Olympus E-420 and modified PT-E03

Rob Spray · Issue 44, Sep/Oct 2008 · pp. 34–38

Products mentioned: Olympus E-420, Olympus E-410, Olympus E-400, Olympus E-3, Olympus E-330, PT-E03 housing, Zuiko 7-14mm lens, Zuiko 50mm Macro lens

It seems only yesterday that we took the E- 410 to Plymouth for its first outing underwater at the end of last year. We’ve since given it a real workout in Indonesia (results to follow) but already there’s an upgrade - the E-420. It’s an evolution and incorporates some worthwhile developments. The E-420 takes the compact body from the E- 400, Liveview from the E-410 and adds all kinds of goodies - it has a new sensor (10 Megapixel) like the top flight E-3, a bigger 2.7” LCD screen, contrast detect AF (more on that later), new tidier menus and a baby ‘grip’ - for those big people who had trouble holding the E-410! Although the E-420 is bigger than the E-410 (by 5 grams!) it takes over as the smallest SLR by replacing it. Each E-4xx evolution has made worthwhile improvements, the latest seems faster in most ways and the menu tidy has made life easier. Some entry level SLRs aren’t really pa…