Olympus E-620

	Controls Summary
• Auto mode sets all controls to default but allows user adjustments • Live View stutters during fast panning; focus as slow as most Live View cameras • Good range of Live View displays including magnification for fine focus adjustment • Large variety of Scene Modes • Art Filters product dramatic effects easily • Delivers four-shot-per-second burst rate as promised
	Hardware	Page 10 of 17	Design & Handling

Shooting Modes (10.50)

The shooting modes are as expected, though the version of Auto incorporated here is a bit unusual, setting key controls to default but allowing users to change whatever they like. This contrasts to the more grandma-friendly auto modes found on many other cameras, which emphasize idiot-proofing over flexibility. The point to keep in mind here is that the changes you make are lost if you turn off the camera or change to another mode and return.

Shooting Modes
	Auto Sets camera functions to defaults (auto flash, ISO, white balance and noise reduction, standard noise filter, natural color mode, etc.), but all settings can be overridden by the user.
	Program The camera sets the shutter speed and aperture, the user controls all other settings.Program shift is available by turning the control dial: the aperture and shutter speed shift in tandem, maintaining the same overall exposure value.
	Aperture-Priority You set the aperture, the camera sets the shutter speed. Most useful when controlling depth of field is a high priority.
	Shutter-Priority You set the shutter speed, the camera sets the aperture. Most useful when controlling the level of sharpness or blur in a shot of moving subjects is a high priority.
	Manual You set both the aperture and shutter speed. Turning the control dial changes the shutter speed. To change aperture, you must hold own the exposure compensation button while turning the dial. An exposure level indicator appears on the rear display and in the viewfinder when shooting in manual mode.

There are also six scene modes accessible via the mode dial, plus a spot for the larger scene mode / Art Filter collection. These are covered below.

Live View (2.75)

While the Olympus E-30 won praise from our reviewer for its stutter-free screen update even when panning rapidly horizontally or vertically, the E-620 is a considerable step backward in this department. Even moderate movement leaves it struggling to keep up, producing an annoying chugging effect. It's not bad enough to hinder most shooting situations, but trying to follow sports, for instance, is unpleasant using this system. Of course, sports photography in Live View is problematic across the board, thanks to slow autofocus performance.

There are three autofocus mode choices when shooting in Live View. The default is Imager AF, which uses contrast information from the image sensor itself to determine the best focus position. The problem with this approach is that it requires the lens to slowly extend and retract, hunting for the optimal focal point, which is one slow process.

One alternative, AF Sensor autofocus, relies on the same autofocus sensor used when shooting through the viewfinder. This requires flipping the mirror down briefly, which interrupts the Live View display momentarily. Most Live View cameras that offer this option let the screen go black briefly. Olympus chose to freeze the on-screen image as it was when you pressed the shutter, which we found slightly disconcerting -- if you move the camera, the image doesn't change. Another oddity when shooting with AF Sensor autofocus is that holding the shutter button down halfway does not focus your shot -- the camera waits for you to press the shutter completely, then there's a hesitation to autofocus, then your photo is taken. The workaround is to hold down the AEL/AFL button and press the shutter button halfway, but it still feels clumsy.

The third Live View autofocus choice is Hybrid Autofocus which, as the name implies, mixes the two approaches. When you press the shutter button halfway, the camera focuses approximately using the Imager AF system, so you can at least see what you're shooting clearly. Then, when you press the shutter all the way down, the mirror flips down, final focus is achieved using AF sensor autofocus, and the picture is snapped.

What do all these methods have in common? They are painfully slow. You can hear the lens make chugging noises in AF Sensor mode like the Little Engine That Could, as it moves first in one direction, then the other, then back again. And switching between focus systems requires a trip to the custom menu system, which makes a slow process even slower.

One more Live View autofocus option is Face Detect. At least getting into Face Detect mode is fast; pressing OK brings up the Live View version of the Super Control Panel (the on-screen quick settings menu), and Face Detect is one of the options.

When using manual focus in Live View mode you have two choices. There's S-AF+MF mode, which uses autofocus and then lets the shooter tweak the results manually, or full manual mode. In either case, a few presses of the INFO button brings up a Zoom display option, which lets you magnify the on-screen image by 5x, 7x or 10x for fine control.

There are six different display layouts available in Live View mode, as shown below. These are toggled in order by pressing the INFO button. It's also possible to disable any of these views you don't plan to use through the custom menu.

Live View Displays
Information Display Shows shooting mode, shutter speed and aperture setting, focus and image stabilization settings, metering mode, image size and quality setting, remaining image capacity and storage media in use.	Histogram Display Displays a luminance histogram in the lower left corner, in addition to shooting mode, shutter speed, image stabilization setting and remaining image capacity.	Zoom Display Lists shooting mode, shutter speed, aperture priority and remaining image capacity, and overlays a zoom rectangle over the image. The rectangle can be moved around the screen using the 4-way controller. Pressing OK enters zoom mode, with magnification choices of 5x, 7x or 10x available by turning the control dial.
Multi view Display Presents four preview images to interactively show the effects of changes to exposure compensation and white balance settings.	Image Only Shows only the subject on a clean screen, though full shooting information appears if the control dial is turned.	Scale Display Overlays one of three grid displays over the image. By default this is a centered X-Y axis (shown), but it can be set to a 4- or 8-line grid overlay. All three overlays can be viewed sequentially if desired.

By default, the Live View screen reflects any exposure adjustments as they're made, which provides a more accurate preview of your final photo but can result in a darker on-screen display. We think this interactive feedback is one of the stronger points of the Live View system but, if you prefer, Live View boost (available through the Custom menu) automatically adjusts the brightness level and ignores exposure compensation settings, to make it easier to see what you're shooting regardless of available lighting.

Scene Modes (9.00)

The E-620 offers an unusually wide array of scene modes to provide one-stop access to a group of camera settings tuned to particular shooting situations.

Scene Modes
	Portrait Optimal for portrait photography. On mode dial.
	Landscape Increased depth of field, focus at infinity. On mode dial.
	Macro For closeups.
	Sport To capture sports and other fast-moving subjects. On the mode dial by default, can be changed to Underwater Macro mode via the custom menu
	Night + Portrait Uses flash with slow shutter speed to capture foreground subject and background. On the mode dial by default, can be changed to Underwater Wide mode via the custom menu.
	Children For shooting active children
	High Key Enhances bright areas
	Low Key Enhances dark areas
	DIS Mode Digitally reduces blur
	Nature Macro For close-ups
	Candle For shooting under candlelight illumination
	Sunset Enhances reds and yellows for dramatic sunset and sunrise images,
	Documents Increased contrast for more legible results
	Panorama For taking photos in Live View mode to be stitched together using Olympus Master software. Requires Olympus xD memory card.
	Fireworks Slow shutter speed for capturing aerial explosions
	Beach & Snow For capturing high-contrast scenes
	Underwater Wide For underwater landscapes; to be used with underwater housing. Can replace the Night Portrait setting on the mode dial via a custom setting.
	Underwater Macro For shooting underwater closeups; to be used with underwater housing. Can replace the Sport setting on the mode dial via a custom setting.

In addition to the wide selection of scene modes, the E-620 incorporates the same selection of six Art Filters introduced with the E-30. These six virtual filters have a major impact on the appearance of your photos and, unlike the filter effects provided with the Pentax K2000, they are only available while shooting and not as playback mode alterations. We were very uncomfortable with the idea of taking photos with Art Filters turned on and having only that distinctively distorted image, without an unenhanced original to fall back on. Turns out there's a workaround: shooting JPEG + RAW. With this approach, the JPEG incorporates the Art Filter effect but the RAW is saved as a straightforward photo, so you don't lose any editing flexibility.

And speaking of flexibility, another oddity about the Art Filters is that there's no way to adjust the effects: they are all-or-nothing choices. That certainly simplifies matters for neophytes who want to look like Photoshop wiz kids, but a little more flexibility in applying the filters would have been welcome.

The other point to consider when shooting with Art Filters is that the digital effects slow down your shooting substantially. We counted roughly a ten second delay between pressing the shutter and seeing the finished shot on the LCD when using the Pin Hole filter, for example.

Taking all these rough edges into account, though, we still like having the Art Filter feature overall. The soft focus, pale & light and light tone effects don't really grab us, but the pop art, grainy film and pin hole filters can create some striking images given the right subject.

Art Filters
Pop Art Produces highly saturated colors	Soft Focus Digitally creates soft-focus effect	Pale & Light Color Shifts colors to pastel hues.
Light Tone Softens shade and highlight areas	Grainy Film Creates black-and-white grainy effect	Pin Hole Lowers peripheral illumination to create a tunnel effect

Picture Effects (5.75)

The Olympus E-620 offers the same six Picture Modes as its big brother, the E30. These modes affect color reproduction along with other image quality factors outlined below. The following chart shows enlargements from our still life shot in each Picture Mode.

Picture Modes
Vivid Produces vivid colors	Natural Produces natural colors.	Muted Produces flat tones.
Portrait Produces enhanced skin tones	Monotone Produces black and white tone.	Custom User-defined mode: in this sample sharpness and contrast are boosted to +2, gradation to High Key.

Each of the color Picture Modes can be adjusted for contrast and sharpness, and all but monotone can also have a saturation adjustment, with each parameter offering five settings. The monotone mode offers two additional adjustments. One mimics the effect of using a color filter when shooting in black and white. Yellow enhances white clouds in blue skies, orange emphasizes blues and sunsets, red brings out blue skies and red foliage, and green emphasizes reds and green foliage. The other black and white adjustment is a toning effect, with sepia, blue, purple and green available.

The other component part of an Olympus Picture Mode is a setting for dynamic range adjustment, which the company calls gradation. The company suggests Normal for most shooting, but also offers High Key for high-contrast subjects, Low Key for low-contrast subjects, and Auto, which divides the photo into several regions and tweaks the individual sections. When set to anything other than Normal, the Gradation setting overrides any contrast changes made in the Picture Mode adjustments.

In-camera multiple exposure is available both while shooting and in playback mode. While shooting, two consecutive shots can be combined to create a single image. It's possible to use a RAW file stored on your memory card as one of the two images to be combined, allowing you to keep a library of component parts available or your multiple exposure experiments. By default, each image is set to half brightness, but this can be overridden so each image is reproduced with its full brightness value. For getting a precise alignment of multiple exposure frames, shooting in Live View displays a semi-transparent view of the first frame while you line up the second. If two frames isn't enough to suit your needs, you can shoot in RAW mode and use the newly taken multiple exposure as one part of a new multiple exposure combination. Overall, though, there is more flexibility to the multiple exposure function in playback mode.

We weren't sold on multiple exposures at first,
but after playing with the feature we saw the light.

Pentax also offers panorama shooting, with stitching of up to 10 images either horizontally or vertically. Choosing the panorama option from the Scene Modes menu automatically shifts the camera into Live View mode and puts guide bars at the sides, or top and bottom, of the frame (you have to indicate which direction you'll be panning, or you won't be able to stitch the images later). Unlike the panorama-shooting system found on many point-and-shoots we've tested, you don't get to see a portion of the previous image on screen as you move on to the next shot, making alignment difficult. Also, the stitching doesn't take place in the camera itself: you have to use Olympus Master 2 software on your computer to see the effect, the opposite of instant gratification. Finally, the panorama feature only works with Olympus xD Picture Cards, not when shooting to CompactFlash or even another brand of xD card.

Focus (11.75)

The Olympus E-620 uses a seven-point autofocus system, with . There are two available modes. All-target autofocus lets the camera choose among the seven available points, while single target AF uses one focus point selected by the shooter.  The focus point can be chosen by pressing the AF target button behind and to the right of the shutter, then adjusting using the control dial (pretty easy) or the four-way controller (pretty tricky if you have the viewfinder up to your face).

For an extra level of fine control, there are two settings for single-point autofocus. The default Normal setting uses an area slightly larger than the target indicated, while Small focuses only on that single tiny point.

The seven-point autofocus pattern

Five focus modes are available when shooting with the viewfinder, as follows. Live View autofocus is described in the separate Live View section here.

Focus Modes
	Single Autofocus The camera focuses once when you hold the shutter button down halfway, and maintains that focus as long as the shutter is depressed.
	Continuous Autofocus The camera attempts to maintain focus if the subject (or the photographer) moves, as long as the shutter button is held down.
	Manual Focus Turn the focus ring manually till the subject is in focus.The focus confirmation indicator lights when focus is achieved.
	Simultaneous Single Autofocus and Manual Autofocus The camera uses single autofocus to acquire an initial focus point, which can then be adjusted manually.
	Simultaneous Continuous Autofocus and Manual Autofocus You first set the focus manually, then hold down the shutter button and the camera attempts to maintain that focus as the subject moves.

There is no dedicated autofocus assist lamp on the Olympus E-620. Instead, the pop-up flash emits a series of quick bright pulses, effective over a greater distance than an autofocus assist light, but a bit less subtle if taking indoor candids or baby pictures were what you had in mind.

We found autofocus speed rather slow with the kit lens, especially in spot focus mode. Relatively dim indoor room lighting resulted in a notable lag in focus and, while popping up the flash did solve the problem, other SLRs do a better job dealing with similar lighting conditions. Once focus is achieved, though, the continuous autofocus system did a good job tracking all but the fastest-moving subjects.

As for manual focus, it's available using a menu selection rather than a physical switch. As a focusing assist, the viewfinder focus indicator stops blinking when the image appears sharp. This is an area where Live View is a useful alternative, since you can magnify the on-screen image while focusing for easy-to-see instant feedback.

Exposure (5.50)

Exposure compensation is available in an unusually wide range, a full 5 stops up or down, in 1/3, 1/2 or 1 EV increments. Autoexposure bracketing is provided in a three-shot sequence, with 0.3, 0.7 or 1 EV increments.

Ordinarily you have to press the exposure compensation button to enable shifting the value, but the option to have the control dial adjustment work without the extra button press is available as a custom setting. We'd advise against it: too easy to accidentally shift the exposure value without noticing.

You can also tweak the default for optimal exposure for each metering mode, in 1/6 EV increments in a range of ±1 EV. Ordinarily we wouldn't expect to use this capability, but with this camera, we found it tended to shoot a hair dark as a rule, making an overall exposure boost potentially desirable (though we didn't use this setting in any of our lab tests or sample images, it should be noted).

Dynamic range compensation is called "gradation" by Olympus. Unlike cameras with a range of fine settings, the E-620 offers High Key for bright subjects, Low Key for dark subjects, Normal (the default) and Auto, which divides the subject into regions and adjusts brightness separately for each. We found that the Auto setting, while a good concept, added to the camera's already considerable image noise problem.

Speed and Timing

Shot to Shot (4.00)
Olympus claims a burst rate of 4 frames per second when shooting in the default Large Normal mode, and our testing confirmed their claim on the nose (actually, a hair better at an average 4.004 fps). What's more, shooting to a fast 8-gigabyte UDMA CompactFlash card, there was no hesitation as we kept our finger on the shutter and just kept firing. Upping the quality setting to Large Fine did cause a slowdown after just seven or eight or six images, though, and shooting to the xD card caused a slowdown even in Large Normal mode after  10 shots.

Shot to Shot Time Comparison

The E620 isn't a speed demon, certainly, but the true 4-shot performance puts it in line with comparable cameras.

Drive/Burst Mode (9.50)
The Olympus E-620 supports two continuous shooting modes. High shoots at 4 frames per second as long as you hold down the shutter. The Low burst mode speed can be set to 3, 2 or 1 frame per second in the custom menu. The number of sequential shots that can be taken without slowdown at current image settings is shown in the viewfinder display. 

Depth of Field Preview (1.00)

The traditional depth of field preview system, which stops down the lens so you can see which areas will be in focus at the current aperture setting by looking through the viewfinder, is available if you assign the programmable Fn button to the task. There is also a Live Preview capability, available as another choice for the programmable Fn button, which shows a depth of field preview image on the rear LCD when pressed. We found the viewfinder flavor more practical, since you can keep the camera to your eye and see the available depth of field, but having both options is certainly a plus.

Metering (6.50)

The Olympus E-620 uses a 49-segment metering system.

Metering Modes
	Digital ESP Metering Balances the exposure evenly across the entire image. When autofocus is set to ESP + AF, metering will be focused around the selected focus point.
	Center Weighted Metering Evaluates the entire scene, but places more weight on the center of the image.
	Spot Metering Bases the exposure on only the 2% area at the center of the screen.
	Spot Metering - Highlight Control Meters just the center spot but allows overexposure to reproduce white areas correctly when the overall background is bright.
	Spot Metering - Shadow Control Meters just the center spot but allows underexposure to let blacks appear black and not gray when the overall background is dark.

We found that the camera tended to underexpose slightly, especially when shooting with digital ESP metering. Depending on the shooting situation, we often turned to the spot metering mode, chose a relatively dark area of the scene and recomposed the image while holding the shutter button halfway as a quick fix.

Shutter Speed (10.00)

Available shutter speeds range from 1/4000 to 60 seconds, plus bulb mode for extended exposures. Pushing the long exposure out to 60 seconds is a bit unusual, but not especially useful, particularly with a camera that suffers from an overabundance of image noise.

Self-Timer (3.00)

There are two self-timer modes when shooting with the shutter button, plus two modes supporting the optional RM-1 wireless remote control ($40) or the RM-UC1 remote cable release ($57). The remotes can also be used for bulb shooting.

Self-Timer Modes
	12-second Self-Timer Photo taken after 12-second delay
	2-second Self-Timer Photo taken after 2-second delay
	Remote Control, Immediate Shoots as soon as the remote control shutter button is pressed
	Remote Control, Delay Shoots two seconds after the remote control shutter button is pressed

In addition to the self-timer options available through the drive mode menu, there is an Anti-shock option in the Custom settings menu that lets you set the delay from the moment the mirror is raised until the shutter is released from 1 to 30 seconds. This can be useful for mission-critical applications where any tiny shake at all could affect results, such as astronomical photography.

This section of the review was updated with revised results and scores on July 13, 2009. These changes did not affect the relative ratings of the reviewed cameras.

 

Hardware	Page 10 of 17		Design & Handling
Olympus E-620 Digital Camera Review Navigation
Intro	Product Tour	Color	Noise
Resolution	White Balance	Sample Photos	Playback
Hardware	Controls	Design & Handling	Olympus E30 Comparison
Canon Rebel XS Comp	Pentax K2000 Comparison	Nikon D90 Comparison	Conclusion
Specs & Ratings