Introduction

Body

The finish is black crinkled plastics, like in all models starting from E-400 and E-510, nice and durable. The front grip is padded with a soft, rubbery coating, and a similar padding is provided for the thumb rest area in the rear (don't take that for granted!). That area is also nicely sculpted: more than in the E-510/520; this provides a better grip and better protection from pressing the Function button above by accident (which was a problem in the E-500 a few years ago).

The rear padding extends to the slanted part of the sculpting — exactly where it is really needed (like on the e-30). This may look like a very minor detail, but it does improve camera's handling.

The front grip protrudes less than that in the E-5x0, but somewhat more than in the E-4x0 cameras. I wouldn't mind the protrusion to extend a bit more forwards, for a more secure hold. My wife, who has smaller hands than mine (which are medium-sized), likes the looks of the new solution, but she also finds the E-510 better to hold. A larger grip would not make the camera bigger (after all, the depth is of secondary importance), but it would improve the handling considerably. Oh, well; this is largely subjective; your mileage may vary.

The card compartment inherits from the E-30 a clever locking scheme: slide it back, and it will spring open. Nicer than in the E-5x0/E-4x0 cameras; another minor improvement adding to a bigger whole.

The numbers do not give justice to the perceived difference in size, when both cameras are handled side by side; the E-620 looks and feels considerably smaller. I really like that, especially because I'm planning to use the new camera as a backup body to the E-30.

My own measurements show the E-620 to be 96 mm tall, measured to the top of the hot shoe. In the E-510/520 the "official" height is 92 mm (hot shoe again), but the prism (or rather flash) cover extends almost 2 mm above that (while in the E-620 it does not). This makes the actual total height of both cameras equal, to a fraction of a millimeter.

Still, the E-620 seems considerably taller, which may be partly due to the fact that the eyepiece is located almost 3 mm higher, measured from the camera base. This may have been necessitated by a need to provide room for a bigger, articulated LCD display.

I'm not quoting the body depth here, as it is not really meaningful in comparisons: it is usually the lens which defines the overall depth of the camera.

The table below (based on manufacturers' data) compares the E-620 against other models from Olympus, as well as against some current cameras in this class from Canon, Nikon, and Sony. (The weight figures include batteries and memory cards.)

Older Olympus models aside, we can see that the current breed of compact SLRs from various manufacturers shares quite similar weight and size specifications. (Note, however, that only Nikon and Sony offer articulated monitors, like the E-620.)

How does the body shape and weight affect camera handling? In spite of my reservations about the smaller grip, the E-620 is quite a delight to use, especially with smaller lenses (like the "kit" 14-42 and 40-150 mm ZD).

Index

Lenses

At present more than 30 lenses are available in this mount; most made by Olympus, but also by Sigma and Leica/Panasonic; all of them work just fine (including autofocus) with the E-620.

See the full list for details, and the lens section of my E-30 review for some additional remarks (including those on image stabilization and Live View AF compatibility).

Contrary to what you may see in some uninformed reviews, lens choice and quality is the strong point of the Olympus SLR system. While the "economy" ZD (Zuiko Digital) lenses by Olympus may cut down on specs, even they deliver good images; then the mid- and high-priced offerings are often second to none.

I have used the E-620 with my favorite ZD lens: the 12-60 mm F/2.8-4.0 ZD; while the combination is, obviously, quite front-heavy, once you get used to supporting it mostly by lens itself (not the body), it is quite workable, and the results, no doubt, first-class. Some photographers will prefer the (almost as good) 14-54 mm F/2.8-3.5 ZD (old or new version), less expensive and somewhat less bulky, but many will be perfectly happy to use the two lenses which are often sold with the camera (see below).

When these lenses were introduced in the States in 2007 (with the E-510 and E-410) I wasn't, frankly, expecting much from them. They were just too small, too light, and too cheap (plastic mounts!) to be any good. After a week of using both I had to stand corrected: both turned out to be respectable performers, better than "kit" zooms from other manufacturers I've seen, and not worse than their older Olympus equivalents (which were significantly bigger and heavier).

It is all too easy to dismiss these lenses as just another cheap pieces of plastic; actually, in spite of inexpensive construction (plastic mount!), they turn out to be respectable performers within their modest specifications, nothing really to complain about.

The shorter zoom provides a very useful focal length range (equivalent to 28-85 mm on a 35-mm film camera), being extremely small and lightweight: just 61 mm long at 190 g. The longer one, while going to the (film-equivalent) 300 mm is only 72 mm long and weighs 220 g. This means that a full kit using an E-620 body will weigh about 940 g (just above two pounds), providing the equivalent focal length coverage of 28-300 mm, with image quality better than a film camera of just 10 years ago (not to mention any of the "superzoom" digital models. A hiker's dream.

The performance of both these lenses can be seen in the E-620 image sample page, as well as in my E-510 Image Samples.

Obviously, no autofocus capability will be retained, and exposure automation will be limited to stepped-down aperture priority. Image stabilization will work just fine, as long as you enter the lens focal length manually into the camera.

Details and more references can be found in another article here.

Index

Image sensor

The E-620's sensor is made by Panasonic. None of its detailed specifications have been made public; it is generally suspected that this is the same sensor as one used in the Olympus E-30 and Panasonic G1 cameras. The results from the imaging pipeline suggest this is not the case; I suspect this is a simplified version of the original.

On the other hand, a promotional picture of the imager, distributed by Olympus, not only looks identical, but, I am certain, is a differently resized version of the same original. This would suggest that the imager itself remains unchanged, but the remainder of the imaging pipeline was modified.

The 4:3 aspect ratio, identical to that of the standard (i.e., not wide) TV screen, is different from the more elongated 3:2, used in all other digital camera brands (except Panasonic) or in 35-mm film. It is, however, identical to the aspect ratio adopted in almost all non-SLR digital cameras.

While the 3:2 ratio fits exactly the most common 4×6" (10×15 cm) print size, 4:3 is closer to the proportions of almost all larger sizes. In other words, in those sizes some of the 3:2 image area gets wasted (cropped out).

For more on sensor size, see here.

Because every photosite captures only one color component of the image, for every pixel the remaining components are interpolated from its neighbors; the actual information captured by the camera is about one third of the nominal pixel count. This is true for all camera models and brands except Sigma, which uses the Foveon sensor, different than anybody else's; but then Sigma advertises the number of its three-layered photosites multiplied by three, to level the playing field. For more on this, see When Is a Megapixel Not a Megapixel.

The EXIF data (CropLeft and CropTop items) suggests that the actual photosite count is higher: 4088×3092. While the extra number is not directly translated into final pixels, some third-party raw-to-RGB converters may be able to do that, resulting in slightly (3.7%) larger pixel count, and 1.8% or so wider image angle.

Olympus must have decided than going from 12 to 14 bits is not worth the trouble. Nikon is also using 12 bits (D5000, D90, D300), while Canon 12 bits (1000D) or 14 bits (50D, 500D). Some cameras (Nikon?) use 12 bits in conversion itself, but 16 bits in any further calculations; once again, the benefit of this remains unknown.

This depends on the scene type and on the light; these are the numbers for my standard lake view shot in afternoon sunlight, shown at left. The same shot in visible light needed a shutter speed of 1/400 s.

The reason is that IR pollutes the color of pictures in visible light, so camera makers are doing the best to filter it out. The combined anti-alias, anti-IR filter just in front of the sensor is supposed to cut this component off.

For more on IR photography refer to my article on that subject, with a number of further references.

While originally dismissed by other manufacturers ("our cameras do not need that"), this system, originally introduced in the Olympus E-1 is now used in almost all digital SLRs.

My five-year experience with the Olympus anti-dust system shows that it works very well, indeed, and the only study on the subject I've seen gives this manufacturer a nod in the comparison with other versions.

(Warning: This should be done with a fully charged battery, to avoid any accidental shutter damage!)

Index

File format and compression

The advantages of saving raw image files are usually over-emphasized, especially for cameras with good built-in JPEG (raw-to-RPG conversion) engines — and that's where Olympus shines. For more, see my article on the raw format.

Some writers may criticize a camera, because it "does not offer much of highlight headroom" in raw files. This is, obviously, in comparison to in-camera JPEGs, and it simply means that the in-camera JPEG conversion does a good job. This is very much like inflating a price of a product by a factor of two, and then announcing a "50% off" sale.

The 1:4 compression ratio offers image quality good enough (i.e., compression artifacts insignificant enough) for most uses. With large-capacity memory cards becoming quite inexpensive, I would advocate switching to 1:2.7 and forgetting about the whole affair (unless you save raw image files, in which case the decision will be postponed to the stage of off-camera RGB conversion).

As we can see, an 8 GB card (you can buy a fast one for less than $100 nowadays) can hold almost 1000 Super Fine (1:2.7) JPEGs: an equivalent of more than 25 long (26-exposure) rolls of film.

This is one of the few features I've never used on any camera.

A JPEG preset consists of image size (Large, Middle [sic!], or Small) and compression (Superfine..Basic); then the meaning of Middle and Small is defined in yet another menu option (with Large hardwired to the native image size).

I would think Middle preset should be rather called Medium, but Olympus stubbornly insists on the former. Looks like I still have some English to learn.

Some may want to use one of the Raw+JPEG presets, most of the time depending on the JPEG version and resorting to an ORF file only if the image needs a major adjustment. I remain skeptical about the advantages of raw files, but this may be a personal choice.

Index

Storage

While the extra slot is a nice safety feature, its assignment to the xD card standard (not used any more by anyone but Olympus) is not just a questionable decision, but one totally wrong, plain and square, explainable only by a misplaced "business concern" (read: corporate greed). Let me save you my ranting on the subject, but if you would like to know more on this, see my xD-Picture Card Abomination article.

Most users have learned to depend on a Compact Flash card in their shooting, keeping a 2 GB xD card in its slot — just in case.

For comparison, the E-30 was clocked at 0.42 s per frame (11.5 MB file size), and the E-510 — 0.61 s (10.1 MB). Therefore, the E-620 shows the same writing rate (in MB/s) as the E-510, or about 25% slower than the E-30.

The Olympus-branded xD-Picture "M" card fared much worse in this test: 3.75 s per frame.

Details on the measurement method used and on writing speeds for other cards and other Olympus SLRs can be found in my card-writing speed article, which one day will be updated to show more data points for the E-620.

"Storage-class device" means that the camera can be accessed as an external disk drive when connected to a computer, with no need for any proprietary drivers. While most camera manufacturers use this approach, some (Canon!) do not; a real bummer.

In a quick speed test, a transfer of 181 image files (total of 1.37 GB) to my Core Duo laptop took 183 seconds; an effective rate of 7.7 MB/s (an 8 GB Extreme IV card was used in camera).

A similar test for the E-30 (same card, same computer) resulted in 6.9 MB/s. This may indicate that the E-620 is a bit faster (although the result might have been affected by a slightly newer hard drive model installed in my laptop after the old one died). The advantage of the E-620 over the E-510 seems even a bit larger, if not by a wide margin.

Index

Exposure control

The ISO step value is independent of the step used in exposure adjustment, and I like that.

The top value used in this auto-adjustment is one of the preferences in camera customization. It makes sense to set it so that the noise does not becomes excessive (say, ISO 800). You may also set the default ISO, to which the camera will stick if only possible. Interestingly, this cannot be set below ISO 200, which suggests that the actual "native" sensor response may be at that level.

Interestingly, auto-ISO is available not just in the Program exposure mode, but also in shutter and exposure priority. Optionally, it can be also activated in the manual exposure mode, which then becomes not-quite-manual.

The exact way in which ISO is auto-adjusted remains undocumented in the User Manual. It looks, however, that the camera attempts to stay at the base value whenever possible (at the user-defined shutter or aperture, if applicable), adjusting the sensitivity only if that becomes impossible: up to the pre-defined top value or down (i.e., below the base value chosen). The only exception from this rule is in the Program mode, where the ISO starts being bumped out as soon as the shutter speed nears the slowest handholdable value for a given focal length.

This boils down to auto-ISO being just a protection against under- or over-exposure in shutter or aperture priority, and somewhat more than that in the Program mode.

Setting ISO to Auto in the manual exposure mode makes it no longer manual: the ISO will be adjusted, if possible, to provide the proper exposure for the selected shutter and aperture. This setting will remain inaccessible unless enabled from the setup.

A matrix of 49 (7×7) sensors is used to read the light off the viewing screen, also a common solution.

A problem may arise here, as for some lenses the reading may be biased, in need of a correction. Most probably, the camera introduces such a correction, as it knows the exact lens type used — for Four Thirds (FT) lenses at least, which communicate with the camera electronically. For legacy (non-FT) lenses, such a correction has to be determined experimentally by the photographer; this is not unexpected.

Because different viewing screens may scatter light differently, a third-party screen replacement mat require yet another correction to be introduced. And, yes, the effect may depend on the lens. This is just an example of issues with which SLR designers have to deal.

The metering in E-620 works just fine, which does not mean that you can depend on it without a second thought. The camera will not know if it is photographing a medium-bright subject on a dark background or a white subject on a medium background. The photographer does, and therefore has to decide upon exposure compensation appropriate to a particular scene.

49 metering points is usually enough to detect high contrast or backlighting in the scene, and adjusting the exposure as needed. Still, smaller highlight areas may remain underrepresented; again, you have to learn when and how to use exposure compensation. Most of the time, in a wide-range, sunny scene I apply a compensation of -0.3 EV; if this happens to be too much for a given picture, it can be easily corrected in postprocessing (saving raw image files is not really necessary for that), at the expense of some increase in noise levels. For lower-range or lower-contrast scenes, the default exposure is usually OK without compensation, unless there are large areas of highly-saturated colors.

The Olympus matrix metering did not change since the E-410/E-510, so there is no need to change your habits if you have used previous Olympus models.

Matrix metering can be performed with or without additional emphasis on the areas close to the AF sensor actually used in focusing. The former option is denoted as ESP+AF, and the choice is not accessible from the basic camera interface; it requires setting another option: what "ESP" really means. Why not a direct setting?

Center-weighted metering used to be common in film SLRs and some people prefer it to the matrix mode, considering it more predictable. Usually you decide on one or another once, and keep it there.

Spot metering uses one of the 49 sensors to measure the light in the central 2% (as Olympus says) of the frame; that area is approximately shown as a circle in the viewfinder. For an advanced user this may be often the most accurate way to set exposure; it makes most sense when used together with exposure lock (see below).

Highlight Spot and Shadow Spot are like Spot, but adding an offset up or down to the measured exposure. While this offset is not documented by Olympus; my measurements indicate that it is close to +2 EV or -3 EV, respectively. This means that with the High Spot the central point should be aimed at an area four timer brighter than medium gray, and with Low Spot — eight times dimmer. Perhaps the offset values should be customizable by the user, who may have some specific working habits here.

With each doubling of the ISO setting, the longest measurable exposure is halved. For example, at ISO 1600 exposures up to 1/8 s can be reliably measured.

Olympus seems to have quite strict metering accuracy requirements for this specification. My experiments show metering to be quite reliable up to 8 seconds or so at ISO 100.

In either case, the Olympus metering range seems to be practically the same as for cameras by other manufacturers; no surprises here.

Auto is really a general use "panic button" mode, switching to program exposure, and allowing for all settings to be adjusted (except for program shift). The adjustments, however, are lost as soon as you move the dial to another position, therefore moving the dial off and back on to Auto is basically a soft reset to (almost) factory settings.

I say "almost", as this resets only the "shooting parameters"; the camera preference settings remain unaffected.

The program mode provides the right exposure by adjusting both shutter and aperture. As the graph at the left shows (black line), this is done as follows:

• The lens stays wide open when the shutter is below a certain speed, one over twice focal length in millimeters (here: 1/30 s at F=14 mm). This is the horizontal line segment at the left.
• Above that, both parameters are adjusted at the same EV rate; a 2 EV increase closes the aperture by one F-stop and doubles the shutter speed. This is the 45° line segment in the middle.
• As the aperture reaches F/11 (diffraction limit?), any further adjustment is done, again, by increasing the shutter speed alone. This is the horizontal line segment at the right.
• When the shutter speed reaches 1/4000 s (the fastest on the E-620), the aperture starts closing down again, progressing to the maximum F-number of 22, This is the vertical line segment at the right edge.

The diagram at left shows two "shifted" versions of the program line in gray, with the shift value of ±1 EV.

By default, program shift is accessed directly with the control dial, and one of the first things I do with a new camera (an Olympus SLR, that is) is to disable this access. No, thank you; if I want to exercise more control over exposure parameters, I prefer to switch to the aperture- or shutter-priority mode.

Worse, the shift is indicated with just a "Ps" mark in (both) data displays. It is easy to dial by accident and hard to remove, with no indication of its magnitude or direction shown. (In such case, just turn the mode dial back and forth by one notch.)

Aperture and shutter priority: These work as they should. Note that with the Auto ISO option chosen, these modes offer a buffer against running out of the available range of the auto-adjusted parameter.

Manual exposure is metered: at a fixed ISO the exposure compensation scale (in the Control Panel or below the finder screen area) shows how does the selected exposure compare to the "right" one. If you want to provide exposure consistency from one frame to another within a sequence, metered manual is the way to go (many prefer this to using the exposure lock button as a toggle).

A Shutter and Aperture Priority autoexposure mode (vide, for example. Pentax K-7), while not shown on the mode dial, can be easily enabled by using the Manual mode with the ISO set to Auto. The camera will then adjust, if possible, the ISO value to provide the right exposure at the user-selected combination of shutter speed and aperture.

This is less useful than it may seem, as the range of usable ISOs is quite limited. Also, you may end up with pictures from the same session shot at various sensitivity, which brings inconsistency to results (differences in contrast, color, noise, etc.) Still, once one manufacturer has this feature, all others must follow to satisfy box-checking reviewers: "Camera A has nine exposure modes, but camera B only six!".

While a less advanced user may sometimes resort to these programs, a more accomplished one will be probably put off by the fact that the manual does not elaborate how they work. For example, an explanation of the Portrait mode, quoted in extenso is: "Suitable for shooting a portrait-style image of a person". Really? An average user would never figure this out; this is why we have manuals.

Still, at least Olympus does not offend our intelligence by calling them Creative Modes like Canon does. They are about as creative as choosing fast food combos by number.

Scene and Art Modes are thrown into one bag, as they share a single slot on the mode dial: Art/Scn. They are however quite different:

• Most of the Scene Modes (there are thirteen of them, I think, but I'm not going to list them here) are like Easy Shooting programs, except that almost all adjustments remain disabled. Once again, they remain undocumented in the manual, therefore being reduced to "just trust us and press the big, shiny button" model.

  The only exception here is the Panorama Scene Mode; from its description you can learn than this feature is disabled unless you are using an Olympus-brand xD-Picture card. This is a rather disgusting business practice with no reasons in the underlying technology (check, again, my xD card article).

• The Art Modes, originally released in the E-30, were at that time quite touted in some reviews, with frequency and intensity inversely proportional to the quality of the write-up itself. Olympus also relies on this feature in their advertising.

  In my opinion, Olympus SLRs have many features and specifications making them as good as (or better than) competing models, but Art Modes is not one of them.

  These are not really exposure modes, but rather special effects applied in the raw-to-RGB conversion stage. I'm mentioning them here only because they are accessed from the mode dial. More on this — in Image Processing below.

It is expressed in logarithmic scale: 1 EV corresponds to a factor of 2× in exposure (amount of light reaching the sensor); therefore 1/3 EV is 1.41× (square root of 2), and 1/3 EV — 1.26× (cubic root of 2).

Exposure compensation is adjusted with the control dial in conjunction with the dedicated [+/-] button next to the shutter release. (While it can be re-assigned to the dial alone, i.e., without the button, I don't think this is a good idea.)

In addition to the dialed-in exposure compensation, the E-620 also allows to introduce another, global (and hidden) offset from the metered autoexposure. (This was introduced only in the E-30.) That offset may range from -1 to +1 EV in 1/6 EV increments, and is defined independently for pattern, center-weighted, and spot metering. It is not affected by any mode changes and applies even in all the "dumb" programs, so it more like meter calibration, not a shot-to-shot adjustment.

While at first this may seem redundant, it makes perfect sense, separating a general preference (for brighter or darker images) from individual adjustments which depend on the scene being photographed. The finer step and limited range are also justified. A nice, even if not critically important, feature.

While for normal purposes the ±1 EV range is fine, users who would like to try merging multiple exposures into a single HDR (high dynamic range) image, will find it too restrictive. Expanding that range to ±2 EV or even more would require just a minor firmware modifications; why not?

Exposure adjustment in a bracketed sequence depends on the exposure mode: in shutter priority the aperture is changed between frames; in aperture priority the shutter speed, and in program — both in the same degree. In either case, the frame exposed "as set" (with any exposure compensation applied) is taken first; then the one exposed below that level, and then — above.

Unfortunately, activating the autobracketing feature does not switch the camera to the sequential shooting mode. You have to do that independently — or press the release button three times. This is just plain wrong. One press of the shutter release should release the whole sequence, period. Too many times I was shooting, purely by accident, three independent scenes as a part of the same autobracketing series. As I use this quite frequently, I find this limitation most annoying. (Remember the E-10 and E-20 SLRs by Olympus from a few years ago? Those cameras got that right.)

The other kinds of bracketing are of secondary or tertiary importance, and I could easily live without them.

ISO bracketing involves changing the ISO down and up from the value set (shutter speed and aperture remain the same). Three frames are shot, and the ISO offset can be 1/3, 2/3, or 1 EV (no 1/2 EV step!).

Flash bracketing can be used to change the flash-to-ambient light ratio. With flash as the sole light source, the effect will be identical to that of AE bracketing.

Only one type of bracketing can be active at a time. Setting another one resets the previous one.

Both locks can be activated separately, though: pressing the [AEL/AFL] to the right of the eyepiece will lock the exposure for as long as that button is being held down.

This is the default behavior; the functionality of the [AEL/AFL] button can be customized in a number of ways.

First of all, you can define which of the two locks is activated with the lock button and which with the shutter release (half-press, that is). This assignment is done independently for all three focusing modes.

For example, in the Manual Focus mode I prefer to use the lock button to trigger a single autofocus operation.

Second, you may tell the camera to use a different metering pattern when the exposure is being locked with the [AEL/AFL] button; perhaps the most practical way to use spot metering.

Third: the lock button can be used as a toggle, i.e., the lock will hold even if the button is released, until it is pressed again (or camera turned off, or exposure mode changed).

Last but not least, you can swap the functionality of the [AEL/AFL] and [Fn] buttons.

All this (especially the first assignment) may look complicated, but it is usually done just once and then forgotten about. For details see my E-30 customization article (until I rewrite that article specifically for the E-620).

Most of the time you will be better off combining multiple images in postprocessing.

The E-30 would allow to combine up to four frames, but I've used this feature just once — to try it out.

Index

Shutter

See my article describing how a focal plane shutter works.

In the automated exposure modes (program, aperture, and shutter priority), and at some ISO, settings some of the slowest speeds may not be available because of the lower limit of exposure measurement. This is to be expected.

When set by the user (shutter priority or manual exposure), the shutter speed is adjusted in is 1/3, 1/2, or 1 EV steps (see Exposure Control); in other modes — continuously.

The top shutter speed of 1/4000 s is the same as in other cameras in this class (in E-30, E-3: 1/8000 s).

In the bulb mode (most of digital camera users may no longer remember the origin of that term), the shutter remains open as long as the release button is held pressed down. It has a limiter, closing it down after a pre-defined time; this can be set between 1 and 30 minutes.

This value is as per Olympus data; actually, the flash can be synchronized up to 1/320 s or so; see the Flash section.

Index

Drive modes

There are seven choices in this setting, as both sequential speeds and two different delays of self-timer and IR remote each occupy a separate slot. As an extra complication, this number doubles when the mirror lock option is enabled from the Preferences menu, as each setting gets also a "locked" flavor. Frankly, I do not like this solution, as it requires too much scrolling through options.

The "low" frame rate can be preset to 1, 2, or 3 FPS. The "fast" rate is 4 FPS, which is higher than in the E-510 (3 FPS) or E-520 (3.5 FPS) but slower than in the E-3 or E-30 (5 FPS). For a camera in this price range, 4 FPS is quite impressive anyway (at par with the Nikon D90).

My experiments have shown that the buffer capacity is close to five frames, which means that the length of a full-speed sequence is limited to five or six pictures.

For example, with the SunDisk Extreme IV 8 GB Compact Flash card I've got a six-frame sequence of raw files spaced every 0.26 seconds (with a measurement error of ±0.02 s; very close to the nominal 4 FPS), after which the frame-to-frame interval increased to 0.66 seconds (about 1.5 FPS).

For comparison, with a 2 GB xD-Picture "M+" card I've got five frames spaced every 0.25 s, and after that the spacing increased to 3.75 s (0.27 FPS) — quite a glacial pace!

For JPEGs the situation is a bit more complicated. On one hand, such files take less space, so that they require less writing time. On the other, the compression process itself consumes CPU resources. The final result depends on an interplay of these two factors and on how the camera multitasking works.

At a compression of 1:2.7 (SHQ) I was able to get six frames spaced every 0.28 seconds (a rate of 3.6 FPS, slightly below nominal), and then the spacing would settle at 0.38 s (which is 2.6 FPS). Well, an unlimited-length sequence at 2.6 FPS — not too shabby!

For the record: to avoid any other factors getting into the equation, I've been running my tests with manual focus and exposure; shutter speed at 1/125 s.

In the sequential mode with single AF, both focus and exposure are set before the first frame, to remain unchanged over the sequence length. In continuous AF, the camera keeps refocusing between frames, which lowers the effective frame rate.

The RM-UC1 wired remote plugs into the USB/video socket on the camera's back. It also works with all other Olympus SLRs starting from the E-510/E-410 except for the E-3 (which has a separate, different remote socket).

The location of this remote socket (roughly unchanged from the previous models) is not very fortunate: not easy to plug the cord in, and obstructing access to some controls. A socket on the left side of the camera would be more convenient.

Olympus sells the RM-1 infrared remote, which has been around for at least ten years. It has six chicklet buttons, of which only three serve a purpose with the E620. The big, white one is used for regular shutter release, while [W] and [T] open or close the shutter in the bulb mode.

In Olympus compacts, these two buttons control the zoom — this is not possible in SLRs, where the zoom is controlled mechanically.

The RM-1 sells for $30 or so, which is way overpriced (it used to come in the box with most Olympus cameras until a few years ago). Other, similar options include the RM-2 by Olympus (single button, no bulb mode control, no longer in production) or one of the many inexpensive models made in China and sold, among others, by eBay vendors. Those I've tried work just fine, at a much lower cost.

You can also remotely control the E-620 using the, the Olympus Studio software ($100). It allows to access to access all camera's settings (except for zoom and focus), release the shutter, and save images to the computer.

The camera controller by Pine Tree Computing, does not seem to support the E-620.

Earlier this year I discovered another option: a radio remote (HL-HW433 OL80) made by Hähnel of Ireland. At that time it was not sold in the States; since then B&H decided to bring it over (priced at $60, even if at this writing they don't seem to have it in stock). The receiver plugs into the camera's USB port (it can also be attached to the hot shoe), and the transmitter can be operated from up to 30 meters away.

In the meantime, I found another version of such device, available on the EBay from a Hong Kong vendor. The thing is named FoToCoLa V2in1 (seriously!) and can be used as both wireless and wired remote. I ordered mine at $30 — it arrived in ten days; it is quite nicely made and finished, includes both batteries, and works as advertised.

There are some other similar devices available, which I haven't tried, but I assume they should work just fine. Still, this is the one I've tested from a distance of about 20 meters, with no problems or complaints.

I've seen a programmable, wired remote with time lapse offered, again, from China on the eBay; this may be a viable option if you need time lapse sequences, but I haven't tried it, so I can't say how well it works.

The mirror lock delay in the E-620 can be adjusted from 1 to 30 seconds, or just disabled. Enabling it will add "locked" versions of all drive modes to the drive mode setting sequence.

This is a clumsy solution. What may be the purpose of adding a 10-second mirror shutter delay before every frame of a 4-FPS sequence? The rate becomes 0.1 FPS; one thing just excludes the other! The only effect is that in order to set the drive mode you have to scroll through fourteen options, most of which you will never need.

Actually, there should be just one mirror lock option, perhaps as a separate setting, and ignored in sequential modes. Simple solutions work best.

Index

Viewing system

The Live View allows you to use the LCD monitor instead of the optical viewfinder, which actually makes your SLR into a non-SLR. For most uses this is inferior to SLR viewing, but in some situations it may come handy; for example, macro and/or low-angle shooting.

In this section we will discuss optical viewing only; Live View has its own chapter that follows.

The 95% coverage is the same as in the E-5x0/E-4x0 models, lower than 98% for the E-30 or 100% for the E-3, and the same as of any competing models from other manufacturers.

The finder magnification of 0.96× is slightly more than 0.92 on the E-5x0/E-4x0, but still below 1.02× on the E-30. Handling the E-620 and E-510 side-by-side, I can easily see the difference; using just one camera at a time — not really.

To compare finder sizes across various DSLR lines, refer to a separate article on that subject. The comparison includes also the E-620.

According to Olympus, the viewing screen is not interchangeable.

The data shown is identical to that in the E-30 and E-3 (except that the exposure compensation scale does not double as a level indicator, as it does it the former case).

(Picture from the E-620 manual.)

The items marked with (*) asterisks in the list denote those shown just a on/off flags (as opposed to value indicators), usually showing that a setting is off the default value, or that a feature is activated.

The illustration at left, depicting the finder layout, is only approximate: in reality, the AF sensors cover less of the width of the frame than shown here.

Two optional eyecups with additional correction may help those who need it.

The eyecup supplied with the E-620 is EP-5, the same as in the E-510/E-520. While with a larger camera I would prefer the EP-6 or EP-7 (included with the E-3), for this one the EP-5 seems just right.

There is also a magnifying (1.2×) ME-1; eyecup available. It fits the E-620, offers less protection from stray light, and makes viewing the full screen at once somewhat difficult. Mine gathers dust in a drawer. Olympus also lists two corrective eyecups (+2 and -3 diopters), which I haven't tried.

The E-620 does not have an eyepiece shutter, like the one in the E-3, offering a plastic slide-on eyepiece cover (EPC-1) instead. At least it can be attached to the camera strap, which will protect it from being lost at the first opportunity.

The camera is missing a dedicated depth-of-field preview button (in the E-3 and E-30 it was located near the lens mount, like on most film SLRs). Instead, such preview has to be assigned to the [Fn] button, perhaps at the expense on some other function you may need more. I do not consider this a major flaw, as DoF preview is not so useful at these finder sizes anyway. Actually, I used it only in medium-format cameras in the past.

Index

Live View

When originally introduced in the E-330, Live View was shunned by other camera manufacturers as nonessential; now it is included in all digital SLRs.

While I still consider Live View nonessential for most purposes, there are a few applications where it can be very useful. For example, I use this mode for practically all my tabletop shooting, and also for infrared.

If you really need Live View, then you will really appreciate the tilt-and-swivel monitor on the E-620. True, this was already present on the E-3 and E-30 — but, until very recently, not on any compact SLR. (Just some very recent models: Nikon D5000 and Sony A330/A380 sport this feature.) I do quite a lot of tabletop photography, and having an adjustable monitor angle is a feature I couldn't live without. Only now I can retire my C-5060.

The opinions are split about which solution is better: adjustable monitors with just one degree of freedom (up or down, often limited angle) or two degrees (tilt and swivel, virtually unlimited). The latter offers more flexibility, but some may dislike the monitor sticking out to the left side; the former solution is more compact in use. Olympus tried both approaches in the past, before settling down on two-axis rotation. Nikon and Sony so far stick to the up/down only solution. Frankly speaking, I have no preference here.

And one more thing many people may not be aware of: using the Live View raises the temperature of the imager; this cannot be avoided. A warmer imager generates more noise. While we do not know how the increase in temperature depends on the usage time, I would expect the effect to be not negligible.

At normal and moderate light levels (down to your living-room illumination) the preview looks good: clear and noise-free. Below that (say, EV 0, i.e., 16 s at F/2, ISO 100) it becomes noisy and less readable, but this is to be expected.

Normally, Live View attempts to show the scene the way it will look in the captured image (correcting for exposure, white balance, etc.) This is not always possible: you cannot refresh the preview 30 times per second if the right exposure is 2 seconds. (Besides, even without going into long exposures, Live View will not show how the picture will look when the flash fires.) This is why under some circumstances you may want to enable the Live View Boost option, adjusting the preview brightness for convenience. Unfortunately, you have to do that from the menu system.

With the boost on, the luminance histogram shown is wrong: it seems to reflect the "boosted" scene brightness, not that of the (expected) capture. There are a number of reasons why this may be difficult (if at all possible) to fix, but at least the histogram should be disabled when the boos is on. I keep complaining about this since the E-510.

The multi-view (Perfect Shot, as per Olympus terminology) display is not really useful. You can see the effect of adjusting the exposure compensation or white balance, shown as four tiny image thumbnails on the monitor. To see more of these thumbnails, or to change the parameter adjusted, cursor keys are used. The small thumbnail size, especially if combined with outdoor viewing conditions, makes any decisions based on this display of a questionable value.

And then we have another feature "trickled up" to the E-620 from point-and-shoot cameras: Face Detection, activated from a separate setting. The sensor-based preview image is analyzed to determine if there are any faces there; then the AF point and exposure are adjuster to render these areas best. For obvious reasons this works only in the Live View mode; no complaints about that. (Getting rid of this limitation would require introducing a separate image sensor just for the live preview, see my remarks above.) This is a feature which, if and when it works, may benefit only those who do not use AE/AF lock and/or exposure compensation; these users will be better off getting a non-SLR camera anyway.

The E-620 can use the imager itself for both autofocus and autoexposure in Live View mode (in the SLR mode dedicated sensors are used for both these purposes). This means that focusing the preview image no longer requires the mirror to go up and back down like in the E-510/E-410 or E-3 (as long as a compatible lens is used; more about it later).

This change was introduced originally in the E-520/E-420, and can be also found in the E-30. It actually converts your SLR into a non-SLR, with all pros and cons attached to that camera type.

While in Live View, autofocusing and autoexposure metering can be performed in three different ways:

• Imager AF: the imager (image sensor) itself is used for focusing and light metering;
• Sensor AF: the dedicated AF and AE sensors (below the mirror chamber or in the finder assembly, respectively) are used for both AF/AE preview and the final adjustment. This means that the mirror has to travel down (and then back up) for these functions.
• Hybrid AF: the imager is used for AF and AE preview, but the dedicated sensors for the final setting.

The progress in sensor development over the last year or two brought us to the point where contrast-detection AF by the imager is good enough for many purposes, even if not as fast and accurate as phase-detection AF using dedicated sensors.

Still, changing your SLR camera into a non-SLR (functionally, at least) complicates a bit the sequence of events during a picture-taking cycle. Here is how things work (in default settings) in the E-620:

• To enable the Live View, the mirror goes up, obscuring the optical finder, and the shutter opens, exposing the imager, which is now used to generate the preview image in real time.
• Half-pressing the shutter release activates the AF and AE lock, with the function performed by the imager (Imager and Hybrid modes) or by the AF/AE sensors (Sensor mode). In the latter case the mirror has to go down for the AF/AE sensors to get exposed (and up again, to return to viewing); in the former there is no need for that.
• When the shutter is released, it closes first (the imager needs a moment in the dark to be flushed), only to open and close again for the actual exposure.

  In the Imager mode this should not require another mirror travel, but the mirror still goes through the motions — a not-quite-optimal design. This may be explained by the fact that the dedicated AE sensor is still involved when shooting with flash; otherwise the operating sequence would have to be different when flash is used.

• After that, the image information is processed and saved. The shutter opens again for live viewing like in Step 1.

While this is some improvement from the E-510, E-410 and E-3 (see [2]), the mirror activity (point [3]) could (and should) be totally eliminated while in the Live View mode with imager AF. (It cannot be avoided in Hybrid and Sensor AF modes, however, see below.)

The imager-based AF is available only with some recent lenses: 14-42 mm and 40-150 mm sold with E-5x0/E-4x0 (and now, the E-620), the updated 14-54 mm ZD II, and the 25 mm pancake; also the 70-300 mm ZD (with the latest firmware). See my Four Thirds lens list for (hopefully) updated details.

Even with these lenses you may prefer the accuracy of the dedicated AF circuitry; for that, switch to the Hybrid AF, where CD AF is used just for the preview, not for picture-taking.

Users who prefer to resort to manual focusing under certain circumstances may find the Live View quite useful here: the magnified view makes the process more accurate than using the optical display.

Index

Focusing

Obviously, this section covers only the SLR-type (phase-detection) AF, as opposed to the contrast-detection AF used in the Live View mode and described there.

Five of these constitute a wide row in the middle of the frame; two more are added below and above the center, see the illustration in the Viewing System section.

While AF point autoselection from a wide pattern (a default) can be useful in point-and-shoot applications, more advanced users will want to have a degree of control over where exactly in the image the focus is set. This can be done either by switching to a single (central) AF point mode and locking the focus position, or by specifying which of the AF points will be used.

The latter approach is most useful in tripod shooting; both should deliver basically equivalent results (except for wide image angles, where re-pointing the camera introduces some meaningful inaccuracy, but this is largely masked by depth of field).

Five of these sensor points are cross-type (sensitive to both horizontal and vertical detail). All of them are of "twin" kind, each with a double sensing array; this should increase focusing accuracy.

Unfortunately, Olympus does not consider camera users to be worthy of information which of the AF points are cross-type; this is not clarified in the manual or in any promotional materials.

In more transparent terms, the low end of -1 EV means that the AF system should work at exposures up to 8 seconds at ISO 100 (regardless of lens aperture). I haven't tested this, but for the previous Olympus SLRs I found the manufacturer's claims to be on the conservative side; i.e., the actual performance was somewhat better.

Similarly, I was not in a position to test the AF speed on the E-620. My impression is that it has not improved compared to the E-510; certainly less responsive and often more hesitant than in the E-30 (compared side-by-side).

In particular, I'm not really happy with how the camera's AF works with the 70-300 mm ZD lens. Sometimes it would just refuse to work under daylight, open-shade conditions. With the "kit" 14-42 mm and 40-150 mm ZD lenses) or with the 12-60 mm ZD) I did not have such complaints.

In the continuous AF mode the camera will keep adjusting the focus while the button is held down, until the mirror goes up just before exposure. The focusing is predictive, i.e., it follows the subject and tries to extrapolate its position to the moment the picture is taken.

Actually, I was never happy with continuous AF on any camera I tried, and the E-620 is no exception here. Just do not expect a significant percentage of keepers from a C-AF point-and-shoot session; shoot ten times more frames than you think you need.

The mixed modes (last in the list) allow for manual focus adjustment after the AF system locked it. Some ZD lenses (certainly 12-60 mm ZD; I'm not sure of any others) allow to do that regardless of the focus mode set.

In the MF mode, the AF system provides focus confirmation in the finder (green Focus OK light), as long as a Four Thirds lens is being used. (This limitation can be removed by using a lens adapter with a Russian Dandelion chip installed.) As I'm resorting to manual focus very rarely, I don't think this is really important, but some people may.

In that mode you may also have the camera autofocus every time you press the Lock button. I found that quite practical (autofocus, but only I decide when); the approach requires a preference setting before it can be used.

I was hoping the E-620 (as loaded with features as it is) will resurrect focus bracketing (included only on the E-500). Nope. Also, an option to set the lens instantly to the hyperfocal distance (possibly with user-defined tolerance) could be nice.

This customization did not change since the E-510 (why should it?), and the process is described in a number of my articles; see, for example, E-30 customization.

Interestingly, focus priority will also prevent the shutter release if the (dedicated or internal) flash is not recharged.

As fast and accurate the dedicated-sensor (phase detection) AF may be, it is not without caveats. Most importantly, the sensor has to be at exactly the same effective optical distance from the lens as the imager is; otherwise it will set the focus behind or in front of the actual image plane. This is the main (if not only) reason why we may experience front- or back-focus; other possible factors may introduce an error depending on the lens, or even the focusing distance (I would expect those to be of lesser magnitude, though).

Well, even changes in temperature may de-calibrate autofocus to some (if minor) extent: the distance from the lens to the imager may change differently than the one to the AF sensor. And, to do some nitpicking, each wavelength focuses at a different distance, so the AF sensor should have a response similar to that of the human eye.

AF calibration is supposed to address this potential problem. It is activated from the menu system, and performed manually.

First, you can introduce a global correction, common to all lenses used. (This should address, I believe, the most significant part of the problem: optical path length difference.) This is done on a scale ranging from -20 to +20 steps (of some undocumented character and magnitude).

Then, you can override that for a given lens (identified by type and serial number). You may have multiple corrections for the same lens: for example, for different zoom focal lengths; up to twenty lens setups can be registered.

Finally, for a given lens setup you can override corrections at individual AF points (seven in this case).

The camera will not tell you how the correction you've entered works, therefore the process has to be done by trial and error. Olympus recommends doing this with a high-contrast target at the distance of about three meters, and at the ambient temperature close to your most common shooting conditions (yes, I was right above!). The process may sound intimidating, but it really isn't (well, I have yet to try it, so I may change my mind).

Let us assume we want to calibrate a given lens without adjusting individual AF points. What I would do is to capture a series of test images, autofocusing with the center point only, with corrections ranging from -10 to +10, analyze the results off-camera, and choose the best, assigning it to the given lens. (If the best results are at one of the extreme values, you will have to shoot another sequence, from that value outwards; tough luck.)

Doing the same for individual AF points is, I would think, an overkill.

Now, while I would expect the factory AF calibration to be accurate enough, it feels reassuring to have such an option. I am, however, a bit disappointed that Olympus stopped half-way here, requiring the process to be done manually. A sequence as described above could be automated, with the camera shooting a test picture for each correction value, analyzing the results, and choosing the best setting from a series. After all, the firmware already includes the code to evaluate local detail at a given point: it is used in contrast-detection AF in the Live View mode, and based on the same information as that stored in raw image files. I am sure some people are already working on this in Tokyo or Yokohama; the question is who will implement it first.

Index

Image stabilization

In lens-based IS, a micromotor drives a corrective lens element (or group). This means that a given lens design cannot be just retrofitted to accommodate this function; IS has to be taken into account when the optics is being designed. While this may allow for tweaking the process to a given lens, it also opens a Pandora's box of design problems and compromises. I suspect it is just a matter of time until Canon and Nikon switch sides in this controversy.

There is certainly an advantage in being able to use image stabilization with any lens, not just with those which have it built-in. Panasonic's decision to employ lens-based IS in their Four Thirds (and Micro Four Thirds) cameras is hard to understand. Still, their IS lenses can be used on Olympus bodies, with either the in-lens or in-body stabilization enabled (but not both simultaneously).

In the E-620, image stabilization also works with legacy (non-Four-Thirds) lenses. You have to enter the lens focal length by hand, though, to achieve best results, as the lens does not "introduce itself" to the camera.

It is recommended to turn IS off when shooting from a tripod. I am not quite sure why; it would be nice to know.

Without, however, any indication about under what conditions a gain of 4 EV may be realistic, the only way I can translate "up to" is "not higher than", which does not mean much.

In the past I have developed a statistically sound procedure to measure this gain for a given camera and particular focal length (and, to some extent, other shooting conditions; this is hard to avoid). I have used this procedure to evaluate IS efficiency in the E-510 and E-3. The results for both cameras were quite similar: about 1 EV (2 ×) improvement at the focal length of 12 or 14 mm, about 1.5 EV (3×) at 42 or 60 mm, and a bit more than 2 EV (close to 5×) at 150 mm. The general trend seems to be clear: the slower is the minimum handholdable speed (within some limits, that is), the greater is the effect of image stabilization. While I haven't checked the IS performance at 300 mm, I would expect it to be even higher, but not probably at 4 (or 5) EV.

The IS system in the E-620 has been changed, compared to the previous models. According to Olympus, the new version weighs about 20% less. This also means that its performance might also have changed (the manufacturer's claims about it certainly did). Still, I do not expect the change to be drastic, and I'm too lazy to re-run my tests for the '620.

Index

Flash

The internal flash has the same light output as that in the E-5x0 cameras; typical from small SLRs.

The Guide Number (GN) defines the maximum distance (DMX) for flash pictures at a given aperture (F-number, or FN): DMX = GN/FN. The output (energy) of light is proportional to GN squared: doubling the guide number means a flash four times as powerful.

By default the built-in flash pops out automatically as needed. Here the camera decides what "as needed" means, so most of us will want to disable this feature.

The recharge time is usually below three seconds, depending how close to the full power the previous burst was.

As with any other camera I know, the internal flash is barely usable for any picture taking. It can be used in emergencies, and also as a fill-in outdoors. (Another possible use is that of communication with other units in remote flash mode, see below).

The older FL-36 and FL-50 are cannot remotely controlled from the built-in unit, but this seems to be the only difference. See my Olympus flash article (as outdated as it may be), or one on the FL-36.

The FL-20 as feeble as it may be at GN 20 m (ISO 100), provides almost three times more light than the internal unit and fits in a small pocket; it also moves the burner away from the lens, which is a good thing. It is overpriced for its specs, but it may be handy as a last-resort option in a pocket of your camera bag.

The FL-36 ("R" or not) is a more powerful option, OK for direct use, but not really for bounced light. For the latter, use either the FL-50R or the Mecablitz 58 AF-1 by Metz. The Metz unit provides full Olympus integration (including remote control and fast shutter synchronization), and additionally — a second burner to soften the shadows; a feature I've been missing on FL-50R.

• TTL metering: the camera tells remote flashes to fire a low-power test burst; then it measures the resulting scene brightness through the lens, computes the necessary adjustment, and communicates that adjustment to remote units again. Only then the flashes fire off "for real".
• On-flash metering: the remote units fire off, and their own light receptors monitor the light reflected from the scene, deciding when to suppress the output. (This is often referred to as "thyristor flash".)
• Manual: a flash is set to a given fraction of the full power.

Interestingly, each of the three remote flash groups may be set to use a different mode out of these three; each also may have its own exposure correction (or fractional setting). As I haven't used the remote flash yet, I cannot say how well it really works.

Enabling the RC flash from the Settings adds a separate page to the Control Panel, dedicated to this purpose.

A slave unit (or units) can be triggered by the built-in flash. As neither knows of the other, this makes sense only if the internal unit is set to manual. The intensity of the latter can be adjusted as needed.

Last time I checked, Olympus units used just below 5 V on their flashes. It is unclear what is the highest safe voltage on the E-3's hot shoe, 12 V or so is certainly safe enough. You may be fine with more (at your own risk!).

Some of the older flashes may have up to 300 V on the contact pin, and your camera may not survive that.

Providing a proper exposure with non-dedicated flashes is very simple — as long as the flash provides most of the illumination of the scene, and as long as it has its own light sensor (most do). For that, you set the camera to manual exposure mode, ISO of your choice, aperture required by the flash for that ISO (some flashes offer a choice of two or more apertures here), and set the shutter speed — to 1/180 s (or longer, but here we want to limit the uncontrolled input of ambient light). There is no communication at all between the camera and flash; still, the latter measures the light scattered off the subject and throttles the output when it has enough. As long as you stay within the maximum flash range, the pictures will be properly exposed (with the usual caveats, that is).

It is amazing how many camera users are not aware of such option, thinking they must use a dedicated flash for worry-free shooting — at a considerable extra expense. Actually in many situations a flash-based exposure automation may provide more predictable and consistent results.

Some of the modes listed here make sense (and therefore are available) only in certain exposure modes (PASM), as shown in brackets. (There are also some limitations in full Auto and in dedicated programs; let me skip the details.)

Switching between flash modes is done with use of the flash button and the control dial. Here are some details:

• In both Auto modes the camera decides whether to use the flash. Your decision may be different, and you would like to know ahead of time what's going to happen. Not recommended.
• All red eye modes fire the flash additionally before the actual exposure, so that the subject's pupils may contract in response, which may (just may) reduce the risk of getting the red eye effect. Using an external flash (further away from the lens) usually works better.
• The slow sync modes provide a mix of ambient and flash light, with the exposure set for the former (or at least things seem that way). This may easily lead to overexposure.

  Providing a selectable flash fill ratio here would be useful. Unfortunately, Olympus does not allow for that (neither do other manufacturers; at least Canon and Nikon).

• The first-curtain (default) and second-curtain synchronization in slow modes differ in when exactly the flash fires: just after the shutter fully opens, or just before it starts closing again; depending on that, any motion streaks due to the subject exposure by the ambient light will precede or follow the flash-generated image, respectively.
• Manual setting of the built-in flash power (full, 1/4, 1/16, or 1/64) allows for a variable light output for fill-in and/or slave triggering. Many external flashes have their own controls to allow this.
• Off disables the flash (built-in or external), even if it is raised or turned on. (The focus assist function still will work.)

Olympus dedicated flashes (FL-36, FL-50, 'R' or not) allow for setting of an extra amount of compensation on the flash itself; in addition to any set from the camera's interface.

This may be the actual reason why the mirror goes down in the imager-AF Live View mode immediately before the exposure.

The actual full-synch speed seems to be 1/320 s, 0.8 EV better than specified. You will be able to use it, however, only with non-dedicated, third-party units. With a dedicated flash the camera will override any shutter speed setting shorter than 1/180 s — except when the multi-burst ("Super FP") flash mode is used.

The Super FP mode (available with the FL-36R and FL-50R) allows for flash synchronization at any shutter speed: for those above 1/180 s the flash is emitting a series of lower-powered bursts (your eye sees them as one), so that the full frame is exposed even if the shutter is never fully open (except that various stripes across the frame are exposed at slightly different times). This is at the expense of higher power usage and smaller range; it may be useful when the flash is used as a fill with the ambient light calling for exposures shorter than 1/180 s.

Index

Image processing

Some WB correction can be also applied to saved JPEG images; this is usually more than enough to fix small deviations.

Most users resort to Auto WB in their shooting. This is not really what provides best results, for reasons beyond any camera's capabilities: the WB systems are often incapable to distinguish between the color of scene elements and the coloration of the light. (Significant white areas in the subject may help here, but this has caveats, too.)

Using one of the predefined, fixed settings gives usually better results (you just have to remember to do it). Here are the options:

• The Sunny — not too close to sunrise or sunset (unless you want your image to be warmer under those circumstances; I do).
• Open Shade — scenes in the light from a clear sky, not by direct sunlight. (Using the sunny preset here will result in bluish tint.)
• The Cloudy — this may be a bit tricky, as the cloud cover may be of varying thickness. Many times I use just the sunny preset in these situations.
• The Incandescent (tungsten) — very useful for common interior lights: the color temperature varies with the bulb power and construction.

  Auto WB also usually does not perform well here; I prefer to set the Reference WB off a white surface when entering a new interior.

• Three Fluorescent presets, for various types of fluorescent lights. You may have to try all three and select the best under circumstances.
• Flash WB — similar to Sunny, but slightly warmer (under the same light, that is). There may be minor variations between flash models.

The Custom WB can be used to set the color temperature directly: higher to get warmer (more reddish) images, lower to get them colder (more bluish). The range goes down all the way to 2000K; useful for low-wattage bulbs.

The Kelvin value can be adjusted directly from the Control Panel: set WB to Custom, press the [+/-] button and turning the dial.

One of my favorite features in Olympus cameras is setting the WB by reference, or One-Touch WB: reading the light of a white (or gray) surface. In most situations this is the most reliable way of WB setting.

This has to be pre-assigned to the [Fn] (user-defined) button to become accessible at all (too bad!). When that button is pressed, and the shutter released, a test frame will be taken and analyzed, and the setting stored for a later recall. Sometimes the camera may signal a failure (non-uniform reference surface, or mixed light sources), but most of the time it delivers very accurate results.

All WB settings can have an additional correction applied, globally or individually for each; in two color planes (amber-blue and green-magenta).

1. Noise Reduction (NR)

Noise Reduction is used to remove the static noise, which, at given ISO and shutter speed, has the same pattern from one frame to another.

To do this, the camera takes a separate, "dark" frame — not opening the shutter at all, but activating the imager for the same time as the original frame shutter speed, just after the actual picture; this information is then subtracted from the original image.

This works quite well, especially (if not only) in removing the "hot pixels" showing at long exposures and high ISOs.

On the other hand, any random noise present in the picture will be increased (I would expect a 41% increase here; those who took some statistics class will know why), so the technique should be applied only when the static component is more of a problem, i.e., at long exposures.

The dark frame exposure also adds an extra delay before the image is saved; this is why NR. regardless of its setting, is disabled in the sequential drive mode. Makes sense.

Noise Reduction can be set or Off, On, or Auto. According to the manual, in the On setting it will be applied always (regardless of the ISO or shutter speed), in Auto — only "when the shutter speed is slow", whatever that means. (Another example of how the Olympus documentation excels in depth.)

2. Noise Filtering (NF)

Noise Filtering reduces the random noise, where the response of a given pixel to light varies from one frame to another. While the filtering algorithms get smarter (and more CPU-intensive) every year, this may often lead to undesirable artifacts (not limited just to detail loss), which may depend on the contents of the image.

Noise filtering may be applied before, during, and/or after the raw-to-RGB conversion; in the first case even raw image files may be (partially, at least) denoised. The filters may be tweaked to provide results pleasing to the eye and/or working well with common resolution test patterns (after all, how many people base their buying decisions on camera reviews and "reviews"?).

My comparison of in- and off-camera raw processing leads me to believe that raw Olympus files are really raw; i.e., noise filtering is applied during and after the conversion. This is good news: the rawer the better (assuming you want to use the raw format, which I don't). Additionally, recent Olympus SLRs (the '620 in that number) allow you to set the NF strength to Off, Low, Standard, and High. While generally the Olympus approach to filtering is quite conservative (less is better!), in the E-510 I settled down on Off, while in the E-30 — on Low. In the E-620 so far I'm leaning towards the latter. This may, of course, depend on the ISO setting; one size may not fit all.

Remember that even in the Off setting some noise filtering is applied: the part being a common component of the demosaicing of the Bayer pattern.

Other manufacturers provide what basically is the same feature: Picture Control (Nikon), Picture Style (Canon), Custom Image Settings (Pentax) or Color Modes (Sony). It would be darned nice if everybody agreed to the same terminology here; after all, this is what language is about.

While not unique, the Olympus implementation has one advantage over the competition: the adjustments to Picture Models are seen at a glance in (and can be easily changed from) the Control Panel, without using the menu system.

There are also Portrait and Custom Picture Modes (but no Landscape one). The Portrait mode is supposed provide better rendition of skin tones, and Custom is a slot for user-defined preferences. The latter is set up starting from one of the other modes used as a template; it also is the only one memorizing the Gradation setting (see below).

Because Picture Modes are applied only in the raw-to-RGB conversion process, they do not affect raw image files. The settings are, however, stored inside those files, so that they can be used (or not) when such conversion is done in off-camera development, using the "as shot" selection.

Obviously, this note also applies to the Image Adjustment section below.

With a good EXIF reader (like ExifTool) you can see the absolute settings of these parameters; the base values are listed in my E-30 settings article.

• Sharpness adjusts the strength of the sharpening filter, applied at the raw-to-RGB conversion stage. (Those who postprocess their images will be better off tuning it down, postponing this until that stage.)
• Contrast assigns more of the tonal range to mid-tones, at the expense of contracting highlights and shadows, narrowing the effective dynamic range. (My advice: as above.)
• Saturation — intensifies the colors at an expense of detail in highly-saturated areas (not to mention a cheesy look).
• Gradation: the High Key and Low Key settings move brighten or darken, respectively, the mid-tones. Often a desired effect, but equally well (or better) done in postprocessing.

  This option also includes an Auto setting (using the Shadow Adjustment Technology), providing more detail in highlights and/or shadows. Olympus is not specific on how this works, but I think I can see a visible increase in shadow noise even at ISO 200 when using this.

It is hard to understand why Gradation is not a part of Picture Modes (except for Custom), when Contrast is. After all, both modify the tonal transition curve, if in different ways. Inconsistent.

The Monotone [sic!] Picture Mode converts the image to monochrome, allowing you to apply a color "filter" to the conversion (e.g., red to deepen the sky dramatically). The resulting image can be also tinted (like, or example, the sepia effect).

Language, again. Here is what monotone really means. One day I'll write an Olympus-to-English dictionary.

It is not quite clear which of these two solutions is used, but there are indications to the former. Some aspects of this, obviously, may depend on the focusing distance, aperture, and zoom focal length.

Light fall-off correction, when enabled in-camera, seems to be applied during analog-to-digital conversion, so that the raw files are affected. This is similar to the E-30.

If not enabled in-camera, Olympus Studio or Olympus Master will allow you to do it in postprocessing (JPEG or ORF); otherwise you can only apply a manual correction, as opposed to one depending on recorded lens information. This clearly indicates that in- and off-camera corrections are quite different, even if serving the same purpose.

I've checked how this works with the 14-42 mm ZD kit lens; it seems to remove most of the vignetting just fine. Obviously, this is done by stretching the histogram towards the corners, so it will be accompanied with some noise increase in affected regions.

Geometric distortion can be automatically corrected only in postprocessing (from a saved JPEG or ORF file, using the Olympus software); all the camera does is embedding the lens information in saved files. For simple (most common) distortion this works just fine; for higher-order patterns (like in the 12-60 mm ZD lens), the correction is not as effective.

Those who choose not to use Olympus Master or Studio will resort to similar functionality available in other postprocessing applications, even if the correction has to be tweaked manually. No big deal.

The raw-to-JPEG conversion is the same as the conversion automatically applied when a picture is taken to be saved as a JPEG. The image adjustment parameters used are as set when the conversion is done, not when the picture was taken. This means, for example, that even if you do not do any off-camera postprocessing, you can shoot a risky picture in the raw mode, to try various adjustments later (white balance, sharpening, noise filter). This of course does not include exposure compensation or any other parameters which affect the raw data.

There is also a separate function, Image Overlay, allows you to select two or three raw images to be superimposed (each with an individual brightness correction) into one final JPEG — a postmortem double exposure of sorts. While this may be moderately entertaining, it is not too easy to judge the effects on the camera's monitor; if I need a double exposure, I can do it better when postprocessing my images.

Image rotation is just that. The in-camera orientation sensor does a job, and the information is saved as a flag in image files, some graphics applications ignore that flag, so you may want to apply a manual override. Of course, you can do it on a computer, too.

The remaining editing functions are applied only to RGB (JPEG) images: shadow adjustment (similar to the Auto gradation), red eye fix (quite effective), crop (with a separate option limited to predefined aspect ratios), B&W or sepia conversion, image downsizing (resampling to lower resolution). None of them is really useful; all can be better applied in off-camera postprocessing. Luckily, they are all hidden deep in the Play menu, so they do not clutter the user interface (the only downside is a waste of developers' effort).

Selecting an Art Mode switches the camera into the program exposure mode, with most of the picture-taking parameters still accessible (if not through the Control Panel, due to conflicting claims to that real estate).

This is the most useless feature I've ever seen on an Olympus camera. The effects are non-adjustable and quite crude, and advertising them as a feature differentiating the E-620 (plus some other Olympus models) from the competition just offends my intelligence. Adding five call-by-number, non-adjustable effects does not make a camera "creative"; not in my book.

People, you came up with a well-designed, well-built, and well-performing camera; you do not have to add a spoonful of manure to a barrel of honey!

A portrait filter effect applied to an image is an example of a feature I would accept in a (supposedly) entry-level SLR — something like the outstanding Glamour effect you can use in Paint Shop Pro. Such effects are, however, hard to implement and CPU-hungry; this is we do not see them implemented (or, at least, well-implemented) in the current generation of cameras.

The names are self-explanatory, except for DIS: Digital Image Stabilization, which is a fancy name for increasing the ISO and shutter speed to capture a moving subject. This has nothing to do with image stabilization (if we modify the semantics agreeing that it does, we will admit that image stabilization has been included in almost every camera of the last 100 years).

Selecting the DIS mode can be used to say: "I'm a moron: I don't know that to avoid motion blur I need higher shutter speeds, hence higher ISO. Well, I don't know what shutter speeds are; I bought this camera by mistake; I have no clue how to use it, please help!" Ironically those who may be inclined to use this feature are least likely to read the manual deep enough to know what DIS stands for and when to use it, not to mention what disadvantages it may bring.

Almost all camera's parameter adjustments (including exposure compensation) are disabled in these modes; the one exception I could find was AF point selection (maybe there are some others, not that we should care).

I'm leaving aside the underwater modes, as this is not my area of expertise. Let me just mention that they will appear in the scene mode selection list only if previously enabled from the settings.

The panorama mode provides a display aid (in Live View only) to help in overlaying the frames in sequence as needed. This could be useful, except that the feature is accessible only when an Olympus-branded xD-Picture card is used, which I find obscene (there are no technical reasons for it; just a questionable business decision).

The 1:1 ratio is referred to by Olympus as "6:6", perhaps to make a reference to the most popular square film format, 6×6 cm. But then, we could refer to the first two as "12×9" and "34×24 (or "9:6"), respectively, as these were also popular film (or plate) formats. The commonly accepted approach to show a proportion is to use smallest integers describing it properly; then, why nor "218×218"?

One of the preferences allows to make this feature accessible in Live View mode only or in both viewing modes. The selected crop is shown in Live View but, obviously, not in the optical viewfinder.

Anyway, the feature is not really useful: cropping in postprocessing gives you more freedom.

Index

LCD monitor

The resolution remains unchanged at 230,000 RGB dots (they are no longer truly RGB, but the term persists by inertia). Three dots constitute a full RGB pixel, so this is equivalent to 77,000 pixels. (Some manufacturers still say "pixels" when talking about dots, which is misleading,) The size also remains unchanged from the E-30 (in E-510/E-410 and E-3 it was 2.5", a visible difference).

Making the monitor larger without increasing the pixel count causes it to be more pixelated. Some will be disappointed with Olympus' decision not to go to a higher resolution. (Nothing comes free, though: bigger resolution means more processing, more power used, longer lags, extra cost.) Still, the display is bright and clear, and the colors (adjustable) look good. Perhaps Olympus had to make a choice between brightness and resolution?

Actually, both Canon and Nikon stick to lower-resolution monitors in their less expensive models. For example, Nikon incorporates a 920,000-dot monitor only from the D90 up. This is why I was less than happy with the lower-than-expected monitor resolution on the E-30, but I can easily live with it on the E-620.

One visible improvement over the E-510 (shared with the E-30, though) is the very effective anti-glare coating. While some reflections are still visible, a side-by-side comparison shows a huge difference. Very nice.

While both Canon and Nikon now offer Live View in all SLRs, currently only the Nikon D5000 has a tiltable monitor: limited to one degree of freedom (up/down); OK for tabletop but not for over-the-crowd shooting. Oh, yes, the Sony A350 has it too.

The displayed image will be inverted if needed to avoid upside-down viewing in some monitor positions. The monitor can also face forward (self-portraits?) or towards the camera back, protected from damage. (Not for shooting, though: you lose the Control Panel then.)

Just for the record: a minor bug persists since the E-3: with the camera in the portrait orientation, and the monitor facing forwards, the preview is shown upside down. It is bad news for those who shoot vertical auto-portraits in Live View, i.e., about two people in the U.S. and one overseas.

Some users of the E-510 will miss the simplified version of the Control Panel offered in that camera; the change is fine with me (less button pressing).

The [Info] and [Menu] buttons are now located to the left of the eyepiece on the camera's back, a solution I like more than in the E-5x0/E-4x0 (left of monitor) or in the E-3/E-30 (below). Delete and Live View have been squeezed into the area around the arrow cluster, which I do not mind at all.

While moving the buttons around was necessitated by the need to accommodate a fold-out monitor on a smaller body, the changes are for good: a single vertical or horizontal row of identically shaped buttons is something I complained about in the previous models.

By "review mode" I mean that you can browse images, delete them, etc — exactly like after using the [Play] button, see below.

Pressing the [Play] (blue arrow) button displays the last image; arrow keys can be then used to browse images and control dial — to zoom in or out. (from thumbnails to a 14× magnification).

While the image is magnified, you can toggle to the full frame and back, or compare magnified fragments of two images side-by-side. This may be sometimes useful, even if the UI is a bit confusing.

When a single image is shown full-frame, the [Info] button switches between more display modes (as shown in the accompanying pictures):

• The image alone;
• File name, folder, format, compression;
• A half-sized thumbnail with full exposure data, luminance and RGB histograms, clipped luminance extremes flashing, used AF point, file information;
• Just a full frame with clipped shadows and highlights blinking;

Pressing [Fn] in any of these display modes shows a full frame with a green box, marking the position of a 10%×10%; fragment. Pressing [Fn] again magnifies that fragment to full monitor size.

Actually, there are two such states; in one of them arrow buttons are used to browse between magnified images (preserving the fragment size and position); in the other — to move this fragment around within one frame. The control dial changes the magnification (up to 14×), and the normal [Info] button functionality will be restored only when full frame is visible again.

The controls become context-dependent in this design, and I am convinced this could use some streamlining. Not using this feature often, I re-learn it every time by trial-and-error.

E-620 image files (ORF or JPEG) contain highly-compressed (1:14) "preview" versions 1600×1200 pixels in size. As in the E-30, these are used for raw image preview. For JPEGs, they are shown initially (with almost no delay), while the full version is being decompressed in the background, replacing the other one as soon as it is ready. This makes critical sharpness evaluation easier than in previous Olympus models — but, ironically, only for JPEGs, not for raw files.

The (proprietary, included) video cable plugs into the combined USB/video socket below the arrow key cluster. The standard is like in all Olympus SLRs since at least the E-510 (except for the E-3, which has a separate video output).

I am not really missing the high resolution video (HDMI) output, as I'm not using my camera for presentations. This is rather an entry level (and I mean it) feature.

Index

Power

Many current Olympus E-3 or E-30 users will want to keep an E-620 body in their travel bags as a backup. For them, being unable to use the batteries interchangeably (and, worse, having to travel with two different chargers), is a painful drawback.

I wouldn't mind the E-620 using the larger battery (at the expense of increased grip depth; this really does not make the camera feel bigger). Still, Olympus chose to keep this camera as compact as reasonably possible; I will not argue here, as this is largely a matter of taste. But then, at least, I would love to see a smart charger, accepting both battery types.

While camera settings will not be erased when the battery is removed for charging for just a few hours, a spare one is perhaps the first accessory to get with the '620 (unless you are using one of the 400-series now).

The CIPA battery rating I found for the E-620 is 500 frames (with no Live View) — but I do not consider this a real, meaningful standard: it is not defined enough to be consistent between various cameras (or even various measurements for one camera). Anyway, this is the same as for the E-410/E-420, or 77% of the figure claimed for the E-510/E-520 (note the 77% again; this raises my suspicions).

The only information I can offer you on camera's battery performance is purely anecdotal evidence from my first few weeks of using it. I've used the E-610 quite heavily, especially during the first week, and played with it a lot, without having a spare battery. With all this, I've never run out of juice, recharging the battery overnight only every second or third day. How good is that? I don't know, but I'm quite happy, and I suspect that in my usage the battery life may be better than its CIPA rating might suggest; most certainly the engineers have learned some new tricks here.

Let me repeat: why not a combined charger, working both with BLM-1 and BLS-1? After all, both use the same chemistry and voltage!

The HLD-5 power grip is specific to the E-620. It accepts two BLS-1 batteries (will also work with just one). It adds 245 g to the camera's weight (when fully loaded), and provides a vertical-orientation shutter release, but no other controls (like an alternate control dial).

I've seen some sources mentioning that the AC-1 power adapter can be used with the E-620 via the HLD-5. Olympus does not mention this in the specifications, and I haven't seen the grip with my own eyes to check if it has a power socket. Too bad the HLD-5 manual has not been released yet.

Index