Olympus E-420 Performance

The E-420's timing performance ranges from below average to slightly above average speed for a consumer SLR.

Startup time was a bit slow for an SLR, due in part to the ultrasonic sensor cleaning that takes place each power-up. Shutdown was very fast (difficult to measure). Buffer clearing time depends on the image size and quality, burst length and the speed of memory card used.

Mode switching is reasonably fast, except for Record to Play, which is slower than average.

In terms of the E-420's ability to determine that it's properly focused when shooting the same target multiple times, its speed is above average for a consumer model when using the optical viewfinder. The E-420 measured 0.133 to 0.138 second for full AF shutter lag, depending on the zoom position. Continuous autofocus mode lag time was a bit slower at 0.183 second, and manual focus was slightly faster at about 0.11 second. When prefocused, shutter lag dropped to 0.082 second.

Autofocus performance drops considerably in Live View mode however. Full AF shutter lag in the default "Imager AF" (contrast-detect) mode is a whopping 2.588 seconds, much longer than even the slowest point & shoot digicam these days. Switching to "AF Sensor" (phase-detect) mode and holding down the AEL/AFL button while fully depressing the shutter release improved lag to 0.635 second, which is still quite slow for an SLR. Lag with "Hybrid AF" mode, which uses a combination of contrast-detect and phase-detect AF was 0.771 second. Even prefocused, Live View shutter lag is a relatively pokey 0.569 second.

Single-shot cycle time performance is about average for a consumer SLR, at about 0.5 second between shots in any quality mode. Buffer depth is quite good though, at over 20 JPEG frames or 14 RAW frames. Continuous mode is about average at about 3.5 frames per second, but buffer depth was quite good for an entry level SLR, at 13 large/super fine JPEGs or 9 RAW files. Flash recycling after a full power shot is 3.43 seconds, which is fairly quick.

Download speeds were also quite fast, fast enough that you probably won't feel the need for a separate card reader.

Bottom line, the Olympus E-420 is generally a very responsive camera, able to handle average family shots as well as some faster action. A very good performance for an entry-level model.

Battery

Average battery life when using the optical viewfinder.

The Olympus E-420 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with both a single battery and charger. The rated 500 shots per charge using the optical viewfinder is about average for an SLR. Olympus doesn't publish battery life for Live View mode, but you can expect it to be lower, so we recommend getting a second battery.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of on fully-charged battery, based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

Storage
The Olympus E-420 stores its photos on Compact Flash and/or xD memory cards, and no card is included with the camera. The table below shows average file size and capacity figures, as well as approximate compression ratios.

The Olympus E-420's images are pretty large. We strongly recommend buying a large capacity Compact Flash or xD-Picture card, at least a 1GB one, preferably a 2 or 4GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings. (Check the shopping link above, cards are really cheap these days, so no reason to skimp.)