Epson PhotoPC 3000ZEpson's first three-megapixel design boasts great image quality and loads of "enthusiast" features<<Optics :(Previous) | (Next): Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests>> Page 6:Exposure & FlashReview First Posted: 10/01/2000 |
Exposure
For the most part, exposure control on the 3000Z is pretty straightforward. The majority of the time, you can change exposure settings without having to call up various menu screens and scroll through long lists of options. As we mentioned earlier, the design of the LCD screen and its menu display is an excellent time-saver. Without resorting to a complicated menu system, you can change exposure settings, such as ISO and white balance, by simply pressing a button. We did find changing the camera's capture mode a little confusing at first though. The camera has three main capture modes: Full Automatic, Program and Manual, which are controlled through the Setup menu. Two of these (Program and Manual) offer a variety of sub-settings controlled through the on-screen LCD menu.
Full Automatic capture mode means exactly what it sounds like, as the camera controls everything except image quality, digital zoom, macro mode and panoramic mode. The Program capture mode lets you choose between four exposure presets: Normal, Sports, Portrait and Landscape. The Normal preset adjusts the camera to handle most daylight shooting situations. Sports utilizes a high shutter speed to capture fast moving subjects. Portrait fixes the aperture a f/2.0 and switches the metering mode to spot, so that your subject is the primary focus. Landscape sets the aperture to f/8.0 (f/2.0 in dim light) for capturing broad landscapes and scenery. Depending on the preset, exposure compensation, ISO, white balance and flash are all adjustable. Finally, the Manual capture mode lets you select the amount of control you need by offering Automatic Exposure, Aperture Priority and Full Manual shooting options. In all three, you have control over exposure compensation, ISO, white balance, metering, flash, etc. Automatic Exposure lets you control all the exposure variables except aperture and shutter speed. In Aperture Priority, you can set the aperture value from f/2.0 to f/8.0 while the camera selects the shutter speed. Full Manual gives you control over both aperture and shutter speed (from eight to 1/750 seconds).
Exposure compensation is adjustable from -2 to +2 in different increments, depending on the camera's capture mode. In Program, exposure compensation varies in 0.5 EV increments (nine available settings), while in Manual mode, the increments decrease to 1/3 EV steps (21 available settings). This strikes us as a nice feature, as we've found that 1/3 EV steps are really needed for good exposure control on digicams, but many casual users prefer the convenience of larger steps. ISO can be set to 100, 200 or 400 equivalents, by pressing the button corresponding to the setting beneath the LCD monitor. Metering can also be adjusted through the on-screen LCD menu, with options for Matrix and Spot. Matrix metering takes readings from areas throughout the image and averages them to judge the proper exposure. Spot metering bases the exposure on a reading from the very center of the image. The 3000Z also allows you to save a grouping of settings from one image and use them on another. For example, you can save your white balance, exposure compensation, sensitivity, shutter speed and aperture through the FixSet option on the Setup menu. (You must be in Manual capture mode to do so though.) Once a group of settings is saved, the Fixed Setting option appears in the selection of exposure settings on the LCD menu. This is a good way to get a group of images to have a consistent appearance.
A black and white monotone option is available through the Setup menu, as well as an option to enable or disable a confirmation screen that appears after each image capture, which gives you the option of deleting the image rather than saving it to the CompactFlash card. This confirmation screen also allows you to display an image once it's been saved (without having to change the camera mode), quickly review other captured images, and record a ten second sound clip to accompany the image.
Self-Timer
A 10 second self-timer can be accessed through the Self-Timer button on the camera's top panel, which is then activated by fully pressing the shutter button. Once activated, the self-timer symbol on the LCD screen and the small LED on the front of the camera flash slowly for eight seconds, and then flash rapidly for the remaining two. The timer can be canceled by pressing the shutter button or the Self-Timer button a second time. The Self-Timer mode is also accessible in the Continuous, Interval and Movie recording modes.
Flash
The 3000Z features a built-in flash with five operating modes (Auto, Forced, Off, Redeye Reduction and Slow Synchronized), all controlled by pressing the flash button on the top panel. The Automatic setting tells the camera to fire the flash based on existing light levels. The Forced setting fires the flash with every exposure, regardless of the existing light and Off does the opposite, by simply disabling the flash. The Redeye Reduction setting fires a small pre-flash before firing the full flash, to eliminate the Redeye Effect. Finally, the Slow Synchronized setting works with a slower shutter speed, to allow more ambient light into the image. The 3000Z actually has two Slow Synchronized choices, Leading and Trailing, adjustable through the Setup menu. Leading fires the flash at the beginning of the exposure and Trailing fires the flash at the end of the exposure. (The "Trailing" setting is useful for shooting pictures of moving objects with flash, as it will produce "motion trails" behind the subject, as opposed to in front of it as would a flash at the beginning of the shutter time.) The Slow Synchronized setting is only available in Program and Manual capture modes.
Epson doesn't provide a flash range in the camera's documentation, but in our testing, we found the flash effective all the way to 14 feet without getting too dark. When a more powerful flash is needed, the 3000Z features a hot shoe for connecting an external flash. An external flash can only be used when the camera is in the Manual capture mode, and the External Flash setting must be selected in the Setup menu.
White Balance
White balance is also adjusted through the on-screen LCD menu, with Auto, Fix and Custom modes available. The Automatic white balance setting lets the camera assess the lighting and determine the white value on its own. The Fix mode sets the camera's white balance to match 5,200 degrees Kelvin, which produces a warmer image under fluorescent lights, or a slightly cool cast in normal sunlight. The Custom white balance mode is only available when the camera is in Manual capture mode, and bases the white value on a user-selected reference. This setting is created through the Setup menu, under the Shot Setup option. By selecting New W/B, you can then focus the camera on a white sheet of paper and press the shutter button to set the white balance and save the selection. This is a slightly tricky way to manually adjust the white balance. We'd rather see the ability to adjust the setting combined with the Custom mode, where you would select the Custom white balance and the camera would then allow you to set the white value without changing modes.
Movie Mode
The 3000Z allows you to record 25 second movies with sound at 15 frames per second. Movie images are saved as 320 x 240 in the Motion JPEG file format, which can be played back with QuickTime on a computer. The mode is accessed by turning the mode dial on top of the camera to the multi-shot symbol. From here, you choose between Video Clip, Continuous and Interval shooting modes. You can change the white balance and ISO settings by turning the mode dial to the LCD single capture mode, adjusting the settings, then turning the dial back to the multi-shot symbol. Like the movie modes on many digicams we've tested, the 3000Z's movie option provides you with relatively limited control while the camera is recording: While you're "filming", you can't vary the zoom settings, and the camera as only limited autoexposure and no autofocus adjustment.
Continuous Shooting
Accessed in the same manner as the Movie mode, Continuous Shooting lets you capture either 37 standard quality images at up to two per second, seven fine quality images at up to one image per second or three super fine images at up to one image per second. (In our testing, the 3000Z actually managed a rate of 1.49 frames per second for the first four frames in high-res mode. As with the Movie mode, you can adjust exposure settings by setting the mode dial to the LCD single capture mode and then reentering the Continuous Shooting mode. The flash is unavailable in this mode, as are the HyPict and TIFF image formats.
Interval Shooting
Interval Shooting is accessed and controlled through the same method as Movie and Continuous Shooting. Like time-lapse photography, Interval Shooting sets up the camera to snap images at a set interval of time, from 10 seconds to 24 hours. The total number of photos taken depends on the amount of CompactFlash space available. Interval photos can be strung together with software such as QuickTime Pro or Macromedia Flash to create time-lapse movies.(Note that such software is not included with the camera though.)
Panorama Mode
The panoramic frame size is available in any of the camera's capture modes, simply press the button corresponding to the Frame setting on the LCD menu until the "P" appears. The top and bottom of the image are cropped to make a long, narrow image, but the image is not taken at a wider angle than normal.(This is the same basic approach used in APS film cameras for their "panorama" features.) Frankly, we don't see the benefit of this shooting mode, as you can always just crop an image after the fact, once you have it in the computer.
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