Canon Issues Service Notice for 1Ds Mark III and 1D Mark III ISO Comparison: Olympus E-620 vs. Nikon D90 vs. Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Olympus E-620 Has Arrived: Testing Commences

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Posted by Patrick on May 16, 2009 in Cameras

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I’ve received our review unit of the Olympus E-620, and as I mentioned at twitter already, opening the box brought a big smile to my face on account of the diminutive size of the E-620. Yes it is small, and likewise, very light, effortless in fact to sling over your shoulder and carry all day (which I did today). Arriving in kit form with the Zuiko Digital 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 ED, the overall build quality of both items, but in particular the camera body, is very good. Despite a good amount of plastic, the E-620 doesn’t come off cheap, and certainly feels nicer than the price might indicate. Button layout is, well, a bit unorganized, but at least the exposure compensation button is in the perfect position. On the back is the 2.7 inch flip out and rotating LCD, we’ll discuss this more in our review, but it works great, and quickly prompts you to try some shots (overhead or down real low) that you’d normally pass on.

We’ve been playing with the E-620 for a couple of days now and been pleased with the results. The 12.3 megapixel E-620 takes nice pictures, is highly transportable, and notably inconspicuous. Live View works effectively and pairs well with the articulating LCD, though can be noisy aqcuiring focus. ISO isn’t up to the same standard as say the D90 we’re also testing, but I had accidentally left the ISO on 1600 for a group of photos and surprisingly they’re all very usable.

As far as negatives go, the first notable one may be the small grip of the E-620. Even medium sized hands will likely not find this grip to be deep enough, and most users will probably adapt a modified grip with fingers bending down the grip rather than into the grip, which has worked fine for me. The E-620 shoots at 4 fps, but does so for about a second and a half at which point the camera takes some time to write those files to memory. Finally the interface for the E-620 isn’t exactly intuitive or all that pretty, and for real beginners may be confusing. It took me awhile to figure out how to change the color space of the files to Adobe RGB (even after reviewing the manual) and I’m usually pretty handy with these type of things. Still, the E-620 has a lot to offer the entry-level photographer, but I’ll add that even the more experienced would likely enjoy the E-620’s form factor and shooting experience.

I’m running some ISO tests now, and will have some images up as soon as I can, but here’s one to hold you over:

Olympus E-620 Sample (f/5.3 35mm ISO 400)

RAW file, no cropping with some curves, and selective sharpening.

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