Posted by admin in Uncategorized on 06 11th, 2009 | The Olympus E-620 delivers all the key features of the company’s more upscale E-30, but in a more compact body and at nearly half the price ($699.99 for the body alone, $799.99 with a 14-42mm lens). The two cameras provide 12-megapixel resolution and a 2.7-inch LCD that pivots and swivels for shooting at unusual angles.
The screen is much easier to view in bright light than most SLR screens (a key benefit when shooting in Live View mode, where you compose your photo on the LCD screen).
The E-620 is a relatively slim SLR, measuring 5.11 x 3.70 x 2.36 inches (130mm x 94mm x 60mm) and weighs in at 16.76 ounces (475g), a big plus for portability, and a big plus for users with small hands who’d rather not deal with a larger, bulkier camera.
The buttons and dials are clearly labeled and easy to adjust, and several key controls are even backlit, a highly useful feature when trying to shoot in darkened settings. It makes use of the ‘Super Control Panel’ which makes the system easy to read and maneuver.
One of the more unusual features of the Olympus E-620 is a set of digital Art Filters that provide dramatic special effects with no special skill. The six filters include Pop Art (hyper-intense colors), Soft Focus, Pale & Light Color, Light Tone, Grainy Film (black and white) and Pin Hole, which looks like the photo was taken with a pinhole camera, though there is no way to adjust the intensity of these effects.
Image quality is high with accurate color reproduction, along with respectable resolution. Even using the inexpensive kit lens provided, sharpness is good and distortion is low. However there is a significant problem with image noise. Even in a brightly lit studio, the grainy imperfection of image noise is clearly visible at all but the lowest ISO settings, and it goes from bad to worse as the ISO setting is increased. It’s difficult to correct the problem without a corresponding loss in detail.
Also dynamic range, the ability to reproduce detail clearly in a high contrast setting, is a problem, as there are both bright and dark areas in the same photo.
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