Smallest DSLR combo ever

swintonphoto · March 5, 2008

Olympus announced a new DSLR - the E420. It is only a minor upgrade from the E410. Seems the upgrades are a slightly larger LCD, improved live-view autofocus, and a tiny new lens you can get as a kit with it - a 25mm 2.8 fixed lens. It's tiny. I was quite suprised by this upgrade because the E410 hit the shelves last summer (as did the E510 which does not appear to have an upgrade at the moment). But, I guess they wanted to make a splash with this new lens combo. It will be a really sweet compact camera option. Anyone thinking of getting an advanced point and shoot could really be swayed by this tiny DSLR option.

Here is a link to the camera on the Oly website:
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1372

Here is a link to more information:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1204693260.html

Tee Why · March 5, 2008

Yea, I saw this yesterday and really find the camera interesting with the small lens.

I hear things being speculated that the sensor may be a new one from the E-3, which has more dynamic range and supposedly less noise than the 10MP sensor in the E410, so that may be good as well.

The pancake kit is has a MSRP of $699, the MSRP of the E410 body alone is $699 (currently selling at B&H for $400), so you can see what a tremendous value this represents.

If the kit can be bought for about $500 after the initial rush dies down, it's gonna be hard for me to resist dumping my p/s for this.

I really wish that others would come up with a small compact beginners dslr like Olympus doing. I know Nikon has/has had a FM 10 IIRC, basically a no frills film slr for about $250 for beginners/students. I wish Canon would bring some low priced small retro styled thin body with a very small and fast prime lens. As nice as this Oly seems, I would find it hard to justify a third dlsr (in a different mount no less) for my hobby.

Are you listening Canon???

SavedByZero · March 5, 2008

worthless with out a zoom to replace any p/s IMHO.

swintonphoto · March 5, 2008

In the 35mm days, many photographers including myself had a small manual 35mm camera with a fixed 50mm lens. I had a Nikon FM2 I carried it around when I didn't want to lug my hassy. This would be the equivalent of that. I actually never used a zoom lens before digital. Always had primes. This combo won't be for everyone. They will still sell the E420 in a 14-42mm kit as well.

ziggy53 · March 5, 2008

SavedByZero wrote:

worthless with out a zoom to replace any p/s IMHO.

It accepts the full line of Four Thirds lenses so I think that would be possible. It would increase the size, of course, but it's still diminutive compared to any other dSLR.

Certainly the fact that it is a dSLR should give it more system flexibility than any point-n-shoot.

jziegler · March 5, 2008

I don't know if it will sway a lot of P&S users, but I'm looking at it. I;ve been thinking DSLR for a while now (even before I bought my superzoom), and with the Olympus pricing a features, they were pretty much at the top of my list. This new release just reinforces that. Now, e-420 with the prime, or E-510 two lens kit (and then add the 14-54?)

I also wonder how many people that use other DSLR systems and want a pocketable camera might go with this, even if it means a second system.

Definately a good move for Olympus.

Grainbelt · March 5, 2008

Glad to see a manufacturer do something innovative. If nothing else, would be a great backup body and walkaround kit with the right complement of lenses.

I suppose it is too much to ask for Canon or Nikon to compete in this market.

Internaut · March 6, 2008

Tee Why wrote:

I hear things being speculated that the sensor may be a new one from the E-3, which has more dynamic range and supposedly less noise than the 10MP sensor in the E410, so that may be good as well.

Much speculation indeed. If it has the sensor and processing engine of the E-3 then it will be a nice incremental improvement that JPEG shooters in particular will appreciate.

swintonphoto · March 6, 2008

Tee Why wrote:

I hear things being speculated that the sensor may be a new one from the E-3, which has more dynamic range and supposedly less noise than the 10MP sensor in the E410, so that may be good as well.

I dunno - seems they may be shooting their E-3 sales in the foot putting their pro sensor in their cheapest camera.

Internaut · March 7, 2008

swintonphoto wrote:

I dunno - seems they may be shooting their E-3 sales in the foot putting their pro sensor in their cheapest camera.

Not really. If image quality is your only criteria then the differences between the E-3 and the E-410/510 may not be worth the extra cost. Canon and Nikon both produce low end DSLRS (thinking 400D and D40x) that sacrifice nothing in quality of output compared to the bigger brothers in the range.

Bendr · March 7, 2008

Tee Why wrote:

I really wish that others would come up with a small compact beginners dslr like Olympus doing. I know Nikon has/has had a FM 10 IIRC, basically a no frills film slr for about $250 for beginners/students. I wish Canon would bring some low priced small retro styled thin body with a very small and fast prime lens. As nice as this Oly seems, I would find it hard to justify a third dlsr (in a different mount no less) for my hobby.

Are you listening Canon???

I know it's not quite the same, But I would almost consider Canon's G9 to be their equivalent. It's main difference, is lack of support for the EOS lens system, and smaller sensor size...

Seefutlung · March 7, 2008

Internaut wrote:

Not really. If image quality is your only criteria then the differences between the E-3 and the E-410/510 may not be worth the extra cost. Canon and Nikon both produce low end DSLRS (thinking 400D and D40x) that sacrifice nothing in quality of output compared to the bigger brothers in the range.

Not to seem argumentative ... but (the big but) ... Nikon and Canon seem to differ on their approach... assuming we agree that a CMOS sensor is superior to a CCD, (at least at elevated ISOs) ... then Nikon is placing their best sensor only in their most expensive cameras (D3 and D300), while Canon places CMOS sensors across their entire line.

Gary

Internaut · March 7, 2008

Seefutlung wrote:

Not to seem argumentative ... but (the big but) ... Nikon and Canon seem to differ on their approach... assuming we agree that a CMOS sensor is superior to a CCD, (at least at elevated ISOs) ... then Nikon is placing their best sensor only in their most expensive cameras (D3 and D300), while Canon places CMOS sensors across their entire line.

Gary

I woudn't disagree - Canon's sensor tech has given it an edge over everyone else for some time and they do indeed put it in every DSLR body they produce.

The D3 and D300 are very recent both look pretty special (Nikon and Sony have doubtless given Canon pause for thought). Time and (hopefully) healthy competition will tell if this technology makes into into a consumer Nikon DXX.

Tee Why · March 7, 2008

This is an interesting enough camera that I'll keep it in the backburner.
If the IQ is nice and the prices come down like it has on the E410 (body MSRP is $699, street price $399) I may have to swap my p/s for this sucker.

I really don't consider the Canon G9 series as something similar to this as I have a hard time living with fixed lens and small noisy sensor. Personally, when p/s's got more than 6MP's, the IQ went down quite a bit, especially at over ISO 200. Anyway, I'm happy to see more options and competition.

One day, Canon may even include a center pinch lens cap and a hood when you buy a $999 lens. Well, we can all dream, can't we?

swintonphoto · March 7, 2008

If I was in the market for a backup camera for my E510 this would definately be my first pick. But I still have an E500 that serves as backup very well.

Tee Why · March 8, 2008

E 420 shots taken with pancake lens images are up
Here is a site with some shots you can download and look at.
http://www.quesabesde.com/noticias/olympus-e-420-analisis-muestras-zuiko-25mm-f2.8,1_4146

To be honest, the JPEG images look more digitally processed than I'm used to with Canon RAW shots that I convert to JPEG. Maybe the RAW images will be different.

One Olympus distributor in EU confirms that the sensor is a new one from the E3, per dpreview's forum, so image quality between the E3 and the E420 should be similar, I'd venture to guess.

I'm wishing Canon makes one like this as well, though I doubt it.
I'm still interested and will probably wait for the official reviews and comparisons and wait to see how the prices go and decide from there.

It's a very interesting camera though with the pancake lens. So small, I have visions of being Henri Cartier-Bresson with my little slr and a normal prime, sneaky photojournalistic photos. Hmmmm....

Internaut · March 8, 2008

Tee Why wrote:

Here is a site with some shots you can download and look at.
http://www.quesabesde.com/noticias/olympus-e-420-analisis-muestras-zuiko-25mm-f2.8,1_4146

To be honest, the JPEG images look more digitally processed than I'm used to with Canon RAW shots that I convert to JPEG. Maybe the RAW images will be different.

The JPEG output on the current crop of Olympus cameras is configurable and by defult is probably more what the point and shoot market would want. If you want something a little more muted that you can play with in post processing, the camera will produce this.

jziegler · March 8, 2008

Internaut wrote:

The JPEG output on the current crop of Olympus cameras is configurable and by defult is probably more what the point and shoot market would want. If you want something a little more muted that you can play with in post processing, the camera will produce this.

I've been researching these cameras, and they really are very sonfigurable. Here's a good site for some information on the system, and there are pages about the various settings, and reccommendations on them:

http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/43/index.html

lendur2 · April 25, 2008

ziggy53 wrote:

It accepts the full line of Four Thirds lenses so I think that would be possible. It would increase the size, of course, but it's still diminutive compared to any other dSLR.

Certainly the fact that it is a dSLR should give it more system flexibility than any point-n-shoot.

Agreeing; just appending a comment: the two kit lenses are pretty petite.

lendur2 · April 25, 2008

jziegler wrote:

I don't know if it will sway a lot of P&S users, but I'm looking at it. I;ve been thinking DSLR for a while now (even before I bought my superzoom), and with the Olympus pricing a features, they were pretty much at the top of my list. This new release just reinforces that. Now, e-420 with the prime, or E-510 two lens kit (and then add the 14-54?)

I also wonder how many people that use other DSLR systems and want a pocketable camera might go with this, even if it means a second system.

Definitely a good move for Olympus.

Why waste $200 on kit lenses if you want the 14-54? Either:
1) it's not needed. IQ of the kits is said to be really good--especially stopped down two f/s. They're just not fast. --or
2) You need the quality of the pro lens, so why bother with the kits? IQ of the 14-54 is said to be better wide open than the 14-42 stopped down. After that, save your shekels till you can afford the 50-200 (the old model is cheaper, especially on the used market, and the optics are said to be the same as the SWD).

In the first case, Oly is soon to come out with a standard-grade ultrawide. Some say 8-16mm; some 9-18mm.
In the second, the 7-14 garners very high marks from everyone who uses it. But if you want to mount filters, I guess the 11-22 which is also highly praised.

My own goal is the 12-60. To me that covers enough range and the IQ is superb by all accounts I've read, and I've read several.

lendur2 · April 25, 2008

Inexpensive Canon Pinch Lens Caps

Tee Why wrote:

This is an interesting enough camera that I'll keep it in the backburner.
If the IQ is nice and the prices come down like it has on the E410 (body MSRP is $699, street price $399) I may have to swap my p/s for this sucker.

I really don't consider the Canon G9 series as something similar to this as I have a hard time living with fixed lens and small noisy sensor. Personally, when p/s's got more than 6MP's, the IQ went down quite a bit, especially at over ISO 200. Anyway, I'm happy to see more options and competition.

One day, Canon may even include a center pinch lens cap and a hood when you buy a $999 lens. Well, we can all dream, can't we?

http://http://stores.ebay.com/RJ-camera-accessory-store_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ0QQftidZ2QQpZ3QQtZkm

lendur2 · April 25, 2008

Internaut wrote:

Not really. If image quality is your only criteria then the differences between the E-3 and the E-410/510 may not be worth the extra cost. Canon and Nikon both produce low end DSLRS (thinking 400D and D40x) that sacrifice nothing in quality of output compared to the bigger brothers in the range.

On the other hand, the E-420 is noted by reviewers to give even better IQ than the E-410; and the E-520 must surely be in the same league, and it should be out pretty soon. The E-510 came out in June of 07 if memory serves.

I'll wager that IQ between the three brands; and toss in Pentax and, I assume, Sony as well. Then not to forget Panasonic, Samsung, and even moreso Fuji which uses Nikon lenses. Sigma with its Foveon chip isn't all that clear to me, so I'll let it slide. Someone else who knows more can supply the comment there.

lendur2 · June 6, 2008

swintonphoto wrote:

Olympus announced a new DSLR - the E420. It is only a minor upgrade from the E410. Seems the upgrades are a slightly larger LCD, improved live-view autofocus, and a tiny new lens you can get as a kit with it - a 25mm 2.8 fixed lens. It's tiny. I was quite suprised by this upgrade because the E410 hit the shelves last summer (as did the E510 which does not appear to have an upgrade at the moment). But, I guess they wanted to make a splash with this new lens combo. It will be a really sweet compact camera option. Anyone thinking of getting an advanced point and shoot could really be swayed by this tiny DSLR option.

Here is a link to the camera on the Oly website:
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1372

Here is a link to more information:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1204693260.html

The timetable is par for last year: E4x0 announced in March; the E-5x0 in May. Each being avaiable not too long after. Note that it has no IS.

Smallest DSLR combo ever

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