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Just a few questions before I buy
I have this on my radar: Olympus Evolt E620 12.3MP Live MOS Digital SLR Camera with Image Stabilization and 2.7 inch Swivel LCD w/ 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 and 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 ED Zuiko Lenses at 8 seems like a good deal with no interst over 1 year with Amazon Card.

I need a flash, usually just for family parties inside, so what flash would you recommend without busting my budget?

I suppose some UV filters?

This is my first time moving up from a point and shoot digital so I just want to get it right.

Thanks!

The E-620 is a tremendous DSLR.
I won't try to write an exhaustive technical review of the outstanding Olympus E-620 DSLR, as this camera has been thoroughly studied and discussed elsewhere by professional photography web sites. However, as I already own and love Olympus' top-end E-3 DSLR and the 12-60 SWD and 50-200 SWD pro level lens, I can reasonably compare the E-620 and kit lens with the E-3, and I rank the E-620 as virtually comparable regarding image quality, ease of use, quality craftsmanship, features and so forth. In short, the E-620 is easily capable of recording outstanding RAW and JPEG images. The art filters are also fun to use and experiment with, according to scenes that lend themselves more to the pop art setting, or the grainy black & white setting, and so forth. My only minor issue with the E-620 is having some difficulty to focus quickly in very low light settings. I am not sure if that has to do with the camera of the kit lens. However, I am very pleasantly surprised to find the inexpensive 14-42 kit lens to be outstanding in all other respects, with super color, contrast and sharpness, with minimal barrel distortion. For the money, I cannot recommend a better DSLR.

Great deal on a great camera
I bought the E620 as an upgrade from an E300 I've had for several years. I was very happy with the picture quality of the E300 but it doesn't support Live View nor in-camera image stabilazation. I've had the E620 for about a month now and I've been very happy with it. The image stabilization has really helped on hand-held shots with my 70-300mm zoom. The LCD is very large, bright and sharp and I really like the swivel capability. I also like that the LCD can be folded to face inward to the body for protection/storage. The body is very light and easy to handle and seems very solid despite being made of plastic. My E300 had a metal body and was as sturdy as a tank, but was also *much* heavier.

I also like that Olympus uses the Four-Thirds image sensor format. A lens designed for this format has a 2x focal length multiplier of the equivalent lens designed for the 35mm film format. For example, my 70-300mm zoom has the equivalent field of view of a 140-600mm lens designed for 35mm film. This 2x factor is also a significant increase over that of the APS-C image sensor format used by Canon and Nikon which have multipliers of 1.5x and 1.6x respectively compared to 35mm. This allows for significantly smaller and lighter lenses for the same focal range. Combine this with the excellent Olympus Zuiko kit lenses that you can buy with the E620 (as well as the rest of the Zuiko lens offerings) and you have smaller/lighter lenses with a reputation for excellent image quality for less money. Hard to beat!

good camera
Replaced my E500. It works much better indoors then the E500 did and the image stabilization is great. I am able to get good photo results taking hand held pictures of the moon with my older 150mm kit lens and a 1.4x teleconverter attached. The other camera I looked closely (and have used a fair amount) is the canon T1i. I like the ergonomics/feel of the Olympus. In my opinion, the Canon is a better indoor (i.e. low light camera). It also has a movie mode and a much nicer view finder.I find that the Olympus starts to introduce "noticeable noise" in the picture above ISO 800, I would only use ISO 1600 in an emergency and 3200 is not really usable. That being said the camera takes a better picture out of the box then the canon. I find the color more accurate and pleasing to the eye then the canon and it takes a better outside daytime picture. The Olympus has the advantage of an articulated lcd viewer ( a feature I did not think I would use but have found it useful) and most of the control dials are lit in the dark another feature I have found much more useful then I anticipated. I am pleased with the camera. I would recommend that if you do lot of indoor photography not using a flash then the canon (or other non 4/3's camera might be the way to go) otherwise I think the E620 is a very good choice. Lastly, you should get a hands on feel for what ever camera you are thinking about buying because I think ergonomics have a bigger impact then people often realize.

Great Compact DSLR
The E620 is my first DSLR and I have no regrets in buying it. Before this camera, I primarily used point-n-shoot cameras which I feel are great for casual events do to the portability and ease of just taking it out of my pockets and shooting away. However I wanted an upgrade to use for more special gatherings such as graduations, weddings, family functions, or vacations. I wouldn't say that the pictures I was taking with my point-n-shoot were bad, but they were definitely a step below photos taken from my friends DSLRs. The most imporant features for me were 1) size, 2) price, 3) live-view screen, and 4) quality of pictures with the included lenses. With those factors in mind, I narrowed my choice down to the Nikon D5000, Canon T1i, and Olympus E620

1) Getting used to small pocket point-n-shoot camers, I wanted a DSLR that was also small and light weight. I knew that there was no way I'd be able to fit the DSLR into my jacket pocket or anything like that, but I at least wanted something that was going to be easy to carry around and easy to take in and out of the bag. I've seen people who carried what looked like 10-15 pound bags of camera gear and this is what I wanted to avoid. The E620 is probably one of the most compact DSLRs out there. I went to the local store and compared the E620 with the Nikon D5000 and Canon T1i. It wasn't clearly the smallest camera since the Canon seemed pretty compact too, but when holding the camera, the build quality of the Olympus felt like it was a better assembled camera. The buttons, dials, and switches all felt like they were carefully put together and would last many years of use.

2) The price of the E620 was about a 0 less then the Nikon and Canon. This was a pretty big factor for me since I knew I also had to spend money on a bag, storage device, lens/camera cleaners, simple lens filter, possibly an extra battery. My budget for the entire package was about 0. I didn't want to get low quality accessaries like a camera bag or the generic storage device, since I knew that my bag was going to help protect the camera from any accidental drops and the difference between a failed flash card and a one that didn't fail is almost priceless. The accessaries I wanted to get was about 0 street value, which was perfect since that was about the same amount of money saved from buying an Olympus compared to the Nikon or Canon.

3) Being used to point-n-shoot cameras, I really wanted a DSLR with a good live view screen. Before doing more research into the DSLRs, I used to think that live-view was standard on all DSLRS. They all had lcd screens which I thought was for the users to see what s/he was taking a photo of. However this is not the case and live-view is a relatively new feature on DSLRs. Apparently most DSLR users use the view-finder which I find to be slightly annoying. The E620 easily and acurrately focused on the subjects when using live view and this made it a very easy transition to use the E620. Now I just need to play around more with the manual controls and have my photos coming out the way I want them too. As an added bonus, the E620 offers a swivel screen. This is great when you need to raise the camera above your head to take a picture since you can easily swivel the screen so you can see what you are taking a picture of. Its also very useful when you need to take a picture from the ground up.

4) Lenses are the most important part of a DSLR camera. Even after a few years when a camera depreciates, a good lens can hold its value fairly well. Many times buying an extra lens will cost more then the camera itself! Since price was a concern for me I wanted a camera that came with decent lenses. I didn't want to spend an extra 0 on another lens. After reading many reviews, it was determined that the Olympus came with very qualified kit lenses that were quick to focus and took sharp looking photos. I understand that a more expensive lens should produce better results, but many times I always felt that my point-n-shoot cameras took really good photographs already, so there's a good chance that I'll might not even be able to tell the difference between the a good picture and a great picture. And again, I'm just a casual camera user and wouldn't even consider myself a hobbiest or an amateur photographer. So I think kit lenses will be enough for my needs.

I've owned my camera for about 6 months now and I must say that I'm still very pleased with it and that I'm slowly learing more and more about photography and how to take better pictures. This camera fit perfectly for my needs and happens to also take very good photos. For those of you trying to decide between the Nikon, Canon, or Olympus, you really can't go wrong with any of them, but just know what your needs are and it'll be a much simpler choice.