Olympus E-620

Viewfinder

The viewfinder is comfortably cushioned, with an effective diopter control dial. According to Olympus, it provides approximately 95% view  with 0.96 magnification.

The viewfinder is bright and clear, though eyeglass wearers may have trouble seeing the bottom readout.

LCD

There's a lot to like about this LCD. First, the pivoting mount provides extraordinary flexibility when composing shots with the camera held overhead, down low or off to the side. It's also nice to be able to flip the LCD around 180 degrees, so the screen itself faces the camera and only the solid back is exposed to the elements. We've seen this kind of screen mount before, of course, but it's unusual on an SLR.

The pivoting LCD bracket adds to your shooting flexibility.

The other impressive quality of the 2.7-inch screen, with an ordinary 230,000-dot resolution, is its extraordinary performance in bright sunlight. Olympus uses a type of LCD it calls 'HyperCrystal' that lets some of the background lighting pass through the screen and reflect back, creating brighter illumination. The E-620 uses the latest HyperCrystal III version of the technology, and we found it worked very well: even standing outdoors in the glaring sunlight we could easily read the menus, compose a shot and review the results.

This indoor-outdoor screen is particularly useful when shooting in Live View mode. Live View can be accessed with a single button press. The on-screen image keeps up nicely as you move the camera, without the smearing and blurring we've seen on some cameras. Of course, the more troubling speed question with any camera when shooting with Live View is autofocus performance. So far we've only shot with one camera, the Micro Four Thirds-format Panasonic Lumix G1, that had a Live View autofocus system fast enough to keep up with active subjects. The Olympus E-620 can't match that performance, but it is pretty quick: good enough for shooting in a party situation, for example, though we'd still hestiate to try capturing a soccer game using Live View.

There are six available Live View display options.

The Live View display toggles through six modes, beginning with a completely clean screen. Pressing the Info button brings up a helpful overlay grid: we used the X-Y axis displayed here, but you can choose from two ruled grids if you prefer via the custom settings menu. Another press provides all the basic shooting info, and another brings up a luminance histogram. Next up is the magnification screen: move the on-screen green box to the position of your choosing and press the OK button to see a 5x magnified view (turning the control knob zooms in to 7x and 10x view, all very handy for manual focusing). A final press reveals another interesting feature: four live thumbnail displays which show the effect of different exposure compensation and white balance adjustment possibilities.

Flash

The pop-up flash has a guide number of 12 at ISO 100. There is an extensive array of flash settings, including auto, red-eye reduction, red-eye reduction slow sync,  slow sync at 1st curtain, slow syn at 2nd curtain, fill flash (i.e, mandatory firing), manual at 1/4/ 1/16 and 1/64 intensity and flash off. Flash intensity can be adjusted ±3 stops in 1 EV steps, and 3-frame flash bracketing is also provided. In addition, the E-620 provides wireless control of compatible external flash units (the FL-50Rand FL-36R).

Light from the pop-up flash seemed bright and reasonably even in our test shooting.

Lens Mount

The E-620 is a Four Thirds format camera, which means the effective magnification of a given lens is double what it would be when mounted on a 35mm camera. The 14-42mm kit lens we used, for example, is the equivalent of a 28-84mm lens in 35mm photography. that's good news for those looking for compact telephoto capability, less so for shooting wide-angle and landscapes. Lens selection in the Four Thirds format is reasonable, with all the basics well covered, but it isn't as extensive as you'll find with a Canon or Nikon mount.

The E-620 accepts Micro Four Thirds format lenses.

Jacks, Ports & Plugs

Both the computer connection and video out are handled through a single proprietary port located on the back of the camera, under a protective door. The two required cables are provided.

The USB port is used for both data and video connections

Battery

The BLS-1 rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides approximately 500 shots when using the optical viewfinder, according to Olympus.

A sliding clip holds the rechargeable battery in place when the door is open.

Memory

The E-620 accepts Olympus' proprietary, increasingly antiquated xD card format (maximum capacity of 2 gigabytes and none too fast at moving data), but there's good news to be found in the memory compartment as well: a standard CompactFlash slot. Both slots can be filled at the same time and it's simple to toggle between the two storage locations.

The E-620 will take both xD and CompactFlash cards simultaneously.

Other Features

Dust Reduction.  The Supersonic Wave Filter feature automatically vibrates a filter over the image sensor when the camera is powered on to shake off errant dust particles.