UK Diving » Plymouth » Olympus E-410 - mini review

It's always fun to have a new camera to play with, but maybe November isn't the best time to try one underwater in the UK? That's no reason not to try of course so we dunked this cute little SLR in the slightly bouncy sea around Plymouth :-)

The new baby, the E-410 in its PT-E03 housing with the housed FL-36 flash on a Fantasea tray and flexarm.	The E-410 has a certain '60s chic, just a camera not an urban assault command centre with grips and handles - I wish I'd taken the zoom ring for the housing off now :-(	The E-410 (right) compared with the E-330 (left obviously). It's clear how much smaller the body is but don't miss how much smaller the new kit lens is than the old - the zoom ring for the housing is still on the new one.	The full setup from behind, the housing is pretty simply laid out and the flash connector placed neatly on top - a shame the flash housing has it stuck out to the side.	A housing comparison, the PT-E03 against the PT-E02. Its much smaller but the lens ports will be the same size. The port for the 14-42mm kit lens has a larger port than ideal but might even be useful for under/over shooting - compared to the Olympus dome port on the 02
Neither housing is smothered with buttons but the loss of the E-330's extra liveview modes sheds 3 controls. The power bulge for the flash disguises adds to the height of the otherwise well tailored case.	Opportunities for vistas were few and far between... but balancing flash and available light was easy in manual mode - the flash fills in TTL.	The E-410 gave good colours on some of the rather bland beige scenery, in this case a dogfish egg case tied to a seafan under a wealth of encrusting crud.	A Sand Goby during a rare break in its busy day of darting around	These fan worms came out really well, very sharp, viewed full size the filaments are easy to see.
Another resolution test, easy to get all the detail in without having to crowd the subject.	A Striped Blenny, normally a Mediteranean fish but as nosey as a Tompot	No trip to the South West is complete without a Tompot portrait	Dawn lurking in the kelp, the kit lens is just right for buddy shots.	The kit lens isn't intended for macro but works well on small-ish animals. This 2cm cushion star is about the limit though (uncropped)
Using the 35mm macro lens smaller stuff is possible this sea slug on a jelly bryozoan is about 2cm long.	These red fanworms are very jumpy and are usually gone by the time you can get this close :-)	This little female wrasse was a tricky subject, she stalked us along the gulley but hid whenever we turned. This half chance in the darkness of an overhang was the only chance the E-410 and I got	Two Spot Gobies are very tough to catch as they dart around in mid water - the kit lens and the 35mm both did well focussin on these but my lighting was poor and needed some scatter clean up :-(	A sharp Two Spot Goby is tricky, I should have tried harder as they are very colourful.
Dawn hanging on the line waiting to surface - flash lit balanced against the ambient surface light.	Dawn waiting for the boat to pick us up on a dark November afternoon in Plymouth Sound. The flash is firing through the water.

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