It’s a small SLR, but that might be a good thing.

Gadget Lab has nothing but great things to say about the small stature of Olympus’ entry-level E-420.

That included lens continues Olympus’ trend of bundling inexpensive, lightweight, versatile optics with its SLR kits. This piece of glass is a 14-42mm, F3.5-5.6 zoom lens that goes from an unusually wide-angle film equivalent of 28mm to a reasonably telephoto 84mm equivalent.

The camera’s 10-megapixel sensor holds its own against other entry-level SLRs, and offers the full complement of image quality, exposure, autofocus and other settings that photo geeks expect from an SLR. Like other recent Olympus cameras, it’s even got a “live view” feature so you can compose shots on the LCD instead of the viewfinder.

But while we like the E-420’s size, we’re a little disappointed that it isn’t even smaller. With Olympus’ forthcoming ultra-compact 25mm, f2.8 Zuiko Digital lens, the E-420 comes close to being the ideal weapon for a photojournalist — a compact, high-megapixel camera with a low profile and a fleet footed lens.

But it’s not quite there yet: At 3.5 inches from the front of the 25mm lens to the back of the viewfinder, the E-420 is still too bulky to fit unobtrusively in a jacket pocket. But it’s definitely a step in the right direction. We’re looking forward to the next next version in the series, even if it Olympus forgets to add that secret stash compartment. 

For the full review, Gadget Lab has the skinny.