Olympus E-420

The world's smallest and lightest LiveView digital SLR camera has just gotten better.

With its new "AF Live View" technology, improved picture quality and enhanced ease-of-use features, the Olympus E-420 makes picture taking truly easy for newcomers to DSLR photography.

Family users, casual snapshot shooters, keen photo-bloggers, and travellers who require a minimal-weight yet full featured camera, will enjoy using this camera because of its remarkable portability and high picture quality.

New and intuitive autofocus operation in Live View

A simple half-press of the shutter release button easily activates autofocus in LiveView operation with the new contrast-detect AF system available in an Olympus DSLR model for the first time. Contrast-detect autofocus is the same type of easy-to-operate focusing method used in most compact digital cameras of today.

Highly accurate phase-detect autofocus is retained for non-LiveView operation and is user selectable in the LiveView mode.

Face Detect and Shadow Adjust for great pictures with minimal fuss

Powerful face detection technology used in the E-420 improves autofocus in LiveView and optimises exposure for faces in single or group portraits. Up to eight faces can be detected with this incredible new system.

Shadow Adjust technology makes getting good pictures in harsh or high contrast lighting situations easy by automatically improving dark area detail whilst retaining properly exposed bright areas. Combined together, both technologies means it is easy for DSLR novices to capture great pictures with little fuss with the E-420.

Easy to operate for the DSLR beginner

Eighteen "Scene Select" picture modes automatically adjust the camera to the best camera settings to use, so that all you need do is to pick the type of picture you want to shoot, and the camera does the rest!

For the novice DSLR user who likes to judge picture results before snapping, white balance, exposure compensation and depth of field can be conveniently previewed in LiveView, just as with a compact point and shoot digital camera. New with the E-420, four separate exposure 'difference' previews (Perfect Shot Preview) can be seen at once on the screen to enable the user to conveniently select the best exposure option.

For accurately focused 'macro' close-up pictures of your favourite flowers, nature or small detailed objects, the E-420's LiveView mode includes a powerful zoom magnifier for a comfortably large real-time preview of the part of the picture that needs to be sharp.

The Olympus E-420 uses both xD and Compact Flash memory cards for upgrading convenience. Fast memory card write speeds means no data transfer delays even when the camera is set to shoot at the highest image quality setting, which means the E-420 will always feel quick and snappy in everyday use.

Better picture quality through improved hardware
 

A new enhanced 10 megapixel LiveMos image-sensor chip with an improved Truepic III picture processing engine delivers better picture quality with improved colour reproduction and lower noise levels. This high image quality allows for large picture prints, and provides cropping flexibility so that you can choose to use only the part of the image you want later in editing.

Automatic White Balance quality has been improved significantly and a new exposure algorithm for ESP metering means accurate exposures in even more lighting situations.

New wireless flash capability for more creative possibilities

Utilising the same sophisticated wireless flash control system as our range-topping E-3 model, the affordable E-420 makes high-quality home portraits and macro photography easy and affordable, especially when combined with the FL-36R flash unit.

Small business owners will appreciate the low cost and convenience of this wireless lighting system for high-quality product catalog photography for web or print when used with light tents or small shooting tables. Both the FL-36R and FL-50R flash units can be conveniently controlled from the E-420.

An improved, more ergonomic grip

The E-420 features a improved more ergonomic grip that makes handling by users with large hands even better.

Universal colour for everyone

The Olympus E-420 features operation/function labels and icons that are visible to colour-blind users who are protanopic, deutaranopic or tritanopic.

A camera that comes with great lenses in the box

Experienced photographers know that a camera is really only as good as the lens used with it. To this end, the Olympus E-420 is sold with, arguably, the best 'kit' lenses available today. This means that you can be confident that you will be getting a great camera with quality lenses when you buy an E-420 single or twin lens-kit.

A rarity at this price level, the ultra-compact wide-angle 14-42mm and telephoto 40-150mm zoom lenses made with special ED and aspherical glass elements deliver sharp and detailed pictures even at wide open apertures. This ensures that low-light or indoor pictures without flash, or portrait shots taken at the inevitable open apertures will be superbly sharp across the whole picture, from the middle of the image to its edges - unlike many average performing entry-level lenses sold with digital SLR cameras. Close focusing distances of 25cm and 90cm respectively for each lens provide excellent macro and closeup photography capabilities. Dimunitive and lightweight, both lenses complement the compact E-420 body perfectly.

The new ultra-slim snapshot lens, the Olympus Zuiko Digital 25mm f2.8, perfectly combines with the E-420 to create a high-performance and unobstrusive camera that's ideal for candid street photography and all-round picture taking because of its 'natural-perpective' property.