Digital Camera: Olympus E450 Digital SLR Camera 1442mm40150mm Lens Kit

I bought this camera and a couple of bundled lens' over a year ago it was clearly a step up from my old Nikon compact. I expected it to be better quality but wasn't ready for how much better it actually was. Truely great quality pictures. As its my first DSLR I guess others could be as good.

I have found the automatic and scene modes have made it easy for me to shoot great pictures from day 1 and in all sorts of conditions. The sport mode takes rapid shots in succession and makes it easy to get very good action shots. I am slowly getting the hang of doing things manually but the automatic options are so good you could use the camera like a compact all the time if you wanted to.

I think this camera is great, not sure what the real expert photographers think but I recently took a load of photos at my nephews wedding. I put together a pack of photos for him, he and his wife thought they were a lot better quality than the official photographers. I think is testament to the quality of the camera rather than my photgraphic/artistic skills.

I can't recommend this enough, especially if you are moving from a compact and dont have experience of DLSR's.

For the money I dont think this can be beaten.

Great basic camera for first-time DSLR user posted on 2010-08-17

This is a brilliant camera for the amateur photographer who is looking to upgrade to a DSLR. It is definitely a basic option with some constraining features, however, if you're on a budget (which is pretty likely with the costs of DSLR photography) the e450 is a great camera. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that 4/3rds lenses seem to be quite difficult and expensive to obtain in England - the Canon system lenses seem to be much easier to find. Some major camera retailers like Jessops have actually discontinued their lines of Olympus DSLRs and lenses. Having recently bought this camera with the two bundle lenses I can say that it's a great start-up option, but I can see myself being quite constrained by its limitations in the future.

First Grown up Camera posted on 2010-05-13

Bought as a birthday gift for adult daughter who has developed an interest in photography. Perhaps I can get to use my E420 again now ! From that comment you should guess that we like the camera, features, size, useability, quality of product - otherwise might have bought a Nikon

An entry-level camera, is fully featured and fantastic value for money and FUN to use. posted on 2010-01-25

New Features

10 Megapixel Live MOS sensor
Supersonic Wave Filter for dust protection
Built-in flash with commander function for wireless off-camera flash synchronisation
Wireless flash control in up to 3 groups
One-touch white balance
AE/AF-lock functionality
ISO 100 to 1600 for wide-ranging sensitivity
Depth of field preview function
49-segment digital ESP
Bracketing function (Exposure)
Detailed info screen with histogram
NEW FEATURE Three Art Filters (Pop Art, Soft Focus and Pin Hole)
NEW FEATURE TruePic III+ processor
NEW FEATURE Increased continuous shooting buffer (8 RAW files AT 3.5fps)
NEW FEATURE High-contrast 2.7" HyperCrystal II LCD with 176° viewing angle
Introduction

The Olympus E-450 was announced on March 31, 2009. As an update to the E-420, apart from the addition of 3 Art Filters, a new processor, an improved LCD display, and an increased continuous shooting buffer, little else has changed. This just illustrates how well specified Olympus entry-level cameras are in the E-4XX compact DSLR range.

Design and Build Quality

It took about three hours to charge the battery. The use of live view does impact battery performance. The camera is very light and very compact. The 14-42mm kit lens upholds Olympus' reputation of excellent optics. However, the zoom action is rather stiff and felt like it was sticking at times. Those familiar with Olympus cameras, even the 'bridge' and 'super-zoom' range, will find the layout of buttons familiar. There is a comfortable and logical feel to the button layout, although I would have liked a dedicated ISO button. Of course, one can program the 'fn' button. One reason we buy Olympus DSLRs is their pioneering of sensor cleaning. We know and expect the cameras to do this. Consequently, I feel the SSWF light indicator unnecessarily clutters the limited space. Perhaps the space could better be used for another set of buttons such as Auto/Manual focus. A very nice touch, typical of Olympus finesse, is the hotshoe cover. Unfortunately, though, auto focus assist requires the flash to be up as there is no dedicated auto focus assist light. The OK button brings up a quick menu that allows for a very rapid updating of key settings. I did find the placing of the strap connections to be in the way when holding the camera. Perhaps the position is necessary to provide balance to the camera when it is carried by the strap.

Image Quality

Olympus colours have always been praised. I found the E-450 produced beautiful and natural colour rendition. I used Adobe Lightroom 2.5 to process the Olympus ORF RAW files and did notice a slightly higher quality in the processed RAW files compared to the JPEG shot at the same time. I had not done any adjustments to the RAW file. This shows just how good the JPEG files are. I found very low noise across all ISOs.

The Ultimate "Serious Compact?"

The Internet has been abuzz for a while with what constitutes the true serious compact camera. Historically, compact cameras have been plagued with shutter lag and high ISO noise. Noted for their speed and quality, DSLRs are the standard tool for serious photographers. Imagine a DSLR that not only produces great image quality but that is discreet and compact. Yes, the Olympus E-4XX series. However, coupled with the 14-42mm kit lens I found the E-450 lost some of the discreet and compact character. Olympus was not able to supply me with their 25mm pancake lens for this review. A pity, because up until recently I believe the E-450 combined with the 25mm pancake pretty much fulfilled our demands for the "serious compact." Up until recently? Yes, in the past few months a plethora of "serious compact" photographic offerings have been released. Including, from Olympus, the E-P1.

Conclusion

Of course, such a compact body does present limitations. Most noticeably is the fact that there is no in-body image stabilization. For image stabilization you will need to attach a stabilized lens such as a Panasonic Lumix OIS lens. However, before you grumble just remember what you get when you purchase the E-450: an extremely small and light body, very low price, image quality that is more than satisfactory, useful live view, outstanding kit lens, a very fine display, wireless control of up to three flash units, and an effective anti-dust mechanism. Yes, the Olympus E-450, an entry-level camera, is fully featured and fantastic value for money and FUN to use.

Products

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Canon IXUS 70 Digital Camera - Silver (7.1MP, 3x Optical Zoom) 2.5" LCD

Canon IXUS 950 IS Digital Camera - Silver (8.0MP, 4x Optical Zoom) 2.5" LCD

Canon EOS 400D Digital SLR Camera (incl. EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens Kit)

Canon PowerShot G9 Digital Camera - Black (12.1MP, 6x Optical Zoom) 3.0 inch LCD

Current eBay Offers

NEW OLYMPUS E450 DIGITAL SLR CAMERA KIT DOUBLE LENS KIT

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NEW OLYMPUS E450 DIGITAL SLR CAMERA+14-42mm KIT~E-450

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NEW OLYMPUS E450 DIGITAL SLR CAMERA KIT DOUBLE LENS KIT

£316.00 (0 Bid)
End Date: Monday Sep-13-2010 15:26:28 BST
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