New E-410 review from What Digital Camera

[bousozoku]

The August 2007 issue of What Digital Camera had an E-410 review and they gave it a 89 % ranking.

While they didn't like the limited dynamic range or the sequential shooting of RAW files.

They did like the huge improvement in noise over the E-400 plus the continued light weight and the addition of Live View.

[fido-dido]

Perhaps it's biased ?? How many Olympus ads do you see in the mag?

[bousozoku]

They will be the last camera magazine to be biased. They always tell it like it is.

I think their comments were consistent with what people have mentioned here about the E-510, also.

[drakon09]

Originally Posted by bousozoku While they didn't like the limited dynamic range or the sequential shooting of RAW files.

From my experience with the 410, it is not so much limited DR, it is more of the tonal curve used in the cam's JPEG engine. To squeeze every last drop of DR on the 410 just drop the contrast setting to -2, and set exposure compensation at -0.7.

Of course that will mean some images will be unusable and need to be post processed.

As for RAW file sequential shooting, 12 is quite enough for 99% of the 410 users. If you really NEED to shoot a movie, then shooting JPEG on a fast CF card will allow you to fill the card without a drop in FPS - but then good luck on deleting the unneeded images!

[Mikefellh]

Originally Posted by drakon09 As for RAW file sequential shooting, 12 is quite enough for 99% of the 410 users.

TWELVE??!?!!? How many shots are people expecting? FOUR was enough for the earlier cameras (of course if you had a fast card and switched to JPEG you could do infinite until the camera overheats).

[bousozoku]

Originally Posted by drakon09 From my experience with the 410, it is not so much limited DR, it is more of the tonal curve used in the cam's JPEG engine. To squeeze every last drop of DR on the 410 just drop the contrast setting to -2, and set exposure compensation at -0.7. Of course that will mean some images will be unusable and need to be post processed. As for RAW file sequential shooting, 12 is quite enough for 99% of the 410 users. If you really NEED to shoot a movie, then shooting JPEG on a fast CF card will allow you to fill the card without a drop in FPS - but then good luck on deleting the unneeded images!

Well, on the sequential shooting, the price point would say immediately that the E-410 is not a camera for sports shooting, so it shouldn't be a problem. The grip isn't big enough and the controls aren't physical to hold and change things without looking.

As far as the exposure, for the most part things were very good but on sunny days, of which they get so few in England, they were losing cloud detail. Surely, your adjustments would help but of course, out of the box, the camera should be better and that's all they're judging. The firmware updates haven't helped?

[drakon09]

Originally Posted by bousozoku Well, on the sequential shooting, the price point would say immediately that the E-410 is not a camera for sports shooting, so it shouldn't be a problem. The grip isn't big enough and the controls aren't physical to hold and change things without looking. As far as the exposure, for the most part things were very good but on sunny days, of which they get so few in England, they were losing cloud detail. Surely, your adjustments would help but of course, out of the box, the camera should be better and that's all they're judging. The firmware updates haven't helped?

Actually I didn't really notice any difference after the firmware update!

I do have settings for out of box images for those events that I really cannot be bothered/no time to do pp on, contrast and sharpness at 0, noise filter to low, ev comp. at -0.3, tonal range at vivid. Handles the highlights ok most of the time - spot metering helps plenty as well.

[night86mare]

Aiya no camera is perfect what

And no camera will ever be perfect if one wants to be nitpicky

Knowing how to use your camera, is more important

Oh wait, what am I doing in 4/3s?

[drakon09]

Originally Posted by night86mare Aiya no camera is perfect what And no camera will ever be perfect if one wants to be nitpicky Knowing how to use your camera, is more important Oh wait, what am I doing in 4/3s?

Ya loh... why you here ah?

Shoo!

[bousozoku]

Originally Posted by drakon09 Actually I didn't really notice any difference after the firmware update! I do have settings for out of box images for those events that I really cannot be bothered/no time to do pp on, contrast and sharpness at 0, noise filter to low, ev comp. at -0.3, tonal range at vivid. Handles the highlights ok most of the time - spot metering helps plenty as well.

Well, after the E-1, I think I'd be disappointed but I'd work around it, of course. As the review said, it was a huge step up from the E-400 and they gave it a 2 % better rating and their recommendation. The E-1 got 93 %, for comparison. I think if Olympus built another camera, an E-610, but added physical controls instead of menu options, it would rate much higher.

[Mikefellh]

Originally Posted by bousozoku I think if Olympus built another camera, an E-610, but added physical controls instead of menu options, it would rate much higher.

It's already been done...it's called the Panasonic DMC-L1 and Leica Digilux 3.

[bousozoku]

Originally Posted by Mikefellh It's already been done...it's called the Panasonic DMC-L1 and Leica Digilux 3.

They're interesting but not that close in the way they're used simply because they're rangerfinders, even with the LCD and Live View.

[tomcat]

Originally Posted by bousozoku They're interesting but not that close in the way they're used simply because they're rangerfinders, even with the LCD and Live View.

That's a strange thing to say.... the L1 and Digilux 3 are not rangefinders. They are true DSLRs but with a lot of analog controls like in film cameras. The only real digital rangefinders ever made so far are the Epson RD-1/RD-1s and Leica M8.

[Mikefellh]

Originally Posted by bousozoku They're interesting but not that close in the way they're used simply because they're rangerfinders, even with the LCD and Live View.

Huh? Do you consider the E-330 and E-300 rangefinders too, as they use the SAME TTL SLR optical viewfinder as the L1 and Digilux 3!

Why do you call the L1 and Digilux 3 rangefinders?

[tao]

They are not rangefinders, the E-300, E-330 and L1 are more like 'rangefinder-style' DSLRs.

[Mikefellh]

Originally Posted by tao They are not rangefinders, the E-300, E-330 and L1 are more like 'rangefinder-style' DSLRs.

But bousozoku didn't say rangefinder "style", did they? I wanted to hear from them what they meant by their comment.

[bousozoku]

Originally Posted by Mikefellh But bousozoku didn't say rangefinder "style", did they? I wanted to hear from them what they meant by their comment.

No, I didn't say or mean style, but I haven't handled one either. I remembered some quote long ago that Leica would never, ever build an SLR and I made a poor assumption that they'd stuck to that and built a rangefinder on mostly the same hardware as the E-330.

Shhh, it's the first mistake I ever made.

[bousozoku]

The September issue is out and they gave 1 more per cent to the E-510 for design than the E-410.

They liked the I.S. and that was the only huge difference in the E-510 review compared to last month's E-410 review.

Considering that the E-1 originally got a 93 % rating, Olympus is looking good right now with their current cameras.