400D vs Olympus E-420

[Gold]

Hi there, played around a bit today with a friends Olympus E-410 and really enjoyed the size and weight of it in comparison to my XTI. Most of my photography tends to be travel and whilst doing outdoor activities and it's very tempting to change.

Are there any Olympus users/four-thirds users on here?

Is it worth the swap? Differences in image quality? Anything to bear in mind?

Thanks

[Tycho]

I have an E410 mainly due to the wife wanting camera with optical viewfinder but in a small camera. The E410 (and IIRC the E420) doesn't have stabilisation but the E510 does. The main problem I have noticed is the smaller selection of lenses compared to Canon and Nikon but I did get a 55-200mm sigma lens for Chrismas and I really like it. Unfortunately I didn't compare it with the competition but read a few positive reviews, especially this one.

[wetny]

I have had e510 for about 15 months. Been really happy with it.

[flat-planedCrank]

Gold said:

Hi there, played around a bit today with a friends Olympus E-410 and really enjoyed the size and weight of it in comparison to my XTI. Most of my photography tends to be travel and whilst doing outdoor activities and it's very tempting to change.

Are there any Olympus users/four-thirds users on here?

Is it worth the swap? Differences in image quality? Anything to bear in mind?

Thanks

Personally I'd stick with the Canon EOS system..

-Larger number of lenses available

-Four-thirds mount has a 2x crop factor (1.6x for your XTI) due to the smaller sensor. So that's more inherent depth-of-field and less 'power' to differentiate the subject from its background (this may / may not be an issue depending on your needs)

There is a run-down of some Advantages / Disadvantages / other factors on the Four-thirds wikipedia page.


Cheers.

[Gold]

I would prefer the smaller size but what struck me was the build quality and ergonomics. The 400D seems like a poorly built piece of plastic and it just seemed that in the South American jungle this summer the Olympus would fair much better.

[Tycho]

Gold said:

I would prefer the smaller size but what struck me was the build quality and ergonomics. The 400D seems like a poorly built piece of plastic and it just seemed that in the South American jungle this summer the Olympus would fair much better.

The Olympus does seem to be really well made and solid. I find it really comfortable and bought this Sigma 55-200mm lens.

I also bought an adaptor from eBay to let me use OM lenses which I was pleasantly suprised with. I bought a few old lenses from my local camera shop for about £20 each and get reasonable results.

[flat-planedCrank]

Gold said:

I would prefer the smaller size but what struck me was the build quality and ergonomics. The 400D seems like a poorly built piece of plastic and it just seemed that in the South American jungle this summer the Olympus would fair much better.

Normally I'd say try a 40D / 50D for better build quality but you mentioned preferring the smaller size, so thats going the wrong way...

One advantages of the four-thirds system would be a smaller body / lenses due to the smaller sensor, so perhaps an Olympus system might suit you better

I posted the wikipedia article just to highlight some of the inherent qualities / differences in the four-thirds system. I guess they may be deal-breakers for some people and great selling points to others


Cheers.

Edited by flat-planedCrank on Monday 29th December 23:16

[Gold]

Whats the best option for replacing? Is it best to do part exchange at somewhere such as LCE or ebay it (ebay scares me for selling)?