Olympus EVOLT E-520

Reviewed December 2008

Characteristics

The Olympus Evolt E-520 has a 10 megapixel Four Thirds CMOS sensor. The sensor is slightly smaller than a frame of 35 millimeter film. Its diagonal measure is about 21.6mm compared to 36mm for a frame of film.

For image processing, the unit uses Olympus's TruePic III Image Processor.

Start-up time for the E-520 averaged 1.2 seconds. In single-shot mode, flash and non-flash images could be captured as fast as the shutter button could be depressed up to a certain number of shots. Shooting at highest quality JPEG, about six pictures could be snapped before the camera stopped to catch its breath. With RAW files, about four images could be captured before the unit paused.

Olympus offers seven image sizes with the E-520. The sizes are grouped into Large (3648 x 2736), Medium (3200 x 2400, 2560 x 1920 and 1600 x 1200) and Small (1280 x 980, 1024 x 768 and 640 x 480). Each size has four compression levels--Superfine, Fine, Normal and Basic. While I'm a more-is-better kind of guy, the glut of image and quality combinations stuffed into this camera seems to gratuitously add complexity to its operation.

Olympus Evolt E-520

Two file formats are supported by this Olympus model: JPEG and RAW. RAW files are in the company's proprietary format, ORF. RAW files are slightly smaller than the maximum number of megapixels supported by the sensor. In our compression calculations (see compression table above), the compression ratio for RAW files was 1.1:1.

Ratios for JPEG files varied. For Large Superfine files ratios ranged from 1.8:1 to 7.9:1; for 3200 x 2400 Medium files, 1.8:1 to 7.8:1; for 2560 x 1920 Medium files, 1.6:1 to 7.5:1; for 1600 x 1200 Medium files, 1.7:1 to 6.5:1; for 1280 x 980 Small files1.7:1 to 6.2:1; for 1024 x 768 Small files, 2.1:1 to 6.3:1; and for 640 x 480 Small files, 0.3:1 to 1:1.

Both xD and CompactFlash cards can be used by the E-520. One advantage of using xD cards with the camera is they support the unit's panorama feature, while CompactFlash cards do not. A one gigabyte xD card can hold 91 RAW shots; 147-687 Large images; 187-3198 Medium pictures and 1230-12,793 Small snaps.

The camera's LCD can be used to display information about the unit's settings, access its menu system, review images captured by the DSC and, through its Live View function, as an alternative to the viewfinder for framing and shooting pictures.

Activating Live View is quick and simple. You press the Live View button beside the LCD and whatever you're pointing the camera at appears on the display. Focusing in Live View can be achieved by pressing the AEL/AFL control on the right side of the viewfinder or partially depressing the shutter button.

When you're in Live View, you can make changes to the settings for a shot either through the Arrow Pad or Super Control Panel and the image on the display will reflect the effects of those changes.

Light sensitivity settings for the E-520 range from ISO 100-1600 and can be adjusted through the Super Control Panel, Arrow Pad or menu system. In Auto ISO mode, the camera will chose an appropriate light sensitivity setting for a shot, but the upper limit for that mode can be customized. That's a way to avoid taking shots at higher ISO values. More noise tends to be introduced into photos shot at higher ISOs.

Zuiko ED Digital lenses are the native glass for the E-520. The lenses included with our review unit were very compact, especially the 40-150mm (80-300mm equivalent), which was slightly less than four inches long.

The Four Thirds mount also has some advantages. For instance, with some lens systems, moving between auto and manual focus requires flipping a switch on the lens. With these Zuiko lenses, that kind of switching can be performed directly from camera menus.

In addition to manual focusing, the E-520 has four other focusing modes. There's a single mode (S-AF) for shots where the subject is still and a continuous mode (C-AF) for focusing on moving objects. Single and continuous modes can also be combined with manual focusing to fine tune a shot. When the auto focusing system has difficulty zeroing in on a subject, the unit's flash can be used as a focus assist light to help it out. Overall, the focusing system is relatively fast, but in challenging lighting conditions it can by annoyingly slow.

Focusing is obtained by partially depressing the shutter button or the AEL/AFL control. What the AEL/AFL button does can be programmed through the menu system. For example, in S-AF mode the button can be programmed to lock exposure or focus or both.

When faces are in a shot, the unit has a Face Detection mode for automatically obtaining the best focus and exposure for the mug in the frame.

The E-520 offers five metering modes. Digital ESP mode measures the light levels in 49 areas of a frame and uses that information to obtain the best overall exposure for the shot. Center Weighed Averaging mode sets the exposure of shot based on average readings between the subject and its background. Then there are three spot metering modes. Hi Spot mode limits metering to a small area of the frame. It's handy when a subject is being photographed against a bright background. HI Spot adjusts the exposure to insure that whites in the subject aren't turned gray by a bright background. SH Spot mode will underexpose a frame with a dark background to prevent blacks in a shot from turning gray.

· Macro
· Nature Macro
· Candle
· Sunset
· Fireworks
· Documents
· Panorama
· Beach-Snow
· Underwater Wide
· Underwater Macro

Two sequential shooting modes are offered by the E-520, as well as two self-timer and two remote modes. In single frame mode, the camera will capture an image each time the shutter button is pressed. In continuous mode, the unit will shoot at 3.5 frames per second at highest JPEG quality until a memory card is full. For RAW files, the rate is about 3fps up to seven shots. Self-timer modes include one with a two-second delay and one with a 12-second delay. When using an optional remote control with the camera, the unit can be set to fire immediately, after a two-second delay or for as long the remote button is depressed, also known as Bulb mode.

The E-520 has a pop-up flash and a hotshoe for external flash support. The pop-up flash will automatically activate in Auto mode. It can be activated manually by pressing a button at the left side of the viewfinder. If the flash is set to "off," it will not fire automatically. When manually activated, the flash can be used as a fill light for removing shadows in a brightly lit subject.