Olympus E-420 (with 25mm Lens)

I have used nearly every OLYMPUS dSLR (exception being the E-300 & E-400). I use the Olympus E-3 for my paid work and find it a superb camera. But like many of you, I want a camera with SLR quality to carry around minus the weight of my workhorse E-3. Enter the E-420, an absolute jewel of a camera whose IQ is top notch especially when compared to its market segment (Canon Rebels, Nikon D40/D60/D80, Pentax K200D, etc.). The gradation is fantastic, rivaling even my E-3. And coupling this, the world's smallest dSLR body with the new Pancake lens (25mm f/2.8, equivalant to 50mm in Full Frame) and you have a near 'pocketable' (depends on the size of the pocket) dSLR capable of taking phenomenal photos. Now, is it a world beater? No. But it isn't meant to be. It is meant for folks who want SMALL, but for whom Image Quality MATTERS. And here, it scores a perfect 10 (or 5 STARS in this case). As to the negative comment about focus points (you want 51 focus points, go spend 5K on the Nikon D3... truly a great camera, but marketed to a different segment of shutterbugs). And I have no idea what the reviewer was talking about poor performance in low light (this is much more of a lens issue on any camera), all I can say is NONSENSE. It does fine. No better and certainly no worse than any of the other 20+ dSLRs I've shot with. In fact, I used it as a 2nd camera during a 50th wedding anniversary party I was hired to shoot. Used it Indoors. It did great. I got great photos and the client doesn't know what came out of the E-3 or the E-420. The images are that good. So if you want 'pocketable', but you do want to compromise on Image Quality, then go ahead and pick this baby up. The likelihood of Buyer's Remorse is far smaller than this camera. After that, You just do one thing more. ...Enjoy.

I have had this E-420 with Zuiko 25mm Pancake for a month now and it is simply superb.

I sold my Canon XTi and SD700IS because I wanted a smaller/lighter system without sacrificing DSLR image quality. I got portability with my Canon P&S but not the image quality; I got DSLR image quality with the Canon DSLR but not the portability. The question was: What should I do? Well, the timing of the release of this camera/lens was perfect. And the choice to get this camera was the best choice I have made with regards to photography. Now I have the smallest, lightest DSLR camera in the world with great image quality to match any 10MP entry-level DSLR. Having owned this camera for over a month now, I have realised that I am taking 2-3 times more photographs than ever before simply because it is such a joy to take out-and-about (perfect for street photography) and the results I am getting are excellent. Want to see images from this combination? Have a look at my photostream: [...])

From using this camera, I am looking forward to exploring more of Olympus's infamous Zuiko lenses which are some of the best digital lenses in the industry. I tried the 12-60mm lens with the E-420 the other day and boy was the auto-focus speed fast! The continuous shooting is fast too: 3-4 shots (raw+super-fine jpegs) per second -- very impressive.

Because of this purchase my passion for photography has been ignited which is priceless in itself. Photography should be about taking photos without feeling restricted by what you hold in your hands. This camera gives me that freedom and confidence that I can take great photos wherever I am. Photography should be FUN! And it is certainly FUN to use this camera.

To conclude, do your research on the net on this camera and look at many photos. I am sure you will discover many other happy new owners of this camera. I have heard even some are using it not as a back-up to their pro gear but as a replacement because it is so portable! A great recommendation if ever you need one.

Happy camera hunting!

I have the e-410. The pictures are great. The camera handles well. I like the fact that I can carry it on a shoulder strap all day and not be tried of it. I have large hands, but don't find the camera to be too small for me to handle.

The other reviewer was correct in criticizing the focus assist strobe because it is slow. Turn that feature off and the camera will focus quickly with natural light.

I purchased this camera in hopes of replacing my point and shoot. In the past, I have just missed too many shots because my point and shoot was too slow, or because it focused on the wrong object, or just had the wrong exposure. So I was looking for small DSLR, and when this camera came out with the pancake lens, I wanted to give it a try. My personal experience has been with a few different kinds of cameras, Canon A2, Yashica T4, Canon S100, Canon Digital Rebel, and a Minolta G500. I rated this camera as a single unit consisting of the body and the 25mm f/2.8 pancake lens. My tests have taken about 3 weeks and include two family vacations.

Quality of the images (not including user error): 5/5
Ease of Use: 4/5
Feel: 5/5
Live View mode: 2/5
Advanced modes, Manual Mode, and manual focus: 3/5
Fun: 5/5
Ease of use for handing to others: 5/5
Speed of use (not including Live View): 5/5
Overall: 4/5

Strengths:
First off, the camera feels great. Even though it is small, it feels solid, it has a nice smooth shutter with a pleasing sound. The camera feels good in my hands. It feels better than my Digital Rebel. I have had two instances in which someone else dropped the camera from a height of 3 feet, and it has been fine. I have carried it in all kinds of bags with other gear and it appears to be very sturdy.
The quality of the images I get is very good. In day light or normal indoor light, I get great images. The only limit on the quality is the skill of the photographer. I took a number of shots in low light (campfires and candle light), and those pictures look OK but not great. In those conditions I got pictures better than my point and shoot cameras, but not as good as I get with my Digital Rebel with an f/1.4 lens. I am not a professional photographer, so my standards may not be all that high, but I love the pictures I get.
The biggest pleasant surprise of this camera was the Info display. There is an "Info" button that bring us a display showing all of the important settings. And the special part is that you can easily navigate to any setting and change it directly from that mode. I really love this. It makes it very easy to change the metering mode, and to check if I left the camera in any strange mode (IS0 1600, or manual focus mode).
I have also given the camera to my wife and daughters to use. They were able to use it without any problems.
I thought the Auto ISO selection works quite well. It only boosts the ISO when required.
Finally, I find this camera to be lots of fun. I usually find any new camera to be fun, but this one has really captured my imagination. I felt the same way about the Digital Rebel when I first purchased it. I find myself taking it many places and getting lots of good pictures.

Weaknesses and issues:
My main complaint is that the camera is not small enough to replace my point and shoot. This is not a defect, just a realization on my part that the worlds smallest DSLR is not small enough. My next issue is that some pictures do not have the subject in proper focus. This camera makes fewer autofocus mistakes than a point and shoot, but my Digital Rebel does better. I suspect this is a function of the 3 focus points, but I don't know for sure.
I tried to focus the camera manually, but I was not able to reliably get the subject in focus. I am not great at focusing manually, but this camera did not make it easy.
The E420 does have a live view mode, that allows you to compose the picture using the LCD. I was eager to try this, and I found it very disappointing. After pressing the shutter, the camera moves the lens through a wide range of focus points before taking the picture. So the time it takes to the capture the picture is way too long. Sadly, this really defeats my interest in live view. I was able to improve the shot time by changing the auto focus mode, but it's still not fast.
Finally, I have some smaller gripes. None of these is a terrible problem, but they did annoy me. First, Olympus includes an eye piece cover, and they sized it such that it fits into the hot shoe. Sadly, it fails out too easily, and I have almost lost it several times.
Face detection seems like a good idea, but it is slow enough that I do not use it.
After using the camera to take pictures of the stars at night, I mistakenly left the focus mode in manual, and the ISO set to 1600. Sadly, neither of those settings are visible in the view finder so I took quit a few shots that had out of focus subjects and a grainy appearance.
The lens cap must be screwed off. I would prefer one that was removed by a pinch.
Finally, there is one really odd item. The focus ring on the camera is not physically attached to the lens elements. This means that moving the ring does nothing if you are in the fully automatic modes, and it means that you do not get any physical feedback when you have reached the end of the focus range. While this is not a terrible problem, it really seemed weird to me.

I buy two or three cameras a year. I hesitated on this camera because it has no image stabilization. But I recently took it to Europe and got great pictures in churches and museums. I set the ISO to 800 and had very sharp handheld pictures. The size is fantastic...very light and small. The live view works great...although the focus is slow. Focus if very fast in non-live view. To learn all the options, you'd have to spend quite a bit of time. But for most uses, you can learn to use the camera in about 5 minutes. Menus are very deep, so some options are difficult to keep track of. But in most competitors at this price level, those deep menued options don't even exist. Highly recommended.