Read user reviews (10).

• The E system from Olympus is the only digital SLR system designed from the ground up to be wholly digital.
• So I'm concerned about Live View, and how it will be seen by the public.
• The FE-280 also features Digital Image Stabilization Edit, which uses a built-in gyro sensor to track camera movement and enables users to fix blurry images right in the camera.
• But the fact that the Olympus 770 SW is water/freeze/crush/shock-proof makes it stand out from the rest.
• Kit includes Olympus Zuiko Digital 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ED lens as well as Olympus Zuiko Digital 40-150mm f/14.0-5.6 lens.
• 7.9 million sensor photo detectors.
• The Olympus EVOLT E510 stores images either on xD-Picture cards, or on CompactFlash cards (Type-I or Type-II, inclusive of Microdrives).

Digital cameras. (EVOLT E-410). This is especially useful at longer focal lengths, where the slightest camera movement can result in a blurry image, or in low light, when shutter speeds can be too slow for the typical user to hand-hold. The first was the Pen F, a small half-frame 35mm camera that was very popular, and the OM-series of full-frame SLRs.

Software CD with Olympus' Master utility software (includes necessary drivers). 38 mm fixed lens. Combined with greater 1.15x magnification in the E-3's viewfinder, framing and focusing with this Four-Thirds camera is a lot easier than past Olympus models. 35 mm - 70 mm (2x) zoom lens. In bright sunlight, we found that reducing the contrast to -2 in the Normal mode kept shadows from clipping too badly, but highlights were still too strong.

Still, this image was good for a decent 8x10, once it was adjusted with Auto Levels in Photoshop (it's a little dark out of the camera). Even those who are less than enthusiastic about the great outdoors will appreciate not having to worry about dropping the camera, and can rest easy if they accidentally sit down while the Olympus 770 SW is stowed in a back pocket. No other brand makes a camera that compensates for my nearsightedness out of the box.

Auto White balance leaves incandescent shots quite warm. 27 mm - 486 mm (18x) zoom lens. 2005's EVOLT E-300 was quite a departure in SLR design, with a porromirror arranged on the side of the camera instead of a pentaprism mounted on top, and an onboard flash that could be used as fill in conjunction with a hot-shoe-mounted flash. Image Stabilization. E-System advantages. Olympus D-360L.Olympus C-3030 Zoom. Dollars of digital photo-related purchases every year. The same goes for the Sub-dial on the front of the Olympus E-3's grip. Olympus D-630 Zoom. Manual focus is electronic, not physical.

The cool part is that you can customize which direction you use to focus in the menu. As for settings, the E-410 has special underwater Scene modes that make adjusting your camera for underwater photography as simple as selecting one of the modes. This does mean that autofocusing isn't possible without first dropping the reflex mirror, briefly interrupting the live view for the duration of the autofocus process.Olympus D-395.

See our Imatest page for more on the different tone curves generated by these two cameras. Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual exposure modes, plus 20 Scene modes.Having all those optics out to the left of the lens contributes to this sense of imbalance, but the better grip somewhat mitigates the effect.

Though it's still quite radical in appearance, the Olympus E-330 is slightly more curvaceous, with a better grip and improved control layout. Those who will spend enough to buy an SLR with a Live View LCD will probably default to the LCD, and they'll never know the value of real-time image framing with a big, bright viewfinder.Although there were some constraints, I tried to test the Olympus 770 SW under a variety of conditions to see whether it lived up to its rough-and-tumble claims. This is the mirror that you first see when you peer into the Olympus E-330's optical viewfinder. > Olympus EVOLT E-330. Interchangeable lens mount accommodates Olympus Zuiko Digital lenses. Exposure modes include Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual, Auto, Guide mode, and 22 scene modes.

Caution when using Digital Image Stabilization, the Available Light Scene mode, and high ISOs should help prevent most image noise, giving snapshooters a way to capture decent -- albeit not great -- images of their outdoor adventures. The Olympus 770 SW's shockproof, waterproof, freezeproof, and crushproof attributes are its most distinguishing features, and there's no other camera like it on the market. As I've mentioned in other reviews, the Canon lens looked much better when used on a 6-megapixel camera, but the 10-megapixel Rebel XTi reveals significant softening in the corners. Olympus EVOLT E-330 digital SLR body. Most pro SLRs use CF, so E-1 owners will already have storage for these new cameras; but consumers who own a digicam that uses xD can also step into the E-410 with less initial cost.Built-in pop-up flash with 8 operating modes and intensity adjustment.

35 mm - 70 mm (2x) zoom lens. There will still be some delay as the Olympus E-3 re-checks exposure, but not nearly as long or as random as it can be while the camera tries to focus.With Live View, people will expect the E-510 to work just like their digicam; and further, because it's an SLR they will also expect it to have lower shutter lag than their digicam. What dust it doesn't shake off is substantially blurred in the final exposure. Though it has the great lens and full-auto modes, it too often fails to serve up accurate exposure and white balance indoors where consumers take a good portion of their pictures. A half-dozen small square buttons reside on the rear of the camera and may present a challenge to photographers with large hands. I think Olympus would agree with me that they already make a great SLR for those who want a no-nonsense camera with interchangeable lenses and great image quality: the Olympus EVOLT E-500.

Shutter speed from 1/2 sec. The Olympus E-410 is a handsome and handy little SLR, one I could have easily fallen in love with. No image of the lamp will appear on the captured image, because the main mirror will be flipped up, blocking this light from the capture sensor, but it will be underexposed.

Read user reviews (10). Image Gallery. Controls are right at your thumb, very simple, and on the Olympus SP-550 UZ's top deck for those once-in-a-while mode changes. • Browse our Pro image. That's because there is no underwater housing available from Olympus for the E-510.

Olympus E-1. Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness, Monochrome, and Graduation image adjustments.It's the one SLR on the market that will let you frame pictures from the ground without laying down on the ground yourself. • Browse our Pro image. Optimum digital image quality & system versatility. Those who are into photography and/or love the whole Four-Thirds philosophy would probably be happier with the Olympus E-510. Software CD containing Olympus Master and USB drivers.

Full manual control plus 30 shooting modes, including Movies with sound. I've shot both the E-410 and E-510 indoors a lot, and my biggest complaint is the poor autofocus speed.The Power button just behind the Shutter and Model dial.

But to draw a live image from the sensor, the mirror must be up and the shutter open, blocking the autofocus and metering sensors. The camera's virtual menu is attractive, but because it's different from the more standard tabbed menu systems, it may take a little while to get used to.And then there's my standard shots from Twin Peaks -- except in this case my digital zoom shot shows a retirement party in the Bank of America building (well, nearly). Read user reviews (131). Olympus D-630 Zoom. Olympus E-3. • Live View.

Olympus C-5050 Zoom. Olympus E-3.Olympus D-425. Olympus E-330. Olympus E-1. Most amateurs wanting a live preview will do better sticking to Live View A, closing the optical viewfinder's shutter, and forgetting the Olympus E-330 has an optical viewfinder. Read user reviews (110).

The original OM-series spanned three decades, culminating in the OM-4T, an innovative, albeit manual-focus camera that was finally discontinued in 2002. But to draw a live image from the sensor, the mirror must be up and the shutter open, blocking the autofocus and metering sensors. Olympus E-3 Hands-On Preview. Sensor-shift image stabilization. The Top Pro lenses are designed for highest professional requirements.• Top professional bright lenses with fixed aperture. • Browse our Pro image. SLR lens. We're trying to start testing the Olympus lenses for posting on SLRgear.com, but we're having a tough time getting the test camera to focus on our target.

Image resize. Olympus SP-550 UZ Overview.• Fixed focal macro lens. In the E-410 review I mentioned a problem I had with shots from the camera having strangely underexposed mids, with blown highlights. Choose a variety of accessories which can be used with different Olympus camera models.

Nearly all the advanced features you expect from a mid-range SLR are included in the E-510. 2.5 million sensor photo detectors. It's the one SLR on the market that will let you frame pictures from the ground without laying down on the ground yourself.

• Olympus FE-210 Digital Camera - Preview - The Imaging Resource!
• The last viewing mode is the "B" mode, which draws an image directly from the sensor.
• Hands-On Preview: 3/05/07.
• Camera is heavy on the left, weight is badly distributed.
• Pages of this review.
• Olympus FE-115.
• Canon Rebel XT.
• As I mentioned, the buttons and dials are great on the E-410, but the digital interface is important too.

Taking nothing away from our lab shots, it's different when you're looking at a picture you took yourself of your child at a parade. Unlike all the other small SLRs I've mentioned, the Olympus E-410 doesn't have much of a grip. > Olympus E-3. There are workarounds, but it's harder to strongly and universally recommend a camera that kept me guessing most of the time, not to mention working too hard to recover images that should have been straightforward. I'm happy to report that the Olympus E-510 had less trouble with shadows than the E-410, though its tone curve is still less than adequate at keeping detail in highlights and shadows.

For many who have grown accustomed to framing shots at arm's length with a live LCD display, the switch to a digital SLR can be jarring. On the other hand, the camera will sink if you let go of it, important to know if you're using the camera on a boat and it falls overboard. The main design goal of the Olympus E-system was to keep everything small. Shutter speeds from 15 seconds to 1/2000 second with Bulb. When shooting in the available light scene mode, the camera reached ISOs of 2000-2500, resulting in high image noise and color artifacts.I tried using Live View mode at first to help me frame the shots, but the shutter lag did get in the way after a bit. Digital SLR. It reduces the bulk of the camera overall, and makes it look slimmer. Read user reviews (27).

Press the AF point selector, and a similar selection menu comes up, and you can select among the three AF points, or set it to Auto, and the camera will choose for you. Live LCD preview allows shots from odd angles. Supersonic Wave filter removes dust from sensor when camera is turned on. Press the OK button in the middle of the Five-way control cluster and suddenly you're in 10x manual focus mode. It reduces the bulk of the camera overall, and makes it look slimmer.The E-510 has a better tone curve than the E-410, though it could still be better. Olympus D-630 Zoom.

The power button is tiny and lies mostly recessed into to the top edge of the camera. It could be a little deeper and flatter inside, but it's comfortable and not as unusual as the E-330.The image sensor is mounted on a platter allowing movement in two directions, so as to mechanically correct for camera shake in longer exposures.

I'm an Olympus fan from way back, but I'm concerned about these claims. Battery capable of 650 shots per charge (without using Live View). Optical viewfinder is dim even in bright daylight. The refresh rate on the Olympus 770 SW's display was a little slow and the visual blurred for a split second when I moved the camera to re-compose. Olympus has some impressive lenses available for the E-410.Update: 11/15/2007 Full test results and analysis posted. ISO 3200 and 5000 at reduced (3.1Mp) image size. The Olympus FE-210 marks the entry-point of the group, combining a seven megapixel CCD imager, Olympus-branded 3x optical zoom lens, and a 2.5" LCD display in a compact body with power from two AA batteries. Olympus took an extra step, however, to invoke the memory of their OM-series cameras. Those who are into photography and/or love the whole Four-Thirds philosophy would probably be happier with the Olympus E-510.

Read user reviews (110). This of course was a prototype, so the finished Olympus E-3 could very well be faster at the decision-making aspect.While I had a little trouble focusing on subjects that wouldn't sit still, the Olympus SP-550 UZ's 18x optical zoom with 100x total zoom let me shoot things I couldn't even see without looking through its lens.

This became very clear when I was out getting Gallery shots with the E-330 and the Pentax K10D. Olympus C-720 UZ. 10.9 million sensor photo detectors. Olympus Stylus 300. (Mju 500 Digital).You can even get a zoom ring to allow zooming of the camera while it's in the housing. As I suggested in my preview of the Olympus E-410, you'll want to use the optical viewfinder for most shots, because you want to eliminate as much shutter lag as possible.

Lens hood (kit only). Olympus D-520 Zoom. Olympus FE-290. The lens that appears in both bundles is the 3x, 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6, a very small optic that is equivalent to a 28-84mm lens on a 35mm camera.(Mju 750 Digital). Take a look at the Exposure and Optics tabs for the full breakdown on image quality. The Zuiko 14-42mm kit lens does much better, as you can see in the plots at right. Burst rate of 15 fps at 1.2-Mp image size. Image stabiliser for enhanced shooting confidence.

The Olympus 770 SW's 2.5-inch LCD is large enough to easily see the menus, but the controls are very small and can be difficult to use. • Top professional bright lenses with fixed aperture. Optics and Accessories.

Having a faster preflash is surprisingly helpful, however, because I found that with all the shutter and mirror flipping as the L1 focused, adding a preflash 1/2 second before the actual exposure added the last bit of confusion to the mix, leading my subjects to think I'd taken several shots. The viewfinder on the E-330 is just too dim to give you the full benefit, and the other two modes are also compromises.

But not seeing the shutter speed prior to depressing the shutter fully is one of my pet peeves and I was disappointed that this information was missing from the LCD in Record mode. 38 mm - 380 mm (10x) zoom lens. (Mju 770 SW Digital). Precapture technology at reduced image size to record action before shutter is pressed. Read user reviews (50). The Olympus 770 SW certainly won't break any speed records when it comes to performance.Olympus Stylus 410. Whereas the Canon XTi on top left much chroma noise to preserve detail, and the D40 effectively smooshed out chroma noise along with some detail, the E410 strikes a balance between the two extremes. The test results do indeed show the corners to be quite a bit sharper than the competition's kit lenses, so it's likely that Olympus's digital-specific lenses do indeed have an advantage.

Unfortunately, the mode that sounds the most appealing and familiar for novice users, namely drawing the image directly from the imaging sensor with Live View B, eliminates one of the key tools the amateur is likely to depend on: autofocus. Read user reviews (25). Top 3 photos this month win:. The preflash is a lot faster, but somehow the E-510 manages to be slower overall. • 3 ED lens elements for. The Olympus E-510's ISO 1,600 performance was pretty good, producing somewhat soft images, but with little noise.• Top professional bright lenses with fixed aperture.

Caution when using Digital Image Stabilization, the Available Light Scene mode, and high ISOs should help prevent most image noise, giving snapshooters a way to capture decent -- albeit not great -- images of their outdoor adventures. The E-510 also works with a pretty impressive array of high-quality optics that are small for their equivalent focal lengths, making for a good, robust wildlife camera kit that won't take more space than necessary. There's Continual Focus (the camera is always finding focus, not just when you half press the Shutter button).

• Olympus EVOLT E-330.
• Read user reviews (61).
• LCD display is jerky during capture in Live View A mode.
• Enthusiasts will also appreciate the 550's Raw image file support.
• As such, they chose a small sensor and designed their lenses to make that goal easier to achieve.
• This is especially useful at longer focal lengths, where the slightest camera movement can result in a blurry image, or in low light, when shutter speeds can be too slow for the typical user to hand-hold.
• I love the E-410's small size, but its lack of a sizeable grip make adding any accessories awkward.
• The Mode dial sits atop the power switch, and has just the right stiffness to maintain its position while riding around in a bag.
• Olympus EVOLT E-510.

Canon Talk. No company has gone to greater lengths to be different in the SLR space than Olympus, though, and they've continued the trend in the E-330, delivering the first SLR with a live view.

Most pro SLRs use CF, so E-1 owners will already have storage for these new cameras; but consumers who own a digicam that uses xD can also step into the E-410 with less initial cost. 37 mm - 111 mm (3x) zoom lens.Shutter speed from 1/2 sec. Unless your needs are specifically for a very small camera that you'll be shooting primarily in daylight -- and you have no problem regularly tweaking images -- I think most consumer needs will be served better with a different SLR.

The E-510 has a little more than the E-410, though, starting with White balance bracketing and Flash bracketing. Olympus D-545 Zoom. 36 mm fixed lens. (Mju 750 Digital).

• Look for the full review by the end of the month.
• But the monitor exhibited very little grain under low light.
• TruePic Turbo Image Processor.
• > Olympus EVOLT E-410.
• Metering options include 49-zone ESP metering, Spot, Center-weighted, and a new Highlight/Shadow spot metering mode.
• Where I was most frustrated was when my pictures lacked contrast and nuance, with areas that weren't so dark to my eye appearing quite dark and flat in the image.
• When shooting in the available light scene mode, the camera reached ISOs of 2000-2500, resulting in high image noise and color artifacts.
• The Olympus E-3's rear LCD also serves as a Status display whose settings are accessible via a press of the center OK button.
• First SLR to offer a live LCD preview.

The Olympus E-410 is a handsome and handy little SLR, one I could have easily fallen in love with.

Reviews for more. For comparison, the Canon 40D weighs 1.86 pounds, or 29.8 ounces (844 grams) with card and battery, and the Nikon D300 weighs 1.8 pounds (825 grams). 1.5 million sensor photo detectors. Read user reviews (114). I created a profile for the wider end of the lens using Acolens.There will still be some delay as the Olympus E-3 re-checks exposure, but not nearly as long or as random as it can be while the camera tries to focus. Live View is great -- a worthwhile feature -- but it's nowhere near as great as an actual live view at 186,282 miles per second (299,792 km per second). We attribute the slight increase in blur at f/22 to diffraction limiting due to the Four-Thirds sensor's smaller pixels.

Olympus's most ambitious Ultra Zoom yet, the 7.1 megapixel Olympus SP-550 UZ features a whopping 18x (28 to 504mm equivalent) optical zoom lens, ranging from true wide-angle to long telephoto. Olympus C-765 UZ. Still, this image was good for a decent 8x10, once it was adjusted with Auto Levels in Photoshop (it's a little dark out of the camera).Battery capable of 650 shots per charge (without using Live View). When shooting in the available light scene mode, the camera reached ISOs of 2000-2500, resulting in high image noise and color artifacts. What wasn't left out of the E-410 is the ability to work with Olympus Studio 2.0 software, which is a more advanced version of the Olympus Master software bundled with the camera. Olympus has moved the Olympus E-3's Main Dial on the back relative to the more recent models, but this is indeed where it's located on the Olympus E-1, so they stuck with what upgrading E-1 owners will be used to. Focusing via Live View B isn't quite that bad, but similar.