The last of the Kodak CCDs for Olympus
Lookie what I got!
It’s got a 10mp CCD by Kodak, the last and highest resolution CCD in an Olympus camera.
I’ve been waiting for months for one to come up on eBay or any of the forums, to no avail. There weren’t even any sale records.
Then late one night, a random google led me to a throwaway comment on a broken blog mentioning this Olympus E-400 was NEVER RELEASED in North America. Or Japan! Aha!!
To ebay.co.uk I went, to annoy a bunch of sellers til I found one willing to ship to me!
The new battery will arrive later this week. (I asked the seller to leave the battery out to ensure eBay’s global shipping program wouldn’t reject it.)
Unusually, instead of a “full readout,” it does line by line (?) which enables LiveView (?!) unlike the other models.
I thought I’d post an unboxing here when power arrives 🙂
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YESSSS! Epic effort to get that camera and such a cool history it has (never released in US or Japan?! WHAT). It's a really fine looking camera, too, and I bet that CCD sensor is going to be sweet. Can't wait to see your photos with it. 😁
Quote from JBP on July 20, 2022, 2:10 pmYESSSS! Epic effort to get that camera and such a cool history it has (never released in US or Japan?! WHAT). It's a really fine looking camera, too, and I bet that CCD sensor is going to be sweet. Can't wait to see your photos with it.
Right? I don't understand how a camera with an American-made sensor by a Japanese camera brand was released in neither place. But that's what the internet says!
One challenge is, I think the lenses for these cameras are not very good by today's kit zoom standards. So I may not be able to fully appreciate it until adapters arrive.
I really dig the four thirds system. As you may recall I owned the Olympus 450 for a while (similar body, but newer 10mp CMOS sensor 😟) I still really enjoyed it and knew I wanted to try out an older one. So I sold it and now I have my beat up Olympus E-300.
I haven't used any of the nice lenses for the system yet. The 50mm f2 macro and 25mm f2.8 pancake are recommended and on my list. There's also a 35mm f3.5 that does well. The only zoom I've used in length was the 14-42, and it did fine. I don't recall being upset with the quality at all.
This is the M42 adapter I bought my E-300 and have been having a blast with. It's shipping from China so took 21 days to arrive, but is only $7 🙂 Depends how patient you are haha. But I think M42 is a great route to go with it.
I would like to own all the four thirds cameras if I could. The E400 looks interesting and one I should add.
These are my two favorite the E1. Many say it's still the most comfortable DSLR to hold that was ever made.
It also feels retro as it has a screen that is little bigger than a postage stamp. The 5mp images are still usable. And those lovely CCD colours
And then there is the CMOS E330 one of the only cameras with a second sensor for live view and one of the few DSLRS with a tilty display.
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Quote from James Warner on July 21, 2022, 11:42 am
I haven't used any of the nice lenses for the system yet. The 50mm f2 macro and 25mm f2.8 pancake are recommended and on my list. There's also a 35mm f3.5 that does well.
Really good to know, thanks! I looked up the list of lenses on Camerapedia and was like, where do I even start?? Google results are so polluted due to mFT.
Kind of amazing that the 25mm 2.8 is going for ~$130 still, despite the system being long dead and not all that popular.
The only zoom I've used in length was the 14-42, and it did fine. I don't recall being upset with the quality at all.
This is the M42 adapter I bought my E-300 and have been having a blast with. It's shipping from China so took 21 days to arrive, but is only $7
Depends how patient you are haha. But I think M42 is a great route to go with it.
Yes! I ordered 2 adapters just yesterday, one m42, and one Exakta because it exists and I like pain.
And, once upon a time, I was a patient person… then I spent two years not doing any of the things I wanted to do and now I am DESPERATE for novelty so I went with Fotodiox. 😅
Quote from Lim on July 21, 2022, 7:47 pmI would like to own all the four thirds cameras if I could. The E400 looks interesting and one I should add.
These are my two favorite the E1. Many say it's still the most comfortable DSLR to hold that was ever made.
It also feels retro as it has a screen that is little bigger than a postage stamp. The 5mp images are still usable. And those lovely CCD colours
And then there is the CMOS E330 one of the only cameras with a second sensor for live view and one of the few DSLRS with a tilty display.
That E-1 is a beautiful looking camera. My E-300 is not nearly as pretty as your E-330 😀
The E-1 really is gorgeous. They are obviously desirable since people are willing to pay upwards of $200 for a 6 megapixel camera!
IT'S HERE! The battery has landed! And it arrived charged, too. I unironically love Kastar.
First shots… dinky selection because it's 102F outside.
All are OOC jpegs, shot at ISO 100 except the cat.
I think the interior shot looks quite good (accidentally handheld at 1/13s). The raw file can be brightened a lot without quality loss. Surprising lack of fringing.
The desert colors are reasonably accurate (if underexposed/lower in contrast) but there is a lack of separation of tones in the browns and greens that is a little disappointing. I hope it's the lens (14-42mm kit lens).
The cat shot is at ISO 800! Color me IMPRESSED.
The raw files don't look much different from the jpegs, haven't tried to see what I can do with them yet.
High summer, mid-afternoon in the desert is not an easy time to be a camera of any kind so I'm not holding that against it. A truer test will be golden or blue hour, or when we can drive up the mountain to actual trees and shade.
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Bumped up exposure, set the Modern Adobe profile, bumped up the default color noise reduction, and did a tiny bit of defringing on the interior shot. Pretty good!
I'm still very surprised at the performance of the CCD at ISO 800. This might be one of the rare ones good for interior shots without a flash.
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