Olympus EVOLT E-410 (with 14-42mm and 40-150mm Lenses)

If you're top priority is a small, interchangeable lens digital SLR, then the E-410 should be the place to start. There are none smaller, and the telephoto 40-150 is exceptionally short. It's light weight, and has all the basic features most people want or need in a SLR. It's basic enough for beginners, and featured enough (and good enough image quality) to satisy most advanced amatuers.

However, before you buy, you must understand two things: smaller SLRs and the 4/3rd system.

The smaller SLRs from all brands (Canon XTi, Nikon D40/D40x) have trade-offs. They all use the rear LCD for everything. Combined with the smaller battery for the smaller body, battery performance is not as good as the next size up (E-510, D80, etc.). Additionally, the magnification inside the viewfinder is less, making manual focusing (or seeing fine detail) a bit more difficult.

The 4/3rd system is also new to most people. In an attempt to compete with the well established Big Boys, Olympus, Panasonic & Leica now offer a new lens mount, where lenses can be interchanged among brands. The only problem is that Olympus is the only real line from these three, while Leica is now offering two lenses total, and Panasonic...none. The only major independent manufacturer currently making 4/3rd lenses is Sigma, and they do not offer most of their line in this mount. However, for most beginners, the two lense offered in this kit will be all they need.

The other major difference with this system is that it is a different "format". Traditional 35mm cameras produced a 3:2 format (which we typically call 4x6 because most labs produce that size of prints). The typical print from a 4/3rd camera would be 4x5, a more typical size from the older studio medium format film cameras. Now this has it's trade-off. Since most people will go ahead and make smaller prints in 4x6 size, they'll have to cut off a bit of the bottom and/or top of the photo. On the other side, they'll cut off less on the typical enlargement sizes, such as 8x10. I would say usually, it's a good trade-off. On most horizontal shots, we usually leave plenty of room at the top or bottom, whereas people tend not to leave enough room on group shots to allow cropping from 4x6 to 8x10, OUCH! This also means that on identical megapixel cameras, the 3:2 will loose more megapixels when cropped to standard enlargement sizes than 4/3rd cameras. But you can make 16x24s instead of 16x20s, etc.

One thing that is more difficult for me is that because the image is a bit more square on 4/3rd cameras, they tend to put the information inside the viewfinder on the side versus underneath the image. Looking down, reading left to right is more natural for me.

Anyway, the product description by Amazon is very detailed, but let me add that the "Live View" feature isn't as handy as it seems. First and foremost, you loose autofocusing (because the autofocusing's mirror system must be moved out of the way). Can you have it in Live View and still AF right before the shot? Yes, but it will cause a lag time that will be unacceptable for action or quick candids. However, it could be a welcomed feature used properly. You could pre-focus on a bird's nest (that ain't going no where), and use the Live View while waiting for the best time to shoot.

Overall, I give this camera very good marks. If you like the idea of 4/3rd, but don't need a small camera, you might wait for the soon to be released E-510 that has a larger battery and an Anti-Shake feature. As far as the competition goes, you might look at the Nikon D40x, or Canon Rebel XTi.

Nikon D40x 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens
Canon Digital Rebel XTi 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens (Black)

I am appreciating this camera more every day. Last weekend I took it to a wedding, and in fact I had the smallest SLR at the entire party. It made it easy for me to carry it and take shots the entire day. Also the battery performance was very good (I took more than 150 pictures and the battery was still far from empty).

I bought this camera for traveling, size and weight was an important consideration and I really like the camera for this. I take it everywhere.

It has all the advantages of an SLR (manual controls, seeing through the lens, interchangeable lenses), with the portability of a compact camera. Your hands should not be too big, if they are you would probably be better off with the e-510.

The 40-150 lens included in the kit is very light and portable and produces some excellent quality shots.
I like the performance of the camera, it has fast startup and excellent shutter performance.

The live view mode as advertised is not that useful, mainly because of the latency when pressing the shutter button. I hardly use the feature.

My previous camera was a compact camera (Canon Powershot S50). It took me some time to get used to the e-410 (being a SLR camera) and to learn how to use all its features.

I've had this unit a few weeks...and it seems to preform fine...good quality images....I did turn exposure comp to + 1/3 and noise filter to LOW and
Noise Reduct to off....and as far as the 4/3 system...I go to Wolf/Ritz Camera and get their 4 1/2 x 6 in print...it's full frame for 4/3 system..I also have 2 canon 20D's so this is not my 1st slr...I would say this is a great value...and the telephoto lens is very compact

The E410 is my first digital SLR, and in the 6 months I've had it, I've been tremendously happy with it. Olympus has crammed a good deal of power into a compact body. The kit lenses are a bit slow but turn out outstanding images given enough light. The body fits in the hand very well, the controls are well-placed, and the onscreen controls and menus are well organized, so you never get bogged down hunting for what you want.

So why only three stars? One, because of the limited (but improving) selection of fourthirds lenses, but mostly because new buyers, unless they need to shave every ounce, would do well to look at the E510. The "big brother" of the E410 is only a little larger, takes Olympus's standard, higher-capacity BLM-1 battery, and features in-body image stabilization that works with any fourthirds lens, greatly reducing blur in handheld shooting. For those who understand the 410's limits and want the world's lightest DSLR, I'd recommend it wholeheartedly.

As a person who was a serious SLR film enthusiast about 27yrs. ago with a Cannon A1, I decided, after purchasing a good quality digital point and shoot camera a couple of years ago, to get back into photography, but this time digital photography. So, after reading about several new DSLR cameras this past summer, I decided to buy the Olympus E-410 a couple of months ago. The important factors were its compact size, cost, self-cleaning sensor, live view LCD, and ease of use. After two months and about 700+ pictures, I can happily say that this camera is serving its purpose in introducing me to the wonderful world of DSLR photography. In my opinion, one of its strengths is its solid build despite its light weight. The buttons and dials feel good and you're unlikely to accidently change a setting. There is one weakness in the E-410 which deals with backlighting without the use of flash. The only way of correcting it is by going to the EV compensation with a +2/3 or +3/3(this equals 1 f stop), or the manual mode with a +1 f stop exposure. With most cameras, you can simply point and focus on the darker area and press the shutter halfway and you'll see the camera making the appropriate adjustments.

In regards to the two lenses that come with the E-410, I really appreciate the performance of the 14-42mm lense. I've taken many excellent close up pictures of flowers with it. Sigma, however, does have a better and faster, but more expensive, f:2.8 18-50mm lense. The 40-150mm lense is nice to have due to its light weight and compact size, but you may want to get the Zuiko(Olympus) f:2.8-3.5 50-200mm lense later on when you can afford it because it's also somewhat more expensive. Overall, the lense kit is good. Right now, I'm now starting to work with RAW format pictures using this excellent camera. Of course, there are other good entry level DSLR cameras such as the Nikon D80, Sony A100, and the Cannon Rebel, but the E-410 had the package that suited me. I highly recommend it! Which ever camera you decide is right for you, make sure you read up on it, ask questions, and enjoy the beautiful world of digital photography.