Olympus E620 | Digital Camera Review | Storage and Energy
It is quite a luxury to have a dual card slot at your disposal, offering support to CompactFlash and the xD Picture card. As far as we’re concerned, it would have been complete if we would finally get rid of the annoying xD card. It seems to have lost its right to exist, has only a tiny market share, and is surpassed left and right when it comes to storage capacity. The SD format, in addition to the SDHC, would make more sense and would also allow photographers that switch to Olympus from other brands, to use their SD memory cards which are already in their possession.
Olympus E-620 dual card slot Moreover, xD provides a maximum storage capacity of only 2GB, whereas SDHC is available up to 32GB. Something else Olympus should check out is the functionality of a dual card slot. Of course, it is handy to work with two cards but that is all there is to it. We can think of a number of options; storing of JPEG and RAW files separately, automatically using one card as backup or automatically using the other card when the first card is full, etc. It are these features that can make photography more enjoyable in practice.
Olympus E-620 speediness & buffer Although the file size of the Olympus E-620 has remained the same as that of the E-30, there is a difference in continuous speed. Whereas the E-30 has the ability of processing the 12 Megapixel files at a rate of 5fps, the E-620 has to take it easier with 4fps. The highest quality JPEG files are approximately 8.2MB; the RAW (ORF at Olympus) are approximately 13.9MB. The buffer of the Olympus E620 is smaller than that of the E30, which is in turn smaller than that of the E3. The buffer of the Olympus E620 can take a maximum of 5 RAW pictures; the E-30 up to 12 and the E-3 up to 19 pictures. What stands out on an Olympus DSLR camera is the extensive choice for compressions. There are no less than 4 levels of compression provided, excellent.
USB 2.0 Hi-Speed Extreme card reader If you hesitate to transfer files through the Olympus E-620, you may choose to use a card reader. A card reader is handy for your digital workflow if you want to avoid connecting the camera all the time, or want to be able to keep the workflow going whilst the memory card transfers pictures. The USB 2.0 Hi-Speed card reader of SanDisk is one of the fastest available and provides data transfers of maximum 20MB/sec.
Olympus E BLS-1 Lithium Ion battery The battery of the Olympus E620 has been improved and is currently only used for this model, and for the new E-450 which we will also review soon. The BLS-1 Lithium-Ion battery has to be charged in the included battery charger which takes approximately 3.5 hours. The battery has a capacity of 7.2V 1150mAh. The capacity has decreased compared to that of the E-30. Yet, we don't see a significant decrease in the amount of pictures that can be taken with a fully loaded battery. Photographing with various use of Live View provides approximately 240 pictures, however; if you use Live View optimally during photography sessions, you have to count with fewer pictures. An extra battery or connecting to the electric mains will then be a solution.
