Olympus E-450 DSLR

Olympus has announced a new entry-level camera to their E-System line of digital SLRs. The Olympus E-450 digital SLR has a 10-megapixel Four Thirds sensor, a 2.7-inch HyperCrystal II LCD with Live View and it includes three Art Filters – Pop Art, Pin Hole and Soft Focus.

The E-450 digital SLR is an entry-level follow-up to last year’s E-420, the world’s smallest digital SLR. It shares the same 10-megapixel sensor as the E-420 and the Art Filters from the E-30 and E-620. Like the E-420, the E-450 sacrifices the excellent built-in image stabilization that other Olympus E-System DSLRs offer. It’s designed to be comfortable and familiar to photographers stepping up from compact digital cameras so Live View behavior is the same as a point-and-shoot – turn Live View on and you can focus and compose in the LCD just like with a point-and-shoot camera. Auto focus works in Live View mode and Face Detection makes taking pictures of people even easier. Even if your subject is moving, the E-450′s Face Detection system will track the faces to keep them in focus and ensure proper exposure.
Olympus E-450 Digital SLR
Turn the E-450′s mode dial to ART/SCN and you can choose from the 3 Art Filters or 18 scene modes. The Art Filters were introduced with the E-30. They offer sophisticated in-camera effects and I was surprised how much I liked them when I first tried the E-30. They’re a lot easier than trying to achieve the same results with Photoshop or other software. The E-450 offers 3 of the 6 Art Filters that the E-620 and E-30 have. I think they’re the most useful of the 6 and include my favorites, Pin Hole and Soft Focus. For more on the Art Filters, see my Olympus E-30 intro article.


Olympus Art Filter Sample Photos (left to right): Pop Art, Soft Focus, and Pin Hole. Click thumbnails to view photos. (samples taken with the Olympus E-30)

The E-450 also includes Shadow Adjustment Technology, TruePic III+ image processing, the Olympus Dust Reduction System and wireless flash control (with Olympus FL-50R and FL-36R flash units).

At $699 for a kit that includes the ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital and ED 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 Zuiko Digital zoom lenses, the Olympus E-450 is a great value for photographers buying their first digital SLR. With the 2x digital crop factor of the Four Thirds sensor, those two lenses offer a range of 28mm to 300mm (35mm / full frame equivalent). That’s as much as most casual photographers will ever need. The E-450 should be on store shelves in July of 2009.

Olympus E-450 Press Release