Olympus E-400 vs Olympus OM-D E-M5: A Thorough Comparison for Photography Enthusiasts and Professionals

When evaluating legacy mirrorless and DSLR cameras, two Olympus models stand out as archetypes of their respective technological eras: the Olympus E-400, an entry-level DSLR from 2006, and the Olympus OM-D E-M5, an advanced mirrorless camera introduced in 2012. Both leverage the Micro Four Thirds (MFT) sensor format, yet differ greatly in design philosophy, feature sets, and performance capabilities.

This comprehensive comparison examines these two models from a technical and practical standpoint, providing nuanced insights based on extensive hands-on experience with both cameras and their systems. The aim is to equip enthusiasts and professionals with clear, realistic expectations for performance across various photography disciplines, workflow integration, and budget considerations.

Physical Design and Ergonomics: Evolution from Compact DSLR to Advanced Mirrorless

The Olympus E-400 was conceived as one of the smallest DSLRs of its generation, featuring a compact SLR body style typical of early digital SLRs. In contrast, the OM-D E-M5 adopted the evolving mirrorless SLR-style body design with a more modernized focus on portability combined with professional controls.

Key Observations:

• Size & Weight: The E-400 measures 130 x 91 x 53 mm and weighs 435 grams, whereas the E-M5 is smaller (122 x 89 x 43 mm) and slightly lighter (425 grams). The reduced depth of the E-M5 contributes to improved portability without compromising handling.
• Grip & Handling: The E-M5 features a more pronounced ergonomic grip and textured surfaces optimized for mirrorless use, affording better control during extended shoots. The E-400’s minimal grip is less comfortable for prolonged handheld use, particularly when paired with larger lenses.
• Build Quality: The OM-D E-M5 incorporates magnesium alloy construction with comprehensive weather sealing, significantly enhancing durability in diverse shooting environments. The E-400 lacks any environmental sealing, limiting its robustness.

This fundamental shift in body design is reflected in control layout and user interface, as detailed next.

Control Layout and User Interface: Classic Simplicity vs Modern Customization

Control ergonomics affect operational efficiency, a crucial factor for professionals and enthusiasts who require quick adjustments in dynamic shoot scenarios.

• The E-400’s top panel offers a straightforward DSLR layout with a small LCD and basic mode dial, utilizing manual focus and a three-point phase detection autofocus system. This simplicity benefits beginner users but limits advanced customization.
• Contrastingly, the E-M5’s top view features a dual dial setup, customizable buttons, and an electronic viewfinder display. The rear articulated touch-sensitive OLED panel introduces a contemporary liveview-focused interface with touch autofocus and menu navigation.
• The E-M5 integrates touchscreen capabilities, facilitating intuitive focus point selection and menu control - a feature entirely absent in the E-400.

The more advanced control interface of the Olympus OM-D E-M5 enhances the user experience by balancing complexity with accessibility, enabling faster adjustments and accommodating advanced shooting techniques.

Sensor Technology and Image Quality: From 10MP CCD to 16MP CMOS Excellence

Sensor performance sets the foundation for image quality, dynamic range, and low-light capability. Both cameras utilize Four Thirds sensors of identical physical dimensions (17.3x13mm), but differ conspicuously in sensor technology and resolution.

Technical Specifications Comparison

Practical In-Camera Performance

• Resolution and Detail: The E-M5 offers a clear advantage with 16 megapixels compared to 10 megapixels of the E-400. This translates to finer image detail, particularly beneficial for landscape, macro, and large print applications.
• Dynamic Range: The CMOS sensor in the E-M5 delivers significantly improved dynamic range. In real-world use, highlight retention and shadow recovery at ±3 stops are markedly better, an essential attribute for landscape, night, and high contrast situations.
• High ISO Performance: The E-400’s max native ISO of 1600 is restrictive by modern standards; the E-M5’s expanded ISO range up to 25600 enables usable low-light performance with less noise. Testing demonstrated notable noise reduction in handheld indoor and dimly lit street photography with the E-M5.

Given the aging CCD tech in the E-400, it struggles in high dynamic range and low light scenarios, while the E-M5’s sensor and processing pipeline provide vastly improved image quality suitable for professional and enthusiast use.

Autofocus Systems: A Leap in Speed, Accuracy, and Versatility

Autofocus affects every photography genre from portraiture to sports. The E-400 uses an antiquated phase-detection autofocus system with just 3 focus points, offering only single and continuous AF but no tracking or advanced detection modes.

The E-M5 advances to a more sophisticated contrast-detection autofocus with 35 selectable points, incorporating face detection, tracking AF, and touch-based focus selection in live view.

Real-World Autofocus Performance

• Portraiture: The E-M5’s face-detection autofocus proved reliable for capturing sharp skin and catchlights, addressing a key weakness of the E-400 where manual focus was often necessary. Eye detection is not supported on either model.
• Action & Wildlife: The frame rate increase to 9 fps coupled with tracking autofocus on the E-M5 offers decisive advantages for sports and wildlife, where the E-400’s 3 fps and sparse autofocus points could not maintain focus on moving subjects.
• Macro Photography: Precision focusing through touch and expanded AF points on the E-M5 aids macro work, overcoming the E-400’s limitations in focus accuracy and manual focus dependency.

The continuous autofocus tracking and faster burst rates place the E-M5 decidedly ahead for disciplines involving movement.

Viewfinders and LCD Screens: Optical Traditionalism vs Electronic Advancement

The user preview and image review workflow are governed largely by the viewfinder and LCD screen technologies.

• Olympus E-400: Incorporates a pentamirror optical viewfinder with 95% frame coverage and 0.46x magnification. The 2.5-inch fixed LCD screen offers basic 215k-dot resolution without live view.
• Olympus OM-D E-M5: Upgrades to a 1440k-dot electronic viewfinder (EVF) with 100% coverage and 0.58x magnification. The 3-inch articulated OLED LCD screen supports 610k-dot resolution, touch input, and live image preview.

Implications for Usability

• The E-M5’s EVF allows users to preview exposure, depth of field, and white balance effects in real-time, streamlining workflow and reducing trial-and-error, which is impossible with the E-400 optical finder.
• The tilting screen of the E-M5 enables flexible shooting angles for macro work, street photography, and video recording, a feature the E-400’s fixed screen lacks.
• The absence of live view on the E-400 renders its composition and focusing options restrictive in certain shooting scenarios.

An EVF combined with a high-resolution tilting touchscreen significantly enhances handling and shooting versatility in the E-M5.

Lens Ecosystem and Compatibility: Quantity and Quality Matter

Both cameras utilize the Micro Four Thirds mount but differ in system maturity and lens availability.

• Olympus E-400: Originally marketed for Four Thirds lenses (the spec before MFT), limited primarily to 45 lenses compatible with DSLR Four Thirds mount and some adaptability to MFT lenses with an adapter.
• Olympus OM-D E-M5: Benefits from the fully developed MFT lens ecosystem with 107 lenses available, including high-quality primes, professional telephotos, wide-angles, and Macro optics.

The E-M5 is forward compatible with a vast array of native MFT lenses optimized for mirrorless use, offering superior optical stabilization and compact design. The E-400’s lens options are constrained and bulkier, reflecting its DSLR heritage.

Image Stabilization: Critical for Handheld and Low Light Photography

A key technological difference is the presence of built-in stabilization.

• E-400: No sensor-based stabilization, relying solely on optical lens IS if available.
• E-M5: Features 5-axis sensor-shift image stabilization, compensating for pitch, yaw, roll, and X/Y shifts.

In real-world shooting, the E-M5’s in-body IS delivers 3 to 5 stops of shake reduction across lenses, drastically improving handheld macro, landscape, and low-light shots. The E-400’s lack of stabilization limits effective handholding in these conditions.

Video Capabilities: Nonexistent vs Functional HD Video

Neither camera targets video-centric users equally.

• The Olympus E-400 does not offer any video capture capability due to its 2006 DSLR design.
• The Olympus OM-D E-M5 supports Full HD (1080p) video at 60 fps, featuring manual exposure control, and offers standard video codec support (H.264, Motion JPEG).

While omitting headphone and microphone ports, the E-M5 delivers respectable video quality for casual shooting and hybrid still/video projects, an option unavailable on the E-400.

Battery Life, Storage, and Connectivity: Modern Standards vs Early Generation Constraints

The E-M5 features modern standardized SD card formats and decent battery life for its class, whereas the E-400’s proprietary and now antiquated CompactFlash/xD cards reduce convenient media handling today. The absence of wireless connectivity in the E-400 versus limited Eye-Fi support in the E-M5 further illustrates technological progression.

Environmental Durability: Weather Sealing Makes a Difference

The E-M5 incorporates environmental sealing against splashes and dust, encouraging confidence in adverse conditions. The E-400 does not provide any enhanced environmental protection, limiting its use in challenging climates or professional fieldwork requiring rugged equipment.

Continuous Shooting and Performance Scores

• The E-M5's 9 fps frame rate clearly supports dynamic photography genres such as sports and wildlife better than E-400’s modest 3 fps.
• Overall DxOmark scores (where available) rate the E-M5 with a 71 overall, a strong performance for Micro Four Thirds, while the E-400 was never tested but expectedly rates lower on modern metrics.

Genre-Specific Performance: Targeted Analysis

Portrait Photography

• E-M5: Superior due to higher resolution, better color depth, accurate face detection AF, and 5-axis image stabilization, yielding excellent skin tones and natural bokeh with MFT lenses.
• E-400: Achieves good skin tones but lacks autofocus sophistication and stabilization, requiring more manual skill.

Landscape Photography

• E-M5: Excels with higher dynamic range and higher resolution, articulating screen for low-angle shooting, and weather sealing.
• E-400: Lower resolution and dynamic range limit landscape use; lack of weather sealing restricts outdoor flexibility.

Wildlife and Sports Photography

• E-M5: Fast 9 fps burst, 35-point AF with tracking, and smaller, lighter lenses contribute to superior action capture.
• E-400: AF sluggishness and limited focal points make action and wildlife photography challenging.

Street Photography

• E-M5: Compact size, silent shutter capability (electronic shutter, although limited), tilting screen, and low ISO performance favor street work.
• E-400: Bulkier, lacks live view and silent modes; manual focus can slow responsiveness.

Macro Photography

• E-M5: Precise AF, IS support, and articulated screen facilitate critical focusing and framing.
• E-400: More intensive manual focusing required; no stabilization hinders handheld macro usability.

Night and Astro Photography

• E-M5: Higher max ISO, better low-light noise management, and manual exposure modes enable astrophotography.
• E-400: High base ISO and dynamic range limit night capabilities.

Video Applications

• E-M5: Suitable for 1080p video with manual control although lacking dedicated video ports.
• E-400: No video capability.

Travel Photography

• E-M5: Light and compact with high versatility, IS, and weather sealing.
• E-400: Slightly larger and less flexible for travel-oriented shooting.

Professional Workflows

• E-M5: Supports RAW with broad software compatibility, better file quality, and connectivity for tethering.
• E-400: RAW support available but limited sensor performance and aging file specs reduce professional workflow efficiency.

Sample Gallery: Image Quality in Practice

Olympus E 400 front Olympus E 400 screen back Olympus E M5 front Olympus E M5 screen back

Side-by-side image comparisons across various test scenes (portrait, landscape, low light) demonstrate the marked improvements in sharpness, noise control, and color fidelity afforded by the OM-D E-M5 sensor and processing engine over the earlier E-400.

Final Assessment: Which Camera Fits Your Needs?

Olympus E-400: Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths:

• Lightweight and compact DSLR form factor.
• Simple controls suit beginners transitioning from point-and-shoots.
• Affordable entry point for Four Thirds imaging.

Weaknesses:

• Limited 10MP CCD sensor with dated image processing.
• No live view or video capability.
• Minimal autofocus points and no tracking.
• No image stabilization or weather sealing.
• Obsolete storage media and no wireless connectivity.

Best for: Enthusiasts with a strict budget focused on still photography fundamentals in controlled lighting environments, who prefer an optical viewfinder and DSLR ergonomics.

Olympus OM-D E-M5: Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths:

• Advanced 16MP CMOS sensor with superior dynamic range and ISO performance.
• 5-axis in-body image stabilization.
• Fast and versatile autofocus system with face detection and tracking.
• EVF + tilting 3-inch touchscreen supports modern shooting styles.
• Weather sealed body for durability.
• Supports Full HD video.
• Large native lens ecosystem.
• Higher continuous shooting frame rates.

Weaknesses:

• Absence of microphone/headphone jacks limits serious videography.
• Battery life moderate; extra batteries advisable for heavy use.
• Eye detection autofocus lacking (only face detection).

Best for: Enthusiasts and professionals upgrading to mirrorless who require a versatile, robust camera for a broad range of genres including portrait, landscape, wildlife, street, and video.

Conclusion

Comparing the Olympus E-400 with the OM-D E-M5 is an exercise in contrasting early DSLR technology with mature mirrorless innovation within the same Micro Four Thirds sensor size domain. The OM-D E-M5 is clearly superior across nearly all aspects: sensor performance, autofocus, stabilization, usability, and durability. The E-400, while historically meaningful, remains a basic tool limited by its era’s technology.

For professionals and serious enthusiasts, the OM-D E-M5 continues to hold relevance for its modern technological integrations and balanced feature set, despite its age. Novices constrained by budget might consider the E-400 as an affordable introduction to DSLRs but should anticipate significant compromises.

Ultimately, the E-M5’s advances in image quality, shooting speed, control sophistication, and ruggedness make it a distinctly more capable camera that justifies its higher cost and complexity for those aiming to maximize photographic potential.

This head-to-head comparison, grounded in extensive hands-on testing and technical analysis, offers a clear roadmap for photographers evaluating legacy Olympus gear in today’s competitive imaging landscape. Your choice will depend on your particular workflow requirements, genre focus, and budget constraints, but the distinctions highlighted here will inform a confident decision.

If further questions arise about third-party lens compatibility, customization tips, or detailed workflow integration, please feel free to inquire.