Olympus E-400

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Olympus has a long history of brilliant cameras and lenses.
It finds itself in a tough world as far as digital SLR cameras are concerned.
The other big names - Nikon and Canon, have a huge section of the market already. Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and Pentax are eager rivals, but Olympus is determined not to get left behind.
Their E series, and especially their latest models, are crossing new frontiers and making ...
...photographs you want to shoot. Olympus has 19 lenses just for its E series.!
A macro lens lets you get in close to small objects - you know those pictures of spiders in their webs, and such like.!
A telephoto lens lets you zoom in on some far away object, and fill the frame with the face of Big Ben from 2 miles away, or so!
Sports photographers and the paparazzi get in close with massive telephoto lenses.

In general ... more

1 A Tough Market
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Olympus has a long history of brilliant cameras and lenses.
It finds itself in a tough world as far as digital SLR cameras are concerned.
The other big names - Nikon and Canon, have a huge section of the market already. Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and Pentax are eager rivals, but Olympus is determined not to get left behind.
Their E series, and especially their latest models, are crossing new frontiers and making ground against the other firms.

2 General Features
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Let's take a minute to note what the E-400 has in common with the other SLRs that you might contemplate.!

The benefit of a Single Lens Reflex camera has always been that what you see through the viewfinder, is what you are going to get in your photograph.
A mirror reflects what is coming through the lens straight to your eyes, and as you click the shutter, that mirror clears out the way, and you get your shot.

The next advantage of any SLR is that you can get a range of lenses and swap one for another depending on the photographs you want to shoot. Olympus has 19 lenses just for its E series.!
A macro lens lets you get in close to small objects - you know those pictures of spiders in their webs, and such like.!
A telephoto lens lets you zoom in on some far away object, and fill the frame with the face of Big Ben from 2 miles away, or so!
Sports photographers and the paparazzi get in close with massive telephoto lenses.

In general terms, the quality of lens in an SLR is a world apart from point and shoot cameras.

And the third main advantage of SLRs is that you can use a wide variety of settings, which allows a bit of creativity to shine through. You can get a flower in perfect focus, while the surrounding area is blurred and atmospheric.

Digital SLRs have managed to combine all of what an ordinary SLR can do, with the technology and wizardry of the digital age.
So you have no film to buy; you store on to a memory card; you can edit and delete photos in the camera; you can transfer them to a computer, and then you can use the photo programmes to further enhance your photo before printing - eg remove the red eyes.

It has its own built in flash, and a shoe for using more complex flash arrangements.

It has an LCD screen to view your image once it's taken, and the same screen, 2.5", also allows you to see all the different settings available.

The Olympus e-400 shares all those general features with its rivals.

3 The Specials
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Olympus has marched ahead in terms of the resolution of its images.
10 mega pixels is more or less the top of the class for entry-level DSLRs, though that is now, in May 2007, - it will be a different story by October, no doubt. You can get higher - even 21MP in a Mamiya - but then you are talking professional cameras costing £8000.!

Olympus has also achieved the lightest camera in its class - and that is worth thinking about if you are likely to be holding it for long periods, getting those perfect shots lined up. It is also a very small package, fitting nicely in the hand. When it was launched last year it was the smallest and lightest DSLR - Nikon have now launched a smaller one, but it only has 5MP.

Olympus has pioneered its Super Sonic Wave Filter as a way of ensuring that dust and dirt do not get in the way of good pictures. A little blue light on the top of the camera illuminates when you switch it on, letting you know that cleaning is in progress. If you are concerned about any dust at any time, there is a cleaning programme which can carry out the task for you.

There are loads of settings you can choose from when customising how you shoot your pictures.
For instance there are 32 different scene modes, even including underwater ones - though you do need a separate waterproof housing before you try them out !
However, if you are in a hurry, or just not that bothered, there is an auto setting, which will do the basic work for you.
Just line up one of the three autofocus grids in the viewfinder with the thing you want in sharp focus, press the shutter button half way down, and a red light will shine, while the lens will automatically give you a sharp focus.
Keep pressing, and you have a perfectly focussed shot.

As you look through the viewfinder, there is a little display which shows you what speed and shutter settings have been selected.
You can also see whether or not the flash light has popped up, ready to work automatically.
There are settings on the menu to make this happen or prevent it.

You can use other settings to affect the colour balance of your photographs, the way in which the flash will operate when in use, the speed of the photograph, and the depth of field.

You can save your pictures on either a Compact flash card or an xd card. With Compact flash cards going to 8gb at present, it is my preferred choice. They are high speed and they are pretty robust when loading them into a card reader, or PC.

4 The Results
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As this is a recent addition to my camera stock, I have not got a lot of examples to show, but will include some.
Quite simply, the results are staggering.
The Olympus lens produces sharpness that is a world apart from your average point and shoot cameras.
Since you can shoot and save in RAW mode ( that is a camera setting, nothing to do with your state of dress or outside temperature ) , you can load your pictures on to your PC and alter just about anything. !
If you were a setting too over-exposed, RAW editing will perfectly adjust that for you. If you think the sky is underexposed but the field was overexposed, you can layer the shots and edit the different sections separately. The possibilities are endless.

5 Costs and Bits
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A year ago, a camera of this capability would have cost you £1000 or so.
At present, it is available all over the place for around £500. What a sign that is of technology becoming ever more accessible.
This particular model is about to be superseded again with a slightly higher spec. The result is that prices are heading down fast for a while.
PCWorld is selling the camera body and lens at just £349.
There is no case at that price, which is a bit mean, in my book. You will be told that cases are an individual preference, some folk preferring a bag that takes the camera body, plus lenses, plus flash gun, plus spare batteries, chargers, storage etc. Others prefer a quality leather case that attaches to the camera and protects the LCD display. Depending on your preference, that is an extra £30, roughly.
There is no storage card supplied either. This is even more mean, in my estimation, since a basic card would add only a fiver to the costs, and let you use the camera right out of the box.
The package I had did include an Olympus battery and charging unit, and since they add up to £70, you want to check that they are included in the price.
The battery takes about 2 hours to charge fully; I will do an update when I have an accurate guide to the number of pictures that can be taken on a fully charged battery – it is a lot, I can tell you, if experience to date is anything to go by.

6 For You?
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These cameras are not as neat and compact as the miniature offerings from all the camera manufacturers today.
This does have functions on it that will never be used – or even understood – by the average photographer.
It is not possible to see your photograph in the lcd screen as you make all your adjustments before snapping – you need to get your eye on the viewfinder.
However, the plus side includes the quality of picture, the variety of types of shot, the ease of the auto programme, and the feel of a quality product. 

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