Model Design / Appearance

The E-400 looks like many typical DSLRs, but smaller. The shallow handgrip is significantly responsible for the small appearance. The E-400 is mostly plastic, but Olympus uses heavy, thick material. Like other models, the E-400 feels solid. Though we examined a prototype, the fit and finish were excellent.

 

Size / Portability

The E-400 is 5.1 x 3.5 x 2 inches, and 13 oz., which is very small for a DSLR. It's still a DSLR, though, and we expect most users will need a separate camera bag, particularly if they add an additional lens and flash into their kit. The E-400 will be comfortable on a neck strap.

 

The E-400 should have better environmental seals than it does. Though its sturdy construction should prevent dust from entering though joints between structural elements, the ports and doors are not well-sealed, and the camera needs the typical level of care for a DSLR.

 

Handling Ability

The E-400 is small enough that a fair portion of users will find it cramped. The handgrip particularly feels tiny. We didn't get the firm grip we wanted with our right hand, and found a need to rely on our left hand to maintain our grip on the E-400. That's unusual – we find it typical to hold a camera with our right hand, and simply brace it, for steadiness, with our left.

 

Olympus tends to be careful with their control buttons – they're well-made, they feel good to use, and they seem durable. The buttons on the E-400 fit in this laudable tradition.

 

A symptom of the E-400's small size is that the buttons are close together. The E-400 has only one control dial, so it is necessary to turn it while pressing a button to access various functions, and that's hard when everything is so close together. We prefer 4-way controls that are built as a single dish which rocks in two directions, but the E-400's 5-button configuration works well. The buttons are large enough but close enough together to be easy to operate quickly, without making it likely to hit two buttons at once.

 

We also found the distribution of buttons around the body to be logical.

Olympus burdens its DSLRs with very long menus. On the E-400, there are fewer than on some other models, but they are split into 5 tabs: 2 for shooting parameters, one for playback and two for setup. Still, the tabs for setup scroll down to reveal their long lists of content.

 

In shooting mode, a large set of parameters appear on the LCD, and can be adjusted directly. The include exposure, exposure mode, ISO, white balance, which balance fine-tune, color mode, exposure compensation, flash exposure compensation, autofocus mode and pattern, color space, filename, memory type, file format and quality, and the number of frames left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Olympus E-400 offers extensive automation as well as full automatic controls. A significant level of customization is possible, though not as much as on the E-330. One could call it a loss of features, but we welcome the simplification.

 

We wish the controls weren't so cramped, and that it was easier to control aperture, shutter speed, and exposure compensation without such finger gymnastics.