Got one to have a "compact" with SLR speed & functionality. Unfortunately it's not something I'd really consider small. Certainly smaller than my main camera, but a far cry from pocketable. I'm still gonna get a belt-pouch and the 25mm pancake to give it a shot though.
I got the E-420 to have a small low weight DSLR for travel. While it will not fit in many of my pockets (only a couple of my jacket pockets), it is much smaller than my other gear. The pancake lens is great. I will probably use this little set up more often than my Canon gear because it is so much smaller and lower in weight.
I am starting to like mine a lot after I got an Olympus FL36R flash for it. Unfortunately with the flash hanging on top of the camera it is no longer small. However it is still light weight. Not a bad camera at all. Especially with the Panasonic/Leica 25 mm lens.
I have an E-410... similar. It's certainly not pocketable, but it's very small/light for a DSLR, and the kit lenses perform very well indeed. I let mine dangle on my hip with a Y-Strap-like strap, or hang from my neck like an old film P&S. I can walk around all day with it and not even notice it's there.
It's definitely LIGHT if not small enough to be pocketable. A lot of that is thanks to the light lenses too.
Coming from Canon it's interesting to see how the menu system works and how various settings are locked in for the different modes. Something I really like that the Richo Gx100 does as well is it allows one to vary the output of the built-in flash. I don't know if the new Canons do that or not, but the Rebel and 20D I used to have didn't sport this feature.
I won't have the opportunity to shoot much with it until this weekend, but one thing I'm worried about is ISO 800 & 1600 noise. I'm "spoiled" by the 5D because I can shoot at 1600 with almost no noise, but most other cameras seem to suffer at anything over 400. What's the concensus on that? Are there any unprocessed high-ISO images online for review (not a lot of reviews of the 420 yet)?
I had one - and a E410 before that. I loved it for several reasons and sold it for several others.
Why did I love it?
1. Small / Light - I backpack and climb in the Rockies so this is important to me.
2. Great kit lenses - cheap and very small / light.
3. 2x crop factor meant that I could easily carry up to 300mm equiv. lens for wildlife.
4. Pictures look great on the web and even printed up to medium sizes (under 16x24") - at low ISO.
Why did I sell it?
1. IQ - compared to my 5D + 24mm TS-E or 24-70 f/2.8 L there was no comparison (not that I expected there to be for the $$$ but...;-)).
2. ISO noise. Easily corrected in LR but still very disappointing. The E420 even has noise at ISO 100.
3. Because the E420 was so small and light, I ended up taking it and leaving the 5D at home. The few times I've carried the 5D I really wished I'd carried it more often after I see what it's capable of! The only way that was going to happen was to ditch the E420 so I sold it.
Now I'm going to carry the 5D + 20mm f/2.8 around my neck with a G9 on my hip for 'webby' snapshots to document my hikes / climbs and make small prints. I'll have my tripod and 24mm TS-E in the pack along with my Singh-Ray filters. On easy trips I'll include the 70-200 f/4 L IS in the pack as well. On trips where I'm expecting lots of flowers (I'm a sucker for a good flower shot) I'll bring the 90mm TS-E instead of the 24mm or the 70-200.
I can crop the 20mm shots for the web so that's why I want the widest lens (and auto focus) on the 5D around my neck, ready to snap shots of quickly changing mountain atmospherics. Any good wide-angle shots can be printed full size.
I'll let you know how that goes! It'll be quite a bit heavier but I think when I look at a nice sharp, clean picture hanging on my wall next fall it'll be worth it.
Vern, when I go out shooting wildlife with my 40D+300/2.8+2x, I usually bring my E-410 and 14-42 along as well. The (unnoticeably light) camera hangs at my hip and is always ready to shoot, which means I use it frequently. When I bring along my 17-40 to swap lenses I tend to pass by some shots to avoid swapping lenses, and when I bring long my 5D and 28-75 I tend to leave the camera in the bag rather than packing and unpacking it constantly.
Your point is a good one; there's much more to the story than the technical side of it.
Yeah - I hear ya on the missed shots, that's why I will have the G9 perched on my hip belt (with 200mm on the long end it will be faster than changing to the 40-150mm on the E410 anyway).
I can't realistically carry the 5D AND another SLR (no matter how small!) while trying to climb up a mountain! Many of my days are 3000 to 6000 feet of vertical with anywhere from 10-25km total distance. That's tiring enough without lugging two SLR systems around!
My hikes are much more casual. More of a stroll, actually! I was surprised to weigh my E-410+14-42 versus my 28-135 and find the whole Olympus system weighed 0.1lbs more than the lens alone! The lens' shape (and the G9 for that matter) is easier to pack, however, so I can see why someone would go the other route if space/weight is at an absolute premium.
I have to say I am going the opposite direction here for travel. I just got back from the Grand Canyon, and traveling down to the Colorado river, and then back up in a day with the 1Ds, and a few light alternatives, like the 28mm Leica, 50mm Contax, and 21mm Olympus, it still got incredibly heavy. Much more so than an E420 with the 7-14mm, and perhaps the 28mm Leica for a secondary lens. Plus, the smaller size makes it easier to fit into a pack, like a waterpack instead of a much larger and heavier pack. The images out of it look comparable at lower ISOs, and digital is all about tradeoffs, so why not go for lighter also?
I travel a lot for work, and it's just not practical to lug my Canon gear around on my work trips.
So I got an E-420 as a travel camera. With just three lenses, I have a complete kit: Leica D 14-150 OIS (28-300 equiv), 50/2 Macro (100/2 equiv), and 25/2.8 pancake.
The Leica lens is a great all-purpose lens on the E-420. The OIS is very effective, the focal range very versatile, and image quality surprisingly good for a 10x zoom.
When I want to go for a walk with a smaller kit, I throw on the 50/2 or 25/2.8 (one on the body, and the other in my pocket), and head out. It's so small and light, I hardly notice the camera slung over my shoulder. And those two lenses make a pretty versatile combo while walking around.
The image quality from the four-thirds systems has some limitations. But it's far better than any P&S I've tried. I wouldn't use it to shoot critical landscapes and print them at 24x36", but for a travel camera this is just perfect for me.
The Oly 11-22mm mid pro lens is not to be overlooked, considerably lighter than the 7-14, fully waterproof and has the added advantage of the front filter ring for ND grads etc. This is the lens I use with an ageing E-500 for backpacking as it has a very usefull 22-44mm equivelence perfect for most landscape situations. Opticaly the lens is very well corrected with good edge sharpness - I was looking to upgrade the E500 with a 420 as the next step.
For those using the cam as a lightweight alternative, you might want to wait for the 9-18mm to fill up the wide angle gap instead of investing in the 17-14 or 11-22.
I have the e410 and some lenses. It's compact enough for me to not have to worry about size in space in my laptop bag. While larger than a real P&S like the Fuji F50, the e410 does move things up to a much higher level of image quality than you could get with a P&S. Very pocketable with the 25mm f2.8 Pancake.
I also use mine with the OM 16mm f3.5, OM 24mm f2.8, OM 40mm f2.0, and CZ 25mm f2.8 - all providing for a rather compact and very portable package.
Pascal, out of curiosity how would you compare the Olympus 25/2.8 to your manual lenses (24/2.8, 25/2.8) in that neighborhood?
I bought an OM 28/3.5 for my 5D, but have used it on my E-410 to decent effect. I considered an OM 24/2.8 for a while to use on my E-410, but I now have a 25/2.8 on order, because it's absolutely tiny and it seems to be a decent performer from what I've seen so far.
I use my OM lenses on the E-system as well as Canon full frame and it really is not a fair comparison as the two SLR platforms are different and each of these lenses take on a whole different level/definition of image quality depending on which system you use it on.
The tiny little pancake is a nice lens and offers about the same image quality as the older OM 24mm f2.8 when used on the 2x FOV sensor of the Olympus SLR's.
The colors are nice, but I still seem to prefer the OM 24mm f2.8 again over the Zuiko pancake. The CZ 25mm f2.8 seems to be sharper in the center... just from preliminary shots - the CZ 25mm is wicked sharp in the center.
There is visible distortion - more than what you would consider normal for a prime. You don't see that much on the OM 24mm f2.8
I have to see how well the 24's and 25's fare in bright daylight with flare.... will do that when I get a chance.
If Autofocus is a must, then the choice is clear. But if you don't mind manual focus, you can easily look at the alternatives for under $250 and get something that you can use on the E-system as well as your Canon full frame.
If this pancake lens could be used on a full frame SLR like the 5D, it would fare quite poorly.
i.e. IF the OM 24mm f2.8 and ZD 25mm f2.8 pancake were both usable on the 5D or any other full frame SLR, the pancake would not get a very high rating. But since the platforms are different, most will be happy with the pancake on the E-system.
The fact that it is a pancake is probably it's biggest/best selling point. If you own the OM 24mm f2.8, I would suggest you not bother with the pancake unless you need it specifically for AF or smaller size. But if you don't have a 24mm lens, then the pancake is ideal for the E-system - it's almost half the size (length) of the CZ 25mm f2.8.
I have the OM 28mm f2.8 and really like it - given that they are so cheap.
Any idea how long do we have to wait until Adobe products are a able read the e420 RAW file? I'm using Lightroom and don't think there's any more upgrade until the release of version 2. So I'm waiting for the DNG converter.
