Olympus to offer budget E-600 dSLR for holiday shoppers
Olympus E-600 will ship in November for $599.99 with lens.
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-600 | |||
| 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) |
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 | ||||
| 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)