In-depth review: Olympus E-410 compact DSLR with live view (Part 1)

[DPNow]

Read part 1 of our fully-illustrated in-depth review of the Olympus E-410 compact DSLR with live view. The article includes original E-410 sample images for you to download. The Olympus E-410 features a new Panasonic 10 megapixel Four Thirds LiveMOS image sensor and is Olympus' second live view DSLR.

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[Jebir]

Thanks for the nice review.

Good news for 4/3 that the noiseseems to be non-issue these days. I'm a bit disappointed that they apparently haven't worked on the AF.

The sample images looks very good, I like in particular the swan at ISO 400 and highlight spot metering. How fast and effective is it to change between evaluative (ESP) spot highlight spot metering? Can it be done 'on-the-fly' without taking the eye from the viewfinder?

I'm looking forward to the rest of the review.

Cheers, Jens

PS. It seems like you have inserted the same LCD control screen twice.

[Louis Dobson]

Small misunderstanding? You seem to suggest that the E330 doesn't offer gridlines etc - it does. Just press the info button in LV B to toggle them.

[marcof]

..... 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.

actually, the imager used in the E-400 is a propriety version of the KAI-10100 interline CCD from kodak. Which is completely different from the full-frame CCD used in the E500, as I understand. (which makes the whole "full frame sensor" advert on the oly site a bit redundant as well

[Louis Dobson]

It has been speculated that the E400 sensor was originally intended for the still-born first version of the E3, but was rejected for noise. This might explain the short run in the stop-gap E400 (if the chip and processing already existed, why not use them?). If so, that would ironic, since it looks like the E410 chip will be finding its way, whether at 10 or more MP, into the second version (production) version of the E3...

[Ian]

Originally Posted by DPNow

Read part 1 of our fully-illustrated in-depth review of the Olympus E-410 compact DSLR with live view. The article includes original E-410 sample images for you to download. The Olympus E-410 features a new Panasonic 10 megapixel Four Thirds LiveMOS image sensor and is Olympus' second live view DSLR.

More...

Hi, am on the road at the moment and using my phone browser to write this. Thanks for the feedback - will respond in full as soon as I can. Ian

[RogerC]

How big are the raw files? 11mb as in the promo literature?

how's the shutter lag?

if you go to manual focus and manual exposure, does it still flip the mirror for a test exposure? it shouldn't, I think that's a bug in the firmware. It did at PMA. The 330 does, too, I think.

[Ian]

Hi all - I should have explained that I'm in provincial Thailand on holiday with my family and it has been more difficult to find an internet Connection than I expected. Still using my phone browser. Taking lots of E-410 pix! E-410 raw files are 9-10MB. Ian

[RogerC]

And I should have said thanks for what you've already written. What do you think of the lag due to the live view mirror flip, and can you reduce it by going to manual exposure and manual focus?

[Ian]

Originally Posted by RogerC

And I should have said thanks for what you've already written. What do you think of the lag due to the live view mirror flip, and can you reduce it by going to manual exposure and manual focus?

Hi Roger, you're much appreciated

I have just arrived back in the UK this morning and I should be home in the afternoon and (12.5 hour flight lag allowing) I'll get the next stage of the review on track as soon as I can .

I haven't measured the mirror flip time lag and didn't bring an E-330 with me to compare, but I will compare the two and let you know soon. It's certainly not something I felt was a major handicap when I used it.

Ian

[duncsand]

Hi Ian,
Great review, looking forward to the next section. It seems the E-410 is quite an exciting little camera. Have Olympus given any indication when it'll hit the shelves in the UK? I'm being told June by everyone, but I notice a post elsewhere today where it has just gone on sale in Japan. So, maybe it will be a little earlier? I'm hoping to pick one up for a holiday in May...

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Louis Dobson

Small misunderstanding? You seem to suggest that the E330 doesn't offer gridlines etc - it does. Just press the info button in LV B to toggle them.

Yes, a good point - I had overlooked the Frame Assist option on the E-330, which needs to be enabled to for the Info toggle to select the additional live view aids.

I have corrected the sentence in the review, accordingly.

Part 2 of the review, with a long hard look at E-410 noise characteristics, will be published later today. It shows that the E-410 is a big step forward for Olympus and really brings theE-410 in line with what is expected from small sensor 10MP DSLRs now

Ian

[carman]

Its the E-510 that has me hanging on.

[jrtrent]

Originally Posted by DPNow

During the review period, we encourage you to join in the process by posting to a dedicated review thread in our discussion forum. I'll do my best to respond to any questions in order to widen the breadth of the review.[/url]

One feature of the E-system that I haven't seen formally tested is the lens aberration corrections (vignetting, geometric distortion) made possible by Olympus's "smart" lens technology and implemented through their Studio software. Other review sites, for example, have tested various Olympus digital lenses to report distortion and light fall-off at various focal lengths and apertures, but never mentioned how well these aberrations were corrected using the means Olympus provides. I don't even know If the E-410, kit lenses, and new Studio 2 continue the shading compensation and distortion correction of past E-system products, but if they do, is there any chance you'll test it?

[duncsand]

Originally Posted by Ian

Part 2 of the review, with a long hard look at E-410 noise characteristics, will be published later today.
Ian

That's a week ago - we're eagerly waiting!!