Olympus VH-410 Digital Camera Review

Features
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Specification


The Olympus VH-410 was announced in August 2012 and designed to be fun to use with a 3 inch touchscreen. The metal bodied camera is available in pink, blue, silver and black for £119.00.

Olympus VH-410 Features

The VH-410 has a 16 megapixel CCD sensor and 5x optical zoom lens, which is a 35mm equivalent of 26-130mm, with Dual Image Stabilisation to help keep shots as sharp as possible.

To make shooting as easy as possible iAuto mode, which automatically adjusts the camera settings for the detected scene. There are also a number of scene modes and beauty mode which says it will bring your subjects to life to create dynamic pictures. As well as in-camera panoramas there is a number of magic filters to give your pictures an extra touch of creativity, some of which can be used on videos.

Videos are recorded at 720p HD at 30 fps with image stabilisation available to keep videos steady. You can use the optical zoom during recording, although you need to turn the sound off in order to use it.

Key Features

• 16 megapixel CCD sensor
• 5x optical zoom (35mm equiv: 26-130mm)
• Dual Image Stabilisation
• 3 inch, 460k dot, LCD touch screen
• 12 Magic filters
• 720p HD video recording
• ISO 100-1600
• 5cm minimum focusing distance
• In-Camera Panorama
• Available in silver, black, pink and blue

Olympus VH-410 Handling

The VH-410 has a compact body with a metal front and plastic back which you can easily carry around in your pocket. There is nothing to aide grip on the front of the camera, although there is a grooved area on the rear for your right hand thumb. The tripod socket is positioned on the edge of the bottom of the camera, and doesn't sit flat when attached to a tripod.

The 3 inch LCD screen is bright and clear and allows you to set the focus and release the shutter by pressing the screen. The majority of the camera settings are adjusted by a menu which appears in a column on the right hand side of the screen, you use the circular d-pad on the rear to cycle through. This means there isn't many other buttons on the camera. There are menu, playback and movie record buttons on the rear, with the on/off switch, shutter release and zoom rocker placed on the top.

There is no CIPA rating provided for the battery, we managed nearly 700 shots before the battery went flat. We tested the camera's performance at focusing, shutter response, shot-to-shot time, continuous shooting etc. and have posted the results below. To test this we took 6 or more shots and calculated the average.

Shutter Response		0.3 seconds
Wide - Focus / Shutter Response		0.4 seconds
Full zoom - Focus / Shutter Response		0.9 seconds
Switch on Time to Taking a Photo		1.9 seconds
Shot to Shot (without flash)		3.4 seconds
Shot to Shot with Flash		3.9 seconds
Sequential		0.5 fps
High-speed 1		1.8 fps
High-speed 2		15.7 fps

The sequential shooting mode records at full 16 megapixel resolution, with the high-speed modes restricted to just 3 megapixels.

Olympus VH-410 Performance

Additional sample photos and product shots are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own review, photos and product ratings.

Olympus VH-410 Sample Photos

Sample Photos - The VH-310 takes pictures with good colour reproduction and are generally well exposed. Portrait shots have pleasant skin tones and are free of red-eye.

Olympus VH-410 Lens test images

Lens Performance - Image detail is OK at both ends of the lens, with a good control over purple fringing in contrasting areas. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 5cm, this allows decent enough macro shots to be taken.

Olympus VH-410 ISO test images

ISO Noise Performance - There isn't any noise at ISO 100 with only a little appearing at ISO 200 and a slight softening occurring at ISO 400. There is a little detail missing at ISO 800, which worsens a little at ISO 1600.

Olympus VH-410 White-balance test images

White Balance Performance - Under the incandescent lights, there is an orange cast when using the AWB, with the incandescent preset taking a much better picture. The AWB handles our fluorescent lighting really well, with the fluorescent preset having a magenta cast.

Olympus VH-410 Other sample images

With our studio lights turned as low as they would go, night scene mode has been used to get a longer exposure. The other shots have been taken using some of the other scene modes available such as landscape and text.

Olympus VH-410 Digital filters

Digital Filters - There are a number of magic filters which can be used during picture taking, some of which can be used for videos as well.

Video - Below is a video shot at 720p HD, there is an example using the optical zoom during recording which can be seen on the ePHOTOzine Youtube Page.

Value For Money

The Olympus VH-410 is currently priced at £119.00. Below are a number of cameras that are similar with around 5-8x optical zoom.

Pentax Optio LS465	Nikon Coolpix S3300	Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS45	Canon PowerShot A4000 IS	Fujifilm FinePix Z1000 EXR
£74.95	£94.95	£94.95	£109.00	£184.00

You'll also need to buy a memory card and a case or bag to keep your camera safe and protected - have a look at our complete guide to camera bags.

Olympus VH-410 Verdict

The Olympus VH-410 is a fairly standard camera, with many alternatives available and nothing to separate it from the competition. It takes decent enough pictures, with good colour reproduction, so it doesn't let you down there, particularly if you tend to share your images on the web.

Olympus VH-410 Pros

Touch screen can be used to select focus point
Image quality isn't bad
Images have good colour
Available in a range of colours
Camera is easy to use

Olympus VH-410 Cons

No particularly exciting features
Tripod socket is poorly positioned
Struggled to expose correctly in poor light

FEATURES
HANDLING
PERFORMANCE
VALUE FOR MONEY
VERDICT

Olympus VH-410 Specifications

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