Buy Low Price From Here Now
Readmore
Technical Details
See more technical details
By G. Shaw (UK)
Outstanding camera so far. As a former user of an E400 I can see the improvements. I especially like the movable screen. I have been taking some silky water shots at evening from low down and using the screen on tilt makes it a pleasure to try these special effects, impossible without it. Same compact feel as the previous camera but with so many more extras. Have not yet tried wireless flash but am encouraged to try.
Multiple exposure at 4 frames per second have been good in taking action shots of my greyhounds and speeding steam locomotives ( not at the same time !!)
I am slightly concerned with the quality of the lenses. It seem that a compromise is being made by manufacturers, in particular Olympus. The desire to give everyone a zoom lens facility to compete with the compact camera market causes a drop in the final image quality, compared with a fixed focus lens. This might seem a silly gripe to some users but if I want to produce pin sharp images using a tripod etc I never feel totally satisfied. Yes I can crop images severely and still produce A4 size prints but they are not as good as others I have seen on the internet.
Another feature that works but I would like an improvement is the macro facility. At the moment I get as good if not better macros with my Panasonic TZ7 using iAuto. Again this might be a problem caused by the compromise with the zoom lenses. My OM1 and OM2 originally came with 50mm fixed focus lenses that were great, and opened up to F1.4.
By Brian Goodey (Colchester, UK)
Been using this intensively for several weeks now and have totally fallen in love with it. The flip out screen is well thought out and useable, even in strong light, particularly for macro use at low level and when reviewing the effects of extreme wide-angle. The camera is small for a dslr, comfortable, and well laid out, light even when using the additional battery holder.
By bobbewig (New Jersey, USA)
I recently bought the Olympus E-620 to upgrade my previous Olympus E-500 and to be able to continue to use my existing Olympus lenses that came with the E-500. The new features on the E-620 result in a camera that has been a joy to use and that result in great photos. These features include considerably improved resolution, 12.3 megapixels, very effective, fun to use art filters, live view, a 2.7 inch swivel LCD screen, face detection, seven auto focus points and a faultless image stabilization system. The one criticism I have is that autofocusing is somewhat slow in low-light conditions with the Olympus lenses I have. However, friends have told me that this is a criticism that applies as well to their more expensive Nikon and Canon DSLRs. Overall, I have been very satisfied with the Olympus E-620 and would highly recommend it.
By G. Heath
This will be the briefest of reviews as my technical knowledge of DSLRs is very limited--in fact this is the first one I have used--and so far I have only taken one set of test point-and-shoot photos with the camera set on automatic.
My first impressions of this product are favourable: this is a nice camera to hold and use. For me it's important to have something lightweight--a larger DSLR is out of the question, and the E-620 is not a burden to carry around. The user-manual is rather intimidating and I came to a grinding halt on page 74: "Flash shooting". But that's because I don't have a separate flash gun yet! Anyway, it is a sophisticated little camera and clearly one must study the user manual at some point...My first set of photos, taken on a sunny high-contrast day, were as good as one could expect. The auto-focus and auto-exposure worked quite well and the text on various sign boards (I photographed a downtown shopping area) stood out sharp. Basically, I'm happy with these first pictures. However, I don't think this is a beginners camera, and extensive testing and study is required to get maximum utility from what is essentially a smart product.
Some gripes: not a great lens cap; the viewfinder is rather small; the menu design is very poor (mentioned by a previous reviewer, and quite rightly); battery life seems a bit on the short side to me (but then I left the camera switched on most of the time out of habit). None of these weaknesses are critical, but I have deducted one rating star because of them. But really an intriguing camera, and that's why I chose it, after a not-too-long deliberation. The E-620 struck the right balance between price and functionality for me, and came with highly-recommended, lightweight kit lenses.
Other cameras I considered: Nikon D3000 (lower end) and the Pentax K7 (higher end).
To be continued.
By robotfish (London)
At this price, the e620 just about slips in to the "entry level" camera bracket. Olympus have smaller DSLR cameras (e420, e450) and cheaper cameras (same two, plus the e520) but you can pay far more. Firstly, although this camera is smaller than equivalent offerings from Canon & Nikon etc it still won't slip in your pocket. It needs to be treated just like any other dSLR.
For beginners and hobbyists I'd question the need to look any further. This camera has an amazing feature set including in-camera image stabilisation (rather than in-lens like Canon have), class-leading dust reduction, 23 modes of operation (including aperture priority, shutter priority and manual), live view, a couple of presets where you can customise the settings and save them and of course you get access to Olympus' marvellous lenses.
I got the kit with two zooms: the 14-42 & 40-150. For those who are used to 35mm camera "full frame" focal lengths this equates to a range of 28mm-300mm focal length. Although I have not extensively tested the big zoom yet I have taken lots with the small zoom and been really impressed. The images are really crisp, much better than I have been getting with point and shoot digital compacts.
The thing I most appreciate is that after mothballing my old Canon EOS 35mm camera many years ago for the convenience of compact digitals the purchase of this camera has totally reignited my imagination and is fuelling the notion that photography is art form not just a tool for documenting holidays and birthdays.
The "Art Filters" present in the camera do nothing that you couldn't do in Post-Production (i.e. Paint Shop Pro / Photoshop etc) BUT you'll find (as I do) that they really make you think about the best way to present a picture. You will find yourself looking at a subject and saying to yourself "would that be enhanced by the pinhole effect" or "that would look great in grainy black & white". It seems like a gimmick, but the filters are substantially more than that. Incorporating them with live view gives you an instant idea of what you are getting too.
The articulated screen is useful - it means you can shoot over head using live view and it also means that by inverting the screen you can protect it in storage.
The only thing I have been underwhelmed by so far is the in-camera flash. But having read around the subject on the net I found I was using it on the wrong setting! Like so many other things on this camera you can customise the flash to perform almost any way you want. This can obviously be confusing at first but I'm sure this flexibility will eventually become more of a useful feature than it appears to me now.
Conclusion: everything I hoped it would be. Now to find a good macro lens.
Images Product
Buy Olympus E-620 Digital SLR Camera (14-42mm & 40-150mm Lens Kit) Now
No comments:
Post a Comment