Lawrence Ripsher

Part 1 – Introduction

When the Olympus E-410 and E-510 were announced, a lot of
the Olympus fan base breathed both a sigh of
excitement and of relief. For the past three years or so, Olympus have been putting together a somewhat unusual mix of DSLR’s. In other words,
definitely and capable cameras – but despite notching up a few industry firsts
along the way (Live View, dust cleaning, most compact DSLR, etc) – they’ve yet
to really produce a camera that can challenge Nikon or Canon head on. So when a
number of their recent innovations were rolled into the same body finally and
given E-410 and E-510 badges, a lot of people thought that this will finally be
the year that Olympus “gets serious” about
DSLR’s.

As far as my take on the whole situation, well despite being
a current Canon user and a previous Nikon user, I’m far beyond the concept of
thinking there is only enough room for x number of players. I definitely think
that the industry will benefit from a strong number three. An interesting
question exists perhaps over who will be the first to really challenge. Sony
isn’t really there yet as it only has one DSLR (despite commitments to release
more in the future). Pentax have produced some good bodies as of late but don’t
quite have a full system of lenses yet.

So if they get it right with these new releases, market
their cameras well and price them competitively, they’re the most likely
candidate to take up the challenge. With an already award winning line up of
lenses (last year they won a prestigious EISA award, with their entire Top Pro
range taking the honours in the “European Professional Lens 2006-2007” category),
it was a ready made system, waiting for the right camera. 

So, what’s the basic summary E-410 that I’ve been using for
the past week? Here’s the quick rundown on the [most significant] specs:

- Super compact body design (no handgrip). Modeled on the OM series of the 70’s. Retro looking

- 10 MP sensor, this time manufactured by Panasonic,
called “Live MOS”

- Live view which allows you to use the LCD to view /
compose / capture an image

- Supersonic Wave Filter for dust removal

- 2.5” LCD

- XD and CF card capabilities

- 3fps shooting speed. Up to 7 images for the RAW buffer.
Capable of shooting RAW + JPG also

- ISO 100 to ISO 1600. Auto ISO also.

- Exposure compensation +- 5.0

- Capable of accepting any Four Thirds lens

This could be summarized as a very compact, entry level DSLR
but with the additional features of Live View and Dust cleaning.

As a quick aside, the Olympus E-510 which is yet to be
released, shares the above features but with the two major differences of
having a hand grip and in built IS. Image Sensor wise however, I’m told by Olympus it’s pretty much the same thing so a review of
the E-410’s image quality should represent a reasonable preview of the E-510’s.

So coming back to the subject of this review, what I plan to
cover is a number of things which I think will be of interest to enthusiasts.
For those of you who are already familiar with reviews I’ve done in the past,
I’m not particularly keen on lens charts or studio scenes. DPReview and other
sites do a great job of these already and while they are of course important
for many people, I do not find them to be particularly representative of real
world results in the field. Instead, my focus will be more on the usage of the
camera, what can be achieved with it in the right hands (with the right glass)
and of course what shortcomings exists. Another important point of note is that
in contrast to what is becoming what I believe is a rather tiring trend on some
review sites, I do not downgrade cameras for requiring their settings to be
modified from their out of the box defaults. If a camera operates
“conservatively” out of the box and more “pop” or sharpness can be obtained by
turning up the respective values in camera settings, then fine. I think too
often reviewers try to judge how beginners will use an entry level DSLR –
stating that as they’re unlikely to change custom settings, anything which
requires tuning or tweaking is unsuitable. This I couldn’t disagree with more.
If a beginner is unable to apply an unsharp mask in post processing, increase
saturation through a menu or use a camera properly, it’s very unlikely they’re
going to be able to recognize (or even care about) minor differences when
viewing at 100%.

Instead, the most useful reviews I’ve read typically tend to simply describe A)
what a camera is capable of and B) how easy / hard it is to achieve those
results. That’s what I’ll be aiming to do here.

OK, end of rant, let’s take a look at the E-410.

Related posts:

1. Olympus E-P1 Review Diary – Part 2 – Autofocus Had a proper chance to sit down with the E-P1...
2. Olympus E-P1 Review Diary – Part 12 – Conclusion I've decided to wrap up this review diary with a...
3. Olympus E-P1 Review Diary I just completed my 12 part review diary so am...
4. Olympus E-P1 Review Diary – Part 5 – Design and Handling Have had the E-P1 for a couple of weeks now...
5. Olympus E-P1 Review Diary – Part 7 – LCD screen and composing I was disappointed when I first heard the Olympus E-P1...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.