We need your Olympus Review

[Asmarlak]

I bought my E-510 in 2007 and wanted to upgrade to another Olympus of the same class since last year. I tried the E-520 and didn't like it at all, it was a step backward not forward. I loved the E-510, images are very sharp and full of details that come only from first class cameras but I wanted to upgrade because of the limited dynamic range of 510. Recently, I bought the E-620 which had excellent dynamic range and color rendering but lacked in rendering fine details. The details were smeared which means I can use it only for landscape but not for portraits and macros. The other problem with E-620 was the noise, noise was way too much for the competition even at low ISOs which means - images are less tolerant to post processing. In E-620 "Auto ISO" starts at 200 and not 100 which was shockingly odd for such a noisy camera. DPreview.com which I trust 100% gave it a very good review in general but said, "Our only concern about the E-620 would be that it seems to have inherited the rather strong anti-aliasing filter that has arguably held-back recent E-system cameras. This means it's not able to render the really fine detail that its rivals can (a shame given how good Four Thirds lenses can be)." However, for me the noise and lack of fine details issues were huge negatives. One other important thing, I noticed the the AF was not consistently sharp - sometimes it is others are not, something which was never of my concern with the E-510. I took the same shots with the E-510 and E-620 using the excellent 14-54mm lens and compared them side by side but images from 510 came out on top 100% of the time.
I may have been spoiled by the E-510 and my concerns would not be an issue for entry level DSLR users who are making the switch from P&S which this camera is targeting, but for a manufacturer, things should move forward and not backwards, and admittedly they have in many categories but fell behind in critical ones. Finally, I returned the camera and kept my wonderful E-510. Now I have a strong feeling that my E-510 is going to be my last Four Thirds system camera that would tempt me not to switch to Nikon or Canon.

[Photo-John]

I often find myself contradicting others when it comes to the Olympus DSLRs. I agree with the E-620 review on DPReview. Olympus images are softer than other manufacturers' cameras and there is more noise. The question is, does it really matter? Right now I have a Canon EOS 5D Mk II, an EOS 50D, an XSi/450D, the Nikon D5000 and the E-620. Guess what camera I pick up most? Given, since I am on the bike with my gear a lot, I value small and light. But not if the images don't measure up. But they do! Because I'm shooting action outdoors I usually have to shoot dark to hold sky detail and freeze action. And then I have to push my images hard in post-processing to get the final balance that I want. For the most part, I'm very happy with what I've been able to do with the E-620. In my opinion, the final images are perfectly publishable. Would the 50D, 5D or D5000 have produced better image quality? No doubt. But that doesn't mean the E-620 is no good. You're definitely free to switch brands. But I recommend that you avoid getting into pixel-peeping. The truth is, there are no bad digital SLRs anymore. They're all excellent. Sure, some produce better image quality than others. But that doesn't make the the ones with more noise or softer images bad cameras.

I'm including two images here that were shot last week with the E-620 They were shot at ISO 400 and pushed pretty hard in Lightroom and Photoshop. I am very happy with them and they speak well for the ability of the E-620.