Probably too soon to review, but I'm responding to an e-mail from Amazon to review my recent purchase. This is my fifth DSLR (Nikon D50, Olympus E-300, Samsung GX-1S, and Sigma SD14) and I have to say it has the best out-of-camera jpeg image quality of any camera I've owned to date. I've long liked Olympus's auto tone correction feature in their software, and now it can be applied in-camera at the time of capture (now called shadow adjustment technology and set by choosing auto gradation in the menu). Tonal range is quite natural, with open rather than too dark or blocked up shadow areas, yet retaining good snap and contrast to make bright, sunny days look bright and sunny. The ESP metering (a multi-segment pattern) has proven quite reliable as has auto white balance. I don't like having to post-process to get image quality I like, and the E-450 has been very good in this respect.
I've also decided that I have no need to replace the 14-42 kit lens that comes with the E-450 any time soon. Based on test reports, I just don't see any other available lens providing a noticeable image quality improvement for my needs. Almost all my shots are at my favorite 25mm focal length, outdoors in daylight conditions, and I prefer deep depth of field. The kit lens gives me no perceptible geometric distortion, no vignetting, well-controlled flare and chromatic aberrations, and sufficient resolution and contrast as to be indistinguishable from the higher-priced optics (according to Popular Photography's SQF charts). Plus, its light weight balances well on the little E-450 whereas the more expensive optics would all be somewhat front-heavy.
I downgraded the camera one star for features simply because it would have been nice to have separate buttons for auto-focus and auto-exposure lock. I have set the AEL/AFL button to auto-focus for me, but that leaves metering tied to the shutter release, which wouldn't be my first choice (though the ESP metering has been so good that it's a minor quibble). One of the best Olympus features has been their sensor dust reduction system, consistently rated as the most effective currently on the market, and I've had no sensor dust issues so far with Olympus DSLR's.
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