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Olympus E-400 digital SLR review
Ilse Jurriën : January 22th 2007 - 15:01 CET
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 Olympus E-400 digital SLR review : Last August we saw the introduction of the Olympus E-400, the world's smallest and lightest digital reflex camera. Almost immediately after the introduction, we received the news that the Olympus E-400 would not be available world-wide and that, for example, there was no reason for the American market to get exited about this new compact DSLR FourThirds model yet. The latest news is that the American introduction has been planned for later, under another name (EVOLT E-400). The Olympus E-400 has recently become available and with it, Olympus has managed to build up an interesting range of dSLR cameras in a relatively short period of time.
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 Olympus E-400 - FourThirds system
The Olympus E400 is a digital SLR camera from the FourThirds system which was pioneered by Olympus. Since recently, Olympus has been joined by two other supporters of this system, and they are no small fry, but Panasonic and Leica. It is true that these companies work together very closely and so it is not so surprising that both have chosen for the same system. It still says, however, that Olympus's daring approach, in setting up the FourThirds system, was a good step technically. However, technical quality is not the only guarantee of success….
Olympus E-400 - Compact & Light-weight SLR
To get down to business: the Olympus E-400 is small, super small even, and combined with its weight of merely 380 grams for the housing, this ensures the Olympus E-400 is the smallest and most light-weight digital SLR camera in the world. The Olympus E-400 is not a SLR camera for experienced professional photographers or for the Pro who has all-round and demanding requirements of a digital SLR. This group is quickly inclined to ignore any SLR that looks 'too small'. This compact format, however, also has advantages for this group of photographers. Just think of the convenience of such a compact SLR and the possibilities for taking high quality pictures unnoticed in difficult field situations.
Olympus E400 - xD picture & CompactFlash
With the introduction of the E400, Olympus has directly upgraded its maximum SLR resolution to 10 Megapixels. The Olympus E400 is one of the few SLR from the 10 Megapixel segment to have a double card slot; one for xD Picture card and one for CompactFlash. One could wonder if support of Secure Digital would not have been more logical, especially when considering the potential target group of possible compact camera users that want to make the change to a DSLR, but Olympus and Secure Digital don't really seem to mix. The fact that Olympus prefers the xD Picture card should be clear; after all, Olympus and Fujifilm are the initiators of this small memory card.
Olympus E400 dSLR camera review
With the introduction of the Olympus E-400, Olympus prove to have a quick and fitting answer to the 10 Megapixel power of their rivals. Lately we have seen the rapid rise of a new Megapixel segment, which promises fierce competition over a large group of potential users. Nikon have their D80, Sony the DSLR A100, Canon have the EOS 400D, and soon we will also see others, such as Pentax and Samsung, follow suit, and -together with the Olympus E400- claim the much desired market share. We have been able to test the compact digital SLR in practice, read our Olympus E-400 review.
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