Product Reviews

The Olympus E-400 is the successor to the company's popular entry-level E-500 digital SLR carrying a 10 megapixel CCD and 2.5in screen in the smallest and lightest body we've seen to date.

Indeed, the E-400 looks very compact next to the earlier E-500, resembling the company's earlier OM2 Spot Program 35mm film model. With a body weighing just 375g and measuring a petite 129.5 x 91 x 53mm, the new E-400 is currently the lightest and smallest of any of the digital SLRs available and is perfectly suited for travelling. Don't go looking for it stateside on the cheap, though, as, officially, the Americans are staying with the E-500.

Like previous models, the build quality is reasonable - Olympus has used lightweight engineering plastics throughout - but it's not up to the likes of the sturdy Canon Eos 400D or Nikon D80.

In terms of pixel count at least, the new 10 megapixel resolution sensor puts the E-400 ahead of every other digital SLR in the Olympus line-up, exceeding that even of the pricier semi-professional E-330 with its novel live preview feature.

Like others in the range, the E-400 adopts the open standard Four Thirds lens mount, which is designed specifically for digital capture. Olympus claims this results in reduced fringing and corner shading from smaller, lighter and brighter lenses.

Unlike most digital SLRs, which have APS-C sensors, the E-400's smaller 17.3 x 13mm CCD effectively doubles the lens' field of view, making the bundled Olympus Zuiko Digital 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ED lens the 135-format equivalent to a 28-84mm optic. It captures images with a maximum size of 3648 x 2736 pixels and, at 300dpi, it will repro to 12 x 9in, around a 10% gain in size over the 8 megapixel E-330 and E-500. It's the same 4:3 format of digital compacts and is somewhat squarer than the more traditional

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3:2 format of most digital SLRs from other makers.

Olympus was the first manufacturer to offer automated sensor cleaning using high-frequency vibration of a Silent Wave Filter placed immediately in front of the CCD to literally shake off the particles, so it's little surprise to see the E-400 duly equipped. A small blue LED flickers to indicate the filter's operation - an efficient system that happens during power-up and lasts no longer than a second. Fortunately, it doesn't appear to hinder startup, which is just as well, as sensor cleaning can't be interrupted.

Unlike Canon's 10 megapixel EOS 400D, though, with its built-in dust-mapping feature and automated retouching option using the bundled Raw editing utility, the E-400 lacks any failsafe backup option. Be that as it may, during our extensive testing, images from the E-400 showed no signs of the distracting dust particles.

Most of the camera's features are lifted from the E-500. It has dual xD and CompactFlash card slots, a handy and capable pop-up flash, shutter speeds running from 30 seconds up to 1/4000 of a second, and sensitivities ranging from 100-1600 ISO in 0.3EV steps.

In use, the E-400 handles well, but there's the same, slightly disappointing, three-point autofocus system and buffering for just five Raw files, or 10 Jpegs, at 3fps. Moreover, the viewfinder still feels cramped compared with those of the competition. A 2.5in screen used for reviewing images and navigating the menu similarly serves to display all relevant shooting information, but text doesn't flip like that in the Sony Alpha, nor does it possess a proximity sensor to switch itself off when raised to the eye.

Like its similarly endowed rivals, the increased resolution is barely noticeable in real-world use and, thanks to a newly designed amplifier, noise levels are barely higher at 800 ISO and above than previous offerings. In our tests, we found the colour reproduction to be pleasing and overall picture quality high.

Ultimately, the Olympus E-400's diminutive dimensions make it stand out, but there's still no sign of an effective anti-shake system. With an overall lack of new features and too few improvements over its predecessors, it's difficult to justify over the impressive Canon Eos 400D or Nikon D80. Even so, if you simply must have the smallest and lightest digital SLR in town, the E-400 has to be at the top of the list.