E-410 -vs- E-420

[ConchyJoe]

Hey folks,

I have been waiting to replace my C-5000z with the E-410. My next big trip is not until October.

Now I see that there is an E-420. Other than the slightly larger LCD, is there anything that would make me want to wait till Olympus releases a housing for it?

My plan was to get something along the lines of:

Olympus PT-E03 housing for Olympus E410
Olympus Zuiko E 50mm f/2.0 1:2 Macro Lens
Athena OPF TMP-50 Flat Port for Olympus E 50mm w/ 67mm Thread
Heinrichs-Weikamp Replacement Bulkhead N2 for Olympus PT-E03
2 X Sea & Sea YS-110 DS-TTL Strobe
4 X ULCS AC-CSF Clamp, New Syle w/ 15° Lateral Movement
2 X ULCS DB-05 5" Double Ball Arm
2 X ULCS Single Ball Arm, 8", Sea & Sea YS Fitting
ULCS TR-D Digital Tray
ULCS TR-DHB Padded Handle w/ Ball for Digital Tray
Olympus EVOLT E-410 Body
ULCS AC-H Padded Handle, w/ Base Ball
ULCS TR-DUP Digital Double Tray Upgrade
Sea & Sea Dual Nikonos Sync Cable (1x Nik to 2x S&S or Inon)

Thanks in advance!

 

[ce4jesus]

Well just a few notes from an owner of the E410.

1. Good luck on finding a PT-E03. There are none in the US and Olympus has no plans on building additional housings. There are two others that make housings for the E410 with Ikelite being the cheapest and most accessible. Olympus has no plans to make a housing for the E420.
2. The E420 has two features I find would help in underwater macro. First is the ability to focus while using the LCD. The E410 focuses in this mode but you don't see the changes on the LCD until after the picture is taken...not real helpful. Secondly, the E420 supposedly has the same sensor improvements (noise etc) as the E3.

If you already have a quote from someone for the PT-E03, you might want to make sure they have it in stock. If so, I've heard via the underwater web boards, either here or wetpixel, that the E420 will fit in the PT-E03 housing with a minor adjustment of the mode wheel.

 

[jlyle]

Someone in the u/w world needs to get their hands on the 420 and verify that it will fit in the PT-E03 housing - I'm not so sure. If you buy an Ike housing, I would go with Ike strobes and get TTL without the converter. Of course, you lose the ergonomics of the smaller Oly housing with an Ikelite...something to consider.

I'm also want to see how the various "live-views" really work on the 420. Is there a mode like that on the E-330, or are all of these new live-views useless underwater?

 

[gert7to3]

As I understand it, the live view modes on the E-410 and E-510 caused a form of shutter lag ranging from a half second to three or more seconds depending on whether the camera can focus on the subject. SLRs are designed to set autofocus and exposure with the shutter closed and the mirror down. For a live image, the mirror must be up and the shutter open, blocking the autofocus and metering sensors.

This has supposedly been addressed in the E-420.

Here's a preview review from:

Digital Cameras, Digital Camera Reviews - The Imaging Resource!

Given the housing availability problem (at least from Olympus) and the uncertainties of the final specs on the E-420, you might want to wait a bit. Ultimately I think the E-420 will be a better camera due to improvements in live view.

 

[RTRski]

"Somewhat" addressed, is more my guess. From what I read 420 is doing contrast-detection focus right off the main sensor, which will be 'close' but not perfect, and will fine-tune the focus on shutter full press. The Sony A350 adds a second sensor that is split into the viewfinder if Liveview is requested, and does phase detection off this much more like the 330. Unless of course I've got my head completely up my arse and am mixing this all up again... Bottom line, I would expect the 420 to do better at AF in LV than the 410, 510, but still not quite as fast as the 330. Probably a very acceptable tradeoff in terms of better image quality with the newer sensor, however.

If I were looking 'today' I'd very likely buy a 420. But my E330 goes underwater for real for the first time next week, as early as Tuesday, so I'm in no blazing rush to upgrade myself. Unless of course the catastrophic happens and I can't get a replacement. <knocks on particleboard desk>

 

[ce4jesus]

Someone in the u/w world needs to get their hands on the 420 and verify that it will fit in the PT-E03 housing

"somebody" already did. I'll have to do a little research to find the right thread but someone placed it in a PT-E03 housing and said the protrustion of the grip did absolutely nothing. The only difference was the size of the mode dial on the 420 which was larger than that of the 410. They mentioned a workaround, something about tape.

 

[ce4jesus]

FWIW - Here's a link to the site where liveview on the 420 is shown in a video.
E420 quicktime review of live view - Wetpixel :: Underwater Photography Forums

and it also has the comment...apparently from DPreview FORUM that says the camera will fit in the housing. I'm now trying to create a logon to see if I can find it.

 

[ConchyJoe]

Good luck on finding a PT-E03.

Thanks for the info, I was not aware of that. I certainly should make sure I get my hands on one.

Either way, is the new 25mm lense something to consider as well as the 50mm for UW work?

This is all great info, I love this board!

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Hi Joe,

Regarding the new 25 mm, I think it is going to be an excellent lens for U/W use because it will focus to under seven inches.

In the film days the 50 mm macro was one of the top tools and most of them only got to 1:2. This standard 25 mm (50 mm equv. in 35) is a standard lens and will focus to 1:2.4, not bad for a non-macro offering.

The down side may be that it is so small, less than a inch thick that it will require yet another dome port/flat port. behind a flat port it would have magnification of 1:2 or better.

Phil Rudin

 

[jlyle]

Gary,

One of us needs to get his/her hands on a 410 and review the "live view" modes. I would especially like to see the comments from an E-330 owner.

Jim