Learning to love my Olympus E-410

[shelly1170]

Hi everyone! As the title suggests, I have and Oly-410. My hubby bought it for me about 4 years ago for our first wedding anniversary.

I was so excited to get my first digital SLR! I originally wanted a Canon but the guy in the shop suggested the Olympus instead. i loved the compact size especially. I'm only 5'3" and have little hands so some of the other brands, like Nikon, are much too big for me to hold.

Anyway, after using it for a while, I hated it. The automatic settings were useless. The flash was horrid. I was so disappointed. I thought it could be my "everything" camera.

So I put it away and used my point and shoot, only bringing it out for landscape shots.

A month or so ago my point and shoot died. So I started looking around at a replacement and found this site. I asked for opinions on a P&S and got some comments about me not loving the Olympus.

So, here I am. I'm determined to love my Olympus E-410. So, does anyone else have one?

[Ross the fiddler]

Hi Shelly
I started with the E410 & initially upgraded because my son wouldn't leave it alone & then I went for the E520 (also because it had image stabilisation) with the ZD70-300 lens outfit. Now my son uses the E410. One of the things with that model I found was that it's white balance response to artificial light was too warm for my liking. That can be easily over come by selecting one of the preset WB settings & checking the responce in Live Vew mode to immediately see the difference. Look up page 55 of your manual or you can download the PDF version from Olympus, found here http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/support/.../dslr.cfm#body

I would also save the RAW as well as the JPEG files ( page 51 in your manual) & the highest quality is settings would be SHQ + RAW (need 4gb CF card to save enough photos) to be able to change that in the Olympus Viewer 2 program (a later & better program than the original Master 2 that can be downloaded from Olympus so long as you can quote your serial number of the camera http://support.olympus-imaging.com/ov2download/ )

The E410 can take lovely photos, but don't expect too much in low light or expect a big reach with the inbuilt flash. An external FL36(R) flash will do better for a lot of applications, but again, know the limits (an FL50R is even better but will cost as much as the camera did).

I would also recommend reading Wrotniaks Customising the E410 (& E510) http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/43/e510-sett.html but it might be best to copy & past it into a word doc to print for later reference (or bedtime reading).

This model camera actually gives sharper images that the later models E420 & E520 because the anti aliasing filter isn't as strong. I hope this helps & you can have fun using it.

Cheers,

[shelly1170]

Thank you Ross for the tips, hints and tricks! I'll download the Wrotniaks doc and have a good read, hopefully before I go on the cruise.

[Wulfys Kingdom]

Hi Shelly,

I owned the E510 for a couple of years, although it's slightly above the E410, i dont think by much. I also invested in an old cheapo 2nd hand E330. The old E330 is actually my favourite be patient and in time you should be happy with the camera. Whether it be by improving your skills or getting to know the camera better or a combination of both.

On the note of flash, I purchased a FL36R and was much happier using that instead of the onboard flash. Gives a lot more flexibility to the camera having a hotshoe flash

[Analog6]

When I bought first my digital SLR, a Canon 300D, in 2004 it arrived and I looked it over and thought "Oh, it's just like my T90 (film SLR)" therefore I didn't read the manual and just started snapping. Well, I was quickly brought to heel because it was NOT just like the film version! I remember I sat up in bed with the cat (who slept on my bed) and the manual and each night before nod off I would try different setting (M, Av, Pv etc) and other things from the manual and see what effect they had. Gradually I got used to it. But it took me 2 years to learn what I consider the most important point of digital - expose for highlights. You can recover shadow detail in post processing but not highlights.

So read the book, practice a lot and enjoy the camera.

[pellicle]

I bought an E-410 as a present for my Father-In-Law, but I like the camera all the same. If I was not using Panasonic GH1 I'd use that camera. Seriously what else do you need?

People get all carried away with this or that mode when in reality all you need is to understand the most basic things:
shutter
aperture
focus
and perhaps reasons to choose ISO

I suggest using Av mode as your learning mode and focus on understanding depth of field. The viewfinder is quite small on all 4/3 cameras so you'll need to review images on the big screen (your pc) to really see what's going on.

I still look about the markets for one as cheaply as I got for my FIL to access the fine Oly 4/3 lenses.
Myself I'd go for a 9-18 (which I used to have and used via adaptor on my G1) and the 25mm

after that I'd go for OM manual focus lenses by adaptor as they work well and are such good value

[loradora]

I also have an Olympus E410.
I have had an Olympus OM 1 for a LONG tome now and loved it so I stuck with the Olympus brand.
Its my first digital SLR so I'm still getting used to it.
Went out in the fog a few days ago for 2 hrs taking landscape shots only to return and discover I had it set on macro. Oh well, still learning.
The battery does not last long if you forget to turn it off either!

[swifty]

Hi Shelly,
First of all, good on ya' for giving it another go. I'm convinced that excellent results can be obtained with more or less any DSLR so even though I'm not personally familiar with the E-410, I'm sure the AP community can help you get the most out of your camera.

So to get to the bottom of your problems. You stated you used your P&S camera instead. What was the reason for this? Did you like the colours, were you able to get better focus, less blurry shots?

You also said the automatic settings were useless and flash results were horrible.
What auto settings are you referring to? The 'scene' modes, AUTO or P mode? These are all variation of automatic settings.
I would actually avoid any of the automatic settings in that the point of more advanced cameras is to allow you to have creative control of what you want to do with your photos.
If your intent is an excellent automatic camera, then indeed a P&S may be more appropriate because the results are tailored to be best straight out of camera.
Now assuming you're keen to learn some creative control in your photography, first place to start is the New to Photography section of AP.
But to get you over your initial disappointment from the E-410 results, if you can answer some of the above questions I asked above then we can give you some quick pointers to get some instant improvements that's sure to give you some encouragement.
Maybe post some 'poor' results for us to diagnose.
Cos right now most of us are just guessing at what you dislike about the photos.