Olympus announces a new dSLR – the E-620

Written by Gary on February 24th, 2009

dpreview.com has a preview of the newly announced Olympus E620 dSLR which has some of the features of the E-30 in the size nearer the E420 and with optional vertical grip and underwater housing.

Features include:

  • 12.3mp sensor, 4.0 fps, swivel LCD, image stabiliser
  • 7pt AF including 5 cross-type (not 11pts as with E-30 but better than 3 pts in E420/520 and better than only 1 cross-type as in the Canon 450D/500D)
  • three mode live view AF as with E-30 including face recognition
  • no top panel LCD, 1/4000th sec (not 1/8000th as with E-30), x-sync 1/180th (not 1/250th as with E-30), 95% field of view (not 98% as with E-30)
  • 6 art filters as with E-30 but no electronic spirit level
  • multiexposure mode allows 2 frames (not 4 frames as with E-30)
  • 4 aspect ratios (not 9 as with the E-30)
  • 521g incl. battery (E-30 is 768g, whilst E-520 is 552g)
  • lower capacity battery (BLS-1 instead of the BLM-1)
  • no PC sync socket or DC-in socket
  • still no movie mode as with Nikon D90 or Canon 500D – perhaps Olympus is reserving that for a Four Thirds Micro body which should do movie mode much better with its improved contrast detect live AF capability

Sounds like it will kill off the E420 and E-520 pending price competitiveness, as it combines the advantages of each of these and then adds features of the E-30.

How does it match with the Canon 450D?

  • 450D has 9 pt AF but only 1 is a cross point and requires f/2.8 or brighter for cross point to work – and most EF-S lenses do not have a f/2.8 or brighter aperture
  • no built-in image stabiliser in the 450D – a big advantage to the E620
  • 450D has 3.5fps whilst E-620 has 4.0fps
  • 450D max. timed exposure only 30sec while it E620 offers 30sec and 60sec
  • 450D allows only +/- 2 stops exposure compensation, while E620 offers +/- 5 stops
  • many other features lacking on the 450D such as swivel LCD, art filters, multiexposure mode, face recognition live view AF
  • MUCH better lenses designed for cropped sensor dSLRs available for the E620
  • 450D is approx. same weight as the E-620
  • How does it match with the new Canon 500D?

    • the 500D is much the same as the 450D BUT:
      • 15mp sensor, 3″ 920,000dot LCD
      • HD video at 20fps BUT as with Canon 5DMII and Nikon D90, no AF during video capture
      • HDMI out
      • ISO 100-1600 (expandable to 12800)
      • face detection AF in live view as with E-620
      • so nothing really innovative, and still no in-built image stabiliser or swivel LCD!

    The UK Photo Safari Group have prepared a pdf report on the E-620 you can download here

     

    1 Comments so far ↓

    1. Geir says:

      On first impressions, would you go for the E-30 or the E-620? They seem two of a kind judged by this info.