Olympus E-400

Olympus has today announced a new ten megapixel compact digital SLR with the retro-good-looks of past Olympus film SLR's. Other headline features are the Supersonic Wave Filter for dust reduction, a 2.5" LCD monitor, three frames per second continuous shooting and an easier to use interface. In addition there's also a new Zuiko Digital lens, the 14-42 mm F3.5-F5.6 which is set to become the E-400's kit lens. The slightly odd, sad news, for many of our readers is that this camera will not be available in North America (news I'm sure that will go down like a lead balloon on our forums). That makes it the first digital SLR not to have a worldwide release, so get ready for the grey imports.

Olympus E-400 specifications
Body material Plastic
Sensor • 4/3 type CCD
• 17.3 x 13.0 mm active area
• 10.8 million total pixels
• 10.0 million effective pixels
• RGB (Primary) color filter array
• Fixed low pass filter (anti-alias filter)
• Supersonic Wave Filter (dust protection)
Image processor TruePic Turbo
Image sizes • 3648 x 2736
• 3200 x 2400 (3:2)
• 2560 x 1920
• 1600 x 1200
• 1280 x 960
• 1024 x 768
• 640 x 480
File formats • RAW
• RAW + JPEG
• JPEG (EXIF 2.2) - (1/2.7 SHQ, 1/4 HQ, 1/8 or 1/12 SQ)
Lenses • 4/3 standard lens mount
• Range of ZUIKO DIGITAL lenses available
• Multiply focal length by 2 for 35 mm equiv. FOV
Auto focus • 3-point TTL phase difference detection
• Detection range: 0 to 19 EV (ISO 100)
Focus area selection • Automatic
• Manual
Focus modes • Single shot AF
• Single shot AF + MF
• Continuous AF
• Manual focus
Manual focus Focus by wire (on lens)
AF assist lamp Yes, flash strobe (flash must be raised)
Shooting modes • Auto
• Program AE (with shift)
• Aperture priority AE
• Shutter priority AE
• Manual
• Portrait
• Landscape
• Macro
• Sports
• Night Scene & Portrait
• Scene
Additional scene modes • Beach and Snow
• Candle
• Children
• Documents
• Fireworks
• High Key
• Image Stabilisation Mode
• Landscape
• Landscape & Portrait
• Low Key
• Macro
• Nature Macro
• Night Scene
• Night Scene & Portrait
• Portrait
• Sports
• Sunset
• Underwater Macro
• Underwater Wide
Sensitivity • Auto (ISO 100 - 1600)
• ISO 100
• ISO 125
• ISO 160
• ISO 200
• ISO 250
• ISO 320
• ISO 400
• ISO 500
• ISO 640
• ISO 800 *
• ISO 1000 *
• ISO 1250 *
• ISO 1600 *
* Warning message shown

Metering system • 49-zone multi-pattern
• Range: 1 to 20 EV (50 mm F2, ISO 100)
Metering modes • Digital ESP
• Center-Weighted Average
• Spot
• Highlight based spot
• Shadow based spot
AE Lock • AE/AF lock button
• With shutter release half-press
AE Bracketing • 3 frames
• 1/3, 1/2, 0.7 or 1.0 EV steps
Exposure steps 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV
Exposure compen. • -5.0 to +5.0 EV
• 1/3 EV steps
Shutter speed 60 - 1/4000 sec
White balance • Auto
• Overcast
• Shade
• Tungsten
• Sunlight
• Fluorescent 1
• Fluorescent 2
• Fluorescent 3
• Manual 'one-touch'
• Kelvin (3000 - 7500 K, 7 steps)
WB fine tuning • Red - Blue: +/- 7 steps (2 mired each)
• Green - Magenta: +/- 7 steps (2 mired each)
Color space • sRGB
• Adobe RGB
Image parameters • Color mode (Natural, Vivid, Muted)
• Saturation (5 levels)
• Contrast (5 levels)
• Sharpness (5 levels)
• Monochrome (B&W, Sepia, Red, Green, Blue) - filter (Ye, Or, Re, Gr)
• Graduation (High Key, Normal, Low Key)
Drive modes • Single
• Continuous
Continuous • 3.0 fps
• JPEG: Approx. 20 frames @ HQ 1/8
• RAW: 4 frames maximum
Self-timer • 2 sec
• 12 sec
Flash • Pop-up
• TTL auto / manual
• Guide no. 10
• Sync modes: Auto, Red-eye reduction, Slow syncro with red-eye reduction,
Slow syncro, 2nd curtain slow syncro, Fill-in, Off
• Flash power: Up to +/- 2EV in 1, 1/2, or 1/3 EV steps
External flash Hot shoe
Viewfinder • Eye-level optical single-lens
• Field of view 95%
• Magnification 0.92x with a 50mm lens and -1 dioptre
• Eye point 16 mm at -1 dioptre
• Dioptre adjustment -3 to +1 dioptre
• Focusing screen: Fixed type (Neo Lumi-Micron Mat Screen)
• Mirror: Quick return mirror
• DOF preview: press left arrow button
Viewfinder info • AF frame (super impose)
• AE lock
• AF confirmation mark
• Metering mode
• Exposure mode
• Shutter speed
• Aperture value
• White balance
• Exposure compensation value indicator
• Flash
• Battery check
• Record mode
• Number of storable still pictures
Orientation sensor Yes
LCD monitor • 2.5" TFT LCD monitor (wide viewing angle)
• 215,000 pixels
Playback functions • Single
• Magnify (2 - 14x)
• Index (4, 9, 16, 25 frames)
• Calendar view
• Rotation
• Light box view
• Slide show
• Histogram (Lum / RGB)
• Highlight & Shadow point warning
Playback information • Exposure mode
• Metering mode
• Shutter speed
• Aperture value
• Exposure compensation level
• ISO
• Colour space
• White balance mode
• White balance compensation level
• Focal length
• Focus area
• File type
• Picture mode
• File name
• Image size
• Recorded card type
Editing • RAW development
• JPEG editing (B&W, Sepia, Red eye reduction, Color saturation, Resize)
Storage • Compact Flash (Type I and II)
• xD Picture card
Connectivity • USB 1.1
• Video Out (NTSC / PAL)
Vertical / portrait grip Unknown
Power Lithium-Ion rechargeable
Dimensions 130 x 91 x 53 mm (5.1 x 3.6 x 2.1 in)
Weight (no batt) 380 g (13.4 oz)