Olympus Camedia E-20N

WHAT'S HOT: Through-the-lens viewing tops this camera's extensive list of features; unlike the tiny, straight-through optical viewfinders on most digital cameras, the E-20N's is big, bright, and more precise, especially for macro shooting. A second significant advantage of the E-20N is that it lets you see the aperture and shutter-speed settings in the viewfinder. This rare capability makes using aperture-priority, shutter-priority, and manual exposure modes truly practical. Another seldom-seen feature is multiple-media support: The E-20 comes with a modest 32MB SmartMedia card (we think at least 64MB would be more appropriate for a 5-megapixel camera), but it can also use CompactFlash media and IBM's Microdrive.

The E-20N's heavy aluminum body gives it a rugged, durable feel, and it operates smoothly and quietly. The unit's lens moves relatively quickly throughout its zoom range. Most digital cameras lose two or three full f-stops as you zoom to their maximum telephoto range, but the E-20N drops only from f2 to f2.4. Multiple buttons let you speedily adjust the more commonly used controls; among them are two dedicated white-balance buttons, the first for one-touch instant calibration (which helps with recording accurate colors) and the second for switching between white-balance modes. All of the controls are well placed, maximizing their functionality under a variety of shooting conditions.

WHAT'S NOT: This isn't a camera you can drop into a pocket or small bag. It's big and heavy even in comparison with a typical 35mm SLR. The E-20N measures 7 inches from the back of its massive body to the end of its longish zoom lens, and it weighs over 2.5 pounds. It doesn't offer digital zoom, or audio or video recording--a disadvantage for some amateur shooters, though few pros will miss those features.

WHAT ELSE: Olympus's E-20N earned an overall image-quality score of Very Good in our tests; the images looked attractive, but not as good as those by other cameras such as the Canon EOS 10D. Enlargements made from the Olympus's shots weren't quite as sharp as the Canon's enlargements, though they were still pleasing overall. The E-20N impressed us least in color balance. Outdoor shots tended to have a slight blue cast (which we've noted in other Olympus models); and in our test pattern shots, whites took on a light cream tone. Images of our model taken with flash had fine color shading, but the powerful flash tended to overexpose our model's skin tone.

You can compensate for most of these problems by working with the camera's settings. Using the menus, for example, you can lower the exposure value for the flash manually. Similarly, adjusting the white-balance calibration significantly improved the accuracy of blues and whites in our outdoor shots.

One of the more interesting features the E-20N offers is a progressive-scan mode. This menu selection allows you to shoot at shutter speeds up to an incredible 1/18,000 of a second (no that's not a misprint). That remarkable speed does not come without some cost, however: It cuts the camera's vertical resolution by half. We shot images in both the standard interlaced and progressive-scan modes; viewed at 100 percent of the image size on-screen, the latter were significantly less sharp.

The E-20N did exceptionally well in our battery tests. With the camera using two 3-volt, disposable lithium ion batteries, we took over 760 shots. For users on very long photo shoots, Olympus offers a rechargeable lithium polymer battery pack that attaches to the bottom of the camera. Other options include various telephoto and wide-angle lenses; these clip onto the front of the lens, increasing the weight and size of the camera. If you plan to do a lot of macro photography, you'll want to purchase the optional macro extension lens. Without it, the smallest area the E-20N can shoot is about 3 inches across.

For shooting outdoors in bright sunlight, the E-20N comes with a large plastic lens hood that clips onto the front. When you stuff the E-20N into your camera bag, the hood is designed so you can turn it around and slide it over the lens barrel backward. Unfortunately, it doesn't stay put this way very well, and it tends to fall off when you pull the camera out of the bag--a minor irritation.

UPSHOT: The E-20N offers a wide selection of features and great image quality for the serious shooter.