Olympus E-620 Review

June 8, 2009 | Mark Goldstein | Rating star Rating star Rating star Rating star Rating star

Introduction

The Olympus E-620 is the latest addition to Olympus' now extensive range of Four Thirds system digital SLR cameras. Slotting into the range above the E-520 and E-450 models and below the E-30, the E620 borrows features from all three cameras. It's nearly as light and compact as the tiny E-450, but additionally offers an image stabilisation system that's built into the camera body, which means that any lens that you attach automatically benefits from up to 4 EV steps of stabilisation. The E-620 also has a free-angle 2.7 inch LCD screen, just like the E-30, making image composition via the LCD screen more versatile, and it inherits the same 6 Art filters, Multi Exposure mode and four different aspect ratios from the E-30 too. Other key features include a 12.3 megapixel Live MOS sensor, 7-point autofocus system, optical viewfinder with 95% field of view, Live View with high-speed contrast autofocus, 4fps continuous shooting and Supersonic Wave Filter dust protection. Retailing for $699.99 / £619.99 body-only (with 3 different lens kits also available), is the E-620 the best Olympus DSLR yet, and can it challenge the likes of other mid-range DSLRs like the Canon EOS 500D, Nikon D5000 and Sony A700? Carry on reading to find out...

Ease of Use

Outwardly the Olympus E-620 looks very similar to the smaller and cheaper E-450 model, with the notable additions of a right-hand grip and free-angle LCD screen. Where the E-450 has virtually no hand-grip, the E-620 does feature a more pronounced grip, although it's certainly not as deep as the one on the older E-520, making the camera a little awkward to hold and better suited to those with small hands. As with the E-450, the best method is to hold the camera's weight in the left hand, clutching the lens, and use your right hand for balance and operating the controls.

Just like its predecessors, the E-620 is better constructed than you'd expect given its relatively small size, light weight and low price. Thanks to the glass-fibre reinforced plastics used, the camera feels very solid, more so than most of its entry-level competitors. The controls are clearly labelled, and the buttons have a funky back-lighting that makes them easy to locate when shooting at night. The large metal neck strap eyelets are located on top of the camera at the sides, a more user-friendly location than the E-450's front-mounted eyelets.

Weighing in at just over 475 grams (not including a battery), the Olympus E-620 is one of the lightest DSLRs on the market, only weighing about 100 grams more than the E-450. One of the reasons is the use of the BLS-1 battery, which is considerably smaller and lighter than the BLM-1 that powers the E-520, the E-30 and the E-3, as well as a number of older models. When it comes to storing your photographs the Olympus E-620 allows you to use Compact Flash or xD-Picture cards, but although it's possible to have one of both inserted at the same time, you cannot simultaneously record an image on both, as only one of them can be selected at any given time as the active medium. You can, however, copy already recorded images from one card to the other, which is great if you want to make backups in the field.

Olympus E-620 Olympus E-620
Front Rear

The Olympus E-620 sports a traditional eye-level optical TTL finder, which offers 95% scene coverage, is fairly bright and free of any distortions or aberrations and thankfully bigger and brighter than on the E-450. It's fine for framing but still not so great for manual focusing, which is better done in Live View. The in-finder status LCD runs horizontally along the bottom, just like in the E-30 and the E-3, and it shows most of the camera's key settings.

The E620's 2.7", 230,000-dot rear LCD screen has a very wide viewing angle and remains visible outdoors in the sunshine too, but only if you increase its brightness level to the maximum setting. The colour temperature of the screen can be modified if you think it doesn't match that of your calibrated computer monitor, but the contrast and gamma cannot be altered. Gripping the E-620 with both hands with the main LCD facing out at you means that the glass of the screen inevitably soon becomes covered with thumbprints, though this is true of most DSLRs in its class.

Luckily you can flip and twist the screen so it's facing inwards and use the optical viewfinder instead if this gets too irritating, which is also a good way of protecting the LCD when the camera is stored in a bag. The ability to adjust the viewing angle of the screen when taking that awkward shot – a feature of some bridge cameras though still fairly unusual on a DSLR – seems to immediately make sense. It's the kind of feature you never knew you needed until you find yourself using it all the time, though admittedly the novelty aspect may initially play a large part. The E-620's 2.7 inch screen is also welcome, although it doesn't compare so well to other cameras in this class in terms of resolution, offering just 230,000 dots.

As the E-620 lacks a separate monochrome LCD, the rear screen doubles as a status display, which can be called up by pressing the INFO button in record mode. Moreover if you press OK instead of INFO, you can also change all important settings right on the screen, which Olympus calls the Super Control Panel. This ingenious solution spares you the pain of having to enter the menu, and makes most settings changes fairly simple. Also four of the most often-used functions - ISO sensitivity, focusing mode, metering or white balance - each have their own dedicated button mapped onto the four-way pad. In addition Exposure compensation, flash and drive mode selection have their own buttons, all situated on the top plate.

Olympus E-620 Olympus E-620
Front

Top

One of the most important functions of the LCD is providing on-demand Live View in record mode. As with all recent Olympus DSLRs, Live View on the E-620 is of the main-sensor variety and as such, serves primarily as a framing and manual focusing aid. The articulated screen of the E-620 makes it much more convenient to frame your photos when shooting from the hip or from above your head, owing to the wide viewing angle of the LCD, and manual focusing is greatly enhanced by the 'enlarged display' function. Once you have selected manual focus mode and entered Live View via its dedicated button, press INFO repeatedly until a green rectangle appears in the middle of the display. You can move this rectangle around using the four-way pad, and magnify into it by pressing OK. The default magnification is 7x, but you can raise this to 10x by turning the control wheel. This is real, non-interpolated magnification, very useful for accurate manual focusing – provided you find a way to steady the camera. A second press of the OK button will let you see the full frame again.

This is not the only screen available in Live View. You can specify how much shooting information you want to be overlaid, can call up a live histogram or a shooting grid (though sadly, not both at the same time), and can view what effect the different WB settings or different amounts of exposure compensation would have on the final image, in a multi-frame window. The Super Control Panel can be called up by pressing OK while any of these screens is displayed, except when the green rectangle is shown or when you are in enlarged view, as indicated above. When available, the Super Control Panel appears as a semi-transparent overlay, but can otherwise be used as usual. For low-light or infrared shooting, you can enable a feature called Live View Boost from the menu, but in this case, the live histogram may not function properly and the effect of exposure compensation adjustments will not be reflected on the monitor.

As noted above, Live View is primarily a framing and manual focusing aid, but this is not to say you can't use auto focus. In fact there are three different AF methods available in Live View, including Imager AF, Hybrid AF and AF Sensor. Imager AF, more widely known as contrast-detect AF, works with a handful of lenses only, including the Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm f4-5.6, ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6, ED 40-150mm f4-5.6, ED 70-300mm f4-5.6, the 25mm f2.8 “pancake” lens and the 14-54mm f2.8-3.5 II. With these lenses, Imager AF can also be used in conjunction with Face Detection. In Hybrid AF mode approximate focus is achieved via the same contrast-detection method, but the 'real' AF sensors still get engaged when you fully depress the shutter for taking the shot. With a FourThirds lens other than the those mentioned above mounted, the camera defaults to this mode in Live View even if Imager AF is selected. Finally the oldest method, AF Sensor, is also available, and might prove the fastest option with lenses that are not optimised for contrast detection.

While Live View can be a useful tool in certain specific shooting situations, most of the time you will likely use the optical viewfinder. When Live View is turned off, the auto focus is about as fast as you would expect from an SLR, utilising a 7-point system which features seven distance-measuring points, five of which are cross-points. The five cross-points work by using horizontal and vertical sensor lines to supply data that determines the ideal focal points of each shot. AF assistance is provided by the pop-up flash when raised. (note this doesn't mean the flash has to fire when actually taking the shot; these are two separate functions.)

Olympus E-620 Olympus E-620
Memory Card Slot Battery Compartment

The E-620 offers a comprehensive set of exposure modes, including P, A, S and M for advanced users, a full auto mode for novices, plus a legion of scene modes. Olympus are also heavily promoting the E-620's artistic capabilities, with two features in particular, Art Filters and Multiple Exposure, differentiating the E-620 from its main competitors. The 6 different Art Filters are Pop Art, Soft Focus, Pale & Light Colour, Light Tone, Grainy Film and Pin Hole - you can see the results on the Image Quality page. Unlike most other cameras, these effects are applied before taking a shot, rather than afterwards, so you can preview the effect on the LCD screen before pressing the shutter button using the Live View mode.

The Multiple Exposure function allows up to three images to be superimposed onto each other, creating a composite, and you can either overlay a previous shot or, via Live View, the image that you are about to take. Multiple Exposure even works with RAW files as well as JPEGs, whilst the Art Filters are applied to a JPEG (with an unprocessed RAW file also saved). The Art Filters are a little over-the-top for my taste, and you can't change the default look, but the ability to be able to change the exposure, white balance and other key settings whilst previewing the effect is very welcome. While the Art Filters get their own setting on the Mode Dial, the Multiple Exposure is inexplicably buried away in the main menu system. The E-620 offers four different aspect ratios that enable individualised framing of scenes, including the default 4:3 ratio employed by the Four Thirds system. The available aspect ratios are: 4:3,3:2,16:9,6:6. They're quite a good way of personalizing your shots in-camera, with the ability to preview the effect in Live View mode being particularly useful.

The Olympus E-620 has built-in image stabilisation, with a dedicated 'IS' button located just below the four-way pad. This either turns stabilisation off or on (I.S. 1 mode), or turns off the horizontal image stabilizer but leaves on the vertical one – for when you want to pan with your subject and keep it sharp while the background blurs. The IS system offers up to 4 EV steps of stabilisation - in practice we found that 3 EV steps was more readily achievable. Also shared with most other Olympus SLRs is the impressively named Supersonic Wave Filter, whereby any dust particles that drift inside while changing lenses settle on a filter that protects the CCD, and are then shaken clear on the camera powering down.

The Olympus E-620 offers a number of features that you would not expect to see in an entry-level model. Among these are Pixel Mapping, user-configurable mirror lock-up (called Anti-Shock by Olympus) and spot metering, which comes in no less than three variations: midtone-based, shadow-based and highlight-based. The latter two make life easier for those who know what spot metering is but do not know how to use it in combination with exposure compensation. These options come on top of the usual centre-weighted and evaluative modes. The AEL button can be separately configured, so even if you have, for example, centre-weighted set as your working mode, the AEL button can be designated to use highlight-based spot metering.

In summary, the E-620 is a compact, lightweight and feature-laden mid-range DSLR with the main attractions being built-in image stabilisation and the versatile free-angle LCD.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 12.3 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.

During the review, the Olympus E-620 produced photos of very good quality. Colours were vibrant without being over-saturated even in the default Natural picture mode, and you can always choose Vivid if you want even more punch. The Shadow Adjustment Technology helps make the most out of the shadows in a high-contrast scene, so you can safely expose for the highlights. The art filters quickly produce special effects that would otherwise require you to spend a lot of time in the digital darkroom, while the Picture Modes provide a quick and easy way to tweak the camera's JPEG images. Image stabilisation via the camera body is a feature that helps the E-620 keep up with its competitors, and one that works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. The 12.3 megapixel images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and adequate overall exposure. The night photograph was very good, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and Bulb mode allowing you to capture enough light in all situations. Noise is the main issue for the E-620, with obvious noise at ISO 800 and faster settings easily detectable when viewing images at 100% magnification on screen.

Noise

There are 6 ISO settings available on the Olympus E-620. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and the RAW equivalent on the right:

JPEG

RAW

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Olympus E-620 has 4 different JPEG file quality settings available, with SuperFine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

SuperFine (7.7Mb) (100% Crop)

Fine (5.1Mb) (100% Crop)

   

Normal (2.2Mb) (100% Crop)

Basic (1.5Mb) (100% Crop)

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are just a little soft at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level to suit your tastes by changing the Picture Modes.

Original (100% Crop)

Sharpened (100% Crop)

   

Flash

The flash modes include Auto, Manual, Slow synchronisation, Slow synchronisation 2nd curtain, Red-eye reduction, Slow synchronisation with red-eye reduction, Fill-in, and Off. These shots of a white ceiling were taken at a distance of 1.5 metres.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm)

Flash On - Wide Angle (28mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64
   

Flash Off - Telephoto (84mm)

Flash On - Telephoto (84mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting or the Red-eye reduction option caused any amount of red-eye.

Flash On

Flash On (100% Crop)
   

Red-eye Reduction

Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Olympus E-620 lets you dial in shutter speeds of up to 60 seconds and has a Bulb mode as well for exposure times as long as 30 minutes, which is very good news if you are seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 10 seconds, aperture of f/8 at ISO 100. We've included a 100% crop to see what the quality is like.

Night Shot

Night Shot (100% Crop)

Image Stabilisation

The Olympus E-620 has an Image Stabilisation mechanism built into the camera body, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with Image Stabilisation turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with Image Stabilisation turned on, the images are much sharper than when it's turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length

Image Stabilisation Off (100% Crop)

Image Stabilisation On (100% Crop)

1/8th / 28mm
1/10th / 84mm

Shadow Adjustment Technology

Similarly to Nikon's D-lighting, Sony's DRO etc., Shadow Adjustment Technology (SAT) brightens the shadows in a high-contrast scene without affecting the midtones or the highlights, with four settings on offer. Although this option is always at your disposal, remember that it is meant to be used in strong, contrasty lighting at base ISO. Below you can see a comparison of Normal and Auto gradation; the difference is noticeable in the shadowed areas on the left side of the photo. Two other, special-use gradation settings are available on the camera, Low Key and High Key. The former is for photographing dark subjects against dark backgrounds, whereas the latter is for light-toned subjects against a light-toned background.

Auto

Normal

   

High Key

Low Key

Art Filters

The Olympus E-620 offers six different Art Filters, which allow you to quickly apply an artistic effect to a photo before taking it (JPEG images only). The most useful of these is Soft Focus, because the FourThirds system lacks a dedicated soft focus lens, and the effect would require advanced knowledge of layers, blurring methods and blending modes if you were to reproduce it in post-processing. The six available Art Filters are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences. Note that applying the Art Filters slows the camera down somewhat.

Pop Art

Soft Focus

   

Pale&Light Color

Light Tone

   

Grainy Film

Pin Hole

Picture Modes

Olympus' Picture Modes, similarly to Nikon's Picture Styles and Canon's Picture Controls, are preset combinations of different sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone settings. The six available Picture Controls are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences. There is also one User Defined style so that you can create your own look.

Vivid

Natural

   

Muted

Portrait

   

Monotone

 
 

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Olympus E-620 camera, which were all taken using the 12.3 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Olympus E-620 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Olympus RAW (ORF) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Olympus E-620

Front of the Camera

 
Olympus E-620

Front of the Camera / Pop-Up Flash

 
Olympus E-620

Front of the Camera

 
Olympus E-620

Isometric View

 
Olympus E-620

Isometric View

 
Olympus E-620

Rear of the Camera

 
Olympus E-620

Rear of the Camera / LCD Screen Rotated

 
Olympus E-620

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

 
Olympus E-620

Rear of the Camera / Info Screen

 

Olympus E-620

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

 
Olympus E-620

Rear of the Camera / Live View

 
Olympus E-620

Rotating LCD Screen

 
Olympus E-620

Rotating LCD Screen

 
Olympus E-620

Top of the Camera

 
Olympus E-620

Bottom of the Camera

 
Olympus E-620

Side of the Camera

 
Olympus E-620

Side of the Camera

 
Olympus E-620

Front of the Camera

 
Olympus E-620

Front of the Camera

 
Olympus E-620

Memory Card Slot

 
Olympus E-620

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Olympus E-620 offers the most effective combination of features, ease-of-use and price of any Olympus DSLR camera to date, and it's also a real contender for the Best Mid-Range DSLR crown. The E620 is a compelling all-round package that will appeal to beginners and more experienced users alike, with a compact and lightweight yet fairly robust design that comes with a lot of features for an entry-level camera. Borrowing features from both the cheaper E-450 and more expensive E-30 models has resulted in the E-620 hitting the sweet-spot between those two cameras.

The icing on the cake is the inclusion of built-in image stabilisation, ensuring that every lens that you use with the E-620 benefits from this system, and the free-angle LCD screen which makes image composition much more versatile than with a fixed screen. Dedicated buttons for changing the focusing mode, ISO sensitivity, white balance and metering mode, the 7-point auto-focus system and relatively large, bright viewfinder are also very welcome features that the E-450 notably lacks.

It's not all good news though - that old bug-bear of Four Thirds cameras, namely easily visible noise at higher ISO settings, rears its ugly head once again. The E-620 is no better or worse than its stable-mates in this respect, but it doesn't compare well to its main rivals from the likes of Nikon, Canon and Sony, which all offer better low-light performance from their bigger APS-C size sensors.

The other major omission is the lack of ability to shoot video. Admittedly you have to pay more for the Canon EOS 500D or Nikon D5000 to get this feature, but it may just persuade potential E-620 owners to save a bit harder and spend a bit more elsewhere at a time when video on DSLRs is being heavily pushed as the next big thing.

If you don't want to use your DSLR to record movies and you don't do very much handheld low-light shooting, then it's very easy to recommend the Olympus E-620, so much so that we've given it our highest possible Essential! award. It's one of the cheapest and most full-featured mid-range SLR cameras, with great ease-of use, compact size and light weight, and excellent image quality in good light. This camera certainly lives up to its official billing as "The Olympus E-620: All our knowledge in one", and is our pick of the current range of Olympus DSLRs.

5 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 4.5
Features 5
Ease-of-use 4.5
Image quality 4.5
Value for money 5

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Olympus E-620 from around the web.

reviews.cnet.co.uk »

When going up against Canon and Nikon digital SLRs, manufacturers have to offer something pretty compelling -- awesome speed, fabulous photo quality, one-of-a-kind features, a great design or a bargain price for the whole package -- to draw attention to themselves. The E-620 is a solid example of an inexpensive dSLR (it costs around £550 for the body only), but it doesn't really distinguish itself from the crowd, much less from the offerings of Olympus' two biggest competitors.
Read the full review »

whatdigitalcamera.com »

The Olympus E-620 provides the ultimate portable, creative DSLR - with this as a concept, Olympus has unquestionably succeeded. And, should the novelty of the E620's Art Filters wear off, or should you not be drawn to them in the first place, the Olympus E620 is still a fantastic camera underneath. Packed full of useful features, the model strikes a balance between Olympus's current entry-level and enthusiast DSLRs, and does indeed seem to be what Four Thirds proponents have been waiting for.
Read the full review »

Specifications

Type
Body material Glassfibre reinforced plastics
Lens mount Four Thirds mount
Image Sensor
Type 4/3 '' Hi-Speed Live MOS sensor
Effective pixels 12.3 Megapixels
Filter array Primary colour filter (RGB)
Aspect ratio & area 4:3 / 17.3 x 13.0 mm
Full resolution 13.1 Megapixels
Engine
Type TruePic III+
Filter
Dust reduction filter Supersonic Wave Filter
IR cut filter Hybrid type
LPF filter Fixed type
Viewfinder
Viewfinder type Eye-level single-lens view finder
Field of view Approx. 95 %
Magnification Approx. 0.96 x with a 50mm lens set to infinity at -1 dioptre
Depth of field preview Yes Customized Fn button via viewfinder or via LCD in Live View
Eye point 18 mm at -1 dioptre from eyepiece lens
Diopter adjustment -3.0 - +1.0 diopter / built-in type
Focusing screen Fixed type (Neo Lumi-Micron Mat Screen)
Mirror Quick return mirror
Eye piece shutter Eye-piece cap EPC-1 supplied
Live View
Information 100% field of view, exposure adjustment preview, white balance adjustment preview, gradation setting preview (SAT), face detection preview, perfect shot preview, gridline displayable, 5x/7x/10x magnification possible, IS activating mode MF/S-AF, AF frame display, AF point display, shooting information, histogramme
AF type Option between phase difference detection system and contrast detection autofocus
Image Stabiliser
Type Sensor shift
Modes Two-dimensional or one-dimensional activation
Effective Compensation Range Up to 4 EV steps
Focusing System
Method TTL phase difference detection system, contrast detection system (with 25mm 1:2.8, 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6, 40-150mm 1:4.0-5.6, 9-18mm 1:4.0-5.6, 14-54mm 1:2.8-3.5 II)
Focus areas 7 points / 5 fully biaxial, automatic and manual selection
AF illuminator Yes , Built-in flash (external flash available)
AF lock Yes , Locked by first position of shutter release button in single AF mode, AE/AF lock button (customised)
Focus tracking Yes , Available in continuous AF mode
Manual focus Yes , Available by rotating focus ring, available for setting manual focus operation in AF mode (customised)
Single AF Yes
Single AF + MF Yes
Continuous AF Yes , only available for TTL phase difference detection
Continuous AF + MF Yes
Detection range -1 - 19 EV (ISO 100)
AF fine adjust +/- 20 steps (settings for up to 20 lenses can be registered)
Exposure System
Exposure compensation +/- 5 EV ( 1, 1/2, 1/3 steps )
Exposure bracketing 3 frames ( +/- 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 1 EV steps )
ISO bracketing 3 frames ( 1/3, 2/3, 1 EV steps )
Exposure Modes
Programme automatic Yes with Programme Shift
Auto Yes
Aperture priority Yes
Shutter priority Yes
Manual Yes
Scene Modes Yes Children, High key, Low key, Digital Image Stabilisation, Nature Macro, Candle, Sunset, Fireworks, Documents, Panorama, Beach and Snow, Underwater Macro, Underwater Wide
Multi-Exposure
Max. number of frames 2 frames (shooting)
3 frames (editing)
Auto gain control Yes
Frame assistance Live View
Light Metering
Method TTL open aperture light metering
Zones 49 zones Multi-pattern Sensing System
Detection range 1 - 20 EV (50mm, 1:2, ISO 100)
ESP light metering Yes
Spot metering Yes
Centre weighted metering Yes
Highlight Yes
Shadow Yes
Art Filter
Pop Art Emphasizes colors and creates bright, vibrant images with a pop-art tone
Soft Focus Gives images a light, ethereal look and evokes a dreamy, mystical mood
Pale & Light Colour Utilizes muted colour tonalities to create a mood of reflection and nostalgia
Light Tone Subdues highlights and shadows to reflect the ambience of a perfectly illuminated scene
Grainy Film Recreates the rich, grainy look and tonality of black & white photography, imparting a dramatic feel to images
Pin Hole Reproduces the peripheral vignetting and unique colour tone of photos taken with a pin hole camera
Sensitivity
Auto ISO 200 - 3200 (customizable, default ISO 200 - 800)
Manual ISO 100 - 3200 in 1/3 or 1 EV ISO steps
Shutter
Shutter type Computerised focal-plane shutter
Shutter release Soft Touch Electromagnetic
Self timer 12 s / 2 s
Anti Shock Yes Release delay: 1 - 30 s
Shutter Speeds
Shutter speed range 1/4000 - 60 s (in 1/3, 1/2, 1 EV steps)
Bulb mode Up to 30 minutes (selectable longest time in the menu, default: 8 minutes)
Shutter speed P, Ps 1/4000 - 60 s
Shutter speed A priority 1/4000 - 60 s
Shutter speed S priority 1/4000 - 60 s
Shutter speed scene mode 1/4000 - 60 s
White Balance
AUTO WB system Hybrid detection system with High-speed Live MOS sensor and dedicated external sensor
Selectable steps in Kelvin 8 steps (3000 - 7500 K)
Flash Yes
Overcast Yes
Shade Yes
Tungsten Yes
Sunlight Yes
Flourescent 1 Yes
Flourescent 2 Yes
Flourescent 3 Yes
White balance adjustment +/- 7 in each A-B / G-M axis (in Auto WB, preset WB mode & one-touch WB)
Custom WB 1 setting can be registered at Kelvin temperature (2000K - 14000K)
One-touch white balance 1 custom settings can be registered
White balance bracketing 3 frames / +/- 2, 4, 6 mired steps
Sequence Shooting
Speed (H) Approx. 4 fps
Speed (L) 1 - 3 fps
RAW Mode 5 frames
JPEG Mode Depends on compression ratio or number of pixels (Large Normal Mode: up to card capacity with SanDisk Extrem IV 4GB)
Image Processing
Colour space sRGB / AdobeRGB
Engine TruePic III+
Sharpness + Contrast 5 levels
Saturation 5 levels
Contrast 5 levels
Black & White filter Yellow, Orange, Red, Green
Black & White toning Yellow, Orange, Red, Green in Black & White and Sepia mode.
Picture mode Vivid, Natural, Portrait, Muted, Monotone, Custom (default setting: Natural)
Gradation 4
Internal Flash
Guide number 12 (ISO 100)
Flash compensation +/- 3 EV ( 1/3, 1/2, 1 EV steps )
Modes AUTO, Manual, Slow synchronisation, Slow synchronisation 2nd curtain, Red-eye reduction, Slow synchronisation with red-eye reduction, Fill-in, Off
Bracketing 3 frames ( 1/3, 2/3, 1 EV steps )
External Flash Control
X-sync speed 1/180 s / 1/4000 s (Super FP Mode)
Type TTL AUTO, AUTO, MANUAL, FP TTL AUTO, FP MANUAL
Synchronisation modes Auto, Manual, Red-eye reduction, Slow syncro with red-eye reduction, Slow syncro, 2nd curtain and slow syncro, Fill-in for exclusive flash
Intensity +/- 3 EV ( 1, 1/2, 1/3 EV steps )
Built-in flash and wireless flash control from the camera body
Compatible external flash FL-50R, FL-36R
Control method Triggered and controlled by built-in flash light
Modes TTL Auto (TTL pre-flash mode), Auto, Manual, FP TTL Auto, FP Manual
Number of channels 4 channels
Group setting 3 groups
LCD
LCD type HyperCrystal III LCD
Monitor size 6.9 cm / 2.7 ''
Resolution 230000 dots
Brightness adjustment 15 levels
Super Control Panel
Displayed information  
Metering mode Yes
Exposure mode Yes
Aperture value Yes
Shutter speed Yes
Exposure level view Yes
Flash compensation value Yes
Exposure compensation indication Yes
AE bracketing Yes
ISO Yes
Colour space Yes
Picture mode Yes
Gradation Yes
Colour saturation compensation value Yes
Sharpness compensation value Yes
Contrast compensation value Yes
White balance Yes
White balance compensation value Yes
Noise reduction Yes
Flash mode Yes
Focus mode Yes
AF frame Yes
Drive mode Yes
Record mode Yes
Number of storable frames Yes
Memory card Yes
Battery indicator Yes
Face detection Yes
Super Control Panel (Flash)
Displayed information  
AF illuminator disactivated notification Yes
AEL notification Yes
Aperture value Yes
Bracketing Yes
Built-in flash intensity Yes
Colour space Yes
Exposure compensation indication Yes
Exposure mode Yes
Flash compensation value Yes
Group settings Yes
Noise reduction Yes
Shutter speed Yes
Wireless channel setting Yes
View Images
Index 4, 9, 16, 25, 49, 100 frames
Calendar Yes
Zoom Yes 2 - 14 x
Slide show Yes
Rotation Yes
Light box Yes
Histogram in playback mode Yes
Shooting information Histogram (independent luminance / RGB available), Highlight / Shadow point warning, AF frame, Shooting information
Erase / Protect / Copy Function
Erase modes Single, All, Selected
Image protect mode Single, Selected
Copy mode Single, All, Selected
Recording Formats
RAW 12 bit
RAW & JPEG Yes
JPEG Yes
JPEG compression 1/2.7, 1/4, 1/8, 1/12 SHQ 1/2.7, 1/4, 1/8, 1/12 HQ 1/2.7, 1/4, 1/8, 1/12 SQ
Image Size
Aspect ratio 4:3 / 3:2 / 16:9 / 6:6
RAW 4032 x 3024 compressed / 14 MB / frame
Large 4032 x 3024 Super Fine / 8.2 MB / frame
4032 x 3024 Fine (compression: 1/4) / 5.7 MB / frame
4032 x 3024 Normal (compression: 1/8) / 2.7 MB / frame
4032 x 3024 Basic (compression: 1/12) / 1.8 MB / frame
Middle 3200 x 2400 Super Fine / 5.4 MB / frame
3200 x 2400 Fine (compression: 1/4) / 3.4 MB / frame
3200 x 2400 Normal (compression: 1/8) / 1.7 MB / frame
3200 x 2400 Basic (compression: 1/12) / 1.2 MB / frame
2560 x 1920 Super Fine / 3.2 MB / frame
2560 x 1920 Fine (compression: 1/4) / 2.2 MB / frame
2560 x 1920 Normal (compression: 1/8) / 1.1 MB / frame
2560 x 1920 Basic (compression: 1/12) / 0.8 MB / frame
Small 1600 x 1200 Super Fine / 1.3 MB / frame
1600 x 1200 Fine (compression: 1/4) / 0.9 MB / frame
1600 x 1200 Normal (compression: 1/8) / 0.5 MB / frame
1600 x 1200 Basic (compression: 1/12) / 0.4 MB / frame
1280 x 960 Super Fine / 0.9 MB / frame
1280 x 960 Fine (compression: 1/4) / 0.6 MB / frame
1280 x 960 Normal (compression: 1/8) / 0.3 MB / frame
1280 x 960 Basic (compression: 1/12) / 0.3 MB / frame
1024 x 768 Super Fine / 0.6 MB / frame
1024 x 768 Fine (compression: 1/4) / 0.4 MB / frame
1024 x 768 Normal (compression: 1/8) / 0.3 MB / frame
1024 x 768 Basic (compression: 1/12) / 0.2 MB / frame
640 x 480 Super Fine / 0.3 MB / frame
640 x 480 Fine (compression: 1/4) / 0.2 MB / frame
640 x 480 Normal (compression: 1/8) / 0.1 MB / frame
640 x 480 Basic (compression: 1/12) / 0.1 MB / frame
Still Image Recording
EXIF Yes
PIM Yes
DPOF Yes
DCF Yes
Image Editing
RAW data edit Yes
Red-eye reduction Yes
Sepia Yes
Black & White Yes
Resize Yes
Correction of saturation Yes
Shadow Adjustment Yes
Menu
Menu languages in camera 34 languages / 27 European languages (e.g. English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Czech, Dutch, Danish, Polish)
Illuminated buttons Menu, Info, Playback, Liveview, Arrowpad (WB, AF, Metering, ISO), OK, Erase, IS
Customisation Options
Fn Button Yes
Custom preset options 2
My Mode 2 settings storable
Power Supply
Battery BLS-1 Li-Ion battery (included)
Sleep mode 1, 3, 5, 10 min. and off selectable.
Finder Shooting Approx. 500 images
Environment
Temperature 0 - 40 °C operating temperature / -20 - 60 °C storage temperature
Humidity 30 - 90 % operation humidity / 10 - 90 % storage humidity
Size
Dimensions (W x H x D) 130.0 x 94.0 x 60.0 mm (without protrusions)
Weight 475 g (body only)
Interface
Media Dual slot for CompactFlash card (Type I and II), Microdrive and xD picture card
USB 2.0 High Speed Yes
Video out Yes NTSC or PAL selectable

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