Olympus rolls out ultra-light E-420 SLR
updated 10:05 am EST, Wed March 5, 2008
Olympus E-420
Olympus today took advantage of the relative quiet to revamp its EVOLT digital SLRs with the E-420. The 10-megapixel camera is claimed as the smallest and lightest ever in the category and weighs just 13.4 ounces, or at least 20 percent lighter than the next-best in the class. It also represents an improved ease of use over the earlier E-410, with both a shadow correction function and a new onscreen autofocus feature that uses the live preview LCD to mark out properly focused subjects. The combination is said by Olympus to produce a camera that can be used like a compact point-and-shoot while still offering all the control of a full SLR.
Also new to the E-420 are a larger, 2.7-inch LCD with improved color accuracy and contrast, face detection for portrait shots, and better handling of automatic white balance. Olympus ships the camera in May, starting at $500 for a body-only version. A more common kit version will sell for $600 with a 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 lens and should be accompanied by a more specialized, $700 edition with a fixed-focus, 25mm f/2.8 equivalent to 50mm on a conventional film camera.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Dec 2005
Odd
$700 for a fixed focal length? Wow, that's one expensive digital version of the disposable camera.
Aside from that, I wonder when camera manufacturers are going to realize that the majority of the younger population does their editting not on the camera, but on their computer. And direct printing? Most people, even the ones that don't do any editting, store their photos on their machine, and then choose the ones they want to print.
One of these days, manufacturers wean themselves off the checklsit of comparable features and these extra options will disappear from the cameras themselves to cut the cost and just let us get the adjustments done where it's easiet: on the machine.