So the 620 has been in my hands for a few weeks. Unfortunately not a lot
of time to actually take photos, but i have fired off some. So far I am
really liking the little rig. It is so small and compact I even bought a
new bag to carry it with!
A few comments/observations:
(Note that this is the first E system camera I have ever actually used
or spent more than just a few minutes with and that my last digital rig
was Nik*n, most of my comments are in relation to that system, not the E
system.
Menus & setup -
For the most part I am very happy. I know that Olympus has taken some
hits based on the menu system, and I can certainly see some room for
improvement, but the 620 at least is no worse than the Nik*ns I used
(D200 and D70) There is a high degree of customization, and for the most
part I have the camera working how I want. there are a few settings I
will need to play with some more, but all in all I am very satisfied
with the setup. One thing missing that was a surprise to me, is that you
cannot set up a user comment (such as copyright notice) to be written to
the files EXIF. I find this a major oversight, but perhaps it is not an
issue on the 620 (is it available in the E-3 and E-30 - if not it really
should be!)
Speed & handling -
This is very important to me, and by and large the 620 does not
disappoint here. Frame rate (while not blistering fast) is more than
adequate for my needs. Settings that need to be changed quickly are for
the most part easily accessed. The few times I have been disappointed I
found the button/interface that I needed later - it all seems to be
there, it will just take more familiarity with the camera I think. A few
niggling things that I have yet to figure out: The 'super control panel"
- it works fine, but... I sure would like to turn the damn thing off!
Most of the time when I change a setting it is with the camera to my eye
and I use the viewfinder information to make the change, it is very
irritating to have the SCP come on, especially when setting exposure
compensation! So far my workaround is to just keep the screen turned
toward the camera body, but it makes it hard to chimp when needed. It
would nice to be able to turn off, and set the timeout on the SCP just
like the Review screen - perhaps in a firmware upgrade this will be added?
So far my impression is that the autofocus in low light is not as fast
or 'hunt'-free as my D200 was (comparing with similar lenses as best I
can) In good light the autofocus seems to be fine. I still have a lot of
tuning/learning to do with the autofocus so do not take this at face
value. I did expect better low light autofocus performance with the 25mm
f/2.8 pancake.
Controls are easily accessible and layout is excellent, especially for
such a small body. I have large (but not huge) hands and I have no
problems with the layout and grip of the camera. it is a big change from
the D200, but very reminiscent of the OMs, small but with a great
layout. handling is excellent.
Lenses -
Currently I have the two kit lenses, the 9-18, and the 25 f/2.8. I have
to admit to having a real bias against lenses with plastic mounts, but
the build quality on the two kit lenses is actually quite good. it
remains to be seen how these hold up long term, but for their weight and
cost they are quite nice lenses, no looseness, and amazingly sharp! the
9-18 and 25 have metal lens mounts and better build quality as one would
expect given the price. Overall I am very impressed and pleased with the
Olympus lenses, but then again I always did like Zuikos! One thing that
did surprise me is hos flimsy all the hoods seem to be, it is probably
really a non-issue, but in comparison to the Tokina ATX hoods they are a
bit disappointing.
Image Quality -
To soon to really tell, but so far no disappointments here. I usually
shoot RAW and will need to find a new RAW processor (as I formerly used
Nikon's Capture NX) so there will be an increased learning curve here.
Other observations -
Battery life seems to be just fine. with light shooting, and a LOT of
time playing with the menus & settings (lots of screen access) the
battery still has juice after a week. I suspect that I should have no
problem with my typical shooting getting through an entire long (3 day)
weekend with two batteries.
Metering seems fine, but different from the Nik*ns. The ESP meter seems
to be giving me a bit different results than Nik*n's matrix metering.
the problem with any matrix metering is that while it works great most
of the time, when it doesn't it is hard to tell what it is doing and
override accordingly. It will take some learning here to get a handle on
what Olympus is doing. Spot and average metering seem to be very
consistent and I suspect I will be using those a lot until i get a
handle on the Olympus ESP.
The viewfinder is nothing fantastic, but better than I had been led to
believe. The finder is smaller and appears to be not as bright as my
D200 was, but only marginally so. It does work well with glasses and i
find it easy to see the whole finder as well as the information at the
bottom. The finder information is great and has pretty much all the info
I need. I miss the grid lines of the D200, but it is not a big deal. I
am actually more satisfied with the finder than I expected to be.
I have not used the internal flash a lot, and probably won't. Never like
the D200 flash either. Personally i wish they would leave off these
internal flashes. If I need/want a flash I will use a proper one. I will
probably pick up one of the Olympus flashes and a cord for when I need
flash. I also ordered one of the Wein safsync units so i can use the
camera with my studio lights.
The E-20 uses a non-standard USB cable. This is a bit irritating and I
suspect this will be a bit of a problem as I seem prone to misplacing
cables. I will need to find a safe, consistent place to store this
thing. since I use it on three different computers, I can't just leave
it plugged into a the computer. I have already ordered a spare! :)
The manual (like most of them) sucks although I have to admit I have
seen worse. You are constantly referred to other pages, so one is always
flipping back and forth. Won't be much of an issue once I learn the
camera and have it set up.
Overall, i am very happy with the camera. If it seems like I have a lot
of complaints here, it is because by and large most of the features and
use are in some ways unremarkable - and not in a bad way. The E-620 for
the most part just gets out of my way and lets me take pictures, which
is what I want.
More to follow as I get more time with the rig. I will be out climbing
this weekend, which will be my first real chance to use the camera under
the circumstances I really purchased it for, after that I suspect I will
have more comments I am sure.
Jim Couch
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