Olympus E-450 Review
Posted on 27. Oct, 2009 by Joel Meadows in Review
Olympus have made their name in consumer electronics thanks to their video cameras and live action cameras. So, in the stills camera market, Olympus is not the first name that would come to mind when picking a Digital SLR. The first thing you notice when unpacking your Olympus 450 compared with say a Nikon D60 or Canon EOS is how much lighter it is than those other manufacturers’ models. So Olympus have designed this with those people who want a decent camera to take on holiday with them but don’t want to exceed their baggage limit on the plane, which is an issue these days. Its body looks quite sporty in design.
So, because it has been conceived as an SLR for the customer who wants an SLR for snapshots and family photos rather than for professional or semi-professional use, it is fairly accessible to pick up and begin using. It has Advanced Shooting Modes and Easy Shooting Modes. The Easy Shooting Modes include an Art Filter, a Portrait setting (making it easier to shooting people), Landscape, Macro, Sport and Night Portrait. Advanced Shooting Modes are Program Shooting (which allows you to shoot using an aperture and shutter speed that the camera sets), Aperture Priority Shooting (which allows you to set the aperture manually), Shutter Priority Shooting (which makes it possible for you to set the shutter speed manually while the camera sets the aperture automatically) and Manual Shooting (where you can set both shutter and aperture yourself). In the Easy Shooting Modes, there are three Art Filters (Pop Art, Soft Focus and Pin Hole). These are here to help the photographer make choices about what he or she is shooting and they are useful for those who have never used an SLR before. The camera’s Face Detection function is also a useful feature as it detect people’s faces in the frame and adjust the focus and metering automatically.
The viewfinder here is a decent size, so it makes it pretty easy for you to get a clear view of what you are shooting when you are shooting it. The Info setting allows you to see how the white balance or exposure compensation is just before you shoot too so you can see a split comparison screen and pick the one that you want. Also, when you switch to Manual Focus, you are able to enlarge the image on the display so you can get a closer look at what you are shooting. The camera also allows you the option of Panorama Shooting, so you can join a number of different images of the same place together. The Noise Reduction feature is quite efficient and allows you to cut out that horrible grain that you sometimes get in poor light. The only drawback is that it does extend the amount of time it normally takes to shoot a photo. The Olympus E-450 is a fast camera and the time it takes from appearing in the viewfinder is very quick.
It does quite rich things with landscapes, like the tree I shot locally up on a hill and it is pretty intuitive when you’re shooting fine detail and close-up like architecture. Sometimes it can oversaturate blues but to be fair, I didn’t have any filters on the lens that it was provided with, a 14 to 42mm, so if you added a polarising filter, it may help. It can be quite sharp when you’re shooting buildings and it isn’t as sympathetic towards them as say a Nikon. But it does cope with shooting into direct sunlight reasonably decently. Its portrait setting, which I used to shoot a London walks guide, works well and it compensated for the outdoor setting (the grounds of Hever Castle in Kent), creating a shot that is one step beyond a family snapshot. Speaking of portraits, the camera has an invaluable Red-eye reduction flash, which emits a series of pre-flashes before the regular flash fires, which acclimatises the subject to the flash, minimising the red-eye. The camera also allows you to alter the intensity of the flash, which is also a useful function. It will also allow you to customise your camera to make it easier to use. Print reservation makes it easy for you to keep the date/ time information on the memory card with the photos you’ve taken.
The camera also deals decently with low light and its lightness is an advantage on a tripod as it balances well. It also shoots well with the flash off in places when you don’t want to use it or aren’t allowed to use it. As a minor quibble, the menus are shown in this digitised type which makes them look like an Eighties computer, which is mildly annoying but this is a pretty minor criticism.
So that’s the Olympus E-450. As a bridge between a compact and a snazzier SLR, it’s a decent camera. Its weight is definitely an advantage if you were planning to take an SLR on holiday with you and you were concerned about overloading yourself with something bulky on a plane. It isn’t as sophisticated or as intuitive as a Nikon or a Canon but it is accessible for someone who hasn’t used an SLR before. Its design is decent enough and the large viewfinder is advantageous. So if you’re looking for a camera to shoot holiday snaps or family pictures and want something packing a little more oomph than your compact, then you could do worse than grab the E-450. But if you are looking to move into the semipro level, then this camera isn’t really suitable. With a retail price of around £400, it’s not bad value at all. Olympus may never lead the digital SLR market but they’ll certainly give other manufacturers something to think about.
See all of our test shots for the E-450 Review
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