Olympus to offer budget E-600 dSLR for holiday shoppers
(Credit:
Olympus America)
(Credit:
Olympus America)
Shipping in November, just in time for your holiday purchasing fun, Olympus' E-600 dSLR will offer a slightly stripped-down version of the E-620 for consumers whose price elasticity is stretched to the breaking point. At $599.99 with the 14-42mm kit lens (28-84mm equivalent), by dropping down $100 Olympus will be taking on the Nikon D3000 (and whatever new model Canon finally decides to ship--its entry-level model is overdue) in a very competitive price segment.
For all the essentials, the E-600 and E-620 are identical:
| E-520 | E-600 | E-620 | |
| Sensor (effective resolution) | 10-megapixel Live MOS | 12.3-megapixel Live MOS | 12.3-megapixel CMOS |
| 17.3mm x 13.0mm | 17.3mm x 13.0mm | 17.3mm x 13.0mm | |
| Sensitivity range | ISO 200 - ISO 1600 | ISO 100 - ISO 3200 | ISO 100 - ISO 3200 |
| Continuous shooting | 3.5 fps 8 raw/unlimited JPEG (large/normal) |
4 fps 6 raw/unlimited JPEG (large/normal) |
4 fps 6 raw/unlimited JPEG (large/normal) |
| Viewfinder magnification/effective magnification |
95% coverage 0.92x/0.46x |
95% coverage 0.92x/0.46x |
95% coverage 0.92x/0.46x |
| Autofocus | 3-pt AF n/a |
7-pt AF 5 cross-type |
7-pt AF 5 cross-type |
| Live View | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Video | No | No | No |
| LCD size | 2.7 inches fixed 230,000 dots |
2.7 inches articulated 230,000 dots |
2.7 inches articulated 230,000 dots |
| Battery life (CIPA rating) | 650 shots | 500 shots (estimated) | 500 shots |
| Dimensions (inches, WHD) | 5.4 x 3.6 x 2.7 | 5.1 x 3.7 x 2.4 | 5.1 x 3.7 x 2.4 |
| Body operating weight (ounces) | 18.6 (estimated) | 18.9 (estimated) | 18.9 |
| Mfr. Price | $499.99 (with 14-42mm lens) | $599.99 (with 14-42mm lens) | $699.99 (with 14-42mm lens) |
(Credit:
Olympus America)
What's missing? The E-600 only offers three Art Filters--Pop Art, soft Focus, and Pinhole--versus the E-620's six. Plus, it jettisons the illuminated buttons, aspect mask control (for shooting at different aspect ratios), and multiple-exposure mode. These are all things you could easily live without, and when the street price drops below $599.99, that leaves you with some extra coin to put towards another lens.
And while the E-620 is a solid camera, its feature set is far more competitive at the lower price:
| Olympus E-600 | Sony Alpha DSLR-A230 | Nikon D3000 | Canon EOS Rebel XS | |
| Sensor (effective resolution) | 12.3-megapixel Live MOS | 10.2-megapixel CCD | 10.2-megapixel CCD | 10.1-megapixel CMOS |
| 17.3mm x 13.0mm | 23.5mm x 15.7mm | 23.6x15.8mm | 22.2mm x 14.8mm | |
| Magnification factor | 2.0x | 1.5x | 1.5x | 1.6x |
| Sensitivity range | ISO 100 - ISO 3200 | ISO 100 - ISO 3200 | ISO 100 - ISO 1600/3200 (expanded) | ISO 100 - ISO 1,600 |
| Continuous shooting | 4 fps 6 raw/unlimited JPEG (large/normal) |
2.5fps n/a |
3 fps n/a raw/100+ JPEG (medium/fine) |
3fps 5 raw/unlimited JPEG |
| Viewfinder magnification/effective magnification |
95% coverage 0.92x/0.46x |
95% coverage 0.83x/0.55x |
95% coverage 0.80x/0.53x |
95% coverage 0.81x/0.51x |
| Autofocus | 7-pt AF 5 cross-type |
9-pt AF n/a |
11-pt AF center cross-type to f5.6 |
7-pt AF n/a |
| Live View | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Video | No | No | No | No |
| Built-in wireless flash controller | No | Yes | No | No |
| LCD size | 2.7 inches articulated 230,000 dots |
2.7-inch fixed 230,400 dots |
3 inches fixed 230,000 dots |
2.5 inches fixed 230,000 dots |
| Battery life (CIPA rating) | 500 shots (estimated) | 510 shots | n/a | 500 shots |
| Dimensions (inches, WHD) | 5.1 x 3.7 x 2.4 | 5.0 x 3.8 x 2.7 | 5.0 x 3.8 x 2.5 | 5.0 x 3.8 x 2.4 |
| Body operating weight (ounces) | 18.9 (estimated) | 18.3 | 18.3 (estimated) | 17.6 |
| Mfr. Price | $599.99 (with 14-42mm lens) | $549.99 (with 18-55mm lens) | $599.95 (with 18-55mm lens) | $599.99 (with 18-55mm lens) |
The E-620's--and presumably, therefore, the E-600's--performance fits much better with this class of cameras, though its low-light AF performance will likely still lag the field. The articulating LCD is an attractive option, though the trade-off is the effectively tiny viewfinder.
(Via Imaging Resource)
Senior Editor Lori Grunin has been covering digital imaging for two decades, but her memory's kind of sketchy on the details. You can hear about it every week on Indecent Exposure, the podcast she co-hosts with Matt Fitzgerald. 
Go to B&H.
Guess it depends on what part of the country you're at...at least one local, b&m camera retailer had the K2000 in when that camera went live (not sure if still they do now, since digitally I shoot Nikon and usually don't shop my old brand from my 35mm film days anymore).
- by QA_Tester September 1, 2009 10:49 AM PDT
- Another gimmick to separate fools and their money. They should have just lowered the price on E-620. With the megapixel race and ultrazooms consumer is getting fooled. All cameras mentioned here can be smaller physically. Case and point: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Olympus/oly_ep1.asp.
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(6 Comments)Granted with PEN E-P1 uses micro 4/3" sensor which doesn't have a mirror, but it doesn't mean all the cameras mentioned here can't be made smaller. Remember 35mm film? It actually fit in pretty portable cameras, not just SLRs. i'd love to see same happen to 4/3" and APS-C sensors