I don't know just how many of you still remember our world before the advent of digital photography, but I'm pretty sure that most people from the younger generation wouldn't really know what to do if faced with a roll of film and a classic camera. Indeed, most of the world has gone completely digital nowadays, and the same happened with the big names in optics and photography, such as Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax and Sony. Of course, they're not the only digital camera manufacturers out there, but, without a doubt, they are the most famous.

Quite recently, we had the chance to take for a quick test one of Olympus' latest and most impressive offerings in the DSLR department, namely the E-620 model, which was officially introduced in early 2009 and established itself as an important contender on the entry-level segment, providing both a multitude of functions and features, a very slim body, an advanced Image Stabilization system (world's smallest DSLR with an IS system at the time of its launch), as well as fairly good image quality. In fact, as far as the specs are concerned, one might say that the body of the E-620 is close to semi-pro grade than entry level, but that's not the segment targeted by Olympus with this model.

Of course, given the particular segment it targets, the DSLR from Olympus is pretty good, although some of its features are a bit mainstream for the digital single-lens reflex community (for instance, the art filters, which should appeal more to the mainstream crowd rather than professional photographers). Naturally, the DSLR also has some shortcomings (which we'll be sure to detail over the course of this review), but there's no product out there that doesn't have at least a couple of features or characteristics worth criticizing.

Before going any deeper into this review, we'll have to issue somewhat of a warning. While you'll find quite a lot of technical information on the E-620, as well as some things on just what to expect when working with this DSLR, we've tried to talk more about the user experience and the quality of the photos rather that comparing this particular model with others available. It's not really a shopping guide, but rather a very honest “short walk-through” regarding exactly what you can expect from this DSLR.