Olympus E-620

Auto Mode

There is a single full auto mode, plus program mode with program shift (turning the control dial adjusts shutter speed and aperture in tandem to retain the metered exposure level).

Movie Mode

Olympus hasn't jumped on the SLR movie bandwagon just yet.

Drive/Burst Mode

The claimed continuous shot burst mode speed is a snappy 5 frames per second — since we were working with a pre-production camera, we didn't lab test this performance, but the camera seemed quite fast. Two self-timer levels are also offered (12 seconds and 2 seconds), along with two timer settings (instant or 2-second delay) when using the optional remote control.

Playback Mode

During playback, the image can be magnified up to 10x by turning the control dial. Turning it in the other direction provides six different thumbnail views (4, 9, 16, 25, 49 and 100 images at a time) followed by a calendar display. An unusual view, which Olympus calls Light Box display, is available during playback by hitting the autofocus point selection button. This places two images side by side, allowing direct comparison between them.

Pressing the INFO button during playback brings up five different information displays, starting with a clean screen. A single press overlays all the basic shooting information, a second combines shooting information with a four-part histogram and a quarter-screen view of the image with highlight and shadow areas displayed. Next comes a large luminance histogram overlay, followed by a full-screen image with overexposed and underexposed areas highlighted.

The playback screen toggles through five different displays.

A slideshow is available during playback, with the option to show several images on-screen at once (choose from 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 49 or 100).

As for in-camera editing, options include shadow adjustment (to brighten a backlit subject), redeye fix, cropping and changing aspect ratio, applying a black-and-white or sepia effect, and color saturation adjustment.

Custom Image Presets

One of the headline features of the E-620 is a collection of six Art Filter effects. There are six of them:

Pop Art - creates highly saturated colors
Soft Focus - as the name implies
Pale & Light Color - shifts colors to pastel hues
Light tone - softens shade and highlight areas
Grainy Film - create black-and-white grainy effect
Pin Hole - lowers peripheral illumination to create tunnel effect

The six Art Filters offer dramatic effects that ordinarily require computer software and skill.

The idea here is to provide impressive special effects photography options for users who aren't Photoshop aficionados. The two that really caught our eye here are the Pop Art and Grainy Film effects, both of which add drama to what might otherwise be a fairly ordinary-looking picture. Of course, as purists, we were also concerned about taking a photo with special effects pre-applied, without having a copy of the unretouched picture. Turns out there's a way to have it both ways, by shooting JPEG+RAW. The JPEG will have the Art Filter effect, the RAW will be a clean copy of the image. Problem solved. One expected feature that is missing, though, is a way to set the intensity of the effect in question. The Art Filters are all-or-nothing choices.

In addition, there are thirteen preset scene modes, including two to be used with the optional underwater housing.

Thirteen scene modes cover a wide range of common shooting situations.