Ben Rubinstein
pro member
The new Olympus E-410 looks to be an interesting camera. I've been looking for a small and unobtrusive DSLR for street work and although the K10D with a pancake or two is likely to end up being my choice, it isn't that small. Certainly not as small as it's kid brother but when you are shooting street with primes you need to crop and you start running out of print size very fast when cropping 6 megapixels.
The 410 is small. I've held the EU version 400 and it's actually rather uncomfortable to hold due to the positioning of the strap lugs given the size of the camera, I could get used to it I suppose. The annoying thing is that the lenses are not small and primes are give or take non existent. As Leica is putting input into the 4/3rds system, a couple of small Leica primes would be absolute heaven but I think we will be waiting a bit to see them if at all.
The reports of the original 400 said that the noise was pretty bad as expected from a 4/3rds camera but the 'warning' that came with the 400 when going over iso 800 is now gone on the 410 which has a new chip with iso 1600. Interesting to see if they've pulled any rabbits out of the hat.
Rambling aside, this camera with a Leica prime or two would be a pretty good street shooting tool. It wouldn't have the look of a M8 or 5D, but hey, neither does the vast majority of film street work anyway! A useable iso 800 should be enough for most street shooters, the DOF of a X2 sensor means that you can open up one stop more anyway for the same DOF.
Where am I going with this? The E-410 with a couple of primes would be a great street camera, whether it will happen is yet to be seen...
The 410 is small. I've held the EU version 400 and it's actually rather uncomfortable to hold due to the positioning of the strap lugs given the size of the camera, I could get used to it I suppose. The annoying thing is that the lenses are not small and primes are give or take non existent. As Leica is putting input into the 4/3rds system, a couple of small Leica primes would be absolute heaven but I think we will be waiting a bit to see them if at all.
The reports of the original 400 said that the noise was pretty bad as expected from a 4/3rds camera but the 'warning' that came with the 400 when going over iso 800 is now gone on the 410 which has a new chip with iso 1600. Interesting to see if they've pulled any rabbits out of the hat.
Rambling aside, this camera with a Leica prime or two would be a pretty good street shooting tool. It wouldn't have the look of a M8 or 5D, but hey, neither does the vast majority of film street work anyway! A useable iso 800 should be enough for most street shooters, the DOF of a X2 sensor means that you can open up one stop more anyway for the same DOF.
Where am I going with this? The E-410 with a couple of primes would be a great street camera, whether it will happen is yet to be seen...
