Olympus Photo Safari Group

Hello everyone,

we had an excellent turn out today, thanks to everyone for making the effort to join us for this world exclusive hands-on session with Olympus for their E-620 release... I've asked everyone to send me their impressions and will combine them for a special Safari Group report to our members and subscribers.

In the meantime, here are a few images I took today, and my personal impressions of the E-620 below.

Today, I decided to shoot with the E-30 + ZD 50mm f2... wow! this lens is unbelievably sharp wide open, and at f2 ISO 400 I could keep the shutter speeds high for great results.

The support staff on the Olympus stand were doing a great job throughout the show... always ready to answer questions.

1/60s f/2.0 at 50.0mm iso400

Walking around the show, I took the opportunity to grab some snapshots of the models working on the stands.

1/250s f/2.0 at 50.0mm iso400

1/125s f/2.0 at 50.0mm iso400

1/160s f/2.0 at 50.0mm iso400

...and on to our hands-on session with the pre-production (v0.9) Olympus E-620.

Simon Angier holds the E-620 with the ZD 25mm f2.8 pancake fitted. I used the 14-35mm f2 on the E-30 for these shots.

1/25s f/2.0 at 19.0mm iso400

The E-620... small is beautiful!

1/60s f/2.0 at 33.0mm iso400

The ZD 7-14mm f4 mounted on the E-620... large lenses balance very well on this body, you just need to take the weight of the combination in your left hand under the lens. Note thanks to Mick Logan for this image - taken with his new E-3 with my ZD 50mm f2.

1/100s f/2.0 at 50.0mm iso100

The E-620 is even more exciting in reality than the specs suggest - it feels like a flagship camera, being extremely solid in construction, it uses the same toughened fibre-glass reinforced plastic as used in the new E-30.

The grip is fantastic - it feels like a more industrial strength E-420, in that you use a pinch grip, but the contour gives you more leverage on the camera body - which in turn gives more confidence with larger lenses. Also, the camera strap lugs are the heavy duty side mounted type, which don't interrupt the clean square grip on the camera.

The camera body feels deeper, more square than the E-420 and more solid - I didn't seriously consider the optical viewfinder and it didn't strike me as being wow bigger than the E-420/E-520... but I'm receiving more detailed and favourable impressions from the group... the articulating screen and compactness are hugely welcome.

Hope that helps for now - I'll add more impressions here, and from everyone in our group in the full report.

I'm convinced that the E-620 will be Olympus' best selling DSLR ever - it delivers the perfect blend of leading edge features in an industrial strength compact package at a great price point... expect to see a lot more of this camera in the near future!

p.s. The Olympus E-620 Manual is now available for download from Olympus America.

Kind Regards

Brian

Thanks to Tammy for this update :

Hi Brian,

Find attached a few of my images of the new E-620 with my E-3. The image of me Rebel (Chris) pressed the shutter for me.

My first impression of the new E-620 was that it was a baby E-3! It is tiny but solid. It has a lot of features that are both professional and fun. It looks to be a powerful little camera, just the right size to keep with you all the time. I would have liked to have had more time to play with it on my own. Thanks for the hands on experience.

Tammy

And courtesy of John Begin's ancient E-330 (just kidding John ;)

With John's comments from the show...

Hi,

Some have already heard of Oly's new release - e620. Olympus UK invited members of the Olympus Photo Safari to have a hands-on of the new (pre-production) model today at the Focus on Imaging exhibition, Birmingham, England.

A BRIEF LOOK: It is a great LITTLE machine, with some of the advanced features of the new e30, though its feature list (as on the Japanese website) have been kept a little lower than the e30. I don't think they want anybody to think this is an option for those seriously considering the e30, nor the e3. Being a kind of hybrid of the e420 and e520, it seems to be aimed at those users who want what either of these cameras offer with some of the additional E30 features. Like the e420 it is small and fits comfortably in the hand with the pancake lens or even the 14-54; it has a small grip, though bigger than the e4xx series, and it shares the same small battery. Like the e520 it has three levels of IS. Like both, it has contrast detect autofocus. And like nearly all Oly DSLRs the controls are easy to use, especially if you are already used to Oly menus, etc. Unlike all but the e3 & e30 it has an articulating screen - very nice indeed.

It would be great to show some pictures taken with it but being pre-production we were not allowed.

Now a couple of gripes!
Being an e330 user I was disappointed that it continues in the line of having only a single sensor -- that is, it does not have two Live View modes. The great thing about the e330 is that you can choose between Live View modes 'A' or 'B' - the latter originally being called Macro Live View. All Oly Live View SLRs since that are based upon Live View Mode 'B'.

Live View mode 'A' is a great feature that uses 'conventional' auto-focussing while maintaining a true live view on the monitor. I was told by an unnamed rep not to expect to see it again! The reason it will not be reintroduced, it appears to me, is that it was a 'necessary evil' to get Live View up-and-running. Now that the newer cameras have auto-focussing built-in to the Live View sensor it seems that Olympus (and all those who follow Oly's lead - Canon, Nikon and the rest) see no need to go that route again. But that is not the only reason to keep the two modes - Live View 'A' allows viewing with the monitor or eye-level finder - SIMULTANEOUSLY! (if you don't close the eye-level finder manually.) No other Olympus camera does that - when you go into Live View, the mirror goes up and the eye-level finder is blocked! So, gripe over -- because, that aside, the E620, except in very dark areas, focussed speedily, even in Live View - I didn't notice any lag between focus and shooting.

Here are images of the new camera to show how small it really is :

God bless,

John in Loughborough.

The Japanese websites (in English!)
http://www.olympus-global.com/en/news/2009a/nr090224e620e.cfm
http://asia.olympus-imaging.com/products/dslr/e620/

Thanks to Andrew Riddell for his thoughts :

Brian,

Thanks for organising the session. I didn't take any shots of the e620, but here are my impressions.

I like the size and weight, and could get used to the e4xx style of grip. I also like the viewfinder, AF choices and twist screen. For those that like them (not me!) it's good to have a portrait grip available. I found the camera handled better with larger lenses than with the pancake, probably because there's more space to put your fingers! I was thinking of getting an e30, but I'll now definitely hold on until the e620 is available for a proper try-out.

Andrew

Thanks to Patrick Green, who obviously took more care to assess the OVF :

Hi Brian, Just read your initial comments, good pics, I look forward to the completed review. One comment - I thought that the E620 viewfinder is a big improvement on the E420/E520, not as big as the E30 viewfinder and still tiny compared to the E3, but still a good improvement and noticeably so. I think the sense of size is also helped by having the settings displayed along the bottom too, it helps emphasise the horizontal dimension. I always felt that having the setttings displayed on the right boxed in the viewfinder and made it feel smaller than it actually was.
cheers

Patrick

Thanks to Tim Afken, for his thoughts here...

Hi Brian,

My E620 Review.

At somewhere past 2PM Tuesday the 24th of February we had a chance to play with the just announced E620. Many Thanks to Mark Thackara for this opportunity

My procedures are as usual: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The Ugly:

What has taken so long?

The Bad:

Panasonic will have a problem because this camera will not only eat into the sales of the G1 it will nearly kill them off. In the German DSLR Forum they are all over the place. Even D300 owners are now starting with switching.

But there is also another bad point: The handling with long zooms or primes like the 50-200 SWD. It is manageable, but not very secure. I think the additional HLD5 Grip will be necessary in such cases. If this E620 will replace the E520 and I think so it is not such a good point, esp. when someone is interested in the (super) High Grade Range.

Also another point is the internal flash. It does not rise high enough and there will cause shadows when using for example the 14-54 MKII.

The Good:

This is finally the compact 4/3 camera nearly everyone was waiting for. And the feature set is way more then enough for most users – flip screen, good 7 point AF, working dust buster, IS, AF Adjust, contrast AF, Liveview and hell of configuration possibilities. And then just look at the new accessories: Flash brackets for macro, HLD-5 Grip and Underwater casing.

Simply excellent!

And the fell is also very good, Build quality is far better then the current Exxx Series. The rubber is also of higher quality and offers more grip. The screen is even better as the one from the E30 (but still lacking the HighRes). As for controls and layout: Very similar to the E420 with some similarities regarding the E520. The new cursor key are even smaller but they are very responsive and accurate.

However, my feature of all: Illuminated Keys. They are awesome and I want them in the next E4.

Verdict:

It will sell like hot chocolate, esp with the double zoom kit offer. But from seeing, testing and handling – esp with bigger lenses like the 7-14, 14-54 and 50-200SWD this camera has the potential to be the best advanced user and amateur camera in Olympus DSLRs history. The reason? Just imagine following setup:

• E620
• HLD5
• 9-18
• 14-54 MKII
• 70-300
• 50mm
• EC14
• Two FL36R
• Flash Bracket

This kit will be screamer and will probably go for just over 2500,- . If I wouldn’t need the E3, weather seals, the 50-200 and other High Grade stuff I would go for this kit immediately.

Tim Afken

and thanks to Derek Crunkhorne for his thoughts here :

E-620

From the all too brief play we had with the camera I was impressed with the feel overall.

It's light and fits nicely in the hand although I would like to try it with the HLD-5 grip. I feel as I find with the E-3 it would become more balanced with larger lens with the grip fitted.

Controls are similarly placed as to other E-system cameras, although I did find myself looking for the info and menu buttons.

The auto focus is a big improvement with the extra focus points even focusing quickly in the relatively low light we stood.

The view finder was brighter than E-510 I own and 520 I have tried, also the screen is better for the size increase and brighter.

I believe it will tempt people to upgrade from there E-4XX E-5xx due to it being a big upgrade.

Live view with the excellent movable screen, IS, More Auto focus point now 7, larger sensor.

These are all good features to put in a small light body.

Overall I think the E-620 is a good camera either as an upgrade from E-4xx E-5xx or a light walk around camera with excellent spec and capability which with the HLD-5 grip can be used with larger lens for sport and still be light and compact.

My only real criticism is the use of the BLS-1 battery as in the E-420.

For me to upgrade from the E-510 would mean carrying another battery type.

I could be upgrading my E-510 to a E-620.

Best Regards

Derek

Thanks to Dave Bennett, for his thoughts :

Hi Brian,

Here is my (short) report.

I was lucky inasmuch as I was able to see the E-620 during the morning when I was talking with Ian on the Olympus stand. It was certainly a surprise to see this addition to the E-Series line-up and I wonder if there is room for it................But hey, it is a new Olympus dSLR and I reckon a good 'un as well.

I have always hankered after a digital OM but the E-4XX series have not quite had the features that I would like to see if I am to get a newer back-up to my E-3. I like the size, which is only slightly bigger than the E-420, which it resembles quite a bit . The more substantial grip is welcome. A larger one would be even better but that would take it more into E-520 territory. I wonder if the battery grip will attract many buyers amongst the target audience of this camera body.

The IS is very welcome and is expected these days. I was particularly pleased to see the articulated screen as an addition to Live View. A pull out screen is essential with Live View in my book.

I thought that the VF looked a little larger than in my old E-500, and that was confirmed. Even though I still use the E-500 alongside my E-3 (generally for work) I can easily adjust to the smaller size VF. I was really pleased to see that the VF information is now along the bottom, where there is much more room. It is a much more natural location as I often struggle with the E-500 in this respect. The new display is lots brighter too.

All the buttons seemed well placed and it has a good looking body (oh 'er missus!).

It seems to me that the E-620 has cherry-picked most of the best bits of all the currently available Olympus dSLRs. This is a good thing and means that it will tick many people's boxes.

I am sure that it will take away sales from both the E-420 and E-520, and I do wonder if both will survive to their E-X30 versions.

The E-620 is the small Olympus dSLR that many of us have been waiting for. Bring it on, Olympus!

Cheers,

Dave

Thanks to Mick Logan for his impressions here :

The new E620 was a surprise. I did not think Olympus would bring out another camera so soon after the E30.

It is quite a neat compact body with lots of features. IS must be one of the best as a lot of people are asking for it now, and they have managed to get it into the E620.

A nice viewfinder, lighting up buttons for when it is a bit gloomy, the body is a bit thicker than the E420 as it has the IS and an
articulating screen on the back with live view. It is also a good bit smaller and lighter than the E30 but with a lot of features .I would
need the grip HLD-5 as i like the extra hold it gives you. I felt that the controls were just about right, and fell to your fingers to adjust.

The buttons were a bit smaller than previous cameras but did not pose a problem in operation of them.


Would I like one? yes. Will I get one - probably no, as i now have an E-1 and an E-3. I don't think I could justify another new camera unless I
win the lottery.

Regards
Mick