There’s much to enjoy with the E-410. Most of the features will please the advanced amateur while there is not too much to frighten the less-skilled. You could, at a pinch, hand this one to a newbie to use in auto mode and he or she will still make a fair fist of the effort. It is not an intimidating camera.

With its excellent image quality, be it at the lowest JPEG compression or with the RAW format, its complete set of shooting modes, its advanced Live View mode, or even its effective dust reduction system, the Olympus Evolt E-410 has one of the best price to value ratios of cameras currently on the market.

But perhaps the biggest leaps in comparison with its E series predecessors are in the areas of image noise – or now, rather, lack of – plus operational and processing speed, arguably the two areas that really matter and on which you should be crucially basing any purchase decision. With more to praise about the E-410 than criticise, this DSLR comes with a recommendation from us.

There’s no doubt the E-410 is a significantly ‘better’ camera than the E-400. There’s still a bit of work to do with regards to dynamic range – the E-410’s highlights blow out far too easily for our liking – but if you can work around that, you’ll see that Olympus has delivered a great all-round package at a fantastic price.

Ultimately if stabilised optics aren’t a priority, the E-410 is a great choice. The body is extremely portable without compromising handling or comfort, the control system quick and easy to use, the SSWF filter remains the best around, and the Live View facility is both fun and useful.

At the end of the day I found myself quite liking the E-410, it’s a grower that offers great value for money in a small compact package, has some real stand-out features and hasn’t been crippled to ‘fit into the range’ like similar models from other manufacturers. Just make sure you turn off the Noise Filter!

I can imagine very well that the advanced photographer would want a camera like the Olympus E-410 as second camera, travel camera or camera for taking snapshots. But the Olympus E-410 will surely appeal to the mass too. The quality is high, the operation straightforward and the ease of the compact size and light weight are important features that might be crucial for taking the camera with you a lot more often. It will add to the joy of digital photography in your daily life. A definite must!

Despite our grumbles, we enjoyed using the E-410 and were pleased with the pictures it produced. However, Canon’s EOS 400D is a largely similar camera without the live preview, but also without as many minor flaws