Howard_Creech's Full Review: Olympus Evolt E-410 Digital Camera
Entry-level digital SLRs are meant to fill the gap between prosumer Point & Shoot digicams and semi-pro digital SLRs. The very compact Olympus E-Volt E-410 has all the bells and whistles consumers have come to expect from high-end prosumer P&S digicams (except the movie mode) and it also provides all the creative flexibility more demanding users expect from a dSLR camera. The Olympus E-volt E410 is, at this time, the cheapest dSLR available (the body only kit can be found for less than $400.00) making it the logical choice for P&S digicam users just making the jump to a serious camera. Add the Olympus Zuiko Digital f/3.5-f5.6/14-42mm (28mm- 84mm equivalent) ED kit lens and the Olympus Zuiko Digital f4.0-f5.6/40-150mm (80mm – 300mm equivalent) zoom and the E-410 (with two lenses) sells for less than the "body only" price of some of its competitors.
NUTS & BOLTS
Optical Viewfinder/LCD Screen
The E-410 features a bright TTL (through the lens) pentamirror optical viewfinder that shows 95 percent of the image frame (magnification rate is 0.92X). There’s a comprehensive settings/status/function info readout displayed along the right side of the image frame. The (fixed) Neo Lumi-Micro matte focusing screen shows a very retro looking circular metering zone and the three AF points. The rubber/plastic eyecup is removable and Olympus supplies an eyepiece blind that can be inserted to prevent stray light from entering the viewfinder during long exposures. There’s also a diopter correction dial for eyeglasses wearers.
Digital SLR LCD screens generally can't be used as viewfinders (like they are with Point & Shoot digital cameras) so most dSLR shooters must compose and frame their images using the optical viewfinder - the LCD screens on virtually all digital SLRs are used for menu navigation and post exposure image review. The E-410’s 2.5 inch (230,000 pixel) LCD screen can be used as a viewfinder - to frame and compose images. Engage live view (via the Display button) and the E-410’s reflex mirror swings up out of the light path and a live TTL image appears on the LCD screen – users can then zoom, frame, compose, adjust for conditions, and expose the image.
In Live View mode the E-410’s LCD screen isn’t as bright or as sharp as it is in review/playback mode – and it is not as fluid (rapid movements appear jerky and slightly slowed down) as most P&S digicam screens. More troubling is the inability to use pre-focus in Live View mode. Press the shutter button (in Live View mode) and the reflex mirror drops back into place momentarily to measure light levels and adjust AF and then rises back out of the light path – this adds about a second to the E410’s image capture cycle (shutter lag) making the Live View mode essentially useless when shooting action. What is neat about Live View (with static subjects) is the ability to view your composition on the LCD screen and then change zoom settings, adjust exposure, sensitivity, white balance, etc. and see those changes in real time – before tripping the shutter.
Optics/Lensmount
The E-410 features a stainless steel Olympus 4/3 lens mount. Panasonic, Leica, Sanyo, and Sigma dSLRs also support the 4/3 lens mount. 4/3 lenses have a 2X magnification (crop) factor, so the 35mm equivalent focal length of any 4/3 mount optic is doubled - telephoto lenses magically grow longer (an 80 mm - 200 mm zoom becomes a 160 mm - 400 mm zoom). The bad news is that the same thing happens to wide-angle lenses (an 18 mm – 55 mm zoom becomes a 36 mm - 110 mm zoom). Digital photographers who like to shoot with wide angle optics may be frustrated by the dearth of real wide-angle options available with the 4/3 system lenses.
Auto Focus (AF)
The E-410 features the same TTL phase difference detection 3 point auto focus system as its predecessors. AF is consistently and dependably fast and accurate. The E-410’s AF system is noticeably slower (although no less accurate) in Live View mode.
Manual Focus (MF)
When precise focus is critical users can resort to the MF focus ring on each lens just like photographers used to do in the old days, before auto focus.
Flash
The E-410's built-in TTL auto/manual multi-mode pop-up flash (guide number - 12 meters at ISO 100) provides an average range of lighting options including: off, auto (fires when the camera determines that ambient light isn’t sufficient), red-eye reduction, slow sync (balances flash output and a slower shutter speed with ambient light for a more natural look), slow sync with red-eye reduction, fill flash (useful for close-ups and backlit subjects), and second curtain synch effect (flash fires at the end of the exposure). X-synch is 1/180th of a second. Flash output can be adjusted /-2 EV in 1.0, ½, and 1/3 EV increments.
Like most built-in flash units the E-410’s on-board speedlite is positioned too close to (and on essentially the same plane as) the lens, so redeye is likely to be a problem. The E-410’s red-eye reduction mode will help to eliminate or ameliorate red-eye, but at a cost – the pre-flash cycle will noticeably slow down the exposure process.
The E-4510 also provides a dedicated hot shoe. Olympus external flash units (FL36 and FL50 ) can be used in TTL auto mode. Third party flash units may be used, but only in manual flash mode.
Memory Media & Image File Format(s)
The E-410 provides memory card slots for Compact Flash type II and xD picture cards.
Images can be saved in either JPEG or RAW format.
Connectivity
USB 2.0HS, A/V out, and DC in
Power
The E-410 draws its power from a proprietary Olympus BLS-1 lithium-ion rechargeable battery. I didn’t keep track of exposures (my shooting style precludes this – I shoot, review, delete, and re-shoot continuously), but based on my experiences with the camera I’d say power depth (battery duration) is about average - I used the camera heavily and never ran out of juice, but I barely tried the Live View feature. I’m betting that Live View is a real power hog, so moderate to heavy shooters who plan to utilize Live View heavily should probably buy a back up battery.
EXPOSURE
The E-410 provides a full slate of exposure options, including all the P&S auto capability casual photographers are likely want and most of the creative flexibility more serious photographers are likely to need. Exposure options include: Auto, Program AE (flexible), Scene - Portrait, Landscape, Landscape & Portrait, Night Scene, Night Scene & Portrait, Children, Sport, High Key, Low Key, Digital Image Stabilization (high ISO), Macro, Natural Macro, Candlelight, Sunset, Fireworks, Documents, Panorama (requires an Olympus brand xD-Picture Card), Beach & Snow, Under Water Wide, and Under Water Macro. More advanced shooters will appreciate the E410’s Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and full Manual modes.
In Auto (point & shoot) mode, the E-410 makes all exposure decisions. In Program AE mode, the camera automatically selects the aperture and shutter speed, but users can select all other exposure variables. In all Scene modes the camera automatically optimizes exposure parameters for the specific Scene genre selected. In Aperture Priority mode, shooters select the lens aperture and the camera selects an appropriate shutter speed. In Shutter Priority mode, users select the shutter speed and the camera automatically selects the best aperture. In Manual mode users select all exposure variables.
I used the E-410 primarily in Program AE mode and I noticed a slight (but consistent) tendency toward underexposure (generally by 1/3 to 2/3 EV) in the Program AE and Auto modes. This shouldn’t be problem for most shooters, since minor underexposure produces somewhat more intense colors, slightly harder contrast, and better conserves highlight detail. The other side of the coin is that even minor underexposure causes some loss of shadow detail.
Metering
The E-410 provides several light metering options: Default light metering is a 49 segment multi-pattern (evaluative) metering system – great for general photography chores. There’s also a center-weighted averaging option - Center-weighted averaging metering biases exposure on the central portion of frame (great for landscape and travel images where the subject is likely to be centered). The E410 also provides 3 spot metering options (spot, highlight spot, and shadow spot) - spot meters reads only a tiny portion of the image frame allowing users to bias exposure on the single most important element in the composition. The E410’s metering is dependably accurate and the range of metering options is more than adequate for the camera’s target audience.
White Balance (WB)
The E-410 provides a very broad range of white balance options, including TTL Auto (the Auto WB setting is dependably accurate in most outdoor lighting), Overcast, Shade, Tungsten, Sunlight, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Manual “one-touch” (custom), Kelvin (2000 – 14000 Kelvin in 7 steps), Red – Blue (warm-cool) /- 7 steps (in 2 mired increments), Green - Magenta /- 7 steps (in 2 mired increments) and two color space options - sRGB & Adobe RGB. The Custom setting permits users to manually set white balance with a white or gray card (or a white wall or ceiling). E410 users can tweak all WB settings (including Auto) /- 7 steps and then press the AE/AF lock button to preview the results.
Sensitivity (ISO)
The E-410 provides an adequate range of sensitivity settings including TTL Auto and settings for 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600 ISO. The ISO 800 and 1600 settings provide photographers with the flexibility to shoot indoors without flash, shoot at faster shutter speeds (to freeze action) outdoors, and to better capture images in low/dim lighting (image noise rises as sensitivity increases). I would have liked to see the sensitivity range start at ISO 50 or ISO 64, rather than ISO 100.
Noise Reduction (NR)
The E-410’s default noise reduction does a pretty good job, but it is a bit aggressive. Aggressive NR results in somewhat softer images. Shooters who demand/want/need tack sharp images should set the E-410’s noise filter to either low or off.
DESIGN, BUILD QUALITY, CONTROLS, & ERGONOMICS
The E-410 is a stylish, very compact, and remarkably easy to use enthusiast digital SLR. Ergonomics are superb and construction is robust (polycarbonate body shell over a metal alloy frame). All controls are logically placed and easily accessed - plus the E-410 provides direct access to white balance, AF mode, ISO/sensitivity, exposure compensation, and metering options.
Technical Specifications
Resolution: 10.0 megapixels (3648 x 2736)
Sensor: 4/3 Live MOS (CMOS) 17.3mm x 13.0 mm active area
Viewfinders: TTL (through the lens) Optical and 2.5 inch (fixed) LCD screen
Lens Mount: 4/3 Olympus
Auto Focus: TTL phase difference detection 3 point AF
Exposure: Auto, Program AE, Scene, Shutter Priority AE, Aperture Priority AE, and Manual modes
Flash: Built-in multi mode pop-up and dedicated Olympus Hot Shoe
Metering: Evaluative, Center-Weighted Averaging, and Spot
White Balance: TTL Auto, Overcast, Shade, Tungsten, Sunlight, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Manual "one-touch" (custom), Kelvin (2000 – 14000 Kelvin in 7 steps), Red – Blue (warm-cool) /- 7 steps (in 2 mired increments), Green - Magenta /- 7 steps (in 2 mired increments)
Sensitivity: TTL Auto, and ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600
Connectivity: USB 2.0HS, A/V out, and DC in
Image File Format(s): JPEG & RAW
Power: Olympus BLS-1 lithium-ion rechargeable battery
Included
Olympus BLS-1 rechargeable Li-ion battery, A/V cables, USB cable, Software, and user’s manual.
Optional
Zooms and prime lenses from Olympus and other manufacturers, an Olympus underwater housing, and Olympus’ FL36 and FL50 external flash units
In the Field/Handling & Operation
I often get together with an old friend who shares my passion for photography. He works in the business (selling new and used digital and analog photographic equipment) so he can generally provide something new and interesting for us to play with. He turned up on a recent Saturday morning with an Olympus E-Volt E410 dSLR and two Zuiko zooms (Olympus Zuiko Digital f/3.5-f5.6/14-42mm zoom and the Olympus Zuiko Digital f4.0-f5.6/40-150mm zoom) and asked me if I’d like to help him assess the performance of the camera and both lenses. I’ve been testing the new Olympus E-3 dSLR (with Olympus Zuiko f/2.8-f4.0/12mm-60mm Digital ED SWD zoom) for another website, so I was very interested in directly comparing/contrasting Olympus’ entry level dSLR and their top of the line pro dSLR.
The first thing we did was to run some color tests. We use a homemade macro stage and a selection of brightly colored (red, green, yellow, blue, orange, and purple) plastic children’s beach toys arrayed on a white background. This test allows us to check color accuracy and the precision of each camera's white balance system (and compare the results from camera to camera). The E410’s Auto White Balance setting faithfully rendered hue correct color for all the plastic beach toys, but red was a bit brighter and more intense in our images (viewed on a NEC 19” CRT monitor) than it is IRL. Default color interpolation is a tiny bit warm, which is not surprising in a camera targeted toward the photo enthusiast/advanced amateur market niche.
After we finished our color tests, we headed for nearby Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville's unofficial arboretum. Cave Hill is one of the best remaining examples of 19th century U. S. landscape architecture and a popular destination for local photographers. There is always something to photograph at this old burying ground, no matter the season. Cave Hill’s 300 acres are filled with an almost dizzying collection of (native and exotic) trees, shrubs, bushes, and plants plus thousands of old headstones, dozens of ornate mausoleums, a rustic old groundskeeper’s cottage, and a small lake (with hundreds of resident ducks, geese, and swans).
The last couple of weeks we've had some really nasty weather - cold gray days with lots of rain, but the weather gods finally smiled on us and provided a very pretty winter day with temperatures in the mid 50's, blue skies, puffy white clouds, and beautiful oblique light for our first outing with the E410. We spent the afternoon shooting a wide variety of subjects – time and weatherworn tomb-stones in the oldest section of cemetery, Eastern Red Cedar, American Holly, Magnolia, Chokeberry, Mountain Ash, and Barberry. We also shot images of the resident waterfowl around the lake.
When Cave Hill closed for the day we still had about two hours of daylight left, so we drove over to nearby Cherokee Park and hit the scenic loop to shoot dog-walkers, bikers, and joggers out enjoying the unseasonal weather. The E410 performed flawlessly (outdoors) in Program mode and also did an excellent job in the manual modes, but it looked tiny and felt almost weightless when compared to the hefty E3. Both the Zuiko f/3.5-f5.6/14-42mm zoom and the Zuiko Digital f4.0-f5.6/40-150mm zoom captured sharply focused hue accurate images with no discernible faults, but neither was as sharp or as responsive as the Zuiko f/2.8-f4.0/12mm-60mm mounted on the E3. I didn’t shoot any images indoors with the E410, but both zooms feature slow maximum apertures (f3.5 & f4.0) so clearly the E3 (with its wider sensitivity range and its fast f2.8 zoom) is a better choice for indoor shooting.
We got together again on Sunday morning and headed for Louisville’s Extreme Park. The Extreme Park is the go to place for local photographers looking to capture action. Skateboarders and BMX bikers are drawn to the park (at least when the weather is nice) to perfect their moves in the industrial sized full pipe, 5 interconnected bowls, and twelve-foot half pipe. Many of the kids at the Extreme Park are talented athletes and most of them love showing off for the camera.
BMX bikers move faster than skateboarders and they need a bit more of the frame to accommodate their bikes, so shooting bikers is a bit harder than shooting skateboarders. What we usually do is to watch the BMXer do his routine a couple of times to isolate the spots where the most dramatic action will occur – then track the kid through his run and nail him when he does his most impressive mid-air move. With most cameras (especially consumer level P&S digicams) shooters have to anticipate the peak action moment by about ¼ of a second (so the camera has time to lock focus and trip the shutter) but that wasn’t necessary with the E410. This entry-level Olympus is not as quick as the E3, but it is fast enough to keep up with most action sports.
PERFORMANCE
Image Quality
Digital SLR image quality is actually much more dependent on the quality of the glass in front of the sensor than it is on the effectiveness of the camera's processing and exposure systems. Both of the zooms were designed specifically for the Olympus E-410/E-510 and both are impressively good, conspicuously better than comparable "kit" lenses from most other manufacturers. In addition, both lenses are lightweight and very compact – although some users may be bothered by the polycarbonate lens mounts featured on both optics.
The E410's image quality is dependably very good to excellent. Colors are bright, but slightly oversaturated and default contrast is slightly hard. The E410 does an excellent job in decent light - rendering outdoor scenes very nicely, but in poor lighting images shot with both (slow maximum aperture) kit zooms tend to be a bit dull. Images shot at ISO 100 have extremely low noise levels. Detail capture in highlight areas is very good and detail capture in shadow areas is excellent with either kit lens.
Edge transitions are consistently crisp. I did notice some visible barrel distortion at the wide-angle end of the 14-42 zoom, but no pincushion distortion or vignetting (dark corners) with either optic. Both lenses are sharp in the center, even at maximum aperture, although both are, typically, a bit softer in the corners. Noise levels start to pick up slightly at ISO 200 and ISO 400 shots show some minor loss of detail. The E-410’s ISO 800 and ISO 1600 images are noticeably soft with flat contrast and dull colors.
Timing/Shutter Lag
The E-410 is a very fast dSLR (especially considering the price) equal to any digital camera in its class. Even with the Supersonic Wave Filter (dust reduction) function at start-up the E-410 is ready to rock and roll in less than 2.0 seconds. AF lock (in good light with the 14-42 zoom) is about 1/3 of a second from scratch and essentially real time with pre-focus (using the optical viewfinder). Shutter lag in Live View mode is about 1.0 to 1.5 seconds. Shot to shot times are noticeably quicker than average - about ½ a second for a full resolution (no flash) JPEG. Write to card times are also a bit faster than average.
A Few Concerns
Buying the E410 will lock first-time dSLR purchasers into the 4/3 lens mount, but it is the best dSLR deal around right now.
Conclusion
The Olympus Evolt E410 was obviously designed to appeal to a specific class of purchasers – cost conscious amateur photography enthusiasts who want the flexibility and capability of a dSLR but don't want to give up the nifty features and easy operation of point & shoot digital cameras. The Olympus E-Volt E410 very nicely spans the gap between prosumer digicams like the Canon Powershot S5 IS and semi-pro digital SLRs like the Canon 40D. This little dSLR delivers the ability to mount interchangeable lenses and external flash units, 10 megapixel resolution, a new N-MOS (CMOS) sensor that allows (unlike the vast majority of dSLRs) the LCD screen to be used for composing images, and dual memory card slots - at a lower price than the competition. Shooters who want/need Image Stabilization can pony up an additional $100.00 and buy the almost identical Olympus E-volt E510.
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