Olympus E-400 - First impression

During a press conference in Hamburg on 22. August, the European photo press received the first information about the world's smallest and lightest digital SLR camera, the Olympus E-400. Two weeks later, I had the pleasure of trying the camera over a weekend, though with the strictest instruction NOT to publish images taken with it, as the camera came from a pre-production series, thus missing several updates.

Construction
My immediate reaction when I saw the camera for the first time, was its successful design. It gave me the impression of being smaller that it actually is and the plastic exteriour looked more "expensive" than many of the cheap D-SLR's on the market.

To many people, the word "plastic" makes their ears tremble, but the fact is that high quality plastics have many advantages over metal. Scratches are less blemishing on a plastic surface, and it can withstand more impact without dents than for example soft metals like aluminium. It also feels less cold in the hands on a frosty winters day. I got the impression that Olympus have chosen high quality plastics for the E-400.

The apparent compactness is mainly due to the camera's low profile. The Olympus OM-1 from the sixties immediately came to my mind when I first spotted the E-400. This is not a coincidence, since the OM-1 in its time also was the smallest boy in class. However, when I place the bottom of the E-400 against the bottom of the Canon EOS 350D, there's virtually no difference at all. The base plates are almost the same size, but the E-400 does not have that protruding grip found on the EOS 350D, only a smal rubber-like bump.

The reason why the E-400 is "missing" a protruding grip is the new, smaller battery pack. It's called PS-BLS1 with a mere 1150 mAh capacity at 7,2V. The choice is obviously made to make the camera the "world's lightest", sadly sacrificing both the grip and a compatible battery to the other models in the E-series in the process.

Unfortunately for Olympus, small size and low weight are not my priorities in a D-SLR. Large hands require an appropriate camera size to provide the safe and comfortable grip demanded by an advanced user. The lack of a good grip is for me a considerable drawback.

Likewise, I think the viewfinder is too small for comfort, just like the other members of the Olympus E family (even the E-1 has a smaller viewfinder than its competitors, yet I adore that camera for its other qualities....). I have not had the opportunity to compare directly, but it seems to me that the E-400 viewfinder is no bigger than that of the E-500, which is the smallest in its class. The image field covers 95%, which is quite normal, but the eyepiece has only 0.92x magnification and 16 mm eye point, which is less than in most competitors. I presume that the Finder Magnifier ME-1 will also fit the E-400.

There's a dual memory card slot in E-400, making it possible to choose between CompactFlash Type I/II (also Microdrive with FAT 16/32), or the miniature xD-Picture Card, or both simultanously.

The built-in flash is integrated into the "pentaprism", as usual. It has a guide number of only 10 (m, ISO 100), but the E-400 features +/- 2 EV flash compensation and sync on both 1. and 2. shutter curtain. A hot shoe is available, of course, compatible with external flash units like Olympus FL-50, FL-36 and FL-20. The camera has no separate AF lamp, but the flash may emit a series of small flash bursts, providing AF assistance under low light conditions.

A high contrast 2.5" (6.4 cm) LCD screen with 215.000 resolution and HyperCrystal technology delivers a bright and clear image. However, it does not have the Live View feature found in the E-330. Hence, you may not use the LCD as a live viewfinder during shooting.

New image sensor
Olympus openly admits that image sensors have been their biggest headache in recent years. As they do design, but not manufacture sensors themselves, dependency on reliable manufacturers have slowed down their development of new camera models. This may explain why the Olympus E-1 still has not been replaced. Another example is that the E-300 originally were planned to include a live view LCD monitor, but Olympus were unable to get hold of the required image sensor in time. Therefore, this feature had to wait until the launch of the E-330. Olympus had by then teamed up with Panasonic, who is an efficient and skilled manufacturer of image sensors, delivering the needed NMOS sensor in record time. This partnership was a perfect match for both Panasonic and Olympus, as Panasonic themselves were seeking cooperation with a clever camera manufacturer to enter the promising D-SLR market.

It is therefore no secret that the new CCD image sensor in the E-400 is provided by Panasonic. Obviously, it's in 4/3" format (17,3x13,0 mm), offering no less than 11.2 mill. pixels, of which 10 mill. are effective. With this sensor, Olympus and Panasonic proves to the sceptics who said that a 10 MP FourThirds sensor could not be made, that they were wrong.

Just like the other models in the E-series, the image sensor in the E-400 is equipped with the revolutionary Olympus-patented supersonic filter, removing dust particles from the sensor surface.

FourThirds lens mount
With a FourThirds image sensor, the focal lengths of the lenses will appear to be 2x longer when compared with lenses for 35mm film (or image sensor). This means that a 25mm Olympus E-Series lens has an angle of view that equals a 50mm standard lens in a 35mm camera.

Since the E-400 is part of the Olympus E-System, it is obviously compatible with the whole range of Zuiko Digital lenses from Olympus, as well as any FourThirds lens from other manufacturers, such as Leica and Sigma.

Speed
As my pre-production sample missed the latest updates, and since time was limited, I did not make lab measurements of the camera speeds. However, it seemed to be just as quick as comparable models. The start-up was almost instantanous, the auto focus (with only three AF points, like the other E-series cameras) also proved to be fast and precise, the shutter lag was unnoticeable and storage speed was as expected.

Even if the Olympus E-400 is not a professional camera, its performance is well adapted to its targeted buyers. Olympus specifies in their preliminary instruction booklet that the E-400 is capable of shooting five RAW images with 3 fps, while the press release states four RAW images. My pre-production camera shot four RAW images on a SanDisk Extreme III CF-kort. With JPEG in HQ quality, the camera shoots 20 burst frames (19 images made with the test model and Extreme III card).

First impression
A much too short weekend is far from enough to build a comprehensive impression of the Olympus E-400. I think the exteriour has a better finish than the E-500, without that cheap plastic look and feel that is all too common in many budget cameras. The compact size is impressing and will certainly appeal to many potential buyers, but to me the camera was simply too small. Especially the insecure grip feeling was a disappointment. Still, the camera controls had a strategic layout, without any apparent design flaws. I particularly liked the the programmable "Fn" button.

The menus are contrasty and clear, with good visibility, and the entire LCD screen functions as a gigantic info panel, just like on the other E-series models. What the camera has to offer in terms of features and functions are available in the press release and technical specifications from Olympus websites.

Since the camera I used was from a "pre-production" series, my verdict of the image quality is rather superficial. Let me put it this way: With the 10 MP 4/3" CCD in the E-400, Panasonic prove to the world that it could be done. From what I can see, they have done it in style. The sensor seems to be of high quality, delivering excellent detail definition, natural colours and little noise.

Likewise, Olympus confirm that they have full control over the signal processing, and ever since the launch of the E-System, they have proved to be masters in optical performance. I was not permitted to publish test images, which indicates that the Olympus engineers still think it's possible to improve image quality. From what I've seen so far, it can be nothing more than minor fine-tuning.