Build and handling
At first glance the E-620 bears a strong resemblance to the E-420 and its predecessors, the E-410 and E-400. Only from the back does the E-620 look significantly different, due to its articulated LCD screen. This screen is a major selling point of the E-30 and E-3, and it is great to see that Olympus has made room for it on the E-620. This in itself is impressive, given the small size of the body, and although the screen adds a little bulk to the camera, the E-620 feels barely any larger than the E-420 when the two are compared directly. Interestingly, though, both are heavier than they look. The new camera is a little more comfortable to hold than the E-420, for me at any rate, thanks to a redesigned and more substantial handgrip, which greatly aids handling when the camera is held to the eye.
As far as the control layout is concerned, the E-620 is typical of the Olympus E-series. A group of buttons to the right of the LCD screen provide access to key features such as ISO sensitivity, AF mode, white balance and metering. Meanwhile, the status screen, which is shown by default on the LCD screen in ‘normal’ SLR mode, provides alternative access for these functions and almost everything else. So complete is this interactive display that the Menu button is almost completely redundant after the initial setup.
In fact, when out shooting with the E-620, the only time I regularly needed to delve into the main menu was to format my memory cards. An additional menu tab, which, confusingly, is turned off by default, can be activated to provide access to extra ‘nuts and bolts’ features such as noise reduction, but it is unlikely these settings will need changing very often.
As I reported in my First Look of the E-620, I find that when Live View is activated it is easy to forget I am using a DSLR. I have written more about the E-620’s Live View system, but for the time being it will suffice to say that the articulated LCD screen makes a huge difference to the handling of the camera in Live View mode.
On a fixed screen, Live View is very handy in some situations (especially when the camera is attached to a tripod), but of limited use when a photograph needs to be taken from an awkward angle. An articulated screen removes this limitation and, when coupled with the E-620’s highly effective contrast-detection AF system, Live View becomes an indispensable rather than simply optional feature.
