Just like the E-410, the new Olympus E-420 is first and foremost attractive for its compactness and light weight.  A true reflex that is barely more imposing than a large compact (like the Canon G9, for example), the E-420 has some interesting characteristics to seduce photographers that are little inclined to strain their necks in transporting heavy photo equipment.

Handling

While the body is compact, the lens that comes in the kit (14-42 mm f/3.5-5.6) frankly is not.  And to be honest, when equipped with this lens, the E-420 loses a large part of its interest.  Another kit which includes a fixed pancake 25 mm lens (equivalent to a 50 mm f/2.8), is much more attractive (and a bit more expensive at 599 Euros in kit).

The absence of a real handle is not a problem for the E-420.  It remains firmly in your hand and this despite the rather poor positioning of two fixations for the strap.  Otherwise, we were happy to discover that the E-420 (equipped with the 25 mm) was light, very discreet and we weren’t too hesitant to take it wherever we went. 

Ergonomics are well conceived and this reflex is quickly mastered, all the more so that the various main parameters can be adjusted on the LCD screen in a fast and intuitive way.  On the other hand, the E-420 does offer a lot of options and menus were overwhelming at times.  Moreover, directions were not always clear and do not include contextual help.  Either way, with a bit of patience the many options enable entirely personalizing this camera.

 In terms of speed, startup is very fast while that of the autofocus left something to be desired with only a 3 point AF and slightly disappointing reactivity in poor lighting.  The direct aiming mode is better equipped (11 points, face detection) but it is penalized by latency when shooting.  This could be a serious handicap when photographing subjects in movement (there are only three compatible lenses at this time).

The Olympus E-520 with the 25 mm f/2.8.	And on the back...

Image quality

The 14-42 mm lens that comes in the kit is of good quality.  Images are sharp and rendering is satisfactory.  Results are also quite good with the 25 mm; however, we hoped the aperture would have been bigger so that we could have had more play with the depth of field.

As for colors, they were accurate in Neutral mode and much livelier in Vivid.  Outdoors, automatic white balance was very precise while indoors this was much less the case - notably in our test studio where shots showed a red-orange dominance.



Noise control was decent as most of its rivals (Canon, Nikon, etc.) do better in this domain.  Either way, shots are entirely printable up to A4 at 800 ISO but the very structure of the grain is not as nice as with other manufacturers.  Otherwise, the exposure system is reliable but the sensor’s dynamic seems rather limited and brighter zones were often “burned out” in highly contrasted shots.