Photo samples: Olympus Evolt E-410

Using the camera on its default Program settings (top) yielded visibly underexposed results in CNET Labs' tests. On a hunch, I manually adjusted the settings to match those that had been determined for the Evolt E-330 in its Program mode (bottom). They worked much better. My conclusion is that the E-410's Program is set to automatically opt for a higher shutter speed as a form of implicit shake reduction.

In addition to exposure issues, the E-410 also displayed some quirky automatic white-balance results under our exceptionally warm Tungsten lights. Though we expect the AWB to produce overly yellow results, the Tungsten preset on most cameras usually compensates fairly well. The E-410, however, overcompensated, producing a very cool image (right). The manual white balance yielded excellent, neutral results (left).

In another baffling exposure issue, the E-410 seems to lack latitude in the semishadows. Despite appearances, the shadow in the photograph was only slightly darker than the gray of the sidewalk. I tried a variety of metering choices as well as other available camera settings, but I couldn't resolve that overly sharp delineation between light and shadow.

No, Lola's not wearing makeup. Nor is that image noise. In fact, I'm not sure why her dark fur and nose display this odd, glittery artifact.

Even with sharpening set to Soft, the E-410 can produce some fairly sharp results.

The E-410's continuous-shooting speed stands out as one of the fastest we've seen in a budget model--3.3fps, as illustrated here--and it can keep up the pace for a reasonable number of frames.