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Manual Control Options
The E-400 offers a complete set of manual controls for exposure, ISO, white balance and image parameters. The significant compromise is the ease of accessing them, given the camera's small size and crowded controls.
Focus
Auto Focus
The E-400 apparently has the same autofocus system we've seen on the E-300 and E-500. Though we couldn't fully test it at the Photokina booth, we'll note that it's not as fast as some of the competition, and it has only three sensors, placed close together in a row near the center of the frame. Systems with more sensors, spread further apart, are more convenient, and nearly all of them are faster than this one. We got accurate focus from the E-400 at the booth, especially with the 50mm macro lens that was attached. The E-400 uses its flash in strobe fashion as a focus assist light. Though it would be distracting in candid situations, it was effective.
Manual Focus
The E-400's clear, bright screen was excellent for manual focusing. We found it easy to focus critically across the screen. The action of the manual focusing rings on Olympus lenses is quick, but not sloppy. The autofocus system confirms manual focus with an indicator light.
Exposure
On the manual side of the mode dial, the E-400 offers full manual, program, aperture priority and shutter priority. The exposure compensation control goes from 5 stops above to 5 stops below the metered exposure, in 1/3-EV steps.
Metering
The E-400 offers the typical evaluative, spot and center-weighted metering patterns, plus highlight and shadow patterns that are meant to measure high-key and low-key scenes. We did not get the chance to evaluate the metering in a systematic way, but the highlight and shadow modes could be helpful, if they work.
White Balance
The E-400 has 7 white balance presets: Sun, Shade, Overcast, Tungsten, and 3 settings for Fluorescent Lighting. The E-400 also takes manual white balance readings and can be set to automatic. In manual and automatic, the user can make fine adjustments along a blue-to-amber axis and a green-to-magenta axis. Finally, the E-400 can be set to specific Kelvin temperatures from 3000 to 7500. It's a very flexible system, though it would be useful to be able to fine-tune the presets, and the Kelvin range is not as wide as some cameras have.
ISO
The E-400 has an ISO range from 100 to 1600. The full range is available when the ISO is set to auto. Previous Olympus DSLRs have had trouble with image noise at high ISO, and have denoted speeds over 400 as an “extended mode.” The E-400 doesn't make that distinction. Without testing, we can't say if this indicates an improvement in noise performance.
Shutter Speed
In automatic and custom preset modes, the E-400 will set shutter speeds from 1/4000 to 4 seconds. In manual modes, it stretches that out to 1/4000 to 60 seconds. In bulb mode, it's capable of 8-minute exposures. The speeds can be set in 1/3-EV increments. The fastest normal flash sync is 1/180, though Olympus's super FP flashes are good for the whole speed range. 1/180 is a bit slow for outdoor-fill flash, and some users will wish that it went up to at least 1/250.
The range is very good, and shouldn't be limiting for E-400 users.
Aperture
The kit lens, an Olympus 14-42 mm, f/3.5 – 5.6, is disappointing on the aperture front. It's not bright enough for available-light shooting indoors, and it will encourage users to bump their ISO setting in many outdoor situations – simultaneously increasing image noise. We'd recommend looking into Olympus's wider-aperture offerings.
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