Olympus E-420 Digital SLR Review

Olympus E-420: Build and handling

Lightweight but sturdy, the Olympus E-420 differs from its bigger brother by the distinct lack of a hand-grip but it's a feature that's been retained from the E-410. The screen is bright and works well in sunlight, though not perfectly. When the camera is in Live-View the mirror doesn't flop back down to focus which is a great improvement on other models with this feature.

The Zuiko lenses are well known by now but if you're unfamiliar with them then you'll be happy to know that they were designed from the ground up to work especially with the four thirds system. The four thirds name comes from the size of the sensor. It's distinctly smaller than other sensors found in cameras by other manufacturers. This was originally thought to cause a potential problem with noise which is what a smaller sensor usually spells. However, this has never been a problem as the Olympus DSLRs have the Trupic Turbo dedicated processors fitted to reduce noise and process images faster.

Because of this smaller sensor, focal lengths have a 2x magnification instead of a 1.5x or 1.6x. This makes calculations easier for those of you who, like me, are terrible at maths. The disadvantage of this is that wide angles need a wider lens which is why the standard is a 14-42mm as this will be a 28-84mm in 35mm terms. The advantage however, is that telephoto lenses go further: A 300mm lens goes to 600mm instead of the 450mm found on other lenses.

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