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Olympus E-620

Digital Camera Review
May 14, 2009 By Steve Morgenstern 0 Comments (add your own)

Previous: Page 10

Noise Reduction

Next: Page 12

Low Light
Page 11

Dynamic Range

Dynamic Range (3.44)

The curse of high-noise images rears its head here again, affecting the ability of our analysis software to detect clearly delineated steps of dynamic range in the standard Kodak chart we shoot. The Olympus E-620 did not fare quite as poorly as the Olympus E-30 on this test, but it still ranks well below the competition.

The advantage of a wide dynamic range is the ability to maintain detail in both very bright and very dark areas, which comes in handy when shooting contrasty scenes (a light-colored building with dark shadows cast by slanted sunlight, for example) and, of course, zebras. We test dynamic range by lighting the 20-patch Kodak Gray Scale chart at an even 3000 lux, shooting it at each available ISO and a range of aperture settings. These individual images are evaluated using Imatest software, which then analyzes the results at multiple apertures to calculate an overall dynamic range performance evaluation at each ISO. More on how we test dynamic range.

Dynamic Range Across ISO Levels
ISO 200
4.33
ISO 400
3.86
ISO 800
3.11
ISO 1600
2.55
ISO 3200
1.83
0
1
2
3
4
6
Dynamic Range (f-stops)

Even at basic ISO 100 and ISO 200 settings, the dynamic range demonstrated by the Olympus E-620 is poor, with a top result of only four and a half stops, compared to over seven stops at ISO 100 for the $599 Pentax K2000. No matter what ISO you shoot at, you’re going to lack flexibility and fine detail in high-contrast scenes when shooting with the Olympus.

This is the second Olympus camera we’ve shot recently that produced poor results on this test, indicating an unfortunate consistency undoubtedly linked to the high-megapixel, small-sensor challenge.

Dynamic Range Score Comparison
Olympus E-620
3.44
Olympus E-30
2.89
Canon EOS Rebel XS
7.92
Pentax K2000
8.62
0
2
4
6
8
12
Dynamic Range Score
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Olympus E-620
Digital Camera Review
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Previous: Page 10

Noise Reduction

Next: Page 12

Low Light