and low contrast. The only time I ever faced
a problem was at the beach after sunset when I was shooting my (black) dog in near
darkness from about 30 feet away. In this situation, it took several attempts
before I could lock on (see picture embed below for this scene). But other than
that near impossible scene, I thought the AF system was great for a camera in
this class. In fact, I would go so far to say that the E-410 was probably more
reliable in low contrast / low light than my 5D’s AF system (although not
overall faster when in decent light – but that comes down to lenses as much as
anything).

A challenging AF scene (click to enlarge):

Moving onto the area of AF however, probably my only
disappointment with the camera specs was that it listed only 3 AF points. I had
hoped when I looked through the viewfinder the first time that I’d find them
well spaced apart but that is not the case. For all intents and purposes, this
camera may as well have just one AF point. To compare this to its competitors,
this E-410 finds itself in the same position as the D40(x), but lagging Canon’s
400D.

It seems that a lot of Olympus users will defend the lack of
AF points by saying they in fact only ever use one – recomposing for each shot.
Well, that’s exactly how I ended up using the camera and in principal it’s not
a major issue with a couple of exceptions. The main one is when you would like
to shoot a moving object and want continuous shooting / focus. In this case you
don’t have time to recompose so if you want to frame your subject off centre
then you’ll have to do it by cropping later. The same goes for situations when
you only have just enough time to snap off a shot. In a week of shooting, I did
find this happened to me on more than one occasion but for the vast majority of
cases, once you accept it as a limitation, it’s not a big deal. 

One thing I would like to see changed however – particularly
relating to this topic – is that when you half press the shutter button, for it
NOT to lock the exposure. This is how Nikon’s work – you half press to lock the
focus, and then recompose. The camera continues to meter during this time so
that when you fully depress, you have accurate exposure for the newly composed
scene. In contrast, the E-410 (and Canon’s), lock exposure. This means that you
have to remember to press the separate exposure lock button after recomposing,
otherwise you risk under or overexposure. I do this every time of course, but
again, in situations when you have little time – it’s a step I’d like to see
removed. I also hazard a guess that people who post poorly exposed images have
not yet discovered (or consistently remembered) how to do this.

To conclude this section, I would summarise to say that the
E-410 is a wonderful camera to pick up and has an ergonomic feel that matches
its cool, retro looks. Irrespective of whether people will love or hate the
design, I can’t applaud Olympus enough for
continue to take bold steps in this direction and rethink the design of DSLR’s.
The look certainly works for me and despite the small size, I found the
handling was up to the task, even under very demanding conditions. Note the
caveats I provide above – these are things that you’ll need to remember when
operating the camera if you want to get the best out of it.

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