Olympus E620 review at dpreview!!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Looks a very nice camera indeed:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympuse620/

It seems the Olympus cameras have finally got over their noise and DR issues!

[kalniel]

Olympus E620 review at dpreview!!

I take it you weren't expecting a digital photography review site to review a digital camera?

[Bobster]

It seems the Olympus cameras have finally got over their noise and DR issues!

really? doesn't look like it from here.. my old 300D gives less noise @ ISO1600 by the looks..

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I take it you weren't expecting a digital photography review site to review a digital camera?

I like using exclaimation marks(you know that) - so no point repeating a similar line again and again in almost any thread I start. Stop being pedantic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

really? doesn't look like it from here.. my old 300D gives less noise @ ISO1600 by the looks..

Compared to others cameras in the same class currently it seems pretty competitive and is definitely better than some of the other newer Olympus and Panasonic dSLR(and dSLR style) Four Thirds cameras. Anyway remember that even the 6MP D40 was very good at high ISO too even compared to some of the more expensive Nikons with higher MP sensors.

[kalniel]

@Cat - these forums have a function called multiquote that allows you to quote several messages in one, so you don't need to make multiple, consecutive, replies

I have one of these cameras, noise at 1600 makes the photo more or less unusable unless you shrink it down a lot, and compared to others in its class (the D5000 for eg.) the noise is a lot worse. However it's not as bad as previous E system cameras - the balloon picture I posted in the photo-a-day thread is ISO 1250.

[YorkieBen]

really? doesn't look like it from here.. my old 300D gives less noise @ ISO1600 by the looks..

well it has 50% more pixels... in comparison to the 500D and the D5000 (its direct competitors) its ISO 1600 appears to be just as good. The amount of noise in the raw files in the 500D for example is pretty high

The e-620 is the first of the 4/3s slrs that look like a good alternative to the competition imo

[kalniel]

The e-620 is the first of the 4/3s slrs that look like a good alternative to the competition imo

Yup I'd agree with that - it actually competes and you'll find somethings it does better and some it does worse.

At the moment I'm giggling like a girl that I've got a fairly high quality system which covers from 18mm to 300mm full frame equivalent contained in a smallish bag and all together it seems to weigh nothing. I'll probably do a short impressions piece once I've had more time with it.

[joshwa]

I have the Olympus E-P1 and I think Olympus have finally started making DSLRs with usable ISO1600 So if the 620 (and 450, and others) are the same then I think they've finally got to the same standard as other manufacturers. With others (Nikon, Canon) you could always push to ISO1600 and get fairly decent results, with Olympus's earlier DSLRs (510, 410 etc) ISO800 was kind of the highest you'd really want to go...

Some ISO1600 samples from the E-P1:
http://www.digicamreview.com/photos/...n_ep1/P6270002
http://www.digicamreview.com/photos/...n_ep1/P6270013

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Yup I'd agree with that - it actually competes and you'll find somethings it does better and some it does worse.

At the moment I'm giggling like a girl that I've got a fairly high quality system which covers from 18mm to 300mm full frame equivalent contained in a smallish bag and all together it seems to weigh nothing. I'll probably do a short impressions piece once I've had more time with it.

What is the largest size you would print at when using ISO1600 for example?? How do the high ISO pictures look after conversion from RAW and passing them through Noise Ninja or Neat Image for example? I know a few people who are looking at getting a dSLR and it would be good to know.

[kalniel]

What is the largest size you would print at when using ISO1600 for example??

Hard to say at the moment - I need more time to find out. I'd certainly print ISO 1250 at 8x10 and probably more.

How do the high ISO pictures look after conversion from RAW

Identical.

and passing them through Noise Ninja or Neat Image for example?

Send me a copy of those commercial programs and I'll find out So far I've never seen a use of noise reduction programs that I've agreed with the results - I would prefer to reduce the image size or just live with the noise which at least is very random and quite pleasant looking.

I know a few people who are looking at getting a dSLR and it would be good to know.

If you can hang on, I'll be posting more pictures and impressions over the next two weeks, but there are probably better reviews out there already done by professionals.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Send me a copy of those commercial programs and I'll find out So far I've never seen a use of noise reduction programs that I've agreed with the results - I would prefer to reduce the image size or just live with the noise which at least is very random and quite pleasant looking.

There are some demo versions of these programmes:

http://www.picturecode.com/download.htm

http://www.neatimage.com/download.html

However I agree if the noise looks OK in print there is no need.

[kalniel]

Thanks cat, if I get time I'll put up a quick test (likely some time next week).