Features
As the world’s smallest digital SLR, the Olympus E-420 packs a lot of features into a compact, lightweight camera body. It has nearly everything you’d expect from a DSLR - a 10-megapixel sensor, a 2.7-inch LCD, Live View with auto focus, Face Detection technology, a Dust Reduction system, and a full range of exposure modes from auto to manual. In addition to JPEGs, it can also capture RAW images for those who want maximum control and the best possible image quality. Olympus’s new “Shadow Adjustment Technology” promises to get more detail out of highlights and shadows with in-camera image adjustment.

The one feature compromised in the E-420 is Olympus’s sensor-level Image Stabilization. So photos taken with the E-420 are more likely to suffer from camera shake-induced blur than photos taken with other Olympus DSLRs.

The exposure mode dial on the top of the camera offers Scene, Night Portrait, Sport, Macro, Landscape, Portrait, Auto, Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual. Setting the dial to Scene reveals 18 scene modes optimized for everything from Portrait and Landscape to Sport, Macro and Fireworks. Beach and Snow are combined in one scene mode, which makes a lot of sense to me - why don’t more camera manufacturers do this? Two scene modes I find interesting are High Key and Low Key, which enhance light and dark areas respectively. Navigating through the scene modes displays a large, color image illustrating each scene mode - for example, a cityscape for Night Scene. A moment’s hesitation on a scene mode brings up a thumbnail version of the image and an easy-to-read, one or two-sentence description. Landscape + Portrait mode, says, “For shooting both main subject and background. Vivid reproduction of blues and greens.”

Left: Olympus E-420 scene mode display. Right: wait a moment and a description of the scene mode appears.

The E-420’s three-point auto focus system allows shooting in single shot and continuous auto focus. Focus points can either be individually selected or you can allow the camera to choose the subject.

Camera Menus

Olympus E-420 main menu		Olympus E-420 playback display
Olympus E-420 playback with RGB histogram		Olympus E-420 playback with histogram overlay

Design
The Olympus E-420 is a wonderfully comfortable camera. As far as I’m concerned, it perfectly hits the sweet spot between small and substantial. I have large-ish hands for a woman, but lugging around a heavy pro digital SLR all day would make my wrists give out in no time. Even after carrying and shooting with the E-420 for hours at a time, my hands and wrists felt fine. The camera’s light weight - 13.4 ounces — also makes it comfortable worn around the neck.

At first glance, the E-420’s matte black body appears to be built out of metal, but closer inspection reveals the material is hard plastic. Olympus tells us that the body is made up of both metal and high impact polycarbonate plastic - pretty standard for today’s consumer-level digital SLRs. The right-hand grip is rubber.

The camera’s controls are comfortable and intuitive. The various buttons and dials on the top and rear of the camera are labeled well and function easily. I really appreciate the ease of the LCD “Super Control Panel.” (See right) Just press the OK button and the use the arrow pad to quickly change settings like ISO, white balance, focus mode, metering mode, flash, and even color and image quality settings.

The 2.7-inch LCD is crisp, vivid and easier than most to see in bright sunlight or from an angle. The optical viewfinder is adequately sized and covered with a removable rubber eyecup. There’s a built-in pop-up flash, as well as a hot shoe if you want to use an external flash.

The camera comes with three separate instruction manuals in English, Spanish and French. They are small but thorough, and I can vouch that the English version is clear and easy to understand.

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