Camera Features
When Olympus launched the E-400 late last year, it was hailed as a super-compact and light DSLR camera and it featured a ten megapixel resolution sensor, bringing Olympus in line with its competitors. But apart from that, it was fairly conventional and could be regarded as a version of the two year old Olympus E-500, reduced in size, with new matching compact kit lenses and a simplified external control set.
On the E-400, the Fn button was used for multiple functions, like setting custom white balance. Here, on the E-410, the Fn button has metamorphosed into the live view mode selector, so programmable functions are now assigned to the left (east) nav pad key.
The E-410 is visually identical - even upon fairly close examination - to the E-400, but under the skin some major changes have been made and, in many ways, the E-410 is a very different beast.
New LiveMOS sensor
First of all, there is a new ten megapixel sensor. Although Olympus did not officially reveal the make of the E-400's CCD-type sensor, we understand from a very reliable source that the E-400 used a Kodak-sourced part. You could say it was an E-500 sensor, but scaled from 8 megapixels to 10 megapixels. Olympus also improved the image processing at the same time, managing to reduce noise despite the increase in pixel density.
With the E-410, the sensor is from Panasonic and it's a LiveMOS type (apparently an Olympus trademark, not Panasonic) that can stream video, so providing the E-410's headline feature; a live 100% frame view via the 2.5 inch LCD screen. At the beginning of last year, we saw the first LiveMOS sensor in the Olympus E-330 and, later, the Panasonic DMC-L1 and the Leica Digilux 3, all variations of the E-330 Four Thirds platform chassis. That sensor was a 7.5 megapixel part.
Although we will examine image noise and resolution in more detail later in part 2 of this review, early indications show that Olympus is really getting on top of the thorny issue of noise. The with the E-330, the LiveMOS sensor has already shown that it's superior to the equivalent resolution Kodak sensor Olympus has used when it comes to noise and the E-410's high ISO image quality we've seen backs this up.
Three levels of noise filtering are now available on the E-410, a series of modes distinct from the usual long exposure Noise Reduction mode.
The noise filter function, first seen on the original E-1, makes a return on the E-410 and it offers three levels of filter intensity: low, standard and high.
Live view modes
Unlike the E-330, the screen on the E-410 is fixed, so the E-330's tilting screen benefits are not so apparent. However, you can still use the E-410, with its live view mode switched on, for low angle shots and by raising the camera up to get a view over, for example, people in front - just like you can with a compact camera.
In this view it's not easy to see if the focus is accurately fixed. The green square indicates the coverage of a magnified (7x) live view manual focus check mode.
At 7x live view zoom, the focus is clearly out.
Now, with live view-assisted manual fine adjustment, focus can be accurately found.
But the news is one of gains as well as losses. First of all, the E-410's live view mode is brightness and colour calibrated, so you can use the display to help you evaluate exposure and colour balance.
The E-410's live view mode can now be used to check colour balance and exposure, aided by a live exposure histogram display.
There is also a genuinely live histogram. The E-330 had none of these features.
Gone is the E-330's secondary live view mode that used a CCD in the viewfinder system. The E-410 only shows the actual imager's view of the world. This means autofocus can only be performed by re-deploying the reflex mirror temporarily, but it's relatively seamless and although it's not much use for action photography, you get used to it very quickly. When not using live view mode, the AF and optical TTL viewing system is quite conventional.
I originally thought another feature of the E-410 that was previously unavailable on Olympus' first live view DSLR, the E-330, was any form of enhanced framing aid. However, the E-330 does in fact share the E-410's options, including this grid line display.
Bright, if small viewfinder
The E-330 (and Panasonic DMC-L1 and Leica Digilux 3) incorporates a semi-silvered mirror (to accommodate the E-330's secondary live view sensor) in an unconventional 'Porro' viewfinder system that reduced viewfinder brightness. With its conventional pentaprism reflex finder system, the E-410 does not suffer from compromised viewfinder brightness, though the small Four Thirds sensor does mean the eye-level viewfinder view is not as 'spacious' as in full frame and other DSLRs with larger sensors. In practice, it doesn't present a major problem, though.
One aspect I'm surprised about is that Olympus chose not to use the shutter release, by default, for autofocus during live view mode. Instead, you need to use the AE-Lock button on the back of the camera.
No AF upgrade
Anyone hoping for an upgrade to the simple three-point AF system that is featured in all Four Thirds cameras to date, will be disappointed. The viewfinder layout, with the LED information panel, unusually, to the right, plus the three AF points in the centre of the screen, is basically the same as the E-330, E-500 and the E-400. If there is a benefit to this simplicity, the screen itself is less cluttered than most. AF responsiveness in low light is not radically different to the E-400 or E-500 and, it has to be said, is not as good as some rivals, but in normal conditions it works well and the kit lenses have quiet AF motors.
Neat menu-less controls
One feature that works better than most is Olympus' dual mode control display. Like most other more affordable DSLRs, there is no secondary LCD status display, just a large 2.5 inch colour display that serves to display pictures taken (not forgetting live view, of course) as well as view mode and settings status. Most cameras simply present a system of menus, but since the E-500 was introduced, by pressing the OK button, you can use the navigation buttons to highlight settings displays that, once highlighted, become adjustable, without delving into a menu, by turning the click-stopped settings adjustment dial.
Olympus has incorporated menu-less access to key camera settings for several model generations and the E-410 follows the same example. This is the 'simple' view with the ISO speed highlighted. It can be adjusted directly by turning the top-plate mode adjust dial.
This is the advanced mode display, with more modes packed into the available display space. White balance settings are highlighted for direct adjustment.
The system is brilliantly effective and you can choose between two display sizes, one with larger legends, though less options displayed. Conventional menus are also available via the 'Menu' button, or by clicking a highlighted option again using the OK button.
We'll cover more of the E-410's functionality features later in the review.
The next page has an initial eight original image samples, taken with the two kit lenses, available for download.
